With so many institutions — historic theaters, longstanding diners, favorite bars — closing left and right this year, it’s comforting to see stories of resilience. That’s what filmmaker Trishna Patel’s latest project wanted to capture: How a historic hotel managed to stay afloat during a pandemic. After she wrapped a day of shooting, Patel sat down with Thrillist to talk about the Culver Hotel’s significance in Culver City, her filming process, and how it felt to shoot her whole documentary on her Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G.
When filmmaker Nicki Sun found out she had the opportunity to make a mini documentary in 2020, she knew it needed to be a love story. With so much fear, anger, and anxiety in the world right now, focusing on love, joy, and happiness felt like an urgent mission to Nicki. That's why she chose to focus on Esther and Paulo, a Los Angeles-based couple who dated and eventually got engaged during the pandemic.
When we all first learned about COVID-19 earlier this year, there were hundreds more questions than answers. Uncertainty was everywhere — especially on social media.
That's when Jessica Malaty Rivera, a microbiologist and epidemiologist, stepped into the limelight. After fielding tons of questions from friends and family, she started sharing the facts and her scientific expertise on Instagram. Her followers grew from 1,000 acquaintances to more than 115,000 fans in just a few months.
Filmmaker Thom McCallum set out to shoot a documentary about foster-pet life. But when he met Boomer, a badly abused rescue dog, he not only became Boomer’s dad — he realized he had a more important story to tell about love and healing.
