CINEMA VERSES with Ari Gold

Me, my Executive Producer Francis Ford Coppola, and my brother/co-star/composer Ethan Gold, at Miceli’s Italian in Hollywood.

I’m a filmmaker whose upcoming “live cinema” film Brother Verses Brother is EP’ed by Francis Ford Coppola. My movies have premiered at Sundance, SXSW, and Telluride. I always felt that mentorship is a lost art, which is why I seek guidance from the masters - and why, on this Substack, I’ve decided to share what I learn from them, along with from the greatest master of them all: our own mistakes.

Filmmaking from the inside out.

Who I am:

I make films & music with an emphasis on radical self-expression. My one-shot improvised musical Brother Verses Brother has 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, and stars my brother, my father, and me. It will come out in 2026.

My next film, Helicopter, is a documentary about my mother’s death, re-imagined as a psychomagic ritual for Alejandro Jodorowsky. Festival premiere will be in late 2026.

More stats in case you care about such things: I’ve won a Student Oscar, a Guinness World Record for air-drumming, and the High Times Magazine Stoner of the Year award (even though I don’t smoke…).

I also made made the air-drum comedy Adventures of Power with Michael McKean & Jane Lynch, and the vintange-jazz musical drama The Song of Sway Lake with Robert Sheehan & Rory Culkin.

Why Subscribe?

Join my 9,000 subscribers in one of Substack’s top-ranked film communities, and get:

Masterclasses: Real-world lessons on how to make locations breathe, and finding the universal through the specific.
Blueprints: Insider tips on securing massive locations for cheap and navigating the slowness of the industry.
The Experiment: Follow the journey of my latest project, Brother Verses Brother, and see how to scale intimate stories into cinematic experiences.
Puns: Sorry, I have an addiction. I need to be sent to a punitentiary.
Paid subscribers get links to all my previous movies, and help me stay hopeful!
My drummer podcast Hot Sticks Drum Show is fun if like air-drumming.

Start here with some short stacks on:

Coppola • Herzog • Jodorowsky

Or here to learn about my previous films :

Shorts & Videos • The Song of Sway Lake • Adventures Of Power

PS - Here’s my first “live cinema” experiment - the sixty-second one-shot film Culture, which won the Best Film at SXSW long ago. Here it is, enjoy!

Subscribe to CINEMA VERSES with Ari Gold

Acclaimed filmmaker Ari Gold (with EP Francis Ford Coppola) shares indie filmmaking tips, directing advice, and 'Live Cinema’ tales.