Tanya Schevitz, Chief Innovation and Communications Officer at Reboot, spoke with writer and star Jill Kargman (New York Times best-selling author and creator of Bravo TV’s Odd Mom Out) about her new film Influenced, a hilariously foul-mouthed, warm-hearted satire of New York City’s Upper East Side “influencer” culture that opens May 8 in theaters. What interested us about this film is that while it’s incredibly funny and sharply observed in its portrayal of influencer culture, status and performative giving, it’s also doing something deeper. It starts in a world that’s about being seen, but over the course of the story, it becomes much more about actually seeing other people and about the responsibility that can come with that. Those ideas are in the world of the film itself, in the B’nai Mitzvah storyline, in the questions it raises about charity culture and obligation. Read more to learn through our conversation with Kargman.

Noam Dromi, managing director of Reboot Studios spoke with filmmaker and actor Matthew Shear about his new film Fantasy Life. The film’s Jewishness feels deeply lived-in. It’s not an “issue film” in the traditional sense, but something more intimate and textured, rooted in a cultural sensibility many people will recognize: the humor, the neurosis, the searching for meaning and the complicated inheritance of history. The story touches on themes of identity, intergenerational memory, assimilation and the sometimes uncomfortable ways we relate to our own backgrounds. But it does so through characters who feel very human, funny, flawed and deeply self-aware. Read more to learn through our conversation with Shear about the making of the film, the ideas behind it, and the cultural questions it raises.

This week, we’re sharing two powerful reflections from the creators behind The Nita & Zita Project, a film Reboot Studios is proud to have supported through fiscal sponsorship and creative development. Together, these pieces trace the remarkable journey of two Jewish immigrant sisters who transformed themselves into international burlesque performers in the 1920s, and later into reclusive, visionary artists in New Orleans whose handmade worlds continue to inspire generations. Through deeply personal essays by producing partner Sharon Gillen and director Marci Darling, Nita and Zita emerge not just as figures of the past, but as guides for the present, women who chose visibility over erasure, creativity over fear and devotion to each other as a form of resilience. Read Gillen and Darling’s reflections.