Out of an abundance of caution, we are very sorry and disappointed to announce that we’ve had to cancel our event with Barry Sonnenfeld. The health and safety of our patrons is our top priority, and we’ll continue to keep you informed about the rest of the Ideas Festival as the virus situation progresses.

Barry Sonnenfeld is a filmmaker and writer who broke into the film industry as the cinematographer on the Coen Brothers' first three films: Blood Simple, Raising Arizona, and Miller's Crossing. He also was the director of photography on Throw Mamma from the Train, Big, When Harry Met Sally, and Misery. Sonnenfeld made his directorial debut with The Addams Family in 1991, and has gone on to direct a number of films including Addams Family Values, Get Shorty, and the first three Men in Black films. His television credits include Pushing Daisies, for which he won an Emmy, and most recently Netflix's A Series of Unfortunate Events.

Matthew Galkin is a documentary filmmaker who founded New York-based production company Fairhaven in 2018. Film work includes HBO’s Kevorkian, a multi-faceted biography of famed assisted-suicide activist Jack Kevorkian; the award-winning HBO documentary I am an Animal: The Story of Ingrid Newkirk and PETA, about the controversial animal rights group and it’s enigmatic founder; and loudQUIETloud: A Film About the Pixies, chronicling the 2004 reunion tour of the seminal rock band.

Television work includes Showtime’s first-ever true crime series Murder in the Bayou, the award-winning CNN series Inside Man, HBO’s Family Bonds, A&E’S anthology documentary series Cultureshock, and the forthcoming CNBC limited series Empires of New York, about the city’s rebirth in the 1980’s.

He lives in South Orange with his wife Chloe, their two children, and a dog named Willie Nelson Galkin.