Roadside Attractions

[6 mins. 38 secs.] Filmmaker Sally Potter (Orlando, The Tango Lesson) makes her first appearance on Filmwax Radio correcting a long-standing problem with the podcast… the lack of Sally Potter. Check that one off the ol’ bucket list. Sally has a new film which is currently in theaters called The Party starring an A-list ensemble of actors including Kristin Scott Thomas, Timothy Spall, Bruno Ganz, Patricia Clarkson, Cherry Jones, Cillian Murphy and Emily Mortimer. The comedy concerns Janet (Scott) who is hosting an intimate gathering of friends in her London home to celebrate her political ascension. After her acerbic best friend and others arrive, some with dramatic news to share, an announcement by Janet’s husband (Spall) provokes a series of revelations. As the sophisticated soiree starts to unravel, a night that began with champagne soon ends up with arguments, shouting and a pointed gun. The film is screening at the Angelika Film Center New York & Landmark at 57 West, and at the Landmark in Los Angeles.

[29 mins.] The Director of Film Programs at the Jewish Community Center (JCC) in New York City, Isaac Zablocki discusses the 10th annual ReelAbilities Film Festival which will run from March 8th through the 14th at the Center as well as various satellite locations in and around NYC. Please check the website for tickets and more details. The opening night film is called Keep the Change which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival last spring.

Filmwax Radio is presented by Rooftop Films. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram. The podcast is also available on iTunes, Stitcher & Youtube.

In the first segment [8 mins. 22 secs.], award-winning documentary filmmakers Rachel Grady & Heidi Ewing (Jesus Camp, Detropia) return to the podcast (they were last on Episode 49!) to discuss their latest film, One of Us, which is being released by Netflix. Produced over three years, the film take a deep and moving look at the lives of three individuals who have chosen to leave the hugely insular world of Hasidic Judaism. The film follows Etty, a mother of seven, as she decides to leave a violent marriage and divorce her husband; Ari, a teenager on the verge of manhood who is struggling with addiction and the effects of childhood abuse; and Luzer, an actor who, despite having found success in the secular world, still wrestles with his decision eight years earlier to leave the Hasidic community. The film will run on the company’s streaming platform internationally, and also have a theatrical run in select cities including at the IFC Center in NYC as of October 20th.

Next [47 mins. 18 secs.], the podcast is happy to welcome back one of its favorite filmmakers, Todd Haynes (Poison, Carol). Todd is back (he was last on Episode 329) with a brand new film, Wonderstruck, which was adapted from Brian Selznick’s novel of the same name by Selznick himself, and is being distributed by Amazon Studios & Roadside Attractions. Ben and Rose are children from two different eras, both deaf, who secretly wish their lives were different. Ben longs for the father he has never known, while Rose dreams of a mysterious actress whose life she chronicles in a scrapbook. When Ben discovers a puzzling clue in his home and Rose reads an enticing headline in the newspaper, both children set out on quests to find what they are missing that unfold with mesmerizing symmetry. The film is playing theatrically around the country beginning on Friday, October 20th.

Filmwax Radio is presented by Rooftop Films. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram. The podcast is also available on iTunes, Stitcher & Youtube.

Guests include brilliant filmmaker Whit Stillman (Metropolitan, Barcelona) whose new film Love & Friendship opens in select theaters on Friday, May 13; New York Times culture writer Dave Itzkoff discusses his book, Mad As Hell: The Making of Network and the Fateful Vision of the Angriest Man in Movies, published by Picador; and the hosts of the podcast Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers, Dion Baia & J. Blake.

Director Catherine Hardwick discusses her new film Miss You Already which opens Friday, November 6 as well as the subject of gender disparity; documentary filmmaker Michel Negroponte and the subject of his new project, An Autobiography of Michelle Maren; and director of the new horror film The Hallow, Corin Hardy which also opens on November 6th.

Filmmaker Dan Schechter (Supporting Characters) returns to discuss his new movie, Life of Crime, an adaptation of an Elmore Leonard novel and starring Jennifer Aniston, Isla Fischer & yassin bey (aka Mos Def).