ITVS

Executive Producer for Independent Lens, Lois Vossen, returns for her second visit. The PBS documentary series began its new season this week. Also, director Margarethe von Trotta discusses her film Searching for Ingmar Bergman which premieres at the Quad Cinema on November 2nd, in addition to a retrospective of her work.

First up [6 mins. 30 secs.] on Episode 430, real estate developer turned film distributor & exhibitor, Charles Cohen discusses his career and various projects for which he either serves as producer or distributor. In addition to the work he does with Cohen Media Group, we also discuss the new Quad Cinema and what is coming in the pipeline.

After that [28 mins. 48 secs.] filmmaker Lana Wilson (After Tiller) returns for her third visit to the podcast. After collaborating on her last feature, Wilson goes it alone with her new documentary, The Departure. The film, which had its festival premiere at Tribeca Film Festival, follows the story of Nemoto, a former punk-turned-Buddhist-priest in Japan, who has made a career out of helping suicidal people find reasons to live. But this work has come increasingly at the cost of his own family and health, as he refuses to draw lines between his patients and himself. The film will have a theatrical engagement at the Metrograph in NYC beginning on Friday, October 13th, and then an engagement at the Laemmle Monica in L.A. before going wide.

Lastly, [51 mins. 35 secs.] actor turned filmmaker John Carroll Lynch (American Horror Story, Fargo) discusses his directorial debut with the dramedy, Lucky. The film, which is being distributed by Magnolia Pictures, stars the recently deceased Harry Dean Stanton as 90 year old Lucky who has been a life long atheist but now finds himself on a spiritual journey which includes the quirky characters that inhabit his off the map desert town. It’s an appropriate and loving swan song for one of America’s great actors.

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

[7 mins.] In the first segment of Episode 429, filmmaker Pete Nicks (The Waiting Room) finally appears on the podcast! Pete discusses his new documentary, The Force, which opens in theaters on Friday, September 22nd. The film, which won him Best Director, U.S. Documentary at Sundance this year is the 2nd in his Oakland Trilogy, goes deep inside the embattled Oakland Police Department as it struggles to confront federal demands for reform, the rise of Black Lives Matter and an explosive scandal.

[44 mins. 30 secs.] Up next, a roundtable conversation with two of my favorite documentary filmmakers returning to the show, Doug Block (51 Birch Street) and Michael Rossato-Bennett (Alive Inside). We discuss making personal documentaries and what it takes to launch a crowdsourced fundraising campaign. Beside making personal documentary films that end up on HBO, Block also founded the popular documentary filmmaker resource, The D-Word. And in addition to making films, Rossato-Bennett, has founded the Alive Inside Foundation whose mission it is to bring youth together with elders living at home with Alzheimer’s. Both men reside in Manhattan.

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