State of the Arts: Four local filmmakers to watch

With last summer’s blockbuster —Superman — shot in both Cleveland and Cincinnati, you may have wondered why Columbus didn’t see the same love from Hollywood. Worry not, film buffs, the Arch City’s scene is robust as it’s ever been. We sat down with five local filmmakers to get to know them, their work, and the city’s “State of the Arts.”

Max Groah 
Studio Manager, OHD Studios  

Max Groah’s a jack-of-all trades gear fiend who dropped out of the Columbia College  film program to finance his first feature via credit cards. He hung around OHD (“a filmmaker’s  playground,” he calls it) until he successfully “insisted” his way into a job. If it’s shooting in  town, Groah knows about it, and while he describes Columbus as mostly a commercial market of industrials shot on stages like OHD’s infinity cyclorama, he said there’s also a ton of creative work happening.  

But it wasn’t always that way. He clocks the growth in terms of the 48 Hour Film  Project, an event he takes a team of interns to every year. “The first year (2008) there was like  one standout, and five or six train wrecks,” he laughed. “Now there’s 30 teams making high quality films.” He also cites the 5,000 filmmakers following the Mid Ohio Filmmakers’  Association (MOFA) Facebook page, as well as all those attending Film Columbus’ workshops,  two resources he recommends. The one thing he sees lacking is a big Hollywood film like this  summer’s Superman, which was shot in Cleveland. “We need an Avengers in Columbus to get  people out of the thought that if they’re shooting in Ohio, it has to be Cincinnati or Cleveland.  More and bigger productions, both in scope and budget, that’s my hope.” 

Molly Kreuzman
Director, Ohio Goes To The Movies (OGTTM)  

Molly Kreuzman is a Columbus native and a force for film. She founded CAPA’s Cinema Columbus, and is now spearheading Ohio Goes To The Movies, a model celebration of Ohio films, filmmakers and everything in between. OGTTM includes 280+ unique screenings and events that take place in 2026 over 250 days in 88 counties. Oh, and the Ohio movie database, ancillary to the project, has had 754 new editions since the first in November. Yeah, she’s busy. 

In her limited spare time, Kreuzman co-produced the largest-budget indie to come through in the past few years, Down to the Felt. But most intriguing of all are her “filmmaker gatherings.”

“When I started at CAPA, I met filmmakers, and they all said, ‘We don’t know each other.’ Well, there’s a really easy way to fix that!” she said. In June of 2022, she invited 30 makers to her house. That’s grown to over 300 people, and hangouts that bring filmmakers together for fun, festivities, and what’s most important, networking.  

“I’ve really tried to create an entire ecosystem,” she said. “Because the biggest message that has  to get out is that film jobs are jobs and should be living wage jobs. This is really important for  people at the state level to understand. The arts absolutely bring economic impact.” 

One of the ideas she’s chewing on is, if Cleveland and Cincinnati do Hollywood films,  why doesn’t Columbus focus on big independents? To do that, she knows we have to nurture  industry connections, build a workforce, and a host of other big ticket items. For now, as she’s  done in the past, she’s building community. 

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Anita Kwan  
Owner, Reel Hoot Productions  

Anita Kwan attended OSU’s film program, following her dream to make music videos.  Since then, she created her own company focused on storytelling and branding, and worked on a few documentaries, like 2017’s Kings, Queens, & In-Betweens and most recently, United: the Hidden Story of the Humble Duplex, now touring libraries. She wants, she said, “to amplify the stories of LGBTQ+ and BIPOC people through beautiful, creative videos.” She’s young, outgoing, and values helping people relax in front of her camera rather than fussing over the  latest gear.  

While many of Kwan’s classmates left for LA or NYC following graduation, she stayed  local. “I love Columbus,” she said. “I love the people. And I’ve heard people from big cities  say, ‘Wow, people here really want to connect and work together.’ They don’t experience that where they’re from.”  

But there are things to improve. “I’ve talked with other female filmmakers, and we’re all  very siloed in the way we work. A lot of us own our own businesses or are producing our own  films. We have dreams to collaborate, but we haven’t had those resources.” 

What’s needed is additional funding or workshops, she feels. In the meantime,  organizations like Girl Set or Creative Mornings are her safe spaces. Monthly queer movie night with friends also sparks inspiration. “We’re all doing our own thing,” she said. “But it would be cool to come together.” 

Jonathan Sherman 
Professor of Film, Kenyon College 

As an independent filmmaker, Jonathan Sherman was looking for more stability when he took the position of film professor at Kenyon College. “We have a really strong creative class here: Ohio State, Kenyon, Denison. All these schools are producing filmmakers,” he said. When considering how to build the Columbus film community, he added,  “It just makes sense to focus on the young filmmakers here and help them succeed.”  

Sherman described the Kenyon program as a unique environment of industry-connected students from major cities seeking out the Ohio school for its growing reputation  and its “learn by making” approach. It’s true that young people today have access to a lot of technology through their phones, but Sherman raises a critical point when he asks how they  will develop their ideas. “It’s such a time of disruption now, similar to when sound came into  the movies. Nobody knows what’s going to be the theatrical experience in ten years time. But  storytelling is kind of the same, whether it ends up seen on a phone, on Netflix, or in a  theater.” 

Ohio has also been good for Sherman’s storytelling. During COVID, he made his first  Columbus-based indie. Starting this January, he’ll go on sabbatical to work on a new rom  com. “Moving to Ohio really opened my mind to different kinds of stories. Columbus has  interesting subcultures. It raises the question of what it means to be a Midwesterner,” he explained. A question he plans to explore in his upcoming films.  

Dean Taylor 
Founder, Evening Film 

Not all artists have the money for film school, and not all learn in traditional ways. As a  person with dyslexia, Dean Taylor struggled in school, so it was important to her to provide  education to others through mentorship and set experience, even as she’s establishing her  own production company, Evening Films.  

“I don’t like the gatekeeping in the industry,” she said. “College is expensive. And I’m  at a point now where I’m asking, why am I not sharing my knowledge?” When interested  learners reach out to Taylor via Instagram’s collaboration feature or other means, she seeks to  place them in technical training roles on set and pay them, too. You might call her approach  “radical empathy.” “It’s hard to break through,” she said. “Especially for women. It’s a male dominated industry.”  

“Radical empathy” is also her approach to her subjects, such as in Blue Hour, a series  that documents other makers by including them in how they’re portrayed. She’s worked in  elementary schools, consulted at a college, and wants to find more ways to support new filmmakers, many of whom she sees learning through YouTube or podcasts. “But it’s still  important to get that hands-on experience,” she said. Having been turned down twice for a  GCAC grant, Blue Hour and her mentorship arm is self-funded through her day job as a  videographer. In the future, she plans to pursue an MFA so she can continue to teach. “I’m  scared at times,” she said, “But it’s just, do it, you know? Do it scared.”

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