Paladin

[3 mins. 41 secs.] Andrew Dosunmu returns to the podcast. He was last on Episode 161 with his previous feature Mother of George. He’s back with a new feature called Where is Kyra? which premiered at Sundance last year and which stars Michelle Pfeiffer & Kiefer Sutherland in very different roles. Pfieffer plays Kyra, a fragile woman who is already stressed from a fast-paced world when her mother dies and she must find a means for survival while hiding her struggles from her new boyfriend (Sutherland). The film will have a theatrical engagement at the Quad Cinema in NYC beginning Friday, April 6th as well as other cities. Check your local listing for further details.

[38 mins. 21 secs.] I saw Andrew Haigh’s Lean on Pete at SxSW last month. We were lucky to talk to Andrew (Weekend, 45 Years) while in Austin as well as his lead actor, Charlie Plummer (King Jack, All The Money In The World) and my colleague Zefrey Throwell. Charley (Plummer), a teen living with his single father, finds work caring for an aging racehorse named Lean On Pete. When he learns Pete is bound for slaughter, the two embark on an odyssey across the new American frontier in search of a place to call home. The film, which is being distributed by A24 and which opens on Friday, April 6th, also stars Steve Buscemi, Chloë Sevigny & Steve Zahn 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.

[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.

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