Filmwax Radio: Recent Episodes
Adam Schartoff
Darren Devivo joined WFUV in September 1983, making his on-air debut on February 26, 1984. In January 1991, following WFUV’s transition to a non-commercial public radio station, he was hired as the station’s first weekday afternoon drive show host/DJ. From that point, he occupied all weekday air shifts – including morning drive, middays, afternoon drive, evenings and late nights. Darren has nearly 42 years of experience hosting these air shifts that were part of WFUV’s regular daily programming. During those years he conducted hundreds of artist interviews, emceed countless concerts and other live events, hosted many on air “specialty” shows – including his own album spotlight show in the 1990s – and more. He was the station’s assistant music director for a short span, as well as the music promotions director. I also wrote the station’s weekly “New Dig” (WFUV’s new album of the week) album overview that was published on wfuv.org.
Darren currently hosts “Noises From The Valley” on the Hudson based radio station WKZE on Fridays from 7 — 11PM. By way of full disclosure, Filmwax Radio host Adam Schartoff is the Director of Operations at the same station.
The author and filmmaker Rustin Thompson makes his first appearance on the podcast. His new documentary “The Last Picture Shows” will be premiering at the Village East in NYC as of August 7th and in LA on August 21st.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q44QXyYI5sUIn “The Last Picture Shows”, director Thompson travels through the rural West’s ‘cinema deserts,’ where a single-screen theater may be the only movie house for miles. Expecting to find a pattern of abandonment and extinction, Thompson instead discovered theater owners and communities fighting to keep these cultural landmarks alive. The film follows the people preserving the moviegoing experience in their communities against the odds. The Last Picture Shows is ultimately a story of resilience and community.
My guests in this segment are filmmaker Morgan Gruer with actors Scott Cohen and Ellie Sachs. Morgan made a short film, a comedy called “Fire at Will” which had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival. “Fire at Will” is one family’s quest to confront their mortality and each other.
https://youtu.be/XU7X4pkxrtoThe film unravels the tapestry of a modern Jewish family as the Greenbergs attempt to understand each other, without actually stopping to listen. At its core, “Fire at Will” poses the universal question we all surely grapple with every time we visit our parents’ homes: Are we who we think we are? Or… are we who our families think we are?
Two great personal documentarians grace the podcast: Ross McElwee (“Sherman’s March”) and Michel Negroponte (“I’m Dangerous With Love”). Long friends and colleagues, Ross and Michel come on to primarily discuss the sensitive subject matter behind Ross’ latest film, “Remake” The film begins a theatrical engagement at Film Forum in NYC on 7/10/2026. They are currently screening a 40th anniversary 4K restored print of his seminal “Sherman’s March”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5Vph7D_TxYThe death of his son causes McElwee, an autobiographical filmmaker, to look back on his life’s work. He eventually turns to his archive of home movies — an afternoon trapping crayfish with his son Adrian, age 4; helping with homework, age 11; discussing career plans with his son, age 24. To what extent did his camera affect their relationship when Adrian was alive? To what extent does it define that relationship now that he is gone? Meanwhile, an effort to adapt McElwee’s first feature, “Sherman’s March”, into a work of fiction lurches along, giving the filmmaker another perspective from which to meditate on movie making and mortality.
Ross McElwee is a documentary filmmaker from Charlotte, North Carolina currently living in Cambridge, Massachusetts. McElwee has made ten feature-length films. “Sherman’s March” won Best Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival and was chosen for preservation by the U.S Library of Congress National Film Registry in 2000 as a “historically significant American motion picture.”
Bright Leaves premiered at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival’s Directors’ Fortnight. McElwee’s In Paraguay premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2008, and he returned to Venice in 2011 to premiere Photographic Memory. McElwee has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the American Film Institute. He has twice been awarded fellowships in filmmaking by the National Endowment for the Arts and production grants from the LEF foundation. McElwee received the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival’s Career Award in 2007 and the Pennebaker Award for his career in 2023. In 2024, the French Ministry of Culture awarded McElwee the rank of Chevalier des Artes et des Lettres.
McElwee was Professor of the Practice of Filmmaking in the Department of Art, Film and Visual Studies at Harvard beginning in 2003 until his retirement in 2024. He is now a Research Professor, Emeritus in the AFVS Department. About Michel Negroponte
Michel Negroponte is an award winning filmmaker who has been making feature length documentaries for more than 30 years. He was born and raised in New York City, and studied filmmaking with Richard Leacock and Ed Pincus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the 1970s. In addition to making his own films, he has freelanced on countless films for HBO, PBS, the BBC, and Channel Four.
He has also worked with independent filmmakers like Ross McElwee, Doug Block, Lisa Crafts, D.A. Pennebaker, Chris Hegedus, Christine Choy, Dick Rogers, John Marshall and Al Maysles. His films include SPACE COAST (1979), RESIDENT EXILE (1981), SILVER VALLEY (1984), JUPITER’S WIFE (1994), NO ACCIDENT (1996), W.I.S.O.R. (2000), METHADONIA (2005) and I’M DANGEROUS WITH LOVE (2009). JUPITER’S WIFE, a portrait of a beguiling homeless woman named Maggie, won a Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and the prize for Best Feature Documentary at the Vancouver and the Santa Barbara Film Festivals. The film was also awarded an Emmy for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Documentary. Originally shot on small format video, it premiered on HBO/Cinemax before getting a nationwide 35mm theatrical release. Edward Guthmann of the San Francisco Chronicle called it one of the ten best films of the year. John Koch of the Boston Globe wrote, “Negroponte has a painter’s eye and a novelist’s reach; and if there is anything more engaging and satisfying than “Jupiter’s Wife” on television or at the movies these days, by all means tell me about it.”
Negroponte’s films have been broadcast in the United States on PBS, HBO, and the Sundance Channel as well as in England, France, Germany, Spain, and Japan. His work has been shown at the Sundance Film Festival, The New York Film Festival, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and in festivals in Berlin, Rotterdam, Vancouver, and Japan. Negroponte has also taught in the graduate and undergraduate film programs at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and Temple University. Recently, he helped create a new graduate program in documentary filmmaking at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, which opened in September, 2009. He is part of the faculty there as well.
For over a century, Alfred Hitchcock has remained one of cinema’s most influential directors. Known as the Master of Suspense, this visionary filmmaker directed more than fifty films over six decades. His thriller “The Lodger” (1927) marked the start of his signature style, which was later exemplified in classic films like “Vertigo” (1958), “North by Northwest” (1959), “Psycho” (1960), and “The Birds” (1963).
Hitchcock’s work received tremendous success and critical acclaim. While he never won the competitive Academy Award for Best Director, he received five Oscar nominations, two Golden Globes, the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, a BAFTA Fellowship, multiple lifetime achievement awards, and two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Nine of his films are preserved in the United States National Film Registry. His mastery of tension, innovative camera techniques, and psychological depth continue to inspire and influence modern filmmakers such as Christopher Nolan, Jordan Peele, and Bong Joon Ho.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NUJN1fq0ScDrawing on new archival research, previously unpublished interviews, and a rigorous examination of key biographies, “A Century of Hitchcock” challenges the long-standing narratives that have shaped Hitchcock’s legacy. Author Tony Lee Moral revisits controversial claims regarding Hitchcock’s alleged abuses, scrutinizing biographer Donald Spoto’s interpretations—particularly Spoto’s portrayal of the director’s relationship with actress Tippi Hedren. With his analysis of Spoto’s 1980 interview of Hedren, Moral reveals for the first time how one key document contradicts decades of exaggeration.
In this comprehensive reappraisal of Hitchcock’s career, Moral encourages readers to explore the complexities of creative collaboration and the risks of relying on a single biographical narrative. Marking one hundred years since Hitchcock’s first film, “The Pleasure Garden”, and fifty years since his last film, “Family Plot”, Moral reexamines the director’s cinematic brilliance, storytelling mastery, creative partnerships, and controversies, offering a fresh perspective on Hitchcock’s legacy in the post-#MeToo era.
Documentary filmmaker Ivy Meeropol (“Bully. Coward. Victim.: The Story of Roy Cohn”, “After The Bite”) returns for her 3rd visit to the podcast. Her latest film “Ask E. Jean” which recently had a very successful festival run and is currently in theaters.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgyI8GStcaoIvy Meeropol is the Director and Producer of “Ask E. Jean”, a feature documentary film about the advice columnist and journalist E. Jean Carroll who sued Donald Trump for rape and defamation and won. In 2023, she completed “After The Bite” (HBO), a feature documentary about the explosion of great white sharks and seals on Cape Cod. She premiered her HBO documentary “Bully. Cward. Victim.: The Story of Roy Cohn” at the 2019 New York Film Festival and in 2020 the film was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Historical Documentary. She was the Senior Story Producer on the CNNFilms documentary “The End: Inside the Last Days of the Obama White House” , which premiered at the National Archives in Washington, DC. She directed and produced the feature “Indian Point”, about an aging nuclear power plant close to New York City, which was honored with the Frontline Award for Journalism in a Documentary Film and aired on NHK during the anniversary of Fukushima in Japan. Ivy created and directed the 6-part nonfiction series “The Hill” (Sundance Channel), about Congressman Robert Wexler (D-FL) and his young staff (nominated for best series by the International Documentary Association). She produced the feature documentary “Museum Town”, which premiered at SxSW, and has produced and directed for the Emmy Award winning climate change series “Years of Living Dangerously” (National Geographic) and for “Death Row Stories” (CNN). Ivy’s debut film, “Heir to an Execution” (HBO), explored the legacy of her grandparents Ethel and Julius Rosenberg. It premiered at Sundance and was shortlisted for an Academy Award. She is a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences and serves on the Professional Advisory Board of The Jacob Burns Film Center.
The artist and storyteller Beth B returns for her third visit to the podcast. Beth’s latest film project is called “Glowing”, and will have its world premiere at the Roxy Cinema in NYC with 2 screenings; one on Wednesday, May 27th at 8PM and again on Saturday, My 30th at 4:30 PM.
Not just a film, but an immersive, genre-defying experience that blurs the boundaries between documentary, narrative, experimental cinema, and music video. Nine fearless artists step into the frame — their voices raw, their stories electric. As poets, musicians, and performers reveal deeply personal truths, their stories collide and intertwine, forming a powerful, living dialogue with the audience. What unfolds is not simply storytelling, but an invitation: to feel, to witness, to connect.
Preceded by 2 new short films (Near Death Jared + Near Death Bliss).
Photo credit: © Grace Roselli
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRjyHS8RBqo
My guests in this special episode are co-hosts of the podcast Films Not Made: Amy Hobby and Avi Zev Weider. This episode is also appearing on their platform as well. Amy and Avi’s one-of-a-kind podcast explores the fascinating world of movies that were planned, developed, and sometimes even cast—but never made it to the screen. From legendary unmade projects to obscure near-misses, we dig into the stories behind cinema’s most intriguing what-ifs.
Amy Hobby is an Oscar-nominated, Emmy and Peabody-winning producer with 30+ films including “What Happened, Miss Simone?,” “Secretary,” and “Sunday.” Former Executive Director of Tribeca Film Institute; co-founder of Distribution Advocates. She’s spent her career finding the stories nobody else would touch – and figuring out how to get them seen.
Avi Weider is a filmmaker and technologist whose work spans the Sundance-premiered “I Remember” to “American Santa” (LA Times) to “Welcome to the Machine” (SXSW). He’s part of OpenAI’s Artist Program, a Sundance Lab alum, lives at the intersection of storytelling and emerging tech – and built half the tools he uses to get there.
Filmmaker Katie Camosy makes her first appearance on Filmwax Radio. Her documentary, “Gaslit” will have a screening at the Berkshires International Film Festival on Friday, May 29, 2PM at the Triplex Cinema #1.
As the world teeters on the brink of irreversible climate disaster, actor and activist Jane Fonda ventures deep into oil and gas country, meeting the people who are exposing the fossil fuel industry’s lies. These are the stories of the shrimpers, cattle ranchers, former oil workers, families, faith leaders, community organizers, self-described “reluctant activists,” who have come together across political and cultural spectrums in defense of the communities and coastlines they love.
The documentary filmmaker Michelle Esrick (“Saint Misbehavin: The Wavy Gravy Movie”, “Cracked Up”) makes her first appearance on the podcast to discuss an upcoming event she is hosting: Wavy Gravy’s 90th Birthday celebration. The event will take place on Wavy’s 90th birthday which is May 15th, 7PM, at the Presidio Theatre in San Francisco. The Q&A following the screening will include Michelle and Wavy, as well as Wavy’s wife Jahanara Romney and Dr. Larry Brilliant. It will be moderated by author Bob Santelli.
Wavy Gravy is known as the MC of the Woodstock festival, a hippie icon, activist, clown, and even a Ben and Jerry’s ice cream flavor. In “Saint Misbehavin'” we meet a true servant to humanity who carries his message through humor, compassion, and a song he wrote called “Basic Human Needs”. The film weaves together intimate vérité footage, reflections from an array of cultural and counter-cultural peers, and a rich collection of never-before-seen archival footage to tell a story that is bigger than the man himself.
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Actor Michael O’Keefe (“The Great Santini”, “Caddyshack”) is the guest. O’Keefe is in a new indie film called “A Break In The Rain” directed by Don which will be in theaters soon. He’s also has a supporting role in the Jon Hamm series “Your Friends and Neighbors” which is on the Apple TV platform. I did a Q&A with him at the Woodstock Film Festival and asked him on to the podcast to talk about that film as well as working with Robert Duvall back when he was just starting his film career.
https://youtu.be/_wObrwpYgbU?si=o_dciCAK-sa6zIMl
Anne Aghion has been praised as a filmmaker of poetic vision and a unique documentarian whose films, in the words of one critic, “pull us deep into the social fabric“ of the places she covers. She gained international renown for “The Gacaca Series“ (pr. ga-CHA-cha), four films on post- genocide justice and social reconstruction in Rwanda.
There, Anne Aghion charted the emotional impact of a controversial system of justice that returned killers to their homes to live side-by-side with the survivors of unimaginable violence. The final film in the series, “My Neighbor My Killer“ premiered in Official Selection at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival; was nominated for Best Documentary at the Gotham Awards; and earned Aghion the Nestor Almendros Award for courage in filmmaking at the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival. Additionally, other films in the series received an Emmy Award and the UNESCO Fellini Prize.
The 2008 feature “Ice People“ was described by Variety as “staggeringly beautiful,“ and New York Magazine’s noted critic Bilge Ebiri wrote that “it might be the most immersive documentary I’ve ever seen.“ The film, which explores the physical, emotional and spiritual adventure of living and conducting science in Antarctica, was produced with ARTE France and ITVS International in association with Sundance Channel. Her award-winning 1996 directorial debut “Se Le Movió El Piso: A Portrait of Managua (The Earth Moved Under Him),“ examines how Nicaraguan slum dwellers had survived the double ravages of political and natural disasters.
In 2024, Anne Aghion finished “Turbulence“ which poses the question: How do we overcome the heartbreaks, sorrow and traumas we endure or witness, and come out whole? The film, written, directed and produced by Aghion, is made in association with Arte France – La Lucarne, and with the participation of the French Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée, Procirep & Angoa, Jewish Story Partners, and the New York State Council on the Arts.
Anne Aghion has collected numerous prestigious awards for her work, among them a Guggenheim Fellowship. She has earned a host of grants from such organizations as the United States Institute of Peace, the National Science Foundation, the French Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée, and the Soros and Sundance Institute Documentary Funds. She has had residencies at the MacDowell Colony in the United States, the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center, and others.
For “Turbulence“ she also received a Fulbright-Nehru Fellowship to India. She has served as a juror for La Scam’s L’Oeil d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) and the International Documentary Association (IDA), among others. She is an international speaker at universities and has conducted documentary workshops and master classes at film programs in countries including Haiti, India, Morocco, Lebanon, France and the United States. She serves on the board of Camargo Foundation’s French association.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0FgITLEiKEBoth “My Neighbor My Killer“ and “Turbulence“ may now be streamed on the platform kinema.com.
In filmmaker Michael Kellman‘s “Say Less” a night of funny sibling warfare between Cassie and Max takes a sinister turn when Cassie stumbles on a shocking secret hidden in the house. What begins as ammunition to humiliate her brother soon morphs into something much darker. Now Cassie must decide how far she’s willing to go, because the weapon she’s holding doesn’t just threaten Max. It threatens everyone. The film can currently viewe on Amazon Prime Video and other streamers.
https://youtu.be/yWZ1a7oy8iM
Told by operatives in the rooms where it happened, “White With Fear” is a deep dive into the decades-long quest by some of America’s conservative political machine to amass power by exploiting racial fault lines. The documentary will have its broadcast premiere on PBS on Tuesday, March 24, 10PM.
https://youtu.be/7b7993E3Gx0Andrew Goldberg is an Emmy-Award-winning investigative producer, Andrew has directed 14 prime-time documentary specials for PBS/public television, and both longand short-form segments for outlets like CBS News Sunday Morning, ABC News, Live From Lincoln Center, and National Public Radio. His work has appeared on major networks on every continent, and has been supported by more than 250 foundations, corporations and major donors around the world. Visit Andrew’s website somuchfilm.com for more.
Eric K. Ward is Executive Vice President of Race Forward, is a notable civil rights leader and philanthropist rooted in America’s punk rock scene. Ward is a sought-after project collaborator because of his innovative approaches to combating white nationalism, antisemitism and advancing racial justice. The only American recipient of the Civil Courage Prize, Ward’s work bridges grassroots activism and strategic leadership to advance inclusive democracy and social change. Eric is a Senior Fellow with the Southern Poverty Law Center and serves on the boards of The Proteus Fund, The National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, and Auburn Theological Seminary. Eric is a founder of States At The Center (STAC); CultureGuard; and Momentum Magazine’s Wide River Project.
My guests on this episode are part of a pilot for a potential new series called “Woodstockers”. The show will have its world premiere at SxSW beginning today, Saturday, March 14. On this episode is the show runner and cast members Corbin Bernsen (“LA Law”, “My Friends and Neighbors), director Oliver Bernsen and cast member, and very recent podcast guest, Stephen Tobolowsky (“Groundhog Day”, “Memento”).
https://youtu.be/eIH0MpklhHQIn the summer of ’69, Lenny Baker and his best friend Calvin Reddick went to Woodstock. What they witnessed there changed their lives, so much so that they decided to never go home again. Armed with a vision of a new path forward, they built a life in upstate New York alongside Rebecca and Lizzy, two women they met at the festival and married soon after. Decades of willful detachment followed, but every trip has its comedown. Now, more than half a century later and with his marriage up in smoke, Lenny is forced to face a hard truth: the better world they once envisioned never quite arrived… and if it ever does, he won’t be around to see it. Calvin’s sudden death makes that painfully clear.
“Beyond the Duplex Planet” is a feature documentary about artist David Greenberger and his unconventional work with senior citizens. In 1979, fresh out of art school, Greenberger took a job as activities director at the Duplex Nursing Home in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. He began conducting quirky interviews with the home’s senior citizens, rejecting a pat oral history approach in favor of questions that would spark engagement: “Which do you prefer – coffee or meat?” “Why do people spit?” “What do you think George Washington’s voice sounded like?” and “What is embarrassment?” The result of this was The Duplex Planet, an early ‘zine, complete with excerpts from the interviews, as well as offbeat music reviews and poems, unorthodox illustrations and graphics, all by the residents themselves. Over time this material has become the basis for spoken word shows, podcasts, graphic novels and numerous albums, many of these projects featuring well-known artists. Champions and/or collaborators of Greenberger and his senior colleagues include people like magicians Penn & Teller, cartoonists Daniel Clowes and Lynda Barry, musicians Dave Alvin, Bill Frisell, Peter Buck (REM), David Hidalgo and Louie Perez (Los Lobos), artist Ed Ruscha, actors Lili Taylor and Martin Mull, and legions of other fans. Greenberger’s work interviewing seniors continues to this day. Beyond the Duplex Planet explores notions of aging and its intersection with art and community. It’s also a revealing look at the life of an artist devoted to documenting the elderly who is himself moving into his senior years.
The film will have its world premiere at SxSW this month with a number of screenings. And it’s being distributed by Filmwax friend Jim Browne’s Argot Pictures.
Beth Harrington is an Emmy-award winning independent producer, director and writer, whose fervor for American history, music and culture has led to a series of critically acclaimed films. Her independent production Welcome to the Club – The Women of Rockabilly, a music documentary about the pioneering women of rock ‘n’ roll, was honored with a 2003 Grammy nomination and has been seen on public television and at film festivals in the U.S. and abroad. Beth’s most recent work, The Winding Stream – The Carters, The Cashes and The Course of Country Music appeared at over 30 festivals worldwide including a SXSW premiere and has won many top festival awards. Earlier work with WGBH-Boston for the NOVA science series was honored with two national Emmy nominations while her local work with Oregon Public Broadcasting has resulted in six other regional Emmy nominations for historical and public affairs program producing and writing. A rock ‘n’ roll singer and guitarist, she is most noted for her years as a member of Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers on Sire Records.
https://youtu.be/nzgbOeFOFYk
Making his first appearance on the podcast, the Danish filmmaker Jeppe Rønde. His latest feature film is called “Acts of Love” and is currently available on various streamers.
Hanna lives in a New Age Christian community in rural Denmark and longs to have a child. But her sheltered life starts to unravel as the unexpected arrival of her younger brother Jacob stirs up long-buried memories of their troubled past. Will his arrival threaten Hanna’s dream of becoming a mother? And will the members of the community be able to live up to their own rules and beliefs, when they are confronted with the question: who gets to decide over love?
“Acts of Love” investigates the boundaries of love and what happens when we fall outside of society’s norms.
A conversation with the actor, author and storyteller Stephen Tobolowsky. Besides being in countless films and episodics over the past 4 decades, Stephen has done a podcast in which he tells stories. The Tobolowsky Files ran for 99 episodes. He has also made 2 films in which the core is his story telling: “Stephen Tobolowsky’s Birthday Party” and “The Primary Instinct”. He has also written several books including “The Dangerous Animals Club”, “My Adventures with God” and “A Good Day in Auschwitz”. Stephen has been in too many movies to mention though he might be best known for his supporting role in “Groundhog Day” as Ned Ryerson. He has also been in “Memento”, “Thelma and Louise”, and “Spaceballs” to name just a few. He has also had recurring roles in episodic television series such as “Silicon Valley”, “The Mindy Project” and “The Goldbergs”.
https://youtu.be/KdOohkoAiow
The filmmaker John Sayles (“Eight Men Out”, “The Brother From Another Planet”) returns for his 3rd visit. In addition to the 18 feature films he has written and directed, he is also a longtime author of novels. His latest, “Crucible” is now available where books are sold.
From the Oscar-nominated filmmaker comes a complex and sweeping historical novel about Henry Ford — the Elon Musk of his day — and his attempt to rule not only an automotive empire but the rambunctious city of Detroit. It is an epic tale ranging from the 1920s through the second World War, featuring violent labor disputes, misbegotten jungle expeditions, a tragic race riot, and the gestapo tactics of Ford’s private army . . .
Already the gateway for illegal Canadian liquor during Prohibition, the Motor City becomes a crucible for American class conflict during the Great Depression, with an army of laid off Ford workers drifting into the ranks of the burgeoning union movement — Henry Ford’s worst nightmare. To keep the hundreds of thousands still employed by him in thrall, the man who was formerly ‘America’s favorite tycoon’ recruits black laborers migrating from the deep South to serve as ‘strike insurance’, and gives Harry Bennett, pugnacious as he is diminutive, free reign over the legion of barroom brawlers and ex-cons who make up the company’s ‘Security Department’.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_cHq5UhYRIThe Model T mogul has also bought a sizable chunk of Brazil’s Amazonian rainforest, vowing to grow his own rubber for tires, but stubbornly refusing to include a botanist in his troop of would-be jungle tamers. As a series of biological plagues descend on the Fordlandia plantation, the racial melting pot he has created in Detroit begins to boil over, and not even the Sage of Dearborn can control the forces that have been unleashed.
The novel’s cast — Ford workers black and white and their families, young radicals, cynical newsmen, gangsters, Brazilian rubber tappers, cameos from boxer Joe Louis and muralist Diego Rivera — create the tapestry of differing points of view that John Sayles has become famous for, the events portrayed fundamental to the country we live in today.
My guests are documentary filmmaker Robert Stone and NASA Scientist and Science Fiction author Gentry Lee. Lee is the central subject of Stone’s new documentary “Starman” which is in theaters as of Friday, February 6.
In this intergalactic biopic, we follow Gentry Lee, Chief Engineer for Planetary Exploration at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and sci-fi writer, on his journey to space and on Earth. From the Viking and Voyager missions to co-authoring the actual future with Arthur C. Clarke, Lee’s life has been spent with his head in the stars and his feet on the ground. In this visually stunning documentary, the octogenarian Starman reflects on decades of space exploration alongside friends like Carl Sagan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYjTbGLgyhk&t=5s
Filmmaker Ondi Timoner (“We Live in Public”, “Last Flight Home”) returns to the podcast to discuss her latest work of non-fiction, “All The Walls Came Down”. I also welcome back one of the film’s subjects, Heavenly Hughes, who is a founder of the organization My Tribe Rise.
The film had its world premiere at the 52nd Telluride Film Festival on August 31, 2025. It was shortlisted for the Best Documentary Short Film at the 98th Academy Awards. Timoner processes her shock and grief by picking up a camera after losing her family home in Los Angeles’ Eaton Fire in 2025. The result is “All The Walls Came Down”, a personal story of her community, ravaged by climate catastrophe, and the remarkable resilience that rallies in its wake.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3gVzwiNW5E
The filmmaker Dan Mirvish (“18 1/2”, “Bernard & Huey”) is back on Filmwax to discuss his latest project, “Atomic Fondue”. He has launched a Kickstarter campaign which is currently raising initial funds to get the film off the ground and to begin spreading the word. An elevated Cold War thriller/comedy,
https://youtu.be/JiDjZ0GjmI4?si=hs4QqgBOSl3538WO“Atomic Fondue” is an upcoming American independent fiction feature film from me – award-winning filmmaker Dan Mirvish – and my amazing team of experienced collaborators. It’s going to be a fun, thrilling, sexy movie that we’re going to film next summer, and we’re excited to have you join the team and get involved!
Author Joseph McBride returns once again to the podcast. He brings a new book, the result of a long interview by film critic and friend Danny Peary. The book, published by Sticking Place Books, is called “I Loved Movies, But…” which is a deep exploration into the life and career of McBride. Now available wherever books are sold.
https://youtu.be/SZp7WGYdP0E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxMerqB0nrsPalestinian American actor and filmmaker Cherien Debis (“Amreka”, “May in the Summer”) returns to the podcast with her latest film, “All That’s Left of You” which is currently in theaters. A deeply moving, multigenerational drama, “All That’s Left of You” follows a Palestinian teenager who gets swept into a protest in the Occupied West Bank and experiences a moment of violence that rocks his family. The film unfolds as his mother recounts the political and emotional threads that led to that fateful moment. Spanning seven decades, the film traces the hopes and heartaches of one uprooted family, bearing witness to the scars of dispossession and the enduring legacy of survival. Jordan’s Official Selection for the 98th Academy Awards.
Cherien’s prior visit to Filmwax Radio in August of 2022.
Marshall Curry (“Street Fight”, “Racing Dreams”) returns to the podcast after a number of years. Curry was one of Filmwax’s first guests.,having appeared on Episode 6 back in 2011 around the time his documentary “If a Tree Falls” came out.
Curry’s latest work is “The New Yorker at 100” which is currently streaming exclusively on Netflix. The New Yorker’s centennial reveals behind-the-scenes access to editors, writers and archives of this culturally vital magazine, one of print’s last survivors.
https://youtu.be/PPjNYmgJDZ4
Returning to the podcast after seven years, the filmmaker Gus Van Sant (“Drug Store Cowboy”, Good Will Hunting”) with a new film called “Dead Man’s Wire”.
Based on a true story, the 1977 kidnapping of a prominent banker grips the nation and turns the abductor into an outlaw folk hero. As the media frenzy peaks, the standoff becomes a spectacle of desperation, defiance and blurred justice, which resonates even today. The film stars Bill Skarsgård in the main role as Tony Kiritsis, alongside an ensemble cast that includes Dacre Montgomery, Cary Elwes, Myha’la, Colman Domingo, and Al Pacino. “Dead Man’s Wire” opens Friday, January 9th in select theaters and then goes wide nationally on Friday, January 16th.
https://youtu.be/42O-lJfP5Lw
Jonah Feingold (“Dating and New York”) returns to the podcast to discuss his latest film “31 Candles” currently in theaters. When a Jewish film director who makes Christmas movies in New York City decides to have his Bar Mitzvah at the age of 31, he must navigate situationships, exes, and family to complete his Mitzvah project and impress his childhood camp crush. Inspired by Jonah Feingold’s life, 31 Candles is a heartwarming rom-com about love, identity, and growing up—eventually.
https://youtu.be/hZ_8q3CSJH4
The non-fiction filmmaker Lynne Sachs returns to Filmwax for another memorable visit. Lynne has a new film, “Every Contract Leaves a Trace”, which is to have its world premiere at IDFA in Amsterdam on November 17th:
Synopsis (from IDFA website): Since 1990, filmmaker Lynne Sachs has collected 600 business cards—from a hairdresser, a therapist, a textile artist. Together they form an archive of encounters. The title of this imaginative essay film, Every Contact Leaves a Trace, is a basic principle of forensic science, coined by Edmond Locard, a pioneer in the field. And any trace can link a person to a place, another person or an object. If that’s true, Sachs wonders, might every personal encounter not also leave a trace on your being? To find out, she tracks down some of the people behind the business cards. The thread connecting these hundreds of cards is Sachs herself, so the filmmaker naturally becomes the center of the film. Yet the focus is not on her; as in many of her works spanning more than three decades of film making, she merely provides the perspective—the point of departure. With her warm, contemplative voice-over and playful visual invention, Sachs weaves countless faces and voices into a patchwork of connections. These encounters—whether forgotten or remembered, faint or vivid—have become part of her being.
https://youtu.be/1LV-r6VDUfM
The world premiere of Filmwax friend the filmmaker Alan Berliner‘s “Benita” will take place at DOC NYC. “Benita” is about experimental documentary filmmaker Benita Raphan who died by suicide during the loneliness of the COVID-19 shutdowns. DOC NYC 2024 Lifetime Achievement filmmaker Alan Berliner, who was her friend and creative advisor, creates a kind of posthumous collaboration with Benita on her final project, using as many of her images, sounds, and words as possible. BENITA is a deep dive into the many complexities of artists’ lives, from the whimsical to core existential questions, and lessons we can learn about the intersection of mental health and creativity. – Jaie Laplante of DOC NYC Screenings: Friday, 11/14 7PM at the IFC Center & Sunday, 11/16 11:30 AM at Village East.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dk-lAX_947Q
The filmmaker Heidi Levitt returns to the podcast for her 2nd visit. She was on last October when her documentary “Walk With Me” was about to have its Hudson Valley premiere at the 2024 Woodstock Film Festival. Over four years of filming with Heidi as director and care partner, they crisscross the country, redefining how life will be lived to its fullest. Charlie’s charm, warmth, and appeal take center stage, illuminating a story of love and a reminder that life is really about our relationships.
“Walk With Me” is currently enjoying a theatrical run at the Laemmle Monica Film Center in Los Angeles. It will also be having a theatrical at the Cinema Village in NYC beginning November 20th.
The actor Louis Cancelmi (“The Irishman”, “Killers of the Flower Moon”) returns to the podcast to discuss his craft and his recent role in the Sundance hit film “Sorry, Baby”. He’s also in the current episodic series “Government Cheese” on Apple TV+.
https://youtu.be/vZ62V8CvslY
The 2nd Annual Borscht Belt Film Fest takes place Friday, October 31st through Sunday, November 2nd in Ellenville, NY. One of the main events will take place on the first evening when comedian Judy Gold will be honored with the first ever Mensch Award. Included is a seriously intimate and casual chat with Gold about her extensive career and how her Jewish identity and the Borscht Belt shaped it. Moderated by Alan Katz, Founder & CEO of The Mountains Media. After a Q&A, Gold will sign her book about freedom of speech, “Yes I Can Say That: When They Come for The Comedians We Are All in Trouble“. For the full schedule of screenings and special events visit the festival’s website. I also have the film festival’s director Melody Gilbert and programmer Jay Blotcher on this episode for a lively conversation about what you can expect to see later this month.
Photo credit: Justine Ungaro
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hPb5K_Qwj0&t=1403shttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbwnxgUV8z0
The legendary composer, arranger, musician and penny whistle player, David Amram, will be in conversation with Academy Award documentary filmmaker Barbara Kopple at the Woodstock Film Festival on Sunday, 10/19 12 noon. The venue is the Kleinert/James Art Center, 34 Tinker St, Woodstock. David Amram started his professional life in music as a French Hornist in the National Symphony Orchestra (Washington, D.C.) in 1951. After serving in the US Army from 1952-54, he moved to New York City in 1955 and played French horn in the legendary jazz bands of Charles Mingus, Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton and Oscar Pettiford. In 1957, he created and performed in the first ever Jazz/Poetry readings in New York City with novelist Jack Kerouac, a close friend with whom Amram collaborated artistically for over 12 years. Since the early 1950s, he has traveled the world extensively, working as a musician and a conductor in over thirty-five countries including Cuba, Kenya, Egypt, Pakistan, Israel, Latvia and China. He also regularly crisscrosses the United States and Canada.He composed the scores for many films including Pull My Daisy (1959), Splendor In The Grass (1960) and The Manchurian Candidate (1962). He composed the scores for Joseph Papp’s Shakespeare In The Park from 1956-1967 and premiered his comic opera 12th Night with Papp’s libretto in 1968. He also wrote a second opera, The Final Ingredient, An Opera of the Holocaust, for ABC Television in 1965. From 1964-66, Amram was the Composer and Music Director for the Lincoln Center Theatre and wrote the scores for Arthur Miller´s plays After The Fall (1964) and Incident at Vichy (1966). Appointed by Leonard Bernstein as the first Composer In Residence for the New York Philharmonic in 1966, he is now one of the most performed and influential composers of our time.
For tickets & details: https://woodstockfilmfestival.org/2025-all-events?eventId=68c4216f81b8e06c5bb8c1fc
In the year 2010, writer/performer/provocateur Chad Holt and filmmaker Bob Ray teamed up to make a vérité style documentary about Chad Holt’s last six months of felony probation, his life, his creative output, and his relentless dick-centric drive. Despite some critical hullabaloo, their doc, “Total Badass“, went mostly unseen due in no small part to the aforementioned dick flopping across the screen. Unsatisfied, they planned to bring the doc directly to the people themselves and set forth on eleven weeks of touring around America screening the flick. Come jail or high water, this is their trip.
https://youtu.be/ccypQwym4XEhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lqgc-aqA720
The filmmaker Steven Feinartz (“The Bitter Buddha”) makes his first appearance on the podcast. His new documentary is called “Are We Good?”.
“Are We Good?”,which premiered out of SXSW Film & TV Festival and screened out of Tribeca Festival is not a biopic, nor is it a stand-up routine film – it is a look at one person’s process through grief told with honesty, humanity, and humor.
The touching documentary not only dives into the career and life of comedian and podcast pioneer Marc Maronbut focuses on his process grieving the loss of his partner Lynn Shelton who passed during Covid, as well as his relationship with his declining father. Like Marc, the doc beautifully balances humor and heart and shows us that even during times of grief there is room for laughter.
https://youtu.be/l583VoPYn3o“Are We Good?” features exclusive interviews for the film with comics such as Nate Bargatze, John Mulaney, David Cross, Michaela Watkins, W. Kamau Bell, Laurie Kilmartin, Sam Lipsyte, Brendan McDonald as well as obtain podcast footage from Marc’s interviews with President Barack Obama, Andrew Garfield, Patton Oswalt and many more.
Directed by Steven Feinartz who is an established filmmaker with over 15 comedy specials and series including “Matt Braunger: Big Dumb Animal”, “Eddie Pepitone: In Ruins”, “Sklar Brothers: Hipster Ghosts” and “The Comedy Show Show”. Steven also directed Marc’s recent special “Marc Maron: Panicked” for HBO.
Utopiawill release the film in theaters in NY and LA on October 3rd and nationwide theatrical events on October 5th & 8th.
The theatrical releasee will coincide with the end of Maron’s enormously popular podcast WTF. 16 years in, WTF is one of the most streamed and longest running podcasts of all time.
My guest is Claire Jeffreys who has made her directorial debut with a documentary about her husband Garland Jeffreys. It’s currently available to stream on Apple TV, Google Play, Prime Video and YouTube.
In the late 1970s, many of music’s top tastemakers felt sure Garland Jeffreys would become the next big thing. Rolling Stone named him the “most promising artist” of 1977. The prestigious PBS program Soundstage predicted he would become “the next performer to lay claim to superstardom.”
That sense of missed opportunity forms the emotional core of a new documentary about the star titled “Garland Jeffreys: The King of In Between“. The title refers both to Jeffreys’ musical style — an uncategorizable mix of rock, reggae, and soul — and to his identity as the mixed-race son of a Black father and a Puerto Rican mother who struggled to find his place in the overwhelmingly white world of ’70s and ’80s rock. With fellow artists Laurie Anderson, Bruce Springsteen, Harvey Keitel, Vernon Reid, Alejandro Escovedo, Graham Parker, writers Robert Christgau, David Hajdu, Jamaica Kincaid and Roger Guenveur Smith, this is a warm and intimate look at an artist who belongs in the conversation.
The great troubadour, Chris Smither, is the guest. In addition to releasing 20 albums of mostly original material and touring for over 40 years, Smither recently made his acting debut in a short film called “The Singers” which premiered at SxSW this past Spring. “The Singers” is a film adaptation of a 19th-century short story written by Ivan Turgenev, in which a lowly pub full of downtrodden men connect unexpectedly through an impromptu sing-off. The film explores the complexities of masculinity and the power of vulnerability through art. Smither’s most recently album is called “All About the Bones”. He will be performing at Kingston’s Assembly on a double bill with Loudon Wainwright III on Thursday, September 18th.
https://youtu.be/LPAJExna7bE
Filmwax Radio is proud to welcome 3 female documentary filmmakers to the podcast for their first time.
First up is the filmmaker Wendy Lobel. “Anxiety Club” provides an intimate and humorous look at anxiety through the eyes and minds of some of the most brilliant comedians working today. Marc Maron, Tiffany Jenkins, Baron Vaughn, Aparna Nancherla, Mark Normand, Eva Victor and Joe List offer candid reflections on their relationship with anxiety through exclusive interviews, standup performances, sketch videos, therapy sessions, and everyday life. With rare access to private therapy sessions, the film follows comedian Tiffany Jenkins (a content creator with over 9 million followers) as she undergoes behavioral therapy, capturing the profound changes her treatment brings about. Others find support from alternative sources, such as world-renowned meditation expert Tara Brach, PhD, or the psychologist-in-residence at The Laugh Factory, or simply from mentors in the comedy community. All of the comedians in “Anxiety Club” have created standup or sketch material about their mental health that is not only funny but uniquely relatable and disarming to audiences. With comedy, vulnerability, and honesty, these comedians provide remarkable insight into anxiety – the most prevalent mental health disorder affecting an estimated 300 million people worldwide.
Then filmmakers Steph Ching and Ellen Martinez with their PBS documentary “Slumlord Millionaire“. Winner of the Audience Award at the 2024 DOC NYC Film Festival, “Slumlord Millionaire” explores the rapid gentrification of New York City neighborhoods and the housing crisis sweeping not only New York but the nation. Median rents nationwide are higher than ever, and in Manhattan, the average rent is now almost $5,000 per month. As rents increase, some landlords have become aggressive in getting long-term tenants to leave: ignoring repairs, turning off heat and gas, and doing nothing to eliminate mold and vermin infestations. The landlord’s goal is to make the apartment so uninhabitable that residents are forced out, allowing them to deregulate the apartment and turn it over to market rate for a high profit. These actions drive up costs in the already unaffordable housing market and displace families who make up the fabric of these neighborhoods, changing communities forever. “Slumlord Millionaire,” premieres on the PBS series VOCES on Monday, July 28, 2025, 10:00-11:30 p.m. ET (check local listings) on PBS, PBS.org and the PBS app.
Filmwax friend Julia Loktev returns to the podcast for her third visit. Last Fall the first part of her epic documentary premiered at the New York Film Festival. This Friday, August 15th “My Undesirable Friends: Part 1 — Last Air in Moscow” will have its theatrical premiere at Film Forum in New York City.
Moscow, winter 2021: At TV Rain, the only remaining independent channel, young journalists have been branded foreign agents— targeted for surveillance or worse, and required to tag their reporting with a disclaimer that they are serving foreign powers. Regardless: Ksyusha furiously produces and edits stories to distract herself from her fellow-journalist fiancé’s imprisonment; Anya hosts everyday heroes of resistance on her interview show, while shielding both her sanity and her young daughter from the regime’s relentless fuckery; Sonya produces the “Hi, You’re a Foreign Agent” podcast at her kitchen table while beholding her empty living room (why buy a sofa when who knows what will happen to her?); Alesya fends off anxiety that her office has been bugged, while hiding her relationship with her girlfriend from her traditional mother. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is just weeks away, as these Gen-Z heroines confront propagandist absurdity and personal endangerment, fighting for the soul of a country they love to the bitter end.
Returning to the podcast in this first segment is the documentary filmmaker Lisa D’Apolito (“Love, Gilda”). Coming-of-age can be difficult, but is always more bearable when you have someone who connects with you on a cellular level. Shari Lewis – a children’s television pioneer before Fred Rogers, Jim Henson, and others – was one of those people. She was a dancer, singer, and magician, but was best known as the ventriloquist behind sock puppets Charlie Horse, Hush Puppy and, of course, Lamb Chop. This heartfelt and entertaining doc charts the life, loves, and career hits and misses of the spunky perfectionist who forever changed the face of children’s television. Featuring ventriloquists she inspired and nostalgia-laden clips, this upbeat portrait brims, like Lewis, with warmth and charm. “Shari & Lamp Chop“is the tonic we all need to reconnect with our inner children, and celebrate pure imagination. “Shari & Lamp Chop” is currently enjoying a theatrical run. Visit the website for details.
Returning to the podcast in the second segment is the documentary filmmaker Daniel Kremer. He was last on the podcast back in May of 2018. Perhaps at first glance, the filmography of Silvio Narizzano appears unremarkable. Thanks to his sleeper hit “Georgy Girl” (1966), he’s known largely as a ‘one-hit wonder’ director. Upon closer inspection, however, likely no other filmmaker used cinema as effectively to exorcise personal demons in ways both ugly and beautiful. And few directors’ sensibilities were more gay, both overtly and covertly. Film historian Daniel Kremer is your tour guide through an obscure, perplexing body of work heretofore ignored and often unfairly shunned. “Cruel, Usual, Necessary: The Passion of Silvio Narizzano” is an essay documentary of discovery. —Imprint Films
In the first segment, a returning Michael Koresky (“Films of Endearment”), the Museum of the Moving Image’s editorial director, with his latest book “Sick and Dirty: Hollywood’s Gay Golden Age and the Making of Modern Queerness” (Bloomsbury, 2025). The book is an original history celebrating the persistence of queerness onscreen, behind the camera, and between the lines during the dark days of the Hollywood Production Code.
From the 1930s to the 1960s, the Motion Picture Production Code severely restricted what Hollywood cinema could depict. This included ‘any inference’ of the lives of homosexuals. Gay activist Vito Russo famously condemned Hollywood’s censorship regime, lambasting many midcentury films as the bigoted products of his titular “Celluloid Closet.” Koresky reexamines these scorned films to tell the story of how filmmakers, straight and queer, in-the-closet and out-in-the-open, smuggled queer themes and ideas into their work, incrementally paving the way for recognition and representation.
There is more to the movies during this period of popular filmmaking than meets the eye: The Golden Age set in motion many of the ways we still talk about queerness in the twenty-first century. In this insightful, wildly entertaining book, cinema historian Michael Koresky finds new meaning in ‘problematic”’ classics of the Code era like Hitchcock’s “Rope,” Minnelli’s “Tea and Sympathy”, and—bookending the period and anchoring Koresky’s narrative—William Wyler’s two adaptations of “The Children’s Hour,” Lillian Hellman’s provocative hit play about a pair of schoolteachers accused of lesbianism.
Lifting up the under-appreciated queer filmmakers, writers, and actors of the era, Koresky finds artists who are long overdue for reevaluation. Through his brilliant analysis, “Sick and Dirty” reveals the ‘bad seeds’ of queer cinema to be surprisingly, even gleefully subversive, reminding us, in an age of book bans and gag laws, that nothing makes queerness speak louder than its opponents’ bids to silence it.
In the second segment, Filmwax friend Josh Karp returns once again to discuss his latest article for the online magazine, Air Mail: “The Miracle at the Truck Stop“, about the long shuttered Burt Reynolds Theater in Jupiter, Florida. At the height of his fame, Burt Reynolds had a dream: to open a dinner theater in the middle of nowhere!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szjlaU00vKw
“Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmakers Apocalypse” (1991), the award-winning documentary chronicling the tumultuous making of Francis Ford Coppola’s “Apocalypse Now” recently had a theatrical run at New York’s Film Forum in a new 4K restoration.
In the late 1970s, director Francis Ford Coppola, accompanied by his family and cast and crew, travelled to the Philippines to begin work on what would become “Apocalypse Now”. But it soon became one of the most notorious shoots in cinema history, spiraling into a hellish, life-threatening nightmare. Chronicling the drama was Coppola’s wife, the late Eleanor Coppola, who shot extensive behind-the-scenes footage of the shoot in 16mm, and recorded audio interviews with her husband and others involved in the movie’s making.
In the early ’90s, Eleanor turned her 16mm footage and audio interviews over to filmmakers George Hickenlooper and podcast guest Fax Bahr, who then interwove it with new interviews with the movie’s cast members (including Martin Sheen and Dennis Hopper) and observers (like George Lucas). After a year of editing, the new documentary debuted at the Cannes Film Festival.
Says Filmwax Radio guest James Mockoski, Film Archivist and Restoration Supervisor at American Zoetrope, “For the past 30 years, Eleanor’s 16mm behind-the-scenes footage has been three to four generations removed from the original elements. For this new release and restoration of the documentary, Francis decided to scan the original sources in 4K. The extensive excerpts from the feature are now presented in their original 2.39:1 aspect ratio, rather than being letterboxed into a 4×3 frame.”
“Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmakers Apocalypse” has been restored by American Zoetrope from the original negative, with a re-mixed 5.1 soundtrack. Co-director Fax Bahr approved the grading, with the final seal of approval given by Francis Ford Coppola. Grading carried out at Roundabout Entertainment, Burbank, California.
In the first segment of this episode I am joined by the producers Fisher Stevens and Maura Anderson of Highly Flammable. They have 2 documentaries that want you to know about. One is “We Are Guardians” directed by the team of Edivan Guajajara, Rob Grobman and Chelsea Greene. In the heart of the Brazilian Amazon, thousands of people are unlawfully invading protected lands, devastating centuries-old forests for resources and fast profits. Now as the health of the entire Amazon teeters at the edge, will Brazil and the world take notice? “We Are Guardians” is having its theatrical premiere starting today, Friday, July 11th at the Village East in NYC. Check the website for other screenings near you. Also we discuss another of their films: “A King Like Me” directed by Matthew Henderson which is currently on Netflix. Follows members of the Zulu Club, New Orleans’ first Black Mardi Gras, as they work to bring the Zulu parade back to the streets for Mardi Gras Day 2022, in the face of a global pandemic, hurricane Ida and the loss of members due to COVID and gun violence.
Then I talk to film producer Chris Walters and muralist, artist, and fashion designer Mike Norice abut a film they collaborated on called “Artfully United” directed by Dave Benner. A project 10 years in the making, the documentary “Artfully United” follows street artist and fashion entrepreneur Mike Norice as he creates a series of inspirational murals in underserved neighborhoods in and around Los Angeles. Mike’s Artfully United Tour transforms from a simple idea on a wall to a community of artists and activists coming together to heal and uplift the city they call home. As the murals are unveiled, the gritty documentary explores the forces that shape the streets of L.A. and those that shape Mike as an artist, delving into his past to create a rich tapestry of family and faith, love and loss, music, hope, and life. The film will be screening at the Greenpoint Film Festival on August 8th at 8pm.
My guests today are the filmmaker Jonathan Berman, director of “Commune“, Elliott Sharp, the film’s composer, and one of its producers, Christian Ettinger.
In 1968, two hippies hiking near Mt. Shasta in Northern California stumbled across an unlikely property for sale: an abandoned goldmine and surrounding land, 300 acres for $22,000. Fueled by contributions from the Doors, the Monkees, Frank Zappa and others, they bought the property and named it Black Bear Ranch. It quickly became the prototypical 1960s commune, with the motto “Free Land for Free People.”
Utopian communities have always been a part of the United States, but in the 60’s and 70’s their audacious goal was to reshape the world with free love and common property – creating a revolutionary movement that would spread to the rest of society. But utopia is different for each person, and these experiments often brought strife, jealousy and sometimes even endangered lives.
Featuring interviews with several Black Bear alumni, including actor/activist Peter Coyote, alongside a wealth of photographs and home movies, this acclaimed documentary offers a candid look into the joys and difficulties of free love, nude farming, survival in the wilderness, multiple-parent childrearing and other fascinating aspects of communal living.
“Commune” is enjoying a new theatrical release based on its recent 4K restoration. It will be screening at DCTV’s Firehouse Cinema beginning Friday, July 11th.
“Death & Taxes” is a feature documentary about wealth, inequality and the American Dream, viewed through the lens of the estate tax and the very personal story of a father and son at odds over what kind of inheritance we want to leave our kids and our country. Filmmaker Justin Schein’s father, Harvey Schein, liked to say he lived the so-called “American Dream:” rising from poverty in Depression-era Brooklyn to great financial success as one of America’s top CEOs of the 1970s. But Harvey Schein also spent the last 20 years of his life fixated on trying to keep his hard-earned wealth from the taxman—an obsession that almost broke the Schein family apart. More broadly, inherited wealth and the tax system that shields it have badly distorted American democracy, perpetuating racial and economic inequity in the country. Filmed over more than 20 years and weaving intimate family footage with interviews with prominent experts from all sides of the debate, DEATH & TAXES tells this crucial story through the tale of one American family.
My guest in this episode are documentary filmmaker Jake Rademacher whose new film “Brothers After War“, a follow up to his 2009 documentary “Brothers At War”, is currently available on DVD and digital platforms. He’s joined by his Executive Producer Gary Sinise (“Forrest Gump”, “The Green Mile”).
“Brothers After War” finds Rademacher on a journey to reconnect with the veterans (including his two brothers) he embedded with in Iraq during the making of the first film. Combining footage from his time in Iraq with a journey around the World to reunite with the members of these elite combat units, Jake furthers his mission of helping service members and their families navigate the challenges of deployment and life beyond service.
More about The Gary Sinise Foundation.
My guests are multi-hyphenate creatives and frequent collaborators Edgar Morais and Luke Eberl.
Edgar Morais is a filmmaker, photographer and actor. His directorial debut, the short film”Heatstroke”, screened in competition at PÖFF, Maryland, ISFF Detmold, FEST New Directors New Films, IndieLisboa among others and won the CinEuphoria award for Best Screenplay. His second short film, “We Won’t Forget”, world premiered in competition at Palm Springs ShortFest and screened at over 25 festivals worldwide including, Hamptons IFF, IndieLisboa, Woodstock, Tirana, Dresden, Rooftop Films, and Rio de Janeiro. It received the Grand Jury Prize and the award for Best Editing at Castrovillari, the Honorable Mention at FEST New Directors New Films and was selected as Vimeo Staff Pick and Short of the Week. The film received a nomination for a Portuguese Academy Award (Sophia) for Best Short Film. Edgar has directed music videos for bands such as Mothxr and Grammy-nominated Shiny Toy Guns. As an actor, he has worked with directors such as Teresa Sutherland, Victoria Mahoney, and Tiago Guedes in films that have screened at Cannes, Venice, Fantasia, Gothenburg, Vila do Conde, and Rotterdam. Edgar received recent widespread critical acclaim for his starring turn in Albania’s submission to the Oscars “A Cup of Coffee and New Shoes On” (Fischer Audience Award winner at Thessaloniki IFF) earning him the award for Best Actor at the Prishtina IFF as well as rave reviews for his performance from the likes of Variety and Screen Daily.
Luke Eberl is a filmmaker and actor. His directorial feature film debut, “Choose Connor” screened at Rome Film Festival, Seattle, Newport Beach, Woodstock, CineVegas and Philadelphia, where it won the Jury Prize for Best American Independent. It was released theatrically and on video by Strand Releasing to outstanding reviews by the likes of The New York Times, Los Angeles Times and Washington Post. Luke was subsequently named one of the “10 Young Americans to Watch” by Eric Kohn in MovieMaker Magazine. He has directed music videos for bands such as Mothxr and Grammy-nominated Shiny Toy Guns and the short film “We Won’t Forget” which screened at over 25 festivals including Palm Springs ShortFest, Hamptons IFF, Woodstock, Tirana, Dresden, Rooftop Films, IndieLisboa and Rio de Janeiro and won the Grand Jury Prize and the award for Best Editing at Castrovillari, the Honorable Mention at FEST New Directors New Films, was nominated for a Portuguese Academy Award (Sophia) for Best Short Film and was selected as Vimeo Staff Pick and Short of the Week. As an actor he has worked with directors such as Tim Burton, Alfonso Arau, Vincent Paterson, Peter Hoar, and Clint Eastwood on his Oscar-winning “Letters from Iwo Jima”.
Music in this episode by Kaki King.
This episode celebrates two new outstanding documentaries that have been in the festival circuit these past months. Filmmaker Sasha Wortzel makes both her feature documentary directorial debut with “River of Grass”, and on Filmwax as well.
“River of Grass” is a present-day reimagining of environmentalist Marjory Stoneman Douglas’s celebrated book, “The Everglades: River of Grass,” (1947), which transformed the public’s understanding of the area from worthless swamps to an essential source of freshwater, enabling the ecosystem to endure, just barely, today. In the wake of a hurricane, Douglas visits filmmaker Sasha Wortzel in a dream and catalyzes a prismatic study of a wilderness that is home to a rich history and a site of resistance in the face of climate collapse. Wortzel reads Douglas’s book and joins prayer walks through the Everglades with Miccosukee educator Betty Osceola, transporting the audience through the watershed past and present. We meet a mother taking on the polluting sugar industry; a Two-Spirit Miccosukee environmentalist and poet; a mother daughter team removing snakes wreaking havoc on the ecosystem; and a family who have fished in the Everglades for six generations. Interweaving Douglas’s writing, present-day verité, and archival glimpses, “River of Grass” reveals how this country’s origin story haunts and inextricably shapes contemporary American life, while asking how we might weather coming storms better together.
Then in the second segment, I am joined by first-time guests, co-directors of “The Invisible Doctrine“, Lucas Sabean and Peter Hutchison. “The Invisible Doctrine” – featuring activist & best-selling author George Monbiot – deconstructs the roots, secretive propagation and deep impact of a doctrine that has played a profound role in transforming our economics, politics, environment, and even how we’ve come to view ourselves – converting us from citizens to consumers in the process.
The Texas based filmmaker Bryan Poyser returns for his 3rd visit to the podcast. It’s been 11 years since he visited. His new film, a comedy, is called “Leads” and will be having its world premiere this week at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Written and directed by two-time Independent Spirit Award nominee Bryan Poyser, Leads is a sharp, spirited comedy about second acts and sibling chaos. Mags (Heather Kafka) is a drama lecturer with a steady job, a kid to raise, and her dreams of artistic greatness on the back burner — until her charmingly unpredictable younger brother Merritt (Justin Arnold) shows up out of nowhere… and signs up for her acting class. What starts as an awkward reunion quickly spirals into a hilariously messy journey as old wounds, big ambitions, and way-too-honest monologues bubble to the surface. With Mags trying to maintain control and Merritt stirring the pot, the class turns into a chaotic proving ground for everyone’s creative (and personal) baggage.
Poyser turns the classroom into a comedic pressure cooker, where drama — both scripted and unscripted — explodes in surprising, heartfelt, and laugh-out-loud ways. With standout performances from Kafka and Arnold, plus a winning ensemble that includes Macon Blair and Sara Paxton, Leads is a love letter to late bloomers, awkward family reunions, and the beautiful mess of trying to make art — and sense — of your life. —Cara Cusumano (Tribeca Film Festival)
https://youtu.be/aUj9N5OfwEs
Struggling documentarian Simon (Tristan Turner) relies on the unique perk of his roommate and best friend Bruce’s (Anthony Oberbeck) airline job: free flights as his travel companion, which he indulges in frequently to shoot footage for his films. When Beatrice (Naomi Asa), a charming fellow up-and-coming filmmaker, enters their lives and starts to date Bruce, Simon fears his one advantage in the harsh world of the film industry may disappear before his eyes. Increasingly obsessed and unable to adapt to the evolving dynamics of his friendship, his relentless fixation on his precious travel companion status causes a tension that builds to irreversible levels.
Filmmaker duo Travis Wood and Alex Mallis’ strong feature debut announces them as an exciting collaborative voice. With hilarious deadpan humor and excellent understated performances, “The Travel Companion“offers a deft and painfully comedic insight into the push and pull of aspiring filmmakers’ woes, the inner turmoil when professional and personal jealousies collide, and the growing pains of long term friendships.—Celeste Wong (Tribeca Film Festival)
The Tribeca Film Festival World Premiere of “The Travel Companion” will screen on Thursday, June 5th, 8:30 PM at the Village East Cinema in NYC. The filmmakers will be present at the Q&A. There are 4 more subsequent screenings. Visit the website for tickets and details.
Founder and Artistic Director of the Berkshires International Film Festival, Kelley Vickery makes her 3rd appearance on the podcast. The 19th festival runs May 29th through June 3rd in Great Barrington, MA and Lenox, MA.
Rob King returns to the podcast. He is a professor of film and media studies at Columbia University’s School of the Arts. He is the author of “Hokum! The Early Sound Slapstick Short and Depression-Era Mass Culture” (2017) and “The Fun Factory: The Keystone Film Company and the Emergence of Mass Culture” (2009). And now Rob has a new book “Man of Taste: The Erotic Cinema of Radley Metzger” (Columbia University Press, 2025). We are joined by novelist Cathy Brown who has some background behind the camera in the adult film industry.
https://youtu.be/9kvinUaOKKkRadley Metzger was one of the foremost directors of adult film in America, with credits including softcore titles like “The Lickerish Quartet” and the hardcore classic “The Opening of Misty Beethoven“. After getting his start making arthouse trailers for Janus Films, Metzger would go on to become among the most feted directors of the porno chic ‘era of the 1970s, working under the pseudonym Henry Paris. In the process, he produced a body of work that exposed the porous boundaries separating art cinema from adult film, softcore from hardcore, and good taste from bad.
Rob King uses Metzger’s work to explore what taste means and how it works, tracing the evolution of the adult film industry and the changing frontiers of cultural acceptability. “Man of Taste” spans Metzger’s entire life: his early years in Manhattan’s Washington Heights neighborhood, his attempt to bring arthouse aesthetics to adult film in the 1960s, his turn to pseudonymously directed hardcore movies in the 1970s, and his final years, which included making videos on homeopathic medicine. Metzger’s career, King argues, sheds light on how the distinction between the erotic and the pornographic is drawn, and it offers an uncanny reflection of the ways American film culture transformed during these decades.
After 10 years, the filmmaker and author Alex R. Johnson returns to the podcast.
Alex R. Johnson is a writer and filmmaker who lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. His feature film “Two Step” premiered to critical acclaim at SXSW in 2014 and went on to become a New York Times Critic’s Pick. His screenplay “Northeast Kingdom” was selected for the 2016 Black List, and his screenplay “Any Rough Times Are Now Behind You” was selected by the Austin Film Society’s Artist Intensive lab where he was mentored by late director Jonathan Demme. He also wrote the screenplay adaptation of Ernest Tidyman’s novel, “Big Bucks”, for Pascal Pictures/Sony Entertainment. Johnson’s family hails from the Andes of Ecuador, where their 100-year-old dairy farm still operates.
Fans of Richard Price, Charlie Huston, and Jonathan Lethem will love this coming-of-age New York-centric detective noir debut from esteemed filmmaker and screenwriter Alex R. Johnson. New York City, 1998. New York is changing around Nico Kelly, and he can feel more coming. A private investigator and self-proclaimed photographer, Nico is stuck in a loop of city contracts and self loathing. What little middle class there was is disappearing—long-standing factories are moving out and taking their reliable neighborhood jobs with them, and Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s police force has the streets in a stranglehold.
Nico spends his days looking for fraudsters while taking photos of municipal employees on disability claims. He spends his nights trying to get rid of the nagging feeling that his day job makes him a professional snitch—traversing dive bars, playing pinball, and fighting through the haze of hungover mornings and blurry evenings.Pushing thirty years old and feeling split between his American and Latin heritage, between youth and adulthood, Nico finds himself at a precipice—who is he and what should he become? When Nico witnesses and records a murder during one of his insurance fraud investigations, bodies start to turn up all around him and he’s forced into solving a mystery he didn’t ask to solve. Humorous, gritty, and real, Nico’s search for what it means to be human takes him through the deepest and darkest parts of New York City.
“Chinatown” is inarguably one of the greatest films ever made in the United States. While Roman Polanski is often credited for that certitude, the film’s editor Sam O’Steen is also largely responsible for the film’s place in film history. And the Metrograph Cinema in NYC is once again recognizing Sam’s place in the editing pantheon by screening “Chinatown” in a gorgeous 35mm print as part of the ACE Presents series. That’s on Saturday, April 26th, 6:50 PM with a post screening conversation between Sam’s widow, editor/author/film historian Bobbie O’Steen and her daughter Molly O’Steen. They are my guests on this special episode of the podcast.
https://youtu.be/i-mmzpwFT60
Based on a true story, “The Luckiest Man in America” is set in May 1984, when an unemployed ice cream truck driver from Ohio (Paul Walter Hauser) steps onto the game show “Press Your Luck” harboring a big secret: the key to endless amounts of money. His winning streak is threatened when the bewildered executives in the control room start to uncover his real motivations. My guests in this episode are actor Paul Walter Hauser (“Black Bird”, “Richard Jewell”) and director Samir Oliveros (“Bad Lucky Goat”). The film opens theatrically on Friday, April 4th.
https://youtu.be/RElBIMEvAS8
The filmmaker Geremy Jasper (“Patti Cake$”) returns for her second visit to the podcast with his new film, “O’Dessa”. Set in a post-apocalyptic future, O’Dessa is an original rock opera about a farm girl on an epic quest to recover a cherished family heirloom. Her journey leads her to a strange and dangerous city where she meets her one true love – but in order to save his soul, she must put the power of destiny and song to the ultimate test. The film’s cast includes Sadie Sink, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Murray Bartlett, and Regina Hall. “O’Dessa” is currently streaming on Hulu.
Photo: Director Geremy Jasper and Sadie Sink on the set of O’DESSA. Photo by Nikola Predovic, Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2025 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.
The documentary filmmaker Jeremy Workman (“The World Before Your Feet”, “Lily Topples the World” )returns for his 7th visit to the podcast with his latest work, “Secret Mall Apartment“. In 2003, eight young Rhode Islanders created a secret apartment in a hidden space inside the Providence Place Mall and lived in it for four years, filming everything along the way. They snuck in furniture, tapped into the mall’s electricity, and even secretly constructed a brick wall with a locking door, smuggling in over 2 tons of cinderblock. Far more than just a wild prank, the secret apartment became a deeply meaningful place for all its inhabitants – a personal expression of defiance against local gentrification, a boundary-pushing work of public/private art, and finally, a 750 square foot space that sticks it to the man! In this episode Jeremy and I are joined by the film’s subject, artist and activist Michael Townsend.
Photo credit: David Lawlor
During demonstrations in apartheid-era South Africa, the police arrest Panic (Thomas Mogotlane), a mapantsula or petty gangster, while rounding up activists. His interrogation reveals the motivation for his involvement in the township riots. Once only concerned with partying, alcohol and his own interests, Panic finds himself being irreversibly pulled into the fray. Now, he is forced to choose between his personal freedom and taking a stand in the fight against the oppressive apartheid government.
Directed by Oliver Schmitz and written by Schmitz and lead actor Thomas Mogotlane, “Mapantsula” has been hailed as the “first South African film to truly represent apartheid onscreen” (Okayafrica). Banned in its homeland and made while evading the local authorities, the film was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes and went on to be selected as the South African entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars. Widely considered one of the most influential African motion pictures of all time, “Mapantsula” has been newly restored in 4K from the original 35MM negative.
https://youtu.be/zeS9sfuuCz8?si=LMgKTLJrUktJcJaU
Follow the intellectual and emotional journey of a group of medical students at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx in the new PBS documentary “The Calling: A Medical School Journey”. Captured through verité scenes and personal video diaries, the film offers an inside look at America’s healthcare system through the eyes of these aspiring practitioners as they learn what it takes to become a doctor in one of the country’s most underserved communities. On this episode I speak with the filmmaker Asako Gladsjo and one of the medical students from her documentary, Shauna Phinazee. The film premieres on PBS Monday, March 17th.
https://youtu.be/8tMGWx-8PIYFrom the DC/DOX film festival website: Asako Gladsjo is an award-winning documentary director, producer, and writer based in New York City. Her recent credits include the upcoming “Eyes on the Prize III” for HBO; “Rise and Rebuild: A Tale of Three Cities”; “Why We Hate” for Discovery; “(Un)Well” for Netflix; “By Whatever Means Necessary”, for Epix; the PBS special “Black America Since MLK: And Still I Rise”; Soundtracks: “Songs that Made History” for CNN; and “The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross”, which won Emmy, DuPont, Peabody, and NAACP Image awards. She has directed and written documentaries on society, culture, race, and immigration for international broadcasters including Arte, BBC, and France Télévision. She teaches directing in the School of Visual Art’s MFA Program in Social Documentary.
Filmmaker Atom Egoyan (“Exotica”, “The Sweet Hereafter”) returns after 9 years for his third appearance on the podcast. He has a new movie that is currently in theaters called “Seven Veils” starring Academy Award® nominee Amanda Seyfried (“Mean Girls”, “Mama Mia”).
The film follows theater director Jeanine (Seyfried) who, after years away, re-enters the opera world to stage her former mentor’s most famous work. Haunted by dark and disturbing memories from her past, Jeanine allows her repressed trauma to color the present as her personal and professional lives begin to unravel. Renowned director Atom Egoyan sees “Seven Veils” as operating within a trilogy alongside his other critically acclaimed works “Exotica” and “The Sweet Hereafter”. In “Seven Veils”, he also reunites with Seyfried, who he worked with on the 2009 film “Chloe”, in this visually stunning, propulsive work, filmed on location during the staging of his acclaimed production of “Salome”. Egoyan directed the opera “Salome” in 1996, the first opera in what would be many to come over his career. Best known as a prominent film director since the 1980s, Egoyan has proven he is a master of both mediums, and “Seven Veils” is his way of bringing both together.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkbN1-rlS74&t=4sAlso on this episode the Canadian filmmaker Jeffrey St. Jules (“Bang Bang Baby”) discusses his new film “The Silent Planet”. The film stars the great actor Elias Koteas (“Exotica”, “Crash”) who joins us in this conversation. Serving a life sentence alone on a distant planet, an aging convict must confront his past when a new prisoner arrives and forces him to remember his life on Earth.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkGo4Cx2AwE
Senior Curator of Film at the Museum of the Moving Image, Eric Hynes, is my guest in the first segment. Eric and I discuss the Museum’s upcoming First Look festival to take place Wednesday, March 12th through Sunday, March 16th. First Look, MoMI’s annual festival showcasing adventurous new cinema, returns for its 14th edition, offering a diverse slate of major New York premieres, work-in-progress screenings and sessions, gallery installations, and fresh perspectives on the art and process of filmmaking. This year’s festival introduces New York audiences to more than three dozen works from around the world, encompassing feature and short films; fiction and nonfiction; performances and experiments. The guiding ethos of First Look is openness, curiosity, discovery, aiming to expose audiences to new art, artists to new audiences, and everyone to different methods, perspectives, interrogations, and encounters. For five consecutive days the festival takes over MoMI’s two theaters, as well as other rooms and galleries throughout the Museum—with in-person appearances and dialogue integral to the experience. Each night concludes with one of five selected Showcase Screenings in MoMI’s Sumner Redstone Theater.
In my segment I am joined by the film producer Jack Piatt and singer songwriter journeyman Chris Smither. They are part of the team behind a new short film, “The Singers” which premieres this weekend at SxSW. “The Singers” is a genre-bending film adaptation of a 19th-century short story written by Ivan Turgenev, in which a lowly pub full of downtrodden men connect unexpectedly through an impromptu sing-off. The film explores the complexities of masculinity and the power of vulnerability through art. Chris Smither makes his acting debut in this film directed by Sam Davis.
The film author and teacher William J. Mann makes his first appearance on the podcast.
Mann is a New York Times-bestselling author of many books on Hollywood and the American film industry, including his most recent “The Contender: The Story of Marlon Brando”, for which he was granted access to Brando’s private estate archive, as well as “Kate: The Woman Who Was Hepburn” (named a Notable Book of the Year by the Times); “Hello Gorgeous: Becoming Barbra Streisand:(praised by USA Today for its “meticulous research and insightful analysis”; and “Edge of Midnight: The Life of John Schlesinger”, for which he worked closely with the Oscar-winning director. Mann won the 2014 Edgar Allan Poe Award for “Tinseltown: Murder, Morphine and Madness at the Dawn of Hollywood,” which reveals how an unsolved murder in 1922 created the American studio system. He’s recently completed “Bogie and Bacall: The Surprising True Story of Hollywood’s Greatest Romance”, forthcoming from HarperCollins in spring 2023. Mann is also a professor of film and popular culture at Central Connecticut State University. He’s been featured in several documentary films about Hollywood history and has served as a consultant for various television programs. His interest in writing about Hollywood has always been to explore how movies both reflect and shape their times, as well as how the business of filmmaking—the selling of dreams and illusions—can reveal so much about society and ourselves.
On this episode, I welcome the filmmaker Noah Pritzker (“Quitters”) with his latest film “Ex-Husbands” which opens theatrically in NYC today, Friday, February 21st. The film will continue its national theatrical roll out over the course of the next few weeks. Appearing here with Noah are cast members Griffin Dunne —for his 6th appearance on Filmwax Radio— and the great Richard Benjamin (“West World”, “Catch 22”).
Manhattan dentist Peter Pearce (Dunne) is facing a midlife crisis after his wife of 35 years (Rosanna Arquette) leaves him. On the spur of the moment, he books a trip to Tulum, Mexico, only to crash his son’s bachelor party. A warmhearted comedy drama co-starring Richard Benjamin, James Norton, and Miles Heizer.
https://youtu.be/7o4cmzJHJ_c
Returning for his third visit to the podcast, bestselling Hollywood biographer and film historian Scott Eyman tells the story of Charlie Chaplin’s fall from grace. in his latest “Charlie Chaplin vs. America“. In the aftermath of World War II, Chaplin was criticized for being politically liberal and internationalist in outlook. He had never become a US citizen, something that would be held against him as xenophobia set in when the postwar Red Scare took hold. Politics aside, Chaplin had another problem: his sexual interest in young women. He had been married three times and had had numerous affairs. In the 1940s, he was the subject of a paternity suit, which he lost, despite blood tests that proved he was not the father. His sexuality became a convenient way for those who opposed his politics to condemn him. Refused permission to return to the US after a trip abroad, he settled in Switzerland and made his last two films in London.
https://youtu.be/pRYgNeJMP20
Ryan Lee Crosby blends echoes of Mississippi, Mali, and India into songs that speak from—and to—the heart. Produced by Fat Possum’s Bruce Watson, Crosby’s latest “Winter Hill Blues” evokes the essence of Mississippi, refracted by influences of Indian slide guitar. The sound is forged from his life as a traveling musician and studies with Jimmy “Duck” Holmes and RL Boyce. “Of all traditions, what speaks to me most is the Bentonia blues,” Crosby relates. “It expresses all emotions: joy, sorrow and everything in between. The blues shows us how to have compassion for ourselves and others. Its lessons are endless.”
https://youtu.be/aRaN0qzsi5Y
The 1996 Sundance hit indie “Girls Town” has gotten the 4K restoration treatment thanks to Indie Collect (a company run by former Filmwax guest Sandra Schulberg). The film is the directing debut of guest Jim McKay, and stars Lili Taylor, Bruklin Harris, Aunjanue Ellis and other guest Anna Grace. The plot follows a group of girl friends and their coming-of-age during their senior year of high school in urban America. The screenplay for the film was mostly developed through improvisations among the four lead actresses. GIRLS TOWN is currently enjoying a theatrical release at the IFC Center in NYC and is expected to have a nationwide expansion in the coming months. It will be available in its newly restored version later this year or early 2026. Jim and Anna are my guests.
Joseph McBride is a film historian and a professor in the School of Cinema at San Francisco State University. He is the author of biographies of Frank Capra, John Ford, and Steven Spielberg; three books on Orson Welles; and critical studies of Ernst Lubitsch, Billy Wilder, and the Coen Brothers. He acted for Welles in The Other Side of the Wind and has won a Writers Guild of America award. His latest book is called “George Cukor’s People: Acting for a Master Director” (Columbia University Press, 2025).
The director of classic films such as “Sylvia Scarlett”, “The Philadelphia Story”, “Gaslight”, “Adam’s Rib”, “A Star Is Born”, and “My Fair Lady”, George Cukor is widely admired but often misunderstood. Reductively stereotyped in his time as a woman’s director—a thinly veiled, disparaging code for gay—he brilliantly directed a wide range of iconic actors and actresses, including Cary Grant, Greta Garbo, Spencer Tracy, Joan Crawford, Marilyn Monroe, and Maggie Smith. As Katharine Hepburn, the star of ten Cukor films, told the director, “All the people in your pictures are as goddamned good as they can possibly be, and that’s your stamp.”
The great actor of stage and screen, Harris Yulin (“Scarface”, “Ozark”), returns to the podcast. He was in the 1987 film “Candy Mountain” which was recently re-released.
New York City, 1980s. A struggling, deadbeat musician named Julius has fallen on hard times. With no guitar, band or paying gigs, he cooks up a get-rich-quick scheme – to find the legendary, yet elusive guitar-maker Elmore Silk. Considered one of the greatest luthiers in the business, Silk’s disappearance from the scene has only made his work more coveted by musicians and executives looking to make a buck off his name. Julius agrees to track the man down and sets out on the road. Meant to be a simple journey upstate, Julius stumbles down a long, winding road full of dead-ends and wrong turns towards an eventual revelatory conclusion in the Canadian wilderness. One of the great cult classics of the 1980s and starring character actors Kevin J O’Conner and Harris Yulin, the supporting cast features real-life music legends Tom Waits, Leon Redbone, Joe Strummer, Dr. John, David Johansen and more. “A wry, laid-back Heart of Darkness” (Chicago Reader), Candy Mountain combines the keen eye of legendary photographer Robert Frank with novelist/screenwriter Rudy Wurlitzer’s mythic American prose to produce the quintessential road movie. “Candy Mountain” is currently available on various streaming platforms.
On the day of his first fight since leaving prison, Mikey (Michael Pitt), once champion boxer, takes a redemptive journey through his past in Jack Huston’s “Day of the Fight”. As Mikey prepares for the most important fight of his life, he reconnects with the people he was closest to and tries to make things right. Mikey’s coach, Stevie Ross, is played by my guest in this segment, the great Ron Perlman (“Hell Boy”, “Sons of Anarchy”). “Day of the Fight” is currently screening in theaters.
https://youtu.be/-dTA1vt8uLYFilmwax Radio welcomes —for their first visits— actor Anthony Rapp and filmmaker Vivian Kerr with their film “Scrap“. Beth (Kerr) has recently been laid off and struggles to maintain the appearance of a successful middle-class lifestyle as she bounces around Los Angeles. Hoping to land a new job and change her situation before her estranged older brother Ben (Rapp) finds out, Beth must confront her own pride in order to reconnect with him and provide for her young daughter Birdy. Meanwhile, Ben and his wife Stacy (Lana Parrilla) consider a third round of IVF and Stacy, a successful attorney, must re-evaluate her own conflicted relationship with motherhood. “Scrap” is currently streaming on digital platforms.
https://youtu.be/cyq8j5X3tfU
Film editor Michael Taylor, A.C.E. returns for his 7th visit to the podcast. Taylor is helping to program a series at the Metrograph Cinema in NYC called Filmcraft: American Cinema Editors. This series showcases the best of editing by pairing a screening with a Q&A with its editors. This Friday, December 6th, there is a sold out screening of Elaine May’s “Mikey & Nicky” with Ms. May in attendance. (This podcast host will be in attendance as well.)
Michael Taylor, ACE, is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He is represented by Pete Franciosa at UTA (Franciosap@unitedtalent.com; 310-488-8436). He edited and co-produced the documentary series “My Undesirable Friends”, directed by Julia Loktev, which premiered at the New York Film Festival. He recently completed Noah Pritzker’s “Ex-Husbands”, starring Griffin Dunne, James Norton, and Rosanna Arquette. The film premiered at San Sebastian and will be released theatrically in 2025. He was nominated for an ACE Eddie Award for Best Editing of a Feature, Comedy, for Lulu Wang’s “The Farewell”, starring Awkwafina, which premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival and was released by A24. The film won Best Feature at the 2020 Independent Spirit Awards. Awkwafina won Best Actress at the Golden Globes and Gotham Awards.
Recent films include Edson Oda’s “Nine Days”, starring Winston Duke, Zazie Beetz, Benedict Wong, Bill Skarsgård and Tony Hale, winner of the Waldo Salt Award for Best Screenwriting at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, Matt Sobel’s “Goodnight Mommy”, an Amazon Studios film starring Naomi Watts, Ira Sachs’ “Love is Strange,” starring Alfred Molina, John Lithgow and Marisa Tomei, Elizabeth Wood’s “White Girl”, starring Morgan Saylor, and Guy Nattiv’s Skin, starring Jamie Bell, Vera Famiga and Bill Camp. Other films include Julia Loktev’s “The Loneliest Planet”, starring Gael Garcia Bernal, selected for the New York Film Festival, and “Day Night Day Night”, winner, Prix de La Jeunesse, Cannes Film Festival. Taylor won Best Editing at the Woodstock Film Festival for the documentary “The Babushkas of Chernobyl”, directed by Holly Morris and Anne Bogart. He also edited Margaret Brown’s Peabody Award-winning documentary “The Order of Myths”, and Brown’s documentary “Be Here to Love You: A Film About Townes Van Zandt”, as well as Mitch McCabe’s “Youth Knows No Pain”.
“Beatles ’64” is an all-new documentary from producer Martin Scorsese and director David Tedeschi. The documentary is currently streaming exclusively on Disney+. The film captures the electrifying moment of The Beatles’ first visit to America. Featuring never-before-seen footage of the band and the legions of young fans who helped fuel their ascendance, the film gives a rare glimpse into when The Beatles became the most influential and beloved band of all time.
For over 20 years, award-winning filmmaker David Tedeschi has worked in creative collaboration with Martin Scorsese. Alongside the legendary filmmaker, Tedeschi’s directing credits include the critically acclaimed feature documentaries “Personality Crisis: One Night Only”(Showtime, 2022) and “The Fifty Year Argument” (HBO, 2014). “Beatles ’64” marks Tedeschi’s solo feature directorial debut, which is produced by Scorsese and executive produced by Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr.
Margaret Bodde is a two-time Emmy Award-winning documentary producer whose credits include Ron Howard’s “Jim Henson Idea Man” (Disney+, 2024, “Outstanding Documentary”) and Martin Scorsese’s “George Harrison: Living in the Material World” (HBO, 2011, Outstanding Non Fiction Special). She is also a Grammy and Peabody Award winner for Scorsese’s “No Direction Home: Bob Dylan” (PBS, 2005), and a Grammy nominee for the PBS series “The Blues” (2003).
Actor Chris Jackson makes his first appearance on the podcast. This Broadway and film actor is currently in the cast of the new indie film “Boundary Waters”. In this lyrical coming-of-age film, 12-year-old Michael Murray relishes the carefree joys of early adolescence – girls and friends – until his mom has a black eye and a busted lip. Michael is desperate to know what happened, but his father Brian avoids him, Granny (Carole Kane) shushes him, and his usually resilient mother can’t get out of bed. While his family weighs the cost of keeping secrets against the price of telling the truth, Michael is determined to fix what happened as he tries to become a man in a world where men cause harm. “Boundary Waters” has its next screening at the Dances with Films festival in New York City on Friday, December 6 at 7:45.
https://youtu.be/f1PUjmcwjKkAlso, Danish actor turned filmmaker Nicolaj Kopernikus makes his first appearance as well. He has directed, written and stars in a new short film which is currently eligible for an Oscar nomination. It’s called “From Above”. Morten (Kopernikus) looks his daughter in the eyes for the first time in 8 years. He decides to get in touch with her again and uses very unconventional and spectacular methods to get her attention and forgiveness.
https://youtu.be/29-rOe8vB7I?si=gj_4viQiUtD8Yh2A
The animator, filmmaker, actor and podcaster Jack Dunphy is the guest. Jack has recently launched a very bold new podcast called REVELATIONS WITH JACK DUNPHY where he talks very frankly and as honestly as one can, with his guests. These are sometimes highly intense confessional conversations about addiction, mental illness, sexuality, and more. You can find Jack’s films on various platforms as well as his podcast. This is his first appearance on Filmwax Radio.
https://youtu.be/xjBjdzqTDhI
Actors Eric Roberts (“The Pope of Greenwich Village”, “Runaway Train”) and Eliza Roberts (“Animal House”) are the guests. They are both involved in a new indie genre film called “Hippo” which hits theaters Friday, November 8th. Directed by Mark H. Rapaport, the film is about a girl who loves classical music and Jesus and who grows up with a video-game addicted stepbrother who embraces the art of war and chaos. Currently screening in select theaters.
https://youtu.be/7ahYrH1UlpoAlso, on this episode the team behind a new documentary “American Coup, Wilmington 1898”, filmmakers Yoruba Richen and Brad Lichtenstein return to Filmwax Radio. Discover the story of the deadly 1898 race massacre and coup d’état in Wilmington, North Carolina, when white supremacists overthrew the multi-racial government of the state’s largest city through a campaign of violence and intimidation. “American Coup: Wilmington 1898” premieres Tuesday, November 12, 2024, 9:00-11:00 p.m. ET (check local listings) on American Experience on PBS, PBS.org and the PBS app.
https://youtu.be/l24WcV48uCo
The indie filmmaker Alan Rudolph (“Choose Me”, “Trouble in Mind”) makes his first appearance on the podcast. His 1999 film, originally written for his mentor Bob Altman to direct but ended up in his hands some years later. That film is”Breakfast of Champions” and, after 25 years, is returning to theaters. The film was adapted from the unadaptable novel by Kurt Vonnegut, and stars Bruce Willis and Albert Finney. In this special conversation, Rudolph reflects on his year as Altman’s assistant director and his career at large. “Breakfast of Champions” tells the story of a fictional town in the mid west that is home to a group of idiosyncratic and slightly neurotic characters. Dwayne Hoover is a wealthy car dealership owner that’s on the brink of suicide and is losing touch with reality.
https://youtu.be/SaOQbpBJ6t0Carrie Rickey is a film journalist and author. Her new book is a biography of the French New Wave filmmaker Agnès Varda called “A Complicated Passion: The Life and Work of Agnès Varda” (W.W. Norton, 2024).
Over the course of her sixty-five-year career, the longest of any female filmmaker, Agnès Varda (1928–2019) wrote and directed some of the most acclaimed films of her era, from her tour de force “Cléo from 5 to 7” (1962), a classic of modernist cinema, to the beloved documentary “The Gleaners and I” (2000) four decades later. She helped to define the French New Wave, inspired an entire generation of filmmakers, and was recognized with major awards at the Cannes, Berlin, and Venice Film Festivals, as well as an honorary Oscar at the Academy Awards.
In this lively biography, former Philadelphia Inquirer film critic Carrie Rickey explores the complicated passions that informed Varda’s charmed life and indelible work. Rickey traces Varda’s three remarkable careers—as still photographer, as filmmaker, and as installation artist. She explains how Varda was a pioneer in blurring the lines between documentary and fiction, using the latest digital technology and carving a path for women in the movie industry. She demonstrates how Varda was years ahead of her time in addressing sexism, abortion, labor exploitation, immigrant rights, and race relations with candor and incisiveness.
https://youtu.be/DwECtUfablw
In this special episode, I welcome documentary filmmaker Lee Hirsch (“Bully”) and producer Houston King (“The Hero”, “Computer Chess”) who together founded the political action committee —or PAC— Local Voices. In our conversation we discuss the Local Voices’ vision that goes into their impactful campaigns, produced and aired in battleground states like Pennsylvania. I’m including a couple of their ads here as well, though audio from a number of them are included in this episode.
https://youtu.be/1bYfAfA8U1U?si=WnnWa9brTad5WgIfhttps://youtu.be/lyDDT5ZOO2o?si=pK_bi5ORBmv15ml9
Politician and voter suppression activist Stacey Abrams is joined by her co-producer Kristi Jacobson regarding a new documentary they have, along with Selena Gomez, made called “Louder: The Soundtrack of Change” which is available on Max. The documentary is a celebration of music and rallying cry across generations, genres, anchored by female icons whose songs and activism inspired the fight for equality, empowering all. The film also includes appearances by Melissa Ethridge, Linda Ronstadt, Chaka Kahn, H.E.R., Kathleen Hanna and many other musical artists.
https://youtu.be/LoY7pVFCbfkAlso on this episode the documentary filmmaker Mark Cousins (“The Story of Film: An Odyssey”) with his latest film “My Name is Alfred Hitchcock”, Cousins’ documentary re-examine the vast filmography and legacy of one of the 20th century’s greatest filmmakers, Alfred Hitchcock, through a new lens: through the auteur’s own voice. It premieres theatrically on Friday, October 25 in NYC and L.A.
The documentary filmmaker Dan Partland makes his first appearance on the podcast. From the filmmakers of the critically-acclaimed blockbuster “#Unfit: The Psychology of Donald Trump”, which grossed over $2.5 million, has been viewed by millions, and was nominated for the IDA Documentary Awards Video Source Award Director, producer, and writer Partland and producer Art Horan are back with “#Untruth: The Psychology of Trumpism” examines the psychology of Trumpism and the authoritarian strain that it seeded in the American political landscape. The film is currently available on VOD platforms.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DP0X92W6tvcRebecca Richman Cohen is an Emmy-nominated documentary filmmaker who teaches courses on media theory and advocacy at Harvard Law School. Through her work, she has examined a range of topics, including the prosecution of war crimes in Sierra Leone, responses to sexual violence in the US, cannabis legalization, and biodynamic winemaking. Her most recent film, “Weed & Wine” follows the story of Kev Jodrey —joining her in this segment— and his son Cona, descendants of outlaws who labored to make themselves legal purveyors of sun-grown, craft cannabis in Humboldt County, California. In the south of France, Hélène and her son Aurélien produce renowned, biodynamic wines on a vineyard that they’ve fought for centuries to keep in their family. In this sumptuous and moving film, Emmy-nominated filmmaker, Rebecca Richman Cohen, parallels the profound joys and deep uncertainties of two farming families as they fight to protect their legacy, their craft, and their land. Executive produced by Berner. The film is currently available on VOD platforms.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEssIVDKktM
Walk with Me is the journey of Charlie Hess and his wife, episode guest Heidi Levitt, as they learn to live with his Early-Onset Alzheimer’s disease. Over four years of filming with Heidi as director and care partner, they crisscross the country, redefining how life will be lived to its fullest. Charlie’s charm, warmth, and appeal take center stage, illuminating a story of love and a reminder that life is really about our relationships. “Walk With Me” will screen at the Woodstock Film Festival on Saturday, October 19, 5:15PM at the Bearsville Theater. The post-screening Q&A will be moderated by Filmwax host Adam Schartoff.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geeZYBAc36Q
The iconic filmmaker Kevin Smith (“Clerks”, “Mallrats”) makes his first appearance on Filmwax Radio to briefly discuss his latest film “The 4:30 Movie” which is available on digital platforms. During the summer of 1986, three 16-year-old buddies spend their Saturdays sneaking into movies at the local cineplex. When one of the guys invites the girl of his dreams to see an R-rated film, all hilarity breaks loose as a self-important theatre manager and teenage rivalries interfere with his best-laid plans.
Also, the film producer Jonathan Burkhart (“Do The Right Thing”, “Dazed and Confused”) discusses his career in a personal conversation. This interview was conducted in the Radio Free Rhinecliff studios.
Returning to the podcast filmmaker Julia Loktev (“The Loneliest Planet”, “Day Night Day Night”) and the editor Michael Taylor. The two have a new documentary project called “My Undesirable Friends: Part 1 — Last Air in Moscow” which is broken into 5 episodes and is screening as part of the New York Film Festival’s main slate.
This from the New York Film Festival website: American filmmaker Loktev, born in the Soviet Union, returned to Moscow in 2021 to make a documentary on the persistence of independent journalism in Putin’s Russia—just months, as it turned out, before the country’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. With her friend Anna Nemzer, a talk show journalist for TV Rain, Russia’s last remaining independent news channel, Loktev ends up immersing herself with a group of young women fighting to ensure the vocalization of dissent and outspoken criticism of the country—even as they are branded by the government as “foreign agents,” their careers and lives increasingly at risk as the country creeps toward war. Structured in five chapters, Loktev’s film, the climactic days of which were filmed in Moscow during the first week of the invasion, when most independent journalists fled the country, is an extraordinary vérité document of a moment of immense change and anxiety, as well as a vital depiction of the eternal hope that so many in Russia hold for living in a democratic state. Screening in two parts: Chapters 1–3 (198m), Chapters 4–5 (124m).
The filmmaker Erik Nelson is the guest in the first segment. Erik has a new documentary coming out about called “Daytime Revolution“. For one extraordinary week beginning on February 14, 1972, the Revolution was televised. “Daytime Revolution” takes us back in time to the week that John Lennon and Yoko Ono descended upon a Philadelphia broadcasting studio to co-host the iconic “Mike Douglas Show”, at the time the most popular show on daytime television with an audience of 40 million viewers a week. What followed was five unforgettable episodes of television, with Lennon and Ono at the helm and Douglas bravely keeping the show on track. Acting as both producers and hosts, Lennon and Ono handpicked their guests, including controversial choices like Yippie founder Jerry Rubin and Black Panther Chairman Bobby Seale, as well as political activist Ralph Nader and comic truth teller George Carlin. Their version of daytime TV was a radical take on the traditional format, incorporating candid Q&A sessions with their transfixed audience, conversations about current issues like police violence and women’s liberation, conceptual art events, and one-of-a-kind musical performances, including a unique duet with Lennon and Chuck Berry and a poignant rendition of Lennon’s “Imagine”. A document of the past that speaks to our turbulent present, “Daytime Revolution” captures the power that art can have when it reaches out to communicate, the prescience of that dialogue, and the bravery of two artists who never took the easy way out as they fought for their vision of a better world. The film will have a nationwide theatrical screening in 50 cities on October 9th, the day that would have been John Lennon’s 84th birthday.
The filmmaker Emily Packer graces the podcast in this episode’s second segment. In “Holding Back the Tide“, an impressionist hybrid documentary, Packer traces the oyster through its many life cycles in New York, once the world’s oyster capital. Now their specter haunts the city through queer characters embodying ancient myth, discovering the overlooked history and biology of the bivalve that built the city. As environmentalists restore them to the harbor, Holding Back The Tide looks to the oyster as a queer icon, entangled with nature, with much to teach about our continued survival. The film had its world premiere at DOC NYC 2023, a New York theatrical at DCTV’s Firehouse Cinema and will have a theatrical in Los Angeles beginning October Check the website for details.
https://youtu.be/UQ-KOdKUSccIn the first segment, returning to the podcast, the musician and filmmaker Haroula Rose (“Once Upon A River”). She has a new film —a comedy— starring Josh Radnor called “All Happy Families”. A struggling actor (Radnor) remains in a slump, while his successful brother has his own show. The family soon finds itself under the same roof again, where every corner reveals secrets and long-held resentments. The film opens theatrically on Friday, September 20th in NYC and LA.
https://youtu.be/RMviRrWlEiYIn the 2nd segment, co-directors of a new documentary about the songwriter Dory Previn, Julia Greenberg and Diana Dilworth are the gusts. Their film, “Dory Previn: On My Way To Where” follows the unusual life and career of the enigmatic musician. The film is currently in the film festival circuit. By way of transparency, Greenberg and myself have known each other since the mid-80’s, sharing a common love of music.
The director of a new documentary “Hinckley: I Shot The President”, Neil McGregor is the guest.
In March 1981, inspired by a dangerous obsession with the film “Taxi Driver” and actress Jodie Foster, a man named John Hinckley tried to assassinate President Ronald Reagan. The attack shocked the world and forever changed American history. Found not guilty by reason of insanity, Hinckley spent thirty-five years in a psychiatric hospital. Nearly 40 years later, a judge granted him his unconditional release.
“Hinckley: I Shot The President” presents an unsparing profile of a man whose shocking act of political violence forever changed a nation and still resonates today. It examines Hinckley’s troubled early life, his obsessions and other attempts at assassination, the lead-up and aftermath of his attack on Reagan, and whether or not redemption is possible for one of America’s most infamous men, especially in a nation deeply divided by politics and gripped by gun violence. Stream the film.
The theatrical producer Eric Schnall (“Hedwig and The Angry Inch”) has written his first novel, “I Make Envy on Your Disco” (University of Nebraska Press, 2024). Winner of the Barbara DiBernard Prize in Fiction. It’s the new millennium and the anxiety of midlife is creeping up on Sam Singer, a thirty-seven-year-old art advisor. Fed up with his partner and his life in New York, Sam flies to Berlin to attend a gallery opening. There he finds a once-divided city facing an identity crisis of its own. In Berlin the past is everywhere: the graffiti-stained streets, the candlelit cafés and techno clubs, the astonishing mash-up of architecture, monuments, and memorials. Eric Schnall has worked on and off Broadway as a producer and marketing director for more than twenty-five years. He won a Tony Award for the Broadway revival of “Hedwig” and a Lucille Lortel Award for “Fleabag”. He has also written about techno and electronic music for Billboard and Revolution, profiling DJs and musicians from around the world.
And the filmmaker Zach Clark (“Little Sister”, “White Reindeer”) has a new film coming out called “The Becomers”, a science fiction genre film produced by Joe Swanberg. It will be at Cinema Village in NYC as of 8/23 with subsequent theatricals in LA & Chicago. Escaping their dying planet, two body-snatching alien lovers arrive separately on Earth. Jumping from body to body in search of each other, they dig deeper and deeper into the madness of modern society.
The actor Heather Graham (“Swingers”, “Pulp Fiction”) makes her first appearance on the podcast. She stars in a new movie, a western genre film called “Place of Bones” which premieres in select theaters and digitally on August 23rd. On a remote ranch in the Old West, a woman and her daughter must fight for survival when a wounded outlaw brings a notorious bank robber and his ruthless gang right to their doorstep.
https://youtu.be/AcMebSyRmBsAlso, the author of a new biography of Elaine May called “Miss May Does Not Exist: The Life & Work of Elaine May” (St. Martin’s Press, 2024), Carrie Courogen makes her first appearance. The book is currently available wherever books are sold.
https://youtu.be/iRtWgBwy9lk
My guest is Griffin Dunne, returning for his 4th time on the podcast. Griffin has a new book he recently published called “The Friday Afternoon Club: A Family Memoir” (Penguin Books, 2024). I really enjoyed this episode. It’s frank and honest as his book is. A true pleasure.
On Saturday, September 21st, I will be in discussion with Dunne at The Triplex Cinema between a screening of his 2017 documentary “Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold” and “An American Werewolf in London”. There will also be a book signing involved.
Griffin Dunne is an American actor, director and producer. He is known for portraying Jack Goodman in “An American Werewolf in London” (1981) and Paul Hackett in “After Hours” (1985), for which he was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.
The filmmaker James Marsh (“”Man on Wire”, The Theory of Everything”) returns to the podcast after 11 years. His latest movie “Dance First” starring Gabriel Byrne opens on Friday, August 9th theatrically & digitally on August 16th. The narrative film studies the life of Irish playwright Samuel Beckett – World War II resistance fighter, Nobel Prize-winner, philandering husband and recluse.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=404SDt6VSasAnd the author Chris Nashawaty discusses his new book “The Future Was Now” (Flatiron Books, 2024) about the Summer of 1982, a groundbreaking year for sci-fi movies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MItMmC2gubM
Susan Seidelman has directed a number of seminal films including “Smithereens” and, even more notably, “Desperately Seeking Susan” among others. She has recently published a memoir called “Desperately Seeking Something” (St. Martin’s Press, 2024). I interviewed her recently for the Woodstock Film Festival’s Let’s Talk Film podcast and was given approval to re-purpose for Filmwax Radio. Susan is someone I’ve been pursuing since I began the podcast 13 years ago. Thrilled to have finally met the filmmaker.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Boh0ddJ_6ls&t=8sAlso, setting up an interview for the radio station I work at, I had a few minutes alone with the great singer songwriter and guitarist, Richard Thompson. He recently released his 18th studio album “Ship to Shore”. After seeing perform on five occasions, I was thrilled to have even a few minutes chatting with him about music distribution.
The team and subjects behind a new documentary that will leave you breathless. In Jeff Zimbalist‘s film “Skywalkers: A Love Story”, Russian social media stars Angela Nikolau and Ivan Beerkus climb the world’s last super skyscraper, blending daring acrobatics with a tumultuous love story. The film premieres on Netflix on Friday, July 19th, after a very successful festival run and IMAX theatrical. We’re also joined by Jeff’s co-director Maria Bukhonina. You won’t believe your eyes!
The author of countless books of non-fiction, Phillip Lopate, is the guest. Lopate’s latest is a collection of essays about his love of the arthouse film. The book is called “My Affair With Art House Cinema” (Columbia University Press, 2024) and is available now where books are sold. Phillip Lopate is the author of many acclaimed books, including the essay collections Bachelorhood, Against Joie de Vivre, and Portrait of My Body and the novels The Rug Merchant and Confessions of Summer. He is the editor of several anthologies of essays. Lopate taught for many years in the Writing Program at Columbia University School of the Arts.
https://youtu.be/GBQo5MUbHAA
The documentary filmmaker A.J. Schnack (“Caucus”, “Convention”) returns to the podcast. He has a new film, “Majority Rules”, about a new controversial election process called Ranked Voting. Alaska gears up to do something no other state has ever done: adopt a pair of election reforms that will eliminate traditional party primaries and allow voters to rank their candidates by preference. “Majority Rules” opens in NYC at the Village East Cinema on Friday, June 28th.
The documentary filmmaker Nanette Burstein (“The Kid Stays in the Picture”) makes her first appearance on FIlmwax. Her latest doc, “Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes” had its world premiere recently at the Cannes Film Festival, just screened at the Tribeca Film Festival and now moves on to the Nantucket Film Festival next week for two screenings. The film is drawn from 70 hours of newly discovered interviews with Elizabeth Taylor and unprecedented access to the legendary star’s personal archive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yr8HclwNiNsAlso, Lon Ballinger, who along with his brothers ran Webster Hall for close to 30 years. Now he owns a hotel/restaurant/bar called The Stewart House in Athens, NY. And he has written a combination memoir/business how to called “Party Boys: How the Ballinger Brothers Build the Best Nightclubs in the World”. Available where books are sold.
The Executive Director of the Nantuck Film Festival, Mystelle Brabbee, returns to the podcast for her second year to discuss the 19th fest (June 19— 24). It looks like an especially strong season of narrative & documentary features, short films, panels and parties. The difference is that host Adam Schartoff will be there for the first time.
Also, from the Filmwax archives, my 2019 conversation with Morgan Spurlock who died on May 23rd from cancer. Our deepest condolences to Morgan’s family and close friends.
After many years both Kelly Anderson (“My Brooklyn”) and Jay Arthur Sterrenberg (“Dark Money”) return to the podcast to discuss the new documentary they have collaborated on called “Emergent City”. The film has its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival later this week.
From the festival’s website: When a string of connected industrial buildings become available in Brooklyn, a group of global developers jump at the opportunity to buy it up with big ideas for the future. Nestled against the waterfront in Sunset Park, plans are set in motion — but the beating heart of the community rests with its working class, primarily immigrant residents, many of whom could be displaced once the development changes the entire space, while others see promise in the future of a developed Industry City. And so mediation begins between residents, city officials and master planners in an effort to find a workable solution for all involved.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gXWAR_MD5UThen actor Chris Doubek returns to the podcast after a long hiatus to discuss a new indie sci-fi comedy he’s in called “Foil“. He’s joined by one of the film’s co-director and another of the actors in the film, Zach Green. After opting out of their high school reunion to reconnect on a desert camping trip, Rex and Dexter realize their intentions for the weekend are at odds. Dexter, a failed filmmaker, hopes to harness a fabled vortex in the area to inspire a movie. The film is available on Amazon Prime video, Apple Movies and other on demand platforms.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfCtpQI8Qp4
The filmmaker Vanessa Hope (“All Eyes And Ears”) makes her first appearance on the podcast with her latest documentary, “Invisible Nation“. Hope gained unprecedented access to Taiwan’s first female president, Tsai Ing-wen, and her fight to preserve her country’s hard-won democracy. The film opens at the Quad Cinema in NYC on Friday, May 31st and in Los Angeles in June.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_s2kl76wD5IFrequent Filmwax guest filmmaker Lynne Sachs returns to discuss a retrospective of her work to be presented by DCTV. The series, called “From the Outside In“, runs June 7th — 11th at DCTV’s Firehouse Cinema in Lower Manhattan. 2024 marks 40 years since experimental filmmaker Lynne Sachs took her first video class at DCTV. In From the Outside In, we traverse Sachs’ documentary films, defiant of traditional genre or style. From peering out, collecting others’ experiences and world events, to looking inward, reflecting on familial histories and entanglements, Sachs weaves the political with the personal. Through this seven-program series of screenings and discussions, with Sachs and collaborators in front of and behind the camera, this retrospective celebrates Sachs’ distinctive artistry and groundbreaking career.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1E66f5ZKoB0
First up, the filmmaker Tom Tykwer (“Cloud Atlas”, “The Matrix Ressurections”) makes his first appearance. His breakout Berlin-based thrill ride “Run Lola, Run”, exploded on the scene back in 1998. It has been given the 4k restoration treatment by Sony Pictures Classics and will have a new theatrical for its 25th anniversary. Tom discusses his memories of those days. SYNOPSIS: In this visually and conceptually impressive film, two-bit Berlin criminal Manni (Moritz Bleibtreu) delivers some smuggled loot for his boss, Ronnie (Heino Ferch), but accidentally leaves the 100,000 mark payment in a subway car. Given 20 minutes to come up with the money, he calls his girlfriend, Lola (Franka Potente), who sprints through the streets of the city to try to beg the money out of her bank manager father (Herbert Knaup) and get to Manni before he does something desperate.
Also, the actor Jason Butler Harner (“Ozark”, “Ray Donovan”) is in a new indie film called “The Big Bend” which is having a theatrical engagement this May. Two families, the Prices and the Talbotts, meet each other in the remote Texas desert and test the boundaries of marriage, friendship, and parenthood.
The documentary filmmaker Alison O’Daniel makes her first appearance on the podcast to discuss her film “The Tuba Thieves” which will have its broadcast premiere on Independent Lens (PBS) on May 20th. The central mystery of this unconventional documentary isn’t about theft; it’s about the nature of sound itself.
Also, the Artistic Director and Founder of the Berkshires International Film Festival, Kelley Vickery, returns to the podcast to discuss this year’s festival May 30th through June 2nd.
The decades long contributor to The New Yorker, Adam Gopnik makes his first appearance on the podcast. Adam has written an essay which was inspired by a commencement he recently gave at his alma mater, McGill University in Montreal. The essay (bound just like a book) is called “All That Happiness: Some Words on What Matters” (Liveright, 2024) and is currently available. Our society is obsessed with achievement. Young people are pushed toward the next test or the ‘best’ grammar school, high school, or college they can get into. Adults push themselves toward the highest-paying, most prestigious jobs, seeking promotions and public recognition. As Gopnik points out, the result is not so much a rat race as a rat maze, with no way out. Except one: to choose accomplishment over achievement. Achievement, Gopnik argues, is the completion of the task imposed from outside. Accomplishment, by contrast, is the end point of an engulfing activity one engages in for its own sake. From stories of artists, philosophers, and scientists to his own fumbling attempts to play Beatles songs on a guitar, Gopnik demonstrates that while self-directed passions sometimes do lead to a career, the contentment that flows from accomplishment is available to each of us. A book to read and return to at any age, “All That Happiness Is” offers timeless wisdom against the grain.
The team behind a new documentary called “Uncropped”, filmmaker DW Young and producer Judith Mizrachy return to the podcast four years after their last visit with “The Booksellers”. “Uncropped” follows the life and career of the photojournalist –employed for the crux of his career by The Village Voice– James Hamilton, who also joins us in this conversation. The film has had a successful festival and theatrical run, and is now available on digital platforms.
Actor Karen Allen (“Raiders of the Lost Ark”, “Colewell”) returns to Filmwax along with actor William Sadler (“The Green Mile”, “Die Hard 2”) to discuss a film they co-star in called “A Stage of Twilight“, the closing night film at this year’s Woods Hole Film Festival. When Barry (Sadler) is confronted with a terminal diagnosis, he is compelled to make a decision that his wife Cora (Allen) cannot support. This end-of-life struggle is heightened further when Joey, a neighbor boy who acts as a surrogate son to the childless couple, reaches a critical crossroads for his own future. Both paths ask the question: whose right is it to make life’s inevitable impossible decisions when the impact will be felt by the people we love most? “A Stage of Twilight” is currently available on streaming platforms.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDnd5E5_bh4&t=5sDocumentary filmmaker Maren Poitras discusses her new film, her first as director, “Finding the Money” which begins its theatrical at the Quad Cinema in NYC on Friday, 5/4. An underdog group of economists is on a mission to instigate a paradigm shift by flipping our understanding of the national debt — and the nature of money — upside down. “Finding the Money” follows former chief economist to the Senate Budget Committee, Stephanie Kelton, on a journey through Modern Money Theory or MMT, to unveil a deeper story about money, injecting new hope and empowering democracies around the world to tackle the biggest challenges of the 21st century: from climate change to inequality.
Part archival chronicle, part exposé, “Bad Faith” investigates the alarming rise of Christian Nationalism. The movement, once on the fringes of Christian conservative thought, has surged to the forefront of American politics, driven by the belief in establishing a theocratic rule that aligns with its interpretation of Christian values. The movement, acting in league with the Koch Network and other powerful economic interests, seeks to dismantle the federal government, defund public health and education, and roll back the civil and political rights of millions of Americans. The film uncovers the movement’s explicit agenda to enshrine white, conservative Christians as the elite governing force at the service of plutocrats. Through interviews with religious leaders, historians, investigative journalists and political veterans, “Bad Faith” explores how this ideology has skillfully seduced tens of millions and hijacked the Republican Party, becoming the most formidable political force in the nation. On this episode, co-director of the documentary, Stephen Ujlaki, and author journalist Anne Nelson are the guests. “Bad Faith” is currently on streaming platforms.
Also on this episode: director of film, episodics and theater, Matthew Penn. A Berkshire native, Matthew will be doing a Q&A along with Arlo Guthrie at this Saturday’s (4/27) 4PM screening of “Alice’s Restaurant” (directed by Matthew’s father Arthur) at the Triplex Cinema in Great Barrington, MA.
Mick Lynch is an Irish born and bred singer/songwriter based in Upstate New York. Mick is also a founding member, along with Kevin May, of Irish band The Guggenheim Grotto (later, Storyman) which enjoyed critical acclaim in the US and Ireland. His one-man show “An Irish Goodbye“, a musical experience of love, loss, and new beginnings directed by Will Chase. Featuring songs and stories, “An Irish Goodbye” tells howMick’s music led him from Ireland to America, where he found love and lost loved ones, ultimately highlighting the human condition and the importance of family. The show will be performed this Saturday, April 20th at Kaatsbaan Cultural Park in Tivoli, NY.
Mick Lynch is an Irish Singer/Songwriter from Dublin, based in upstate New York. Mick is also a founding member, along with Kevin May, of Irish band The Guggenheim Grotto (later, Storyman)which enjoyed critical acclaim in the US and Ireland.
Filmwax welcomes back the filmmaker Larry Fessenden for his 12th visit to the show. He’s joined by actor Alex Hurt who stars in his latest movie “Blackout“, a product of Larry’s Glass Eye Pix and their occasional filmmaking partners at Dark Sky Films.
Painter Charley (Alex Hurt, “Minyan”, TV’s “New Amsterdam”) wakes up in an upstate motel where he appears to have been living for some time. After he packs and leaves he encounters various people in the small town where everybody knows your name. Charley is saying goodbye to the estranged love of his life, Sharon (Addison Timlin, “Submission:, TV’s “American Horror Stories”), and settling his affairs with a manic urgency that culminates with a call to a friend, Earl (Motell Gyn Foster, “Marriage Story,” “A Dog’s Way Home”), saying: “You better be ready, I’m coming.” But Charley never makes it to his friend’s house: When the sun goes down he has convulsions while driving his car, goes off the road and ends up in a ditch. Charley, it seems, is a werewolf. He attacks his rescuers and moves through the outskirts of town at night wreaking havoc. But the next day he can’t remember the things he’s done. Now the tight-knit town must rally to find out what is tearing it apart: mistrust, fear, or a vicious monster.
Also, following this segment, a never podcasted conversation with Larry from October of 2022.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwkqswM-Cvw
This episode centers on a new documentary that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, “Kim’s Video“, and which opens theatrically today , Friday, 4/5, at the Quad Cinema in NYC and at Vidiots in Los Angeles. After entrepreneur Yongman Kim donated the entire collection of rare, esoteric and arthouse videos from his iconic East Village shop, Kim’s Video, to a small Sicilian town for preservation back in 2009, the story goes off the rails. Joining me for this fascinating discussion are filmmakers Ashley Sabin & David Redmon, and the man himself, Mr. Yongman Kim!
Physical media reigns supreme in “Kim’s Video”, an elegiac tribute to the iconic video store in New York City that inspired a generation of cinephiles before it mysteriously closed its doors and sent its legendary film archive to a small Sicilian village for safekeeping. But what starts as an homage to cinema quickly becomes a rescue mission to ensure the eternal preservation of the beloved video collection.
https://youtu.be/owU6uOXxrb8
The guest is the hugely multi-talented musician and Bronx-born Brian Mitchell. Mitchell is well known in music industry circles and beyond for working with some of music’s most respected artists including Levon Helm & The Midnight Ramble, Bob Dylan, BB King, Dolly Parton, Little Feat, Rosanne Cash, Allen Toussaint, and Buster Poindexter as well as recording and performing his own original music. He has appeared on 5 Grammy award winning recordings, 3 with Levon Helm, and one each with BB King and Les Paul. n 2015 Brian was inducted into the New York Blues Hall Of Fame. His versatility on piano, Hammond B-3 organ, accordion, various vintage keyboards and harmonica plus his distinct vocal stylings have firmly established him as one of New York City’s most sought after musicians. Brian currently makes Woodstock, NY his home.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_smZ5Bek_A
Tony Fletcher is the author of a number of books including “Moon: The Life and Death of a Rock Legend”, “Remarks Remade: The Story of R.E.M.”, “In the Midnight Hour: The Life and Soul of Wilson Pickett”, and many others. He is also the host of two podcasts: “The Fanzine Podcast” and “One Step Beyond”. He has a popular Substack and is a musician as well. Tony is a British born Kingston, NY resident.
https://youtu.be/0Topb2f09A8
This episode includes guests Mario Van Peebles and son Mandela Van Peebles who discuss their new movie “Outlaw Posse”. The film, also directed by Mario, opens in theaters Friday, March 1. In 1908 an outlaw returns from years of hiding in Mexico to claim stolen gold hidden in the hills of Montana. The film also stars Whoopi Goldberg, Cedric The Entertainer, as well as past Filmwax guests John Carroll Lynch and William Mapother.
https://youtu.be/l0ueFlKAfTM
New York City’s beloved Ukrainian restaurant Veselka is best known for its borscht and varenyky, but it has become a beacon of hope for Ukraine. As the second-generation owner Tom Birchard reluctantly retires after 54 years, his son Jason Birchard faces the pressures of stepping into his father’s shoes as the war in Ukraine impacts his family and staff. Michael Fiore‘s film is called “Veselka: The Rainbow on the Corner at the Center of the World” and features appearances by New York Mayor Eric Adams, Governor Kathy Hochul, and events at the US Open that include Rafael Nadal and John McEnroe, among other notables. The film opens at the Village East Cinema in NYC (just 3 or so blocks from the legendary restaurant) today, Friday, February 23rd.
https://youtu.be/HcxMWWBTIPwThe documentary filmmaker Katja Esson makes her first ever appearance on the podcast. We discuss her latest film, “Razing Liberty Square“, a climate gentrification documentary. Eight miles inland of Miami’s beaches, Liberty City residents fight to save their community from climate gentrification. Sitting on a ridge, their land is real estate gold. The film is currently available on PBS’ YouTube channel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ke0x86JbKZ0https://youtu.be/QmGEfx1cbE0
Author Sam Wasson (“The Big Goodbye”, “The Oral History of Hollywood”) returns to the podcast to discuss his latest book, “The Path to Paradise: A Francis Ford Coppola Story” (Harper Collins, 2023).
Francis Ford Coppola is one of the great American dreamers, and his most magnificent dream is American Zoetrope, the production company he founded in San Francisco years before his gargantuan success, when he was only thirty. Through Zoetrope’s experimental, communal utopia, Coppola attempted to reimagine the entire pursuit of movie making. Now, more than fifty years later, despite myriad setbacks, the visionary filmmaker’s dream persists, most notably in the production of his decades-in-the-making film and the culmination of his utopian ideals, “Megalopolis”. As Wasson makes clear, the story of Zoetrope is also the story of Coppola’s wife, Eleanor Coppola, and their children, and of personal lives inseparable from artistic passion. It is a story that charts the divergent paths of Coppola and his co-founder and onetime apprentice, George Lucas, and of their very different visions of art and commerce. And it is a story inextricably bound up in the making of one of the greatest quixotic masterpieces ever attempted, “Apocalypse Now”, and in what Coppola found in the jungles of the Philippines when he walked the razor’s edge. That story, already the stuff of legend, has never fully been told, until this extraordinary book.
https://youtu.be/5kVWFJpmNcg
This episode has a trigger warning. I welcome photo journalist Amanda Mustard and returning documentary filmmaker Rachel Beth Anderson on to discuss the film in which they collaborated called GREAT PHOTO, LOVELY LIFE. The documentary follows co-director Amanda Mustard as she turns her investigative lens on sexual abuse committed by her grandfather, beginning a personal journey in pursuit of the truth and reconciliation for her family. The film is currently available to view on HBO and Max.
https://youtu.be/_VWEUcR3sTc
The legendary directors of such films as “Alice In The Cities”, “The American Friend”, “Paris, Texas”, “Wings of Desire”, “The Buena Vista Social Club”, “Pina” and now “Perfect Days”, Wim Wenders is the guest. Wenders’ latest film tells the story of Hirayama (Koji Yakusho) who works as a cleaner in Tokyo’s public toilets and seems content with a simple life. Outside his highly structured routine, he indulges his passion for music and books. He loves trees, and takes photos of them. The film opens theatrically on Wednesday, February 7, 2024.
Danish filmmaker Lasse Lyskjær Noer discusses his Oscar nominated short film “Knight of Fortune”. An absurd, humorous, and melodic meeting between two old men captured by grief. “Knight Of Fortune” is a short film written and directed by Lasse Lyskjær Noer and produced in Denmark, Scandinavia by Jalabert Production.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAefxW4N7zQ&t=1sFilm journalist, author and film producer —and friend of the podcast— Josh Karp makes his 5th visit. This time we discuss the latest article he co-wrote with Marc Freeman for Airmail, “A Man Out of Time” about the casting of Elliott Gould in Robert Altman’s classic gumshoe movie “The Long Goodbye” (1973).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6FP_E-tKQw
“Filmwax welcomes the return of actor and musician Eszter Bailint tothe podcast. In addition to Eszter’s acting work over the many years (“Stranger Than Paradise”, “Louie” & “Trees Lounge”), she is also an accomplished singer, songwriter, and violinist. She will be performing at Park Slope’s Barbès on Thursday, March 28th at 8:00 PM.
The documentary filmmaker PJ Raval (“Before You Know It”) returns after a 10 year absence to discuss his latest film “Who We Become”. In his film, three young Filipino women grapple with an emerging global pandemic while growing connections with their families. The film, produced by Ava Duvernay’s Array, is currently streaming on Netflix.
https://youtu.be/nHB_wmEg9JoAlso, documentary producers Simon Kilmurry (returning to Filmwax after 9 years) and Susan Margolin (making her first appearance on the podcast) discuss the recent passing of filmmaker and Filmwax friend Nancy Buirski and her film on which they collaborated, “DesperateSouls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy“. Nancy had appeared on Filmwax to discuss this film only days before she passed away. Now the film has been shortlisted for an Oscar.
https://youtu.be/bdt7D4oOIDs
Filmmaker, actor & street photographer Richard Edson returns to the podcast for his 2nd visit. Richard was on a few years ago. He has been in a number of seminal films including Jim Jarmusch’s “Stranger Than Paradise”, Spike Lee’s “Do The Right Thing” and Oliver Stone’s “Platoon” to name just three. He has a new book of his photography called “Year Zero Lockdown Journal”, photos taken during the pandemic. Author and filmmaker Nick Ebeling returns to the podcast for his 3rd visit. Nick is the director of “Along for the Ride”, a documentary about Dennis Hopper around the time he made “The Last Movie”. Now Nick is making a non-fiction film in collaboration and about Richard. We discuss all the above in this fun episode of the podcast.
https://youtu.be/n785BoiWUFE?si=jvGULY91dAZ6u8eJ
Recorded from the Radio Free Rhinecliff studios in Rhinecliff, New York, this conversation includes two special community activist types from the Ulster County area. The two people who are responsible for running the O+ Festival in Kingston, NY: Lara Hope and Laura Wilson Crimmins. The O+ Festival is an annual three-day celebration of art, music, and wellness that takes place in Kingston, NY, featuring an eclectic music lineup, visual and public art performances and activations, and community wellness events.
The film “A Father’s Promise” tells the story of professional musician Mark Barden whose life changed instantly when his son Daniel was murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary and features Sheryl Crow (also the film’s Executive Producer), Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks, Karen Fairchild of Little Big Town with music by John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen, Van Morrision and Steve Winwood. The documentary will have a NYC theatrical run at the Look Cinemas beginning Friday, December 8th. This past Thursday, 12/7, Artist for Action, an advocacy group which aims to prevent gun violence, hosted a concert to celebrate the launch of “A Father’s Promise”. Musical Director Jimmy Vivino along with Barden of The Promise Band lead this multi-artist benefit concert featuring Sheryl Crow, Peter Frampton, Kevin Bacon, Bernie Williams, Rozzi, The Dumes, The Alternate Routes, Jen Chapin, Aztec Two-Step 2.0 and special guests. This one-of-a-kind show was filmed as a docu-concert and will tell a story through video and live performances. The beneficiary of the event is Sandy Hook Promise.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1IuMDPRI1UThe team behind a new podcast called “George Bailey Was Never Born“, Ray Nowosielski and Dave Cassidy both make their first appearance on the podcast. The podcast takes a definitive look at “It’s a Wonderful Life”, one of the most popular movies of all time, the story of Americans’ decades-long love affair with this cultural institution and how it may offer a light down the path we walk today, all 10 episodes available Nov 21, 2023. Created by Kurt Engfehr, the editor-producer of Oscar- and Palme d’Or-winning documentaries, and Nowosielski, 2022 NAACP Image Award nominee for Outstanding Podcast, the series is a co-production of iHeartMedia and Double Asterisk, in association with True Stories. Narrated by a familiar angel, he takes listeners back and forth between the part of the multiverse where the events of “Wonderful Life” really happened and our own, one where George Bailey was never born!
Natalia Leite (“Handmaid’s Tale) returns to the podcast after many years to discuss her latest work including having directed the first 3 episodes of the new Hulu series “Black Cake”. Adapted from the best selling novel by Charmaine Wilkerson of the same name, the story concerns two siblings who set aside their differences to deal with their mother’s death–and her hidden past, an odyssey of discovery that takes them from the Caribbean to London to California and ends with her famous black cake. In present-day California,
https://youtu.be/XZpy6UebCGM“Hayseed” is the directorial debut of filmmaker Travis Burgess. His film —which is currently available on streaming platforms such as Amazon Prime Video and Apple— takes place in a small Midwestern town where a church congregation begins its own investigation after the reverend is found dead. The film stars the great Bill Sage (“We Are What We Are”, “Simple Men”) in its lead role as Investigator Hobbins.
https://youtu.be/YFkSlrIxy_8?si=5-O4TGYV1qvbDOuc
The documentary filmmaker Nick Broomfield (“Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer”, “Biggie & Tupac”) returns for his 3rd appearance on the podcast. Nick’s latest documentary “The Stones & Brian Jones“. Candid interviews and never-before-seen footage reveal how Jones, the founder of the Rolling Stones, was left behind in the shadows of history. The film opens widely in the U.S. on Friday, November 17th.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4t3tuphVzLQJoe Papp’s widow Gail Merrifield Papp makes her first appearance on the show. Gail’s new book is about her husband, the great theatrical producer & founder of the New York Shakespeare Festival and Public Theater, Joe Papp. In her book “Public/Private: My Life with Joe Papp at The Public Theater,” Gail takes us inside a remarkable working partnership as she tells story after story about the creative process that launched many of The Public Theater’s best remembered productions, including “Hair”, “A Chorus Line”, “Sticks and Bones”, “for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf”, “The Normal Heart”, “The Mystery of Edwin Drood”, and many others.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0KK7nkbfGo
Making her first appearance on the podcast, filmmaker Sonia Kennebeck (“Enemies of the State”, “National Bird) discusses her new documentary about the NSA contractor turned whistle blower, Reality Winner. The film, “Reality Winner”, is now available on streaming platforms. Wim Wenders serves as an executive producer. It follows Reality Winner, who leaked a top secret document about Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections to the media.
https://youtu.be/PZkxwy7AUOgMaking her first appearance on Filmwax, the filmmaker Frances Henderson with her directorial debut, the documentary “This Much We Know”. While investigating the suicide of Las Vegas teenager Levi Presley, Henderson uncovers the story of a city with the highest suicide rate in the country and a nation scrambling to bury decades of nuclear excess in a nearby mountain. The film is having its theatrical run at DCTV‘s Firehouse Cinema in NYC beginning Friday, November 10th.
https://youtu.be/JS-R20nKz7c?si=rbTaEnpS82pLqTWc
A new documentary called “Subject” premieres theatrically today, November 3rd in NYC (IFC Center), Los Angeles (Laemmle Glendale) and at Chicago’s Music Box Theater on the November12th. “Subject” explores the life-altering experience of sharing one’s life on screen through key participants of acclaimed documentaries “The Staircase”, “Hoop Dreams”, “The Wolfpack”, “Capturing the Friedmans”, and “The Square”. These erstwhile documentary ‘stars’ reveal the highs and lows of their experiences as well as the everyday realities of having their lives put under a microscope. Also featuring commentary from such past FIlmwax guests from the doc world as Kirsten Johnson, Sam Pollard, and Thom Powers, the film unpacks vital issues around the ethics and responsibility inherent in documentary filmmaking. As tens of millions of people consume documentaries in an unprecedented ‘golden era,’ “Subject” urges audiences to consider the often profound impact on their participants. The film opens today, November 3rd in NYC at the IFC Center and at the Laemmle Glendale in Los Angeles. It will also have a theatrical run at Chicago’s Music Box Theater beginning November 12th. One of the co-directors of the film, Jennifer Tiexiera, and subjects of the film —who also serves as the film’s producer— Margie Ratliff of the doc “The Staircase” appear in this segment.
https://youtu.be/wT6PggBfwnYFilmmaker Kevin Duncan Wong has made a documentary about the homeless crisis in San Francisco. Many struggling individuals are, as a temporary solution, living in SRO’s (sing room occupancies) in various run down hotels. “Home Is a Hotel” is essential viewing. A composite portrait of life on the margins in the most expensive city in the country. Filmed over 5 years, this feature-length documentary looks at inequality in San Francisco through the lens of five residents as they fight to stay housed. The film features a mosaic of strangers bound together by their reliance on this system of Single Room Occupancy hotels to keep a roof over their heads and homelessness at bay. I’m joined by Kevin and one of his film’s subjects, Sylvester. “Home is a Hotel” will be available to see at the San Diego Asian Film Festival and NewFilmmakers Los Angeles DocuSlate.
https://youtu.be/b95_NEAQTtQ?si=EHoEVO8PLRElr6BS
The documentary filmmaker Vin Liota makes his first appearance on the podcast to discuss his recent film “Objects“. Vin’s film follows three unique people who have held onto something that gained incredible meaning for them over decades. “Objects” may be currently streamed on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, or various other streaming platforms. The intro of this episode includes an appearance by my son, Jacob Pittman Schartoff. The outro includes chatter with Radio Free Rhinecliff audio engineer Matt Mercier.
Legendary animator —and friend of the podcast— Bill Plympton (“Idiots & Angels”, “Cheatin””) helps me intro this episode of the podcast from the Woodstock Film Festival. Bill is showing his latest animated feature, “Slide” there. But this episode is not about that film but concerns one of his proteges and friends, Signe Baumane (“Rocks in My Pockets”). Signe’s new film is called “My Love Affair With Marriage” which is premiering in New York City’s Quad Cinema on Friday, October 6th. The film is about a spirited young woman determined to find love in the bewildering world. My Love Affair With Marriage follows Zelma on her 23-year quest for perfect love and lasting marriage set against a backdrop of historic events in Eastern Europe.
In this segment, I welcome the documentary filmmaking team, producer Christopher Knight (“The Brady Bunch”) and director Phil Viardo. They have made the film “TrueLove” which is currently on streaming platforms. Callie Truelove, a teenager with Williams syndrome, travels across America to meet other individuals with Williams syndrome to help tell their stories. Callie’s goal is to spread her unique brand of unconditional love and awareness for Williams syndrome, while shining a light on others with Williams syndrome.
https://youtu.be/2spZwQWw55kLegendary producer Jeremy Thomas (“The Sheltering Sky”, “The Last Emporer”) is the subject of Mark Cousins’ latest documentary masterpiece: “The Storms of Jeremy Thomas”. Mr. Thomas is the guest. The film opes at the Quad Cinema in NYC on Friday, September 22nd.
https://youtu.be/SKx7xwv2I2s
The author Dwayne Epstein (“Lee Marvin: Point Blank”) returns to the podcast to discuss his new book, “Killin’ Generals: The Making of The Dirty Dozen, the Most Iconic WW II Movie of All Time” which is currently available.
https://youtu.be/GnKQf310CKA
Filmmaker and actor Alex Winter ("Zappa", "the "Bill & Ted" franchise discusses his documentary "The YouTube Effect" which is currently available on streaming platforms; and Rick Goldsmith is trying to get his 2009 film "The Most Dangerous Man in American: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers" in the Library of Congress National Film Registry.
Steve James ("Hoop Dreams", "Life Itself") returns with his latest documentary "A Compassionate Spy", a timely Oppenheimer adjacent story of scientist Ted Hall. And Jeff L. Lieberman discusses his documentary about the pioneering congress member Bella Abzug in his film "Bella!".
The rock critic, music journalist & author Alan Light makes his first appearance on the podcast.
The great actor Richard E. Grant ("Withnail & I") returns to discuss his new film "The Lesson". Also, the documentary filmmaker Sam Pollard returns with his latest film. "The League". Both films premiere theatrically Friday, July 7th.
Documentary filmmaker Jim Lebrecht ("Crip Camp") comes on to discuss his podcast "The Art of Documentary" where he interviews documentary filmmakers such as past Filmwax guests as Roger Ross Williams, Kirsten Johnson and Bing Liu.
The filmmaking team behind the queer cinema classic "By Hook or By Crook" (2002), Silas Howard and Harry Dodge stop by. Also, documentary filmmaker Nancy Buirski returns for her 4th visit to discuss her new film "Desperate Hours, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy" which opens at FIlm Forum on Friday, 6/23.
The actor Merritt Wever ("Nurse Jackie") makes her first appearance on the podcast. She's joined by the co-director/co-writer of the film "Midday Black Midnight Blue" in which they both star and which premieres on demand on Friday, June 16th. Also film journalist and author Josh Karp returns to discuss his latest article in Airmail.
Mary Harron has directed the new film "Dalíland" about the surrealist painter Salvador Dalí. I speak to Harron and the actor Barbara Sukowa who plays wife Gala Dalí. Also, Jamie Boyle who made a documentary about her sister and mother's addictions to opioids. That documentary, "Anonymous Sister" is currently in theaters.
Mystelle Brabbee has been with the Nantucket Film Festival since its inception in 1996. She currently holds the position of Artistic Director and previously held the title of Film Program Director. The festival runs from June 21st through the 26th. This is her first time on Filmwax.
https://youtu.be/vuzkHc8v1uoThe casting team behind the hit Apple TV+ series “Shrinking”, from Romano/Benner Casting: Debbie Romano and Brett Benner. The series will be getting a 2nd season.
https://youtu.be/jyBG20Ij61w
The host of the podcast Full Cast and Crew, Jason Cilo, is the guest. Hosted by Cilo, a TV producer and production executive, each episode features a wealth of amazing and entertaining behind-the-scenes stories about the making of the movies that formed us. Jason also founded and runs Meetinghouse Productions in New York City,, a full-service production and content-creation company.
https://youtu.be/gJk6uhxdeU4
Documentary filmmaker Ben Steinbauer makes his first appearance on the podcast though back in August of 2012 Filmwax screened Ben’s earlier film “Winnebago Man” to a happy crowd at the Maysles Cinema in NYC. Ben is back with a new documentary that he co-directed with Filmwax friend Berndt Mader, “Chop & Steele“. Childhood friends turned professional comedians Nick Prueher and Joe Pickett book their gag-strongman routine on unsuspecting morning news shows. When their pranks go viral, they land in federal court with a vengeful media conglomerate. The stress of the lawsuit and pressure to continue their pranks threaten their livelihood and tests their lifelong friendship. “Chop & Steele” is currently on streaming and on demand platforms.
https://youtu.be/tphUqtrfBNIThe Berkshire International Film Festival was founded 18 years ago. The founder & artistic director of the festival, Kelley Vickery, makes her first appearance on Filmwax to discuss this year’s BIFF to take place 6/1-6/4. The festival has an outstanding line-up of feature films, shorts, panels and parties. You can pay for individual tickets or a badge —and check out the full program— by visiting the festival’s website.
https://youtu.be/JRGRBG61ILo
The Los Angeles based filmmaker, photographer and writer Nick Ebeling returns to Filmwax to discuss his new novel —his first— called “Earthquake Weather”. Synopsis: Haunted by a childhood near-death experience above Sunset Boulevard, McCabe—almost 22, broke, and carrying a massive student loan debt—navigates his final days at a top-rated art school. With a film festival deadline looming and under mounting pressure from the film’s star—a recently sober and notoriously difficult ’70s cult cinema legend—McCabe struggles to edit his film while avoiding his responsibilities and the schemes of his convict father, who (unbeknownst to McCabe) has negotiated a screenwriting deal on his son’s behalf with a former cellmate, a shady (and possibly violent) music producer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyeU2fZTTCw&t=120s
HBO Original documentary film “1000% Me: Growing Up Mixed“, directed by guest W. Kamau Bell (“United Shades of America”), debuts Tuesday, May 2 (9:00 – 10:00 p.m. ET/PT) on HBO and will be available to stream on HBO Max. The documentary film is produced in association with Get Lifted Film Co. Synopsis: Through a series of compelling and insightful conversations, Emmy Award-winning producer, director, host and comedian W. Kamau Bell explores the experiences of mixed kids and families in the San Francisco Bay Area. The film was inspired by Kamau and his wife Melissa’s desire to better understand what life is like for their mixed daughters, who are navigating issues of identity in a world that often asks them to pick a side. With humor and heart, the film reveals the joys and complexities of growing up mixed in today’s America.
https://youtu.be/6ukbRvZOOjQ
Zoe Lister Jones (“Life in Pieces”, “How it Ends”) returns to the podcast. She is the writer, director and star of a new series produced by Roku called “Slip”. Restless in her marriage, Mae (Jones) finds herself in parallel universes, married to different people and trying to find a way back to her partner, and, ultimately, to herself. The series premieres on Friday, April 22nd.
https://youtu.be/ZOSqzm1uHOkEditors Michael Taylor, A.C.E. and Joseph Krings, A.C.E. pitched a series to the Metrograph art house cinema in Downtown NYC some months ago. The series -ACE Presents- would spotlight editors and editing with each screening. The series was approved warmly by Metrograph programmer Inge de Leeuw and began last Fall. No surprise that the series has been a hit, selling out regularly. Next up in the series is a screening of Mike Nichols’ iconic “The Graduate”. While the film’s editor, Sam O’Steen passed away in 2000, his wife Bobbie O’Steen —an editor herself and author of “The Invisible Cut: How Editors Make Movie Magic”— will be on hand for the Q&A following the screening to take place on Saturday, April 22nd. The Q&A will be moderated by their daughter, Molly O’Steen. In this conversation I am joined by editor Taylor, programmer de Leeuw, and both Bobbie O’Steen and Molly O’Steen.
https://youtu.be/r3IOYqF8eZg
The filmmaker Catherine Hardwicke (“Thirteen”, “Twilight”) returns to Filmwax after 8 years. She brings with her a new film, a fish out of water comedy starring Toni Collette and Monica Bellucci called “Mafia Mamma“. While seeing to her long estranged (and now deceased) grandfather’s affairs in Italy, Collette, a mild mannered suburban mom, unexpectedly inherits his mafia empire and finds herself stuck in the middle of a deadly mob war. Guided by the firm’s trusted consigliere (Bellucci), she hilariously defies everyone’s expectations, including her own, as the new head of the family business. “Mafia Mamma” opens theatrically on Friday, April 14th.
The documentary filmmaker Nathaniel Kahn (“The Price of Everything”) returns to the podcast with a 20th anniversary restored version of his highly personal film “My Architect”. Kahn barely knew his father, but many throughout the world did. He was renowned architect Louis Kahn, who designed noteworthy buildings in California, Texas and even Bangladesh. Nathaniel explores his father’s past, interviewing architects such as Frank O. Gehry, as well as members of the multiple families started by the philandering Louis. What emerges is a portrait of a brilliant but unreliable man whose creations, which are featured prominently in the film, still astound. The restored film just had a theatrical at Film Forum in NYC and is currently available on the Criterion Channel.
https://youtu.be/AKL_C2ROSAc
My guest is filmmaker Reed Harkness, director of the award-winning documentary “Sam Now”. The film will be theatrically distributed by 8 Above with week-long runs beginning April 6 at the Laemmle Glendale in Los Angeles and on April 7 at the Village East Cinemas in New York. Harkness, the director, lead subject and members of the filmmaking team will be in attendance for opening weekends in Los Angeles and New York. A nationwide expansion will follow in the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, Portland and other select markets. The film will launch its National TV Broadcast on PBS Independent Lens on May 8, 2023. What do two film-obsessed brothers do to solve a family mystery? Using every video format imaginable, they make a movie as they travel thousands of miles looking for their missing mom. Stitching together 25 years of home videos and filling the gaps in the archive with play, “Sam Now” is a mosaic of love, longing and loss, as well as an attempt to overcome intergenerational trauma.
https://youtu.be/fWdbr6zdgW4Philip Shane is an award winning documentary filmmaker with over 30 years of experience. He was Co-Director & Editor of “Being Elmo” (Winner of the Special Jury Prize at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival), and Producer & Editor of the two hour feature documentary, “Einstein” (2008, History Channel). As Editor of “Dancing in Jaffa”, which had it’s World Premiere at the 2013 TriBeCa Film Festival, he and Bob Eisenhardt won the Best Editing Award at Israel’s prestigious DocAviv Film Festival. His latest film, a short form documentary is called “Jade Doskow: Photographer of Lost Utopias”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L87cueVHM8M
Susan Ray is a writer and the president and creative director of The Nicholas Ray Foundation. She oversaw the restoration of her husband’s singular last film, “We Can’t Go Home Again”, and made a documentary, “Don’t Expect Too Much”, about how Ray’s film was made and his relationship with his students. She’s now completing a novel-memoir and launching the third film of three in the Ray Centenary Project, ACTION!, a master class with Nicholas Ray in filmmaking as a way of life. Previously she introduced and edited “I Was Interrupted: Nicholas Ray on Making Movies” (University of California Press, 1993) and has published a number of shorter pieces on film and pilgrimage.
The great director Stephen Frears (“High Fidelity”, “The Queen”) makes his first appearance on Filmwax to discuss his latest film, “The Lost King” starring Sally Hawkins and Steve Coogan. Guided by instinct and spectral visions, an ambitious writer and amateur historian defies the academic establishment to unearth Richard III’s long-missing remains in a Leicester car park. The film opens theatrically on Friday, March 24th.
https://youtu.be/hUJFdBWYRAgGuests include director John Clayton Doyle and the subject of his acclaimed, award-winning “I’m An Electric Lampshade”, Doug McCorkle. The film premiered on digital platforms March 28 from Gravitas Ventures. Called both “one of the best documentaries of the year” (on-magazine.co.uk), and “One of the best films we’ll see all year” (KQED), this unique, mind-bending musical odyssey stars Doug McCorkle, a buttoned-up, mild-mannered corporate accountant. After retiring at age 60, Doug puts his marriage, life savings, and reputation on the line to chase his wildest dream.
https://youtu.be/Qhx0aM_x4Nc
11:45Jump to Paul Weitz segment
29:58Jump to BACK TO THE DRIVE-IN segment
The director Paul Weitz (“American Pie”, “About a Boy”) makes his first appearance on Filmwax with his new dramedy, “Moving On” which stars Lily Tomlin. The film also co-stars Malcolm McDowell and Richard Roundtree. Two estranged women (Fonda & Tomlin) reunite to seek revenge against the husband of their recently deceased best friend. Along the way, they learn to make peace with the past and each other. The film, distributed by Roadside Attractions, opens Friday, March 17th.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRRER-MTfwQ“Back to the Drive-In” director April Wright makes her first appearance on the podcast. The film, which played to rave reviews at many, of course, drive-in theaters during its theatrical run, features interviews with drive-in theater owners from around the corner. We’re joined by She’s joined by owners of the Field of Dreams Drive-In in Liberty Center, Ohio: Rod and Donna Saunders & owners of the Greenville Drive-In: Leigh Van Swall and Dwight Grimm. The film is available on demand.
https://youtu.be/eQKHHto12Vc
NYU Film Professor Dana Polan makes his first appearance on Filmwax to discuss this Sunday’s nominees and make some predictions. We also discuss Polan’s books, of which he has published more than 10.
This episode was recorded at the Radio Free Rhinecliff studios in Rhinecliff, NY.
Professor Dana Polan at Radio Free Rhinecliff in Rhinecliff, NY
The filmmaker Matthew Newton (“Who We Are Now”) returns to Filmwax to discuss his new dramatic film, “Among the Beasts”. When the daughter of a criminal enlists the help of a former Marine Lieutenant to find her kidnapped cousin, the hardened combat veteran must overcome his own demons to try and save the child. “Among the Beasts” is currently available to watch on demand.
The actor Tim Roth returns to Filmwax after a 7 year break. He is in a new dramatic film out of New Zealand called “Punch”.Jim is a promising teenage boxer who’s training under the watchful eye of his demanding and alcoholic father Stan (Roth). When Jim develops a relationship with a male classmate, they must navigate isolation, homophobia, and the brutality of small-town life. As Jim discovers what it means to be gay, he soon realizes how little strength has to do with heroism. “Punch” premieres in select theaters as well as on demand and digital on Friday, March 10rh.
https://youtu.be/4dMgP38GC30
Actors Eric Bana (“Munich”, “The Hulk”) and Mia Wasikowska (“Alice in Wonderland”, “Only Lovers Left Alive”) visit Filmwax to discuss their new film, “Blueback” which is now in theaters. While researching Australia’s deteriorating coral reefs, marine biologist Abby (Wasikowska) receives word of her elderly mother Dora’s stroke. As she rushes to her seaside hometown to care for Dora, Abby recalls her childhood years spent living in concert with the ocean, and her mother’s efforts to protect the bay from greedy developers and invasive fishermen alike, often to the detriment of their own relationship. Among the coral gardens, Abby also befriends a rare fish, an enormous blue groper — affectionately named Blueback — a tether to her environmentalism, and the key to reminding Abby and Dora of their love for each other and the vulnerable waters they call home.
https://youtu.be/Y4fGmBbNddoDocumentary filmmaker R. J. Cutler (“The War Room”, “Belushi”) makes his first appearance on the podcast to discuss his new docu-series, “Murf the Surf”, which is currently available on the MGM+ streaming service. In October 2019, the New York Times published an article celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Museum of Natural History. One of the most momentous events to take place on site was an epic jewel heist, the biggest in American history, mastered by a band of suave ‘surfer dudes’ from Miami in 1964. The key to the operation was Jack Roland Murphy, otherwise known as Murf the Surf, whose name was propelled into pop culture after the heist—creating a notoriety that would stretch far beyond the caper. What followed Murf’s meteoric rise is a spiraling tale of unspeakable crime, murder, deception, and mayhem which, to this day, remains shrouded in mystery. This four-part documentary series will explore the tumultuous life of the man behind the legendary nickname. Featuring exclusive access to Jack Roland Murphy himself prior to his death in 2020, the series will address the blurred line between fact and fiction, faith and delusion, sanity and madness—raising the timely question of who and how we believe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1pJI2wenus&t=1s
Filmwax is proud to be part of the Radio Free Rhinecliff network of show.
The Executive Director of The Bardavon in Poughkeepsie and UPAC (The Ulster Performing Arts Center) in Kingston, Chris Silva, is the guest. Chris discusses his long history in running theaters in San Francisco and in New York before relocating to the Hudson Valley back in the mid-1990’s.
A major force in the regional theater movement, in 1972 Chris graduated from San Francisco State College and immediately founded the Eureka Theatre in a San Francisco commune. While he was artistic director, the theater presented west coast premieres of works by Sam Shepard, Athol Fugard, Bertolt Brecht and Mark Medoff, among others. The theater went on to present the world
premiere of Tony Kushner’s “Angels in America”. Chris moved to New York City in 1978, and was hired by Joe Papp’s Public Theatre which resulted in a long and fruitful relationship with that institution. He joined The Bardavon as Executive Director in 1994 and soon managed UPAC as well.
From the Radio Free Rhinecliff Studios… Co-founder and Executive Director of the Woodstock Film Festival —and Filmwax regular guest— Meira Blaustein, is the guest. The Festival was launched in 2000 and has quickly become one of the most respected and influential regional film festivals in the US. Blaustein has been running it ever since. During this special conversation we discuss Meira’s recent visit to the Sundance Film Festival as well as the politics of the Oscars (and predictions).
The iconic actor Judd Hirsch (“Taxi”, “The Fabelmans”) is the guest. In addition to his Academy Award nomination for his role in Spielberg’s “The Fabelmans”, Hirsch is also the star of a new independent comedy called “iMordecai” which opens Friday, February 13th. The film is about a Holocaust survivor, Mordecai (Hirsch) who starts to feel like a kid again when a tech-savvy girl shows him how to use an iPhone. The film also stars Carol Kane and Sean Astin, and is directed by Marvin Samel. We recorded this conversation at a restaurant in Woodstock, NY during last year’s Woodstock Film Festival.
Adam Schartoff & Judd Hirsch at Cucina in Woodstock, NY.The documentary filmmaker Colin Askey makes his first appearance on Filmwax with his new film, “Love in the Time of Fentanyl”. Colin’s film just had a theatrical run at DCTV’s Firehouse Cinema and will premiere on PBS’s Independent Lens on Monday, February 13th. The documentary is about a group of misfits, artists and drug users operates a renegade safe-injection site in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, giving hope to a marginalized community ravaged by drugs.
https://youtu.be/CD4XLcHzLWk
This if the first episode in a new relationship between Filmwax and the Radio Free Rhinecliff internet radio platform & podcast network. Producers Matty Rosenberg and Jen Hammoud appear in the introduction to discuss.
Two of the co-founders of HUDSY, Laura Kandel and Jesse Brown, are my guests. HUDSY is a community-inspired platform with a mission to bring Hudson Valley creatives closer together online and in-person, fostering connection in innovative, collaborative, and unique ways in order to counteract the disconnection rampant in this digital world.
Laura has lived in the Hudson Valley her entire life and has been working in the arts community in the Hudson Valley and surrounding tri-state area for over 20 years. She was a Co-Director and Operations Manager at Artrider, a large-scale contemporary fine craft event production company, for over 16 years and worked as a Guest Relations Coordinator at the Woodstock Film Festival for 12 years. She has been on the Arts Mid-Hudson Ulster Arts Awards Committee for the six years and enjoys celebrating and lifting up the inspiring artistic community she was born into.
With over 20 years of media production and storytelling expertise, Jesse deeply believes in the power of place. In 2005, he helped to co-found a snowboarding magazine in Jackson Hole that still exists today, and has been a partner in a media production company as well as having built his own. Jesse brings a unique blend of skills from content creation to advertising sales and event production to the table, and often touts the mantra “our network is our net worth.” He loves to connect people and organizations in ways that help everyone realize their goals, and he couldn’t be more excited to be building HUDSY in the same place where he grew up.
My guest in this segment is the character actor James Urbaniak (“The Fablemans”, “You Don’t Know Jack”). He is one of the cast members in a new adventure/caper called “Condor’s Nest” which opens Friday, January 27th in theaters, on digital and on demand.
American war veteran Will Spalding (Jacob Keohane) has tracked the sadistic Nazi Colonel who executed his bomber crew during WWII to a remote location in South America. But he is in for more than he bargained for when he uncovers a secret Nazi headquarters known as the Condor’s Nest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5UZ37-PVoA&t=232s
“Only in Theaters“, a film by actor/director Raphael Sbarge (Emmy Nominated for directing “LA Foodways,”), is an intimate and moving journey taken with the Laemmle family, spanning nearly three years of challenges, losses, and personal triumphs. There has been a Laemmle in the movie business since there’s been a movie business. Their beloved Arthouse Cinema chain with an astonishing Hollywood legacy has, for four generations, been dedicated to elevating the art of filmmaking and the filmmakers who make them. “Only in Theaters” chronicles a family business, and their determination to survive. But in a changing world this is also a story about the future of Cinema. Interviews with Ava DuVernay, Cameron Crowe, James Ivory, Nicole Holofcener, and others. My guests are director Sbarge and Greg Laemmle. Opens at the IFC Center & New Plaza Cinema on Friday, 1/20.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLGLcIwX3vc&t=9sThe Director of Programming & Engagement at DCTV, Dara Messinger, makes her first appearance on Filmwax… though she has been a partner in at least a couple of Filmwax events over the years. The big news is that DCTV has opened a new documentary cinema in their Downtown Manhattan location called the Firehouse Cinema. Dara discusses the opening of the new cinema and some of the programming that is coming up.
https://youtu.be/hClsBt4G81o
“The Seven Faces of Jane” is an anthology film consisting of eight short films, all starring actor Gillian Jacobs as the title character. The segments are directed by Gillian Jacobs herself, Ken Jeong, Ryan Heffington, Alexandra Cassavetes, Boma Iluma, Julian Acosta, Alex Takacs, and Filmwax guest Gia Coppola, Jane drops her daughter off at sleep away camp and drives away from her mundane life into an exciting odyssey on the road. Jane’s obstacles, connections and moments were created playing a game of exquisite corpse—a method of creating art by collectively assembling random parts to create a whole. “The Seven Faces of Jane” opens in select theaters and on demand on Friday, January 13th.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZniqfqSqoN0“On Sacred Ground” is based on the true events during the 2016 construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline that runs through the Standing Rock Indian Reservation. The film follows Daniel —played by my guest actor William Mapother— a journalist and military veteran, and Elliot (David Arquette), an oil company executive, who find themselves on opposite sides of the fight during the construction of the contentious pipeline. As the story unfolds, the two characters go down separate paths during one of the most heated protests and confrontations with Native American tribes in modern US history. “On Sacred Ground” opens in select theaters and on demand on Friday, January 13th.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwVVL5Ltqmk
Two years ago today, a mob of Republican white supremacists stormed the Capital, spurred on by their white supremacist president and aided, in many cases, by white supremacist congress members. Brothers Jules Naudet and Gédéon Naudet (“9/11”) came on Filmwax to discuss their new documentary “January 6th”, a thorough assembly of that fateful day. The film, which also includes many amazing interviews with people who were their experiencing it, is now available on the Discovery+ streaming service.
https://youtu.be/kglfbTyaXS8“Turn Every Page” explores the remarkable fifty-year relationship between two literary legends, writer Robert Caro and his longtime editor Robert Gottlieb. Now 86, Caro is working to complete the final volume of his masterwork, “The Years of Lyndon Johnson”; Gottlieb, 91, waits to edit it. The task of finishing their life’s work looms before them. With humor and insight, this unique double portrait reveals the work habits, peculiarities and professional joys of these two ferocious intellects at the culmination of a journey that has consumed both their lives and impacted generations of politicians, activists, writers, and readers. The director of “Turn Every Page — The Adventures of Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb”) and Gottlieb’s daughter, Lizzie Gottlieb is the guest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEnIYyDM9SQ
The director of a new documentary “Deconstructing Karen“, Patty Ivins Specht joins me. The documentary explores the topic of white supremacy, and a particular approach to combating it. Through their organization, Race to Dinner, two women of color, Regina Jackson (also a guest a guest in this segment) along with Saira Rao, host a series of dinners inviting a group of white women. Frank conversations take place and this film captures one of the those dinners. The film is currently available on VOD.
https://youtu.be/pGin6kdMjIgThe documentary filmmaker Billy Shebar discusses his short film “High Noon on the Waterfront”, an inventive remembrance of the impact of the Hollywood blacklist on two American classics: “High Noon” written by Carl Foreman and “On the Waterfront” directed by Elia Kazan. Both men were brought in front of HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee) and made very different choices about cooperating. The film presents a visually mesmerizing dialogue between Foreman (voiced by Edward Norton) and Kazan (voiced by John Turturro). Shebar’s film can be seen on HBO Max.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNhEm-G9blU
This special episode is a compilation of appearances by the recently deceased documentary filmmaker Lucia Small ("My Father, The Genius", "One Cut, One Life") who passed away at 59 of pancreatic cancer. She was a very special person and will be missed.
Tim Sutton ("Memphis") returns to discuss his latest feature film about an emotionally embattled rock star played by Colson Baker aka Machine Gun Kelly. Also actors Jason Schwartzman and Lili Taylor star in Andrew Bujalski's latest film, "There There". Both films open Friday, November 11th.
British actor Simon Callow ("Four Weddings & A Funeral", "Shakespeare in Love") is in a new heist rom com called "The Pay Day". Also, a new documentary about a group of L.A. session musicians, "Immediate Family" will screen at DOC NYC. Director Denny Tedesco & bassist Leland Sklar are guests.
The feminist film critic Molly Haskell discusses her participation in TCM's second season of "Reframed" beginning November 4th; also Andy Ostroy returns to discuss his new podcast "The Back Room" which you can find on you preferred podcast app.
Two music documentary filmmakers on this episode. Kathlyn Horan has made the film "The Return of Tanya Tucker - Featuring Brandi Carlile" which is currently in theaters. And Sacha Jenkins has directed the film "Louis Armstrong's Black & Blues" which is currently streaming on Apple TV+.
Legendary film curator Larry Kardish makes his first appearance on Filmwax to discuss the upcoming FilmColumbia festival that he co-founded. Also, the award-winning documentary filmmaker Rick Stern returns with a new film called "A Radical Life" which is currently streaming on Discovery+.
Documentary filmmaker Phil Bertelsman discusses his new film "The Picture Taker" about Ernest Withers, a civil rights photographer turned FBI informant. Opens at BAM in Brooklyn Friday, October 14th. Also, some of the team behind the new dramatic narrative film, "The Same Storm" including writer/director Peter Hedges and actors Alison Pill and Jphn Gallagher, Jr. That film opens at the Quad CInema & Laemmle Monica Center on Friday, October 14th.
07:15Jump to Ondi Timoner segment
30:19Jump to Ana Lily Amirpour segment
Ondi Timoner ("We Live in Public") returns to Filmwax for her second visit to talk about her latest documentary, a highly personal film to say the least, called "Last Flight Home". Behind a white picket fence, on an unremarkable suburban street, we discover Eli Timoner, who founded Air Florida, the fastest growing airline in the world in the 1970's. During his final days, we discover his extraordinary life filled with incredible success and devastating setbacks, and most importantly, an innate goodness which won him the enduring love and support of his family. Through stunning verité footage recorded by his middle child, "Last Flight Home" takes audiences on a heart-wrenching ride through Timoner’s life, illustrating a modern day success story built on the power of human connection. The film is currently screening at the IFC Center in NYC. It will begin its Los Angeles theatrical at the Laemmle Monica Center on Friday, October 14th. Then it will stream on Paramount+ as of November.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhIF7DHF9zc&t=36s
Ana Lily Amirpour ("A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night") returns to Filmwax for her second visit (!) after several years to discuss her new thrill ride of a film, "Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon" which is now out in theaters. Kate Hudson and Jun Jong Seo star in this mind-bending thriller from visionary director Amirpour. When a struggling single-mother (Hudson) befriends a mysterious mental institute escapee with supernatural powers (Jong Seo), she sees a lucrative opportunity to make some fast cash. But when they draw the attention of a detective (Craig Robinson), their luck starts to run out as the cops close in on their crime-spree.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4Kkq7CbmnI&t=280s
The team behind "Anvil: The Story of Anvil" including director Sacha Gervasi and the band's co-founders Steve "Lips" Kudlow and Robb Reiner. A re-mastered version of the 2008 documentary is being re-released. Also, Kathryn Ferguson, the director of the Sinéad O'Connor documentary "Nothing Compares".
The Woodstock Film Festival will be presenting a 30th anniversary screening of the seminal documentary "Brothers Keeper" co-directed by Joe Berlinger. He's on the podcast to discuss. Also, co0founder and Executive Director of the festival, Meira Blaustein, makes her return.
The documentary team of Abigail Disney and Kathleen Hughes have made a film about the dramatic economic disparity in this country called "The American Dream and Other Fairy Tales"; also, Pat McGee with his documentary "From the Hood to the Holler" which follows Kentucky candidate Charlie Booker. Both films open Friday, September 16th.
The French actor and filmmaker Mathieu Amalric ("The Diving Bell & The Butterfly") has a new dramatic feature opening Friday, September 9th called "Hold Me Tight". Also, documentary filmmaker Kevin Shaw discusses his new film "Let the Little Light Shine".
Actor Drea de Matteo ("The Sopranos") is in a new action thriller called "One Way" which opens Friday, September 2. Also, the co-directprs of the documentary "Kaepernick & America" which premieres on demand & streaming platforms on Friday, September 2.
The singer songwriter William Fitzsimmons is a unique artist who is also one of the hardest working and most prolific journeymen around these days. And he's back on the podcast!
James Ponsoldt ("The Spectacular Npw") returns to discuss his new film "Summering" which opens Friday, August 12th. Also director Cherien Dabis discusses her various projects including directed episodes of "Only Murders In the Building" for Hulu.
Actor Dee Wallace discusses her careers as an author and actor. This year is the 40th anniversary of "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial". Also, filmmaker Andrew Semans returns to the show with his new film, "Resurrection" which is currently available on demand and in select theaters.
Singer songwriter Josh Rouse returns to Filmwax to discuss his brand new album, "Going Places" which becomes available Friday, July 29th.
Filmmaker/distributor/producer Ira Deutchman returns to Filmwax to discuss his latest documentary "Searching for Mr. Rugoff" about indie pioneer distributor/exhbitor Donald Rugoff. And filmmaker Lisa Hepner discusses making her documentary "The Human Trial" about the search for a blue for diabetes and her own experience as a survivor of the disease.
The Belgian filmmaking duo of Amélie van Elmbt & Maya Duverdier with their documentary "Dreaming Walls: Inside the Chelsea Hotel". And first time feature filmmaker Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović with her film "Murina". Both films open today, Friday, July 8th and are both executive produced by Martin Scorsese.
The filmmaking team behind the documentary "Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song". Dayna Goldfine & Dan Geller are the guests. Also, the director and editor of a new romantic dramedy about mix tapes and time travel, Greg Björkman & J. Patrick Don Vito stop by.
Singer songwriter Suzanne Vega discusses the one woman show she's been developing for decades about the iconic Southern author Carson McCullers. The show was filmed by Filmwax friend Michael Tully.
The experimental filmmaker Lynne Sachs returns to Fimwax to discuss her latest work, "Swerve" which screens at BAMcinemaFest this month. She's joined by poet Paolo Javier. And the director of a new intimate & experimental documentary called "Beba", Rebeca Huntt makes her first appearance.
Senior Film Program for BAM, Jesse Trussell discusses BAMcinemaFest. The indie film showcase runs from June 21 — 26. Tickets are available. Also, co-directors of the HBO documentary "The Janes", Tia Lessin & Emma Pildes.
The author of a new biography of filmmaker Michael Cimino, Charles Elton, is the guest. The book is called "Cimino: The Deer Hunter, Heaven's Gate, and the Price of a Vision" (Abrams Books, 2022). The books if available wherever books are sold.
This episode is Filmwax UK Edition! Mike Leigh gets the full retrospective treatment by Film at Lincoln Center with HUMAN CONDITIONS: THE FILMS OF MIKE LEIGH (5/27-6/8). He stops by to discuss. And the creative team behind a new comedy out of the UK, director Craig Roberts & screenwriter Simon Farnaby. The film is called "The Phantom of the Open" and it opens on June 3rd.
Director of the Human Rights Watch Film Festival, John Biaggi, returns to the show to discuss this year's NYC/virtual festival which runs May 20th—26th. Also, the festivals' opening night film's filmmakers Elena Sanchez Bellot & Maia Kenworthy with their film "Rebellion".
Guests include Hollywood producer/director Frank Marshall ("The Bee Gees" How Do You Mend a Broken Heart", "The Other Side of the Wind") with a new documentary he has co-directed called "Jazz Fest: A New Orleans Story" which opens today. And Father James Martin & filmmaker Evan Mascagni discuss "Building a Bridge" which is currently available on VOD.
Essay filmmaker Michel Negroponte returns to Filmwax for his 5th visit to discuss cows and filmmaking.
Author & film journalist Keith Phipps discusses his recently published book "Age of Cage" about the film career of iconic & controversial actor Nicolas Cage. And film programmer Melissa Lyde talks about the mission she has with her film series, Alfreda's Cinema, which is currently having a fundraising campaign.