Filmwax Radio

Berlin-based poster artist & illustrator Tony Stella is the guest on the first episode of 2018. We discuss Tony’s illustration work as well as taking a deep dive in the classic underground film Downtown 81 (1981) directed by Edo Bertoglio. The film stars Jean-Michel Basquiat playing himself as well as a host of downtown artists of the day. Stella’s work can be viewed on his website. You can screen Downtown 81 on Fandor either on their site or through Amazon Video. Also on iTunes.

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

The king of New York underground cinema, Abel Ferrara on the last episode of the year, Episode 453. We discuss his having transplanted to Rome and his enjoying a family life there. New projects include a new documentary, Piazza Vittorio, which recently premiered at the New York Film Festival.

Then documentary editor Matthew Hamachek makes an appearance to discuss his latest project, City of Ghosts, which is on the Oscar documentary shortlist. The film is about a group of Syrian rebels who call themselves Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently, and who risk their lives to document the atrocities committed by ISIS in their homeland. The film is directed by Matthew Heineman (Cartel Land), distributed by Amazon Studios, and produced by Alex Gibney’s production company, Jigsaw Productions.

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

On this episode, two remote conversations from Los Angeles, first up filmmaker Jacob Kornbluth (Inequality For All) is back with another documentary about the economy, the result of another collaboration with former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, called Saving Capitalism. The film is a Netflix original documentary and is exclusively streaming on the site.

Then the editor of the hit dark comedy, I, Tonya, Tatiana Riegel (Lars and the Real Girl), which is directed by Craig Gillespie, distributed by Neon, and currently in theaters.

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

First up, Carlye Rubin & Katie Green, co-directors of the new documentary The Family I Had which is to have its broadcast premiere on Investigation Discovery on Thursday, December 21, 9PM ET. What begins as a seemingly isolated incident of a 13-year-old boy killing his three-year-old sister slowly dissolves into the illuminating the anatomy of a broken family. Also joining our conversation, subject of the documentary, Charity Lee.

Then, filmmaker Jared Moshé and actor Bill Pullman for a conversation about their new film, a revenge western called The Ballad of Lefty Brown. The film had its premiere at SxSW, is currently screening in NYC at the Village East Cinema. It opens Friday, December 22nd at the Laemmle Noho in Los Angeles, and then wide in the coming weeks. The film also stars Jim Caviezel, Peter Fonda, Kathy Baker, Tommy Flanagan, and Joe Anderson in supporting roles.

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

[4 mins. 37 secs.] Jason Cortlund & Julia Halperin return to the podcast after a 400 episode hiatus. They last appeared on Ep 64 with their previous feature Now, Forager. The Austin-based filmmaking couple are back with a new film called Barracuda which premiered earlier this year at South by Southwest. A young British woman named […]

Ep 449 focuses on three new indie films. The first, [6 mins. 48 secs.] Fits and Starts, is directed by friend Laura Terruso who wrote the screenplay for Michael Showalter’s dramedy Hello, My Name is Doris and who was AD on Jonathan Lisecki’s comedy Gayby. The plot involves struggling writer (Wyatt Cenac) who can’t seem to escape his wife (Greta Lee)’s literary success. When a road trip to a publisher’s salon takes an unexpected turn, he has to face his own creative shortcomings and find a way to regain control of his life and work. The comedy is currently available for streaming on iTunes, Amazon Video and on demand.

[42 mins. 21 secs.] In the second segment, filmmaker Nancy Buirski returns. Nancy was last on Episode 346 where she discussed her last documentary By Sidney Lumet. Nancy is back with a new documentary, The Rape of Recy Taylor, which had its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival and its US premiere at the New York Film Festival.  Recy Taylor, a 24-year-old black mother and sharecropper, was gang raped by six white boys in 1944 Alabama. Common in Jim Crow South, few women spoke up in fear for their lives. Not Recy Taylor, who bravely identified her rapists. The NAACP sent its chief rape investigator Rosa Parks, who rallied support and triggered an unprecedented outcry for justice. The film is currently enjoying a theatrical role at the Laemmle Monica Center in Los Angeles and will be doing the same at the IFC Center in NYC beginning this Friday, December 15th.

[1 hr. 6 mins. 24 secs.] Last up, a great new documentary which is currently screening at the Quad in NYC, Quest. Filmed with vérité intimacy for over a decade, Quest —which world premiered at Sundance 2017— is the moving portrait of a family in North Philadelphia. Christopher “Quest” Rainey, along with his wife Christine, aka “Ma Quest,” who open the door to their home music studio, which serves as a creative sanctuary from the strife that grips their neighborhood. Over the years, the family evolves as everyday life brings a mix of joy and unexpected crisis. Set against the backdrop of a country now in turmoil, Quest is a tender depiction of an American family whose journey is a profound testament to love, healing and hope. The film will have a theatrical in Los Angeles at the Laemmle Monica Center beginning this Friday, December 15th. Check the website for other cities and dates. I’m joined in this segment by director Jonathan Olshefski, producer Sabrina Schmidt Gordon and Quest & Ma Quest Rainey.

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

Cinematographer Sam Levy (Lady Bird) is the sole guest on Episode 448. In addition to shooting for Greta Gerwig’s recent film —which is sweeping awards already— Sam has shot 3 films for Noah Baumbach including Frances Ha, Mistress America & While We’re Young. Sam and I chat about working for both these filmmakers in addition to his relationships with Rebecca Miller (Maggie’s Plan) and Eric Rohmer.

Please take a moment to check out my Kickstarter campaign. Watch the pitch video, read the description, and check out our outstanding rewards. Consider contributing and or supporting in the campaign’s final minutes. Thank you.

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

Episode 447’s sole guest is the filmmaker Eric Schaeffer. Talking with Eric was a walk in the park… literally. We recorded this in the late Summer of 2017 in Riverside Park on the Upper West Side. We talked about everything under the sun including the earlier years when Eric sold My Life’s In Turnaround which certainly turned around his life (he had been a taxi cab driver up until that point), and his ups and downs since then. Eric has been consistently generating work as a director, writer and actor through all available mediums including film (When Lucy Fell, Boy Meets Girl), TV (Gravity, I Can’t Believe I’m Still Single) and the internet (Eric Schaeffer: Life Coach). Talking with him was a complete pleasure.

If you want to find Eric’s body of work on Amazon Video: My Life’s in Turn Around; Mind the Gap; After Fall, Winter; Fall; Boy Meets Girl; If Lucy Fell; and Wirey Spindell. On iTunes: Boy Meets Girl; If Lucy Fell; and  After Fall, Winter. Eric Schaeffer: Life Coach and I Can’t Believe I’m Still Single are on Hulu.

Please take a moment to check out our Kickstarter campaign. Watch the pitch video, read the description, and check out our outstanding rewards. Consider contributing and or supporting the campaign. Thank you.

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

[6 mins. 30 secs.] Filmmakers Josh Koury & Myles Kane their new documentary, Voyeur, which is having a theatrical engagement at the IFC Center in NYC and at the Laemmle Monica Film Center in LA beginning this Friday, December 1st. If you are not in either of those cities, fear not, the film will be having its premiere on Netflix on the same day. Voyeur follows Gay Talese —the 84-year-old giant of modern journalism— as he reports one of the most controversial stories of his career: a portrait of a Colorado motel owner, Gerald Foos. For decades, Foos secretly watched his guests with the aid of specially designed ceiling vents, peering down from an “observation platform” he built in the motel’s attic. He kept detailed journals of his guests’ most private moments — from the mundane to the shocking — but most of all he sought out, spied on, and documented one thing: strangers having sex. Talese’s insatiable curiosity leads him to turn his gaze to a man accustomed to being the watcher, exploring a tangle of ethical questions: What does a journalist owe to his subjects? How can a reporter trust a source who has made a career of deception? Who is really the voyeur?

[33 mins. 45 secs.] Actor & comedian Noël Wells makes her directorial debut with Mr. Roosevelt, a comedy about a young woman named Emily (Wells) who left behind her home and boyfriend to pursue career opportunities in L.A. When a loved one falls ill, Emily rushes back to Austin where she’s forced to stay with her ex-boyfriend and his new-and-improved girlfriend, a totally together woman with a five-year plan. Though Emily is the same, everything else is different: her house has been smartly redecorated, her rocker boyfriend is training to be a real estate agent, and her old haunts show serious signs of gentrification. Holed up in her own guest room, Emily–who has no idea what she’ll be doing five days from now, let alone five years– is forced to question everyone’s values: are they sell-outs or have they just figured out what makes them happy? And is she following her dreams or is she just a self-absorbed loser? The film is currently screening in NYC and going wide thereafter.

[51 mins. 8 secs.] In the wake of the 2015 death of Freddie Gray in police custody, Baltimore was a city on the edge. Peaceful protests and destructive riots erupted in the immediate aftermath of Gray’s death, while the city waited to hear the fate of the six police officers involved in the incident, reflecting the deep divisions between authorities and the community – and underscoring the urgent need for reconciliation. We’re joined by actor turned filmmaker, Sonja Sohn (The Wire), who directed this documentary, Baltimore Rising currently on HBO. Sonja’s joined by one of the subjects in her film, Kwame Rose.

Please take a moment to check out our Kickstarter campaign. Watch the pitch video, read the description, and check out our outstanding rewards. Consider contributing and or supporting the campaign. Thank you.

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

Filmmaker Ira Sachs returns for his third visit to the podcast. Earlier appearances can be found on Ep 57 & Ep 234.  In this longer and more nuanced conversation we talk about what brought him to NYC some thirty years ago and how he continues to make the kind of films he’s interested in making.

From Ira’s oeuvre you can find Love is Strange (2014), Keep the Lights On (2012), Little Men (2016), and Married Life (2007) all on iTunes. Those titles plus The Delta (1996) and Forty Shades of Blue (2005) are also available on Amazon Video. Fans may also want to check out Ira’s website for additional work.

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