Film School Radio hosted by Mike Kaspar
BOBI WINE: THE PEOPLE’S PRESIDENT, the award-winning feature documentary debut from directors Moses Bwayo and Christopher Sharp and produced by Christopher Sharp, alongside two-time Academy Award winner John Battsek’s Ventureland. BOBI WINE: THE PEOPLE’S PRESIDENT follows Bobi Wine, who was born in the slums of Kampala and became one of Uganda’s most popular musical talents the country has ever seen. In the midst of the violence, corruption and injustice of the ruthless regime led by Yoweri Museveni, Bobi decides to become the Ugandan opposition leader in the much-disputed 2021 presidential election. Using his music to denounce the dictatorial regime and support his life’s mission to defend the oppressed and the voiceless people of Uganda, Bobi risks his life and the lives of his wife, Barbie, and their children to take on the country’s corrupt police and military, who are not afraid to use violence and torture in a vain attempt to intimidate and silence Bobi and his supporters. Co-directors Moses Bwayo and Christopher Sharp join us for a conversation on the incredible level of access they have in the life of Bobi, Barbie, his family and his trusted circle of advisors as well as the extremely dangerous situations brought on by Bobi’s decision to stand against a dictatorial regime and stand up for the people in Uganda who want a better life for themselves and the beloved nation.

http://www.kuci.org/podcastfiles/683/FS-7-28-23%20Bwayo%20%26%20Sharp%20-%20Bobi%20Wine.mp3

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For more go to: nationalgeographic.com/bobi-wine

Opens LA This Friday 7/28 at the Laemmle Royal

About the subject –Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, famously known as Bobi Wine, is a musician turned politician who is the current leader of the National Unity Platform (NUP) and the People Power Movement. Bobi was born in Mpigi District in Uganda on Feb. 12, 1982. He grew up in the Kamwokya slums in the northeast part of Kampala. His mother was a nurse, and his father was a veterinarian and farmer.Bobi is a singer, musician, actor and activist. He has campaigned for hospital sanitization, malaria prevention, refugees’ rights and children’s education. His songs are known as peaceful protest and edutainment (a mix between education and entertainment), focusing on the struggles of Uganda’s underprivileged and low-income earners and calling upon young people to join politics and change their country’s destiny. He is married to Barbara Itungo Kyagulanyi, known as Barbie, with whom he has four children.His characteristic enthusiasm for democratic discourse and the popularity he had earned from his prior artistic and philanthropic endeavors successfully endured his transition to politics. Bobi Wine continues to lead the NUP, the largest political opposition party in Uganda and has become the main opposition leader to President Museveni’s rule.

About the Subject – Barbara “Barbie” Itungo Kyagulanyi is an author, philanthropist and human rights activist. Barbie’s 2012 book, “Golden Memories of a Village Belle,” gives insight into her early childhood experiences with village politics and local council elections, her African family unit, and the abject poverty that led to the early marriages of her childhood friends. In 2013, Barbie founded Caring Hearts Uganda, a nongovernmental organization (NGO) that seeks to champion development projects in rural areas, prioritizing health care, maternity, education and sanitary programs. The NGO supports empowering leadership in girls through HIV/AIDS eradication, menstrual hygiene instruction, and continuing education, teaching traditional Ugandan values while encouraging girls to stay in school. In the community, the NGO has extended entrepreneurship skills to teen mothers for personal development and sustainability. With a master’s degree in human rights law from the University of London, Barbie has taken on the mantle of demanding equity and equality for women in political spaces through the women’s wing of the National Unity Platform political party, which is led by her husband, Kyagulanyi Ssentamu.

About the filmmaker – Christopher Sharp was born in Uganda and has a deep appreciation for the country’s people, culture and extraordinary natural beauty. He spent his early working life as a film editor in London and more recently has revisited the profession as director of ‘Bobi Wine: The People’s President’.He met Bobi and Barbie in 2017 and was inspired by their courage. Christopher believed in their extraordinary capacity to enact change, and instantly knew that their enormous sacrifice and resilience needed to be documented.He worked closely with a number of talented individuals, including Editor Paul Carlin, as well as acclaimed Producer John Battsek, Co-Director Moses Bwayo, and other inspirational cinematographers. Collectively they have made a film which he hopes gives courage to all those who struggle under oppressive regimes.

About the filmmaker – Moses Bwayo is a Los Angeles-based filmmaker known for shooting and co-directing the award-winning feature documentary “Bobi Wine: The People’s President” (2023). Born in the village of Bududa on the slopes of Mount Elgon in eastern Uganda, Moses was introduced to filmmaking by peeking through cracks in the walls of local kibandas, bootleg movie theatres housed in wooden shacks. In 2013, he graduated with honors with his Bachelor of Arts in journalism and mass communication. Moses went on to earn a postgraduate diploma at Kampala Film School, the nation’s top film and television conservatory, and started working as a production sound recordist and cinematographer. His life changed when he met Oscar®-nominated director Mira Nair, who was facilitating a workshop for aspiring filmmakers at her Maisha Film Labs. He was chosen as a boom operator on Nair’s short documentary “A Fork, a Spoon and a Knight” (2014). Subsequently, Nair took Moses under her wing and mentored him for two years, during which he performed sundry jobs for Disney’s “Queen of Katwe” (2016), travelling to the United States for the first time for the final mix with Nair in New York. In 2016, Moses started his own production company in Kampala, Jajja Productions, where he oversaw production and post-production services on various commercial, documentary, and feature films. Moses’ reputation as a courageous verité cinematographer and local fixer began to grow, shooting for ABC, BBC, and VICE News for their Uganda-based productions. In late 2017 His life changed again when he began work on the feature documentary “Bobi Wine: The People’s President.” Working closely with co-director and producer Christopher, Moses spent five harrowing years following Bobi Wine, a pop star turned politician who ran for president opposing Yoweri Museveni, a dictator who has been in power since 1986. During the production, Moses was arrested, imprisoned, and shot in the face at close range while filming. Two-time Oscar winner John Battsek also produced the film. With mounting threats to him and his family for making the film, Moses fled Uganda to the United States.

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100% on RottenTomatoes

“A universally relevant portrait … consistently potent” – The Hollywood Reporter, Daniel Fienberg

“Gripping … An intimate portrait of a hugely engaging figure” – Screen Daily, Allan Hunter

“A shocking, tender work” – The Economist”

“This is a profile of unfathomable courage that deserves to be seen, in part to honor those who supported the film’s supply of footage and cannot be listed in the credits for fear of repercussion” – The Playlist

“His personality shines brightly throughout the film, which resonates with his hopeful protest songs. The more intensely violent situations he faces often turn the film into a nerve-shredding thriller.” – Rich Cline, Shadows on the Wall

“The film is a moving portrait of an inspiring young man and a reminder of the tenuous contract between a government and its citizens if democracy is going to prevail.’ – Scott Phillips, Forbes

Director Luke McManus’ rousing and sublime documentary NORTH CIRCULAR is a musical ode that travels the length of Dublin’s North Circular Road, from the Phoenix Park to Dublin Port, exploring the history, music and streetscapes of a street that links some of the country’s most beloved and infamous places. Told in black and white 4:3 Academy ratio, the film evokes many narratives from the history of the city and nation, from colonialism, to mental health, to the struggle for women’s liberation while also engaging with urgent issues of today, including the battle to save the legendary Cobblestone Pub, centre of Dublin’s recent folk revival, from destruction at the hands of cynical property developers. The film also includes musical performances from artists local to the North Circular, including John Francis Flynn, Séan Ó Túama, Eoghan O’Ceannabháin, Ian Lynch & Gemma Dunleavy. Director Luke McManus joins us for a conversation on the personal connection that he has to this historic roadway, how the road has played into the history of Dublin, highlighting the vital role that traditional Irish music has in the life of this community, what makes the Cobblestone Pub the most essential venue on North Circular and how stumbling upon Music Night at the Pub changed the course of the film, and the importance of contributing to the local economy.

http://www.kuci.org/podcastfiles/683/FS-7-28-23%20McManus%20-%20North%20Circular.mp3

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For more go to: northcircularfilm.com

About the filmmaker – Luke McManus is a filmmaker based in Grangegorman, just off the North Circular Road. Luke has produced and directed award-winning documentary projects for NBC, Netflix, RTÉ, Virgin Media Television, TG4, NDR/ARD, Al Jazeera and Channel 4, winning four IFTAs, one Celtic Media Award and the Radharc Award in the process. His debut feature as producer was The Lonely Battle of Thomas Reid, which premiered in the Main Competition at IDFA in 2018, won the George Morrison Award for Best Feature Documentary at the Irish Film & Television Awards and the Best Irish Film Award at the Dublin International Film Festival. North Circular is his debut feature documentary as a director. For more go to: lukemcmanusdirector.com

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100% on RottenTomatoes

“A love letter to hard-scrabble North Dublin” – Will Hermes, The New York Times

“Resonant, vivid and beautifully shot… pregnant with images and ideas… a film made with real artistry” – Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian.

“Insightful, exquisite…beautifully observed and evocative.”- John Maguire, Business Post

“A fascinating psychogeography… captivating, positively operatic.” – Donald Clarke, Irish Times

“A glorious documentary… brilliant… told with beautiful photography and glorious music… I love this film! …A gorgeous, beautiful, important story… a glorious trip!”, – John Fardy, Newstalk

“Beautiful, visually and sonically striking…A heartfelt love letter to Dublin.”- Leo Barraclough, Variety

“A film full of astonishing imagery…a remarkable contemporary document of places, people, lives and times” – Luke Maxwell, Dublin Inquirer

“A time-capsule charmer…beguiling…If ever a film was a rallying cry against isolation, it’s this one.” – Harry Guerin, RTÉ

A 2018 fatal shark attack on a boogie boarder in the town of Wellfleet, Massachusetts rocked visitors and residents in the idyllic summer community of Cape Cod, forcing them to respond to the encroachment of apex predators. With the numbers of sharks increasing every year, Ivy Meeropol’s expansive documentary AFTER THE BITE explores the repercussions for this beach community when rapid changes in the natural world begin to clash with a cherished way of life. Great white sharks have dominated headlines in recent years, as their deadly interactions with people have increased in the waters stretching from Maine to the Cape and Islands. Those charged with protecting the public have been forced to address the risk of serious injuries with stop-the-bleed kits mounted at public access beaches, warning billboards, the use of shark-tracking apps, spotter planes and new training programs and protocols for lifeguards. A portrait of an interconnected community of people and wildlife, AFTER THE BITE features a range of voices from different sides of these issues and considers the larger question of how far humans can push nature before it bites back.Director Ivy Meeropol (Bully. Coward. Victim. The Roy Cohn Story. Indian Point) joins us to talk about blending into the Cape Cod community of Wellfleet, enlisting the experts like Lisa Sette from the Center of Costal Studies; Dr. Greg Skomal and Meg Winton of the Atlantic White Shark Conservatory, to talk about the science and the lifeguards, conservationists, fishermen, journalists, paramedics, town residents, and activists to talk about the impact of the dramatic changes taking place since the tragic death of Arthur Medici.

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For more go to: hbo.com/movies/after-the-bite

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About the filmmaker – Ivy Meeropol is a producer and director of an array of acclaimed documentary feature films and television series. 2019 saw the release of Bully. Victim. Coward. The Story of Roy Cohn on the life of the notorious mob lawyer, acolyte to the infamous Senator Joseph McCarthy, and mentor to Donald Trump. Meeropol rose to prominence in 2004 with her deeply personal film, Heir to An Execution, about the legacy of her grandparents Julius and Ethel Rosenberg (Sundance Film Festival, Academy Award short-list, HBO). Her film Indian Point questions safety standards overseen by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in light of Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi disaster – while observing daily operations at an aging nuclear power plant just 35 miles north of New York City. (Winner of MacArthur Foundation documentary grant, premiere at 2015 Tribeca Film Festival). Meeropol created and directed non-fiction television series The Hill (Sundance Channel), a comedic, behind-the-scenes look at the young staffers of a US Congressman (2007 International Documentary Association nominee for Best Limited Series). Meeropol is also a director for CNN’s Death Row Stories and National Geographic’s Years of Living Dangerously.

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100% on RottenTomatoes

“An impressive tapestry of conflicting perspectives—man and animal—that’s far more entertaining and insightful than your average Shark Week fare.” – Nick Allen, RogerEbert.com

“Through the eyes of a Cape Cod community where disaster strikes, director Ivy Meeropol gently moves beyond the spectacle that defines the history of sharks to immerse us further in their world while grappling with many pressing questions on the journey.” – Chase Hutchinson, Collider

“By the end, though we ourselves hope to never become food, we at least have food for thought.” – Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Hammer to Nail

“It’s a serious-minded documentary in a genre that has strayed far from anything serious-minded.’ – Dan Fienberg, Hollywood Reporter

THE UNKNOWN COUNTRY opens with young woman reeling from a devastating loss and embarking down an unknown road of discovery and renewal. Tana (Lily Gladstone) is pulled back into the world by an unexpected invitation to her cousin’s wedding. She packs up her late grandmother’s Cadillac and hits the open road, driving from her home in Minnesota to South Dakota. After reconnecting with her Oglala Lakota family, Tana sets off to retrace a surreal journey that her grandmother took decades ago, searching for the spot captured in an old family photograph. As she travels, Tana finds connection in the stories of everyday people who’ve settled down far off the main roads including Isaac (Raymond Lee), who provides a pivotal clue to understanding the lost location that could cultivate closure. A personal reverie summoned from a beguiling mix of fact and fiction, THE UNKNOWN COUNTRY is an arresting debut feature from Morrisa Maltz. Director / Producer / Writer Morrisa Maltz (Ingrid, Odyssea) joins us for a conversation on the long journey she took figuratively and literally in the making of The Unknown Country, her evolving collaboration with lead actor Lily Gladstone and film producer and actor Lainey Bearkiller, editor Vanara Taing and cinematographer Andrew Hajek, the incorporation of storylines that occurred during the cross country shoot and what it has taught her about trusting her instincts as a filmmaker.

http://www.kuci.org/podcastfiles/683/FS-7-28-23%20Meltz%20-%20Unknown%20Country.mp3

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For more, go to: musicboxfilms.com/the-unknown-country

About the filmmaker – Morrisa Maltz is an artist and filmmaker. She studied visual arts at Columbia University. Her art, film, and performance work have been shown at MOCA, Los Angeles, as well as at the MCA, Santa Barbara and galleries internationally. In 2012, she created Mofones, an art product for iPhone that was sold at Urban Outfitters, Nordstrom and Museum stores worldwide. Her first short film, The Caretaker, won best narrative short at LES Film Festival and in 2014 her short film, Odyssea, premiered at Slamdance film festival. Morrisa’s first feature documentary, Ingrid, was applauded as a “festival gem” on the 2018 festival circuit and won several awards. Ingrid screened on PBS in 2019 and is distributed by Ryan Krivoshey’s Grasshopper Films. Her first narrative feature, The Unknown Country, premiered at SXSW 2022. The film has been hailed by Indiewire as “a stunning spiritual companion to Terrence Malick and ‘Nomadland,” and was acquired by Music Box Films. She was recently nominated for Mill Valley Film Festival’s Mind The Gap 2022 Creation Prize and signed with UTA in all areas.

About the artist – Lily Gladstone – Born in Montana, Gladstone was raised on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation and later near Seattle, WA. She graduated with high honors from the University of Montana in 2008 with a BFA in Acting/Directing, and a minor in Native American Studies. Gladstone was introduced to audiences in Alex and Andrew Smith’s adaptation of Winter in the Blood, a NYT best seller and seminal novel by Blackfeet/Gros Ventre author James Welch. Her breakout role came in 2016 from Kelly Reichardt’s Certain Women, a performance which earned her the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress, Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress, as well as nominations for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female and Gotham Independent Film Award for Breakthrough Actor. In 2017 Gladstone joined the Oregon Shakespeare Festival acting company, and in 2020 she stared in the Yale Repertory Theater production of Mary Kathryn Nagle’s Manahattan. In 2019 Gladstone reunited with Reichardt for First Cow. The film won Best Film at the 2020 New York Film Critics Circle Awards, and was named one of the ten best films of 2020 by the National Board of Review.

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85% on RottenTomatoes

“Though every destination and person contains a beauty Maltz is delicately attuned to, it is Gladstone who emerges once more as a driving force like no other. She brings a grace to every frame, gently crafting an experience as eternal as it is magnificent.” – Chase Hutchinson, Collider

“A memorable, heart-expanding journey.” – Sheri Linden, Hollywood Reporter

“Puts us in the presence of a major talent, bearing something profound in her artistic inclinations.” – Carlos Aguilar, indieWire

“A beautiful film with a thoughtfully profound journey that slowly reveals itself. As a Native American critic, it is also an admittedly terrifying film considering the plight of MMIW. Lily Gladstone does an exceptional.” – Vincent Schilling, Native Viewpoint

“This is minimalistic storytelling at its finest with outstanding work from Lily Gladstone. The stories from all involved are rich with personality” – Robert Kojder, Flickering Myth

HAVE YOU GOT IT YET? THE STORY OF SYD BARRETT AND PINK FLOYD asks and answers many of the perplexing questions that swirled around the life and decline of Syd Barrett, founding member, initial songwriter and leader of the world famous rock group Pink Floyd. Was he a drug casualty of the sixties? Did he walk away from the pressures of the commercial music world? Did he suffer from an undiagnosed mental illness? Pink Floyd were caught in the epicenter of the ‘underground’ explosion of the 60s as the psychedelic house band of the UFO club in London, with Syd Barrett its enigmatic figurehead, inspiring such musicians as David Bowie and Marc Bolan. Though he named the group, wrote the first two hit songs and was the lead vocalist and guitarist, Barrett was pushed out of the band by its members who were convinced he was having an LSD induced psychotic breakdown. After leaving the group, Barrett struggled to record two solo records but eventually dropped out of the music industry completely, living as a recluse for thirty years – while Pink Floyd went on to worldwide fame as one of the biggest selling bands of all time. Ironically, much of Pink Floyd’s most noted work (Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here) examined themes of genius and madness certainly mourning their long lost friend. HAVE YOU GOT IT YET? THE STORY OF SYD BARRETT AND PINK FLOYD is at once a chronicle and a mosaic, an investigation of fame and its personal cost while also exploring the larger social context of the 60s, its hopes and failures, and a compelling story that involves us all in discovery and how one chooses a path in life, measured by the outside world or one’s own inner voice. Co- director Roddy Bogawa (Storm Thorgerson) joins us for a conversation on working with Thorerson, renown artist and long-time friend of David Gilmore, Nick Mason and Roger Waters, separating the truth from the mythology regarding Barrett and what made Barrett’s work with Pink Floyd and his own solo music so intriguing and influential for generations of musicians and artists.

http://www.kuci.org/podcastfiles/683/FS-7-21-23%20Bogawa%20-%20Syd%20Barrett.mp3

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For more go to: abramorama.com/film/have-you-got-it-yet-syd-barrett

There more here too: sydbarrettfilm.com

About the filmmaker – New York Filmmaker Roddy Bogawa completed his Master of Fine Arts at the University of California at San Diego in 1989 and then attended the Independent Study Program of the Whitney Museum of American Art. His filmography includes the features Junk and Some Divine Wind and the shorts If Andy Warhol’s Super-8 Camera Could Talk, Four or Five Accidents, One June…, and The Imagined, The Longed-For, The Conquered, and The Sublime. His films have been shown at the Sundance Film Festival, the Mannheim International Film Festival, and the Asian American International Film Festival among others, as well as the Biennial Exhibitions of the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1993 and 1995, the Museum of Modern Art, Guggenheim Museum, and Wexner Center for the Arts. His awards and grants include the Jerome Foundation Independent Filmmaker Grant, New York State Council on the Arts, American Center Foundation, and The Russell Foundation. His most recent film, Have You Got It Yet? The Story of Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd delves into the mythology, lies, and the truth surrounding the musician / artist life before, during and after his founding of the legendary rock band Pink Floyd.

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100% on RottenTomatoes

“If you are a fan of Pink Floyd or music from the acid days of the 60’s then this film is a must-watch.” – Crockett Houghton, Film Inquiry

“Roddy Bogawa and Storm Thorgerson must rely on archive footage, music, and extensive interviews with just about everyone whose lives and careers intersected with Barrett, all given chronological structure by Jason Isaacs’ narration.” – Richard Whittaker, Austin Chronicle

“The story is familiar, but it’s never been told in such detail.” – Jem Aswad, Variety

“It’s as comprehensive and coherent an account of Barrett’s counterculture tragedy as one could hope for.” – Glenn Kenny, New York Times

“[The film] is an admirable effort that intends to explore the life and career of the charismatic, enigmatic, and psychedelic rocker, an assemblage of diverse materials that seeks to shed light on the dark side of Barrett’s psyche.” – Ayeen Forootan, In Review Online

In this deeply personal documentary EAT YOUR CATFISH we meet the matriarch of the Arjomand family, Kathryn, now dependent on round-the-clock care, due to a harrowing diagnosis. She clings to a mordant wit while yearning to witness her daughter’s wedding. Co-directors and producers Adam Isenberg, Senem Tüzen and Noah Amir Arjomand — who is Kathryn’s son — deliver a brutally frank and darkly humorous portrait of a family teetering on the brink, grappling with the daily demands of disability and in-home caregiving. With her daughter Minou’s wedding day approaching, Kathryn is determined to live to see her child get married. Years with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) aka Lou Gehrig’s Disease, have left Kathryn paralyzed and needing 24-hour care. She relies on an eye-tracking, speech-generating computer to impart her wishes, but it can be an uphill struggle to be ‘heard’. With her mind intact and having opted for mechanical breathing, she could live like this indefinitely. EAT YOUR CATFISH is draws on 930 hours of footage – all filmed without any crew present from a fixed camera and narrated by Kathryn. The result is a profoundly intimate, layered and wryly funny portrait of a family at its breaking point. Co-directors Noah Amir Arjomand & Adam Isenberg (Senem Tüzen) joins us to talk about the ways this film project came about, why they adopted the POV approach to telling the story and how seeing the world from the point-of-view Kathryn could positively impact other family’s dealing with a loved one in a comparable medical condition.

http://www.kuci.org/podcastfiles/683/FS-7-24-23%20Arjomand%20%26%20Isenberg%20-%20Eat%20Your%20Catfish.mp3

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For more go to: eatyourcatfish.com

For more on the POV screening: pbs.org/pov/eatyourcatfish

EAT YOUR CATFISH makes its national broadcast premiere on POV Monday, July 24, 2023 at 10pm ET/ 9pm CT (check local listings) and will be available to stream at pbs.org, and the PBS App until October 22, 2023. In addition to standard closed captioning for the film, POV, in partnership with audio description service DiCapta, provides real time audio interpretations. EAT YOUR CATFISH is produced by Zela Film. Adam Isenberg, Senem Tüzen and Noah Amir Arjomand are the co-directors and producers. Noah Amir Arjomand is the cinematographer. Adam Isenberg and Senem Tüzen are the editors. Erika Dilday and Chris White are the executive producers for American Documentary | POV.

EAT YOUR CATFISH made its world premiere in 2021 at IDFA in the Envision Competition and received a nomination for Best Documentary. In 2022, the film won Best Documentary at the Istanbul International Film Festival and won Best International Documentary at the Antenna Documentary Festival. The same year it was also nominated for a Best Feature Documentary Award at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, and Turkish Film Critics Association (SIYAD) Awards. The documentary also received a nomination for the Youth Jury Award at the 2022 Sheffield International Documentary Festival.

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100% on RottenTomatoes

“An unusually unsentimental, everyday document of ALS, tender in the expressly painful manner of a fresh bruise.” – Guy Lodge, Variety

“Intimate, brutally honest…crucially, the film gives Kathryn a platform to tell – and indeed show – her story, in her own unique way. Her lingering hope is that viewers don’t think she’s pathetic, but plucky. Painstakingly edited by Adam Isenberg and Senem Tüzen, this film grants her that wish.” – Nikki Baughan, Screen International

“This enthralling documentary following a woman with ALS will leave you vibrating with empathy, rage and joy.” – Christopher Lloyd, The Film Yap

“A very powerful and moving film about perspective” – Rob Aldam, Backseat Mafia

LAKOTA NATION vs UNITED STATES begins and ends with it’s focus on “the most sacred place on earth,” the birthplace of the Lakota that has shaped thought, identity and philosophy for the Očéti Šakówiŋ since time immemorial-the life-giving land known as the Black Hills. Yet with the arrival of the first Europeans in 1492, the sacred land has been the site of conflict between the people it has nurtured, and the settler state seeking to exploit and redefine it in its own image. Lakota Nation vs. United States is a searing testament to the strength of the Oyate nation and the people. It is also a visually stunning rejoinder to the distorted imagery of a people and culture long shaped by racist mainstream films, art, books and history taught to our children. In spite of the string of broken treaties or the action of war criminal General Custer at Little Big Horn or the slaughter of millions of buffalo or forced removal of native children into government run “boarding” schools the Oglala Tetonowan Oyate have survived. Lakota Nation vs. United States is a lyrical and provocative testament to a land and a people who have survived removal, exploitation and genocide–and whose best days are yet to come.Co-directors Jesse Short Bull (Istinma) and Laura Tomaselli (MLK/FBI) join us for a conversation on the powerful familial connection that Jesse has the battle of Little Big Horn, how and why the American government ignored or violated recognized treaties before the ink was dry, and how the political, economic and cultural violence against the Oyate remain firmly embedded in the policies of the state and federal government to this day.

http://www.kuci.org/podcastfiles/683/FS-7-2-23%20Sort%20Bull%20%26%20Tomaselli%20-%20Lakota%20Nation.mp3

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For more go to: ifcfilms.com/lakota-nation-vs-the-united-states

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About the filmmaker – Jesse Short Bull, Director, wrote and produced the 2013 short Istinma, set in the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation of South Dakota. A graduate of the Institute of American Indian Arts, Short Bull received a 2016 Sundance Institute Native American and Indigenous Program Development Grant and also attended the Creative Producing Summit at Sundance. In 2014 he was part of the effort to change the name of Shannon County to Oglala Lakota County in South Dakota. Currently employed by the Oglala Lakota tribal government, Short Bull is a member of the board of the Black Hills Film Festival. With the First Peoples Fund he leads youth filmmaking workshops in the Oglala Lakota Nation.

About the filmmaker – Laura Tomaselli, Director and Editor is a filmmaker with credits spanning narrative, documentary, and commercial projects. Most recently, she edited the documentary features MLK/FBI and Surge as well as the nonfiction shorts Feathers and Lowland Kids. For her work on MLK/FBI Tomaselli received a Cinema Eye Award Nomination for Outstanding Achievement in Editing. Her films have screened at Sundance, SXSW, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Toronto International Film Festival.

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100% on RottenTomatoes!

“A powerful documentation about a beautiful struggle. You’ll be astounded. It’s like taking a grad course in Native American studies and loving the professor.” – Dwight Brown, DwightBrownInk.com

“[A] stunning film…” – Concepción de León, New York Times

“Jesse Short Bull and Laura Tomaselli’s vital Lakota Nation vs. United States doesn’t waste any of its 121 minutes, but it also boasts a number of moments that effectively squeeze the film’s entire perspective into a single unforgettable image.” –David Ehrlich, indieWire

“There’s a lot of stuff here, and it’s all infuriating.” – Peter Rainer, FilmWeek (KPCC – NPR Los Angeles)

“Visually stunning and indelible… an authentic and heartfelt portrait of righteous indignation against social injustice.” – Ruth Maramis, FlixChatter Film Blog

“Powerful, illuminating and emotionally resonating. One of the best documentaries of the year.” – Avi Offer, NYC Movie Guru

Davide Ferrario’s UMBERTO ECO is a documentary immersion into all things Eco. His sublimely intimate film takes us on a tour of Umberto Eco’s private library, guided by the author himself. Combining new footage with material he shot with Eco in 2015 for a video installation for the Venice Biennale, Ferrario documents this incredible collection and the man who amassed it. As Eco leads us among the more than 50,000 volumes and his family reflects on his legacy, we also gain insight into the library of the mind of this vastly prolific and original thinker. UMBERTO ECO director Davide Ferrario (After Midnight, We All Fall Down), joins us for a lively conversation on how he approached his humble and warm-hearted subject, enlisting Umberto’s family, Renate, Stefano and Carlotta, into this joyful collaboration and how important he felt it was to make Umberto’s sonorous collection of literature the other “character” in this exhilarating ode to the author of The Name of the Rose, Umberto Eco.

http://www.kuci.org/podcastfiles/683/FS-7-7-23%20Ferrario%20-%20Umberto.mp3

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For more go to cinemaguild.com/umbertoeco

About the filmmaker – Davide Ferrario was born in Lombardy in 1956, lives in Torino. He graduated in American Literature from Milan University in 1981. He began as a film critic in the 70’s, writing essays and books. He also funded a distribution company who released in Italy films by Wenders, Fassbinder, Wajda. Later, he became an Italian agent for such American independents as John Sayles and Jim Jarmusch. His debut as a director was La fine della notte, 1989, voted Best Italian Independent Film of the year. Since then he has directed fiction films and documentaries shown in international festivals like Berlin, Sundance, Venice, Toronto, Locarno. Ferrario holds a peculiar place in the Italian scene. Sternly independent, he runs his own production company, Rossofuoco, with which he has produced all his movies since 2002. Among them, Dopo mezzanotte (After Midnight), a great success at the Berlinale and sold to over 100 countries; and the documentary La strada di Levi (Primo Levi’s Journey), long-listed for the Academy Award. His most recent direction is Blood on the Crown, starring Harvey Keitel and Malcolm McDowell. Ferrario is also a novelist: his book Dissolvenza al nero (Fade to Black) has been translated in many languages and has been adapted for the screen by Oliver Parker in 2006. He is a regular contributor to Corriere della Sera; he is also active as a visual artist and a photographer.

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100% on RottenTomatoes

“Exploring fictional worlds with Eco for a guide remains a diverting and often enlightening pursuit.” – Nicolas Rapold, New York Times

“As we wander through the labyrinth we are drawn further and further into its trap, made ever more keenly aware of our own hunger for knowledge, for understanding.” – Jennie Kermode, Eye for Film

“The contemporary Italian philosopher, medievalist, critic, commentator and reluctant novelist comes to buoyant, engaging life in this look back at the man and his books, through the eyes of family and friends, and in the author’s own words.” – Chris Knight, Original Cin

“This swooning homage to printed matter is for the most part razor sharp, and if it convinces anyone that physical media is crucial for civilization, then all the better.” – Pat Padua, Spectrum Culture

“The film becomes a timely epistemological rumination on the difference between knowledge and information, the relationship between memory and technology.” – William Repass, Slant Magazine

Directed by acclaimed filmmaker Sam Pollard (MLK/FBI), and executive produced by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson (Oscar-winning SUMMER OF SOUL), Tariq Trotter (DESCENDANT), and produced by RadicalMedia , THE LEAGUE celebrates the dynamic journey of Negro League baseball’s triumphs and challenges through the first half of the twentieth century. The story is told through previously unearthed archival footage and never-before-seen interviews with legendary players like Satchel Paige and Buck O’Neil – whose early careers paved the way for the Jackie Robinson era – as well as celebrated Hall of Famers Willie Mays and Hank Aaron who started out in the Negro Leagues. From entrepreneurial titans Cumberland Posey and Gus Greenlee, whose intense rivalry fueled the rise of two of the best baseball teams ever to play the game, to Effa Manley, the activist owner of the Newark Eagles and the only woman ever admitted to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, THE LEAGUE explores Black baseball as an economic and social pillar of Black communities and a stage for some of the greatest athletes to ever play the game, while also examining the unintended consequences of integration. Director Sam Pollard (Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power, Citizen Ashe, Tiger) joins us for a conversation on the multi-layered history of the Black ballplayer’s quest for inclusion, compensation and respect. The story begins in 1890’s Jim Crow laws forcing out the few Black players already playing with white players in the nascent professional leagues and culminates with the signing of Hall of Famer Jackie Robinson to a contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers and soon after Larry Dolby to a contract with the American League’s Cleveland Indians.

http://www.kuci.org/podcastfiles/683/FS-4-14-23%20Pollard%20-%20The%20League.mp3

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For more go to: theleaguedocumentary.com

About the filmmaker – Sam Pollard is a veteran feature film and television video editor, and documentary producer/director. Between 1990 and 2010, he edited a number of Spike Lee films: Mo’ Better Blues, Jungle Fever, Girl 6, Clockers, and Bamboozled. Pollard and Lee co-produced a number of documentary productions for the small and big screen, including Four Little Girls, a feature-length documentary about the 1963 Birmingham church bombings which was nominated for an Academy Award® in 1998 and When The Levees Broke, a four-part documentary that won numerous awards, including a Peabody and three Emmy Awards. Five years later 2010 he co-produced and supervised the edit on the follow up, If God Is Willing And Da Creek Don’t Rise. As a producer/director, since 2015, his credits include: Slavery By Another Name, (2015) a 90-minute documentary for PBS that was in competition at the Sundance Festival; August Wilson: The Ground On Which I Stand, (2015) a 90-minute documentary for American Masters; Two Trains Runnin, a feature length documentary, which premiered at the Full Frame Film Festival in 2016; and Sammy Davis Jr., I’ve Gotta Be Me for American Masters premièred at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival. In 2019, he co-directed the six-part series, Why We Hate, which premiered on The Discovery Channel. In 2020 he was one of the directors on the 2020 HBO Series Atlanta’s Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children. also that year, he completed MLK/FBI, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and was also featured at the New York Film Festival.

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97% on RottenTomatoes

“Pollard’s “The League” is a rich, engrossing, and necessary tribute to a critical early wave in the Civil Rights movement.” – Robert Daniels, indieWire

“If one measure of a documentary’s quality is whether it inspires you to learn more about its subject after the credits roll, “The League” is an unqualified success.” – Michael Nordine, Variety

“Ultimately, Pollard’s film is equal parts tribute and lament, as complicated as this country.” – Noel Murray, Los Angeles Times

“Where “The League” sparkles is in its retrieving interviews with the great pitcher Paige, Monte Irvin and other Negro Leagues stars who lived long enough for the country to start interviewing Black baseball players about those years.” – Roger Moore, Movie Nation

“This history has surely been well-covered elsewhere, but “The League” recounts it movingly.” – Ben Kenigsberg, New York Times

Champion freediver Alessia Zecchini fell in love with the sport as a child growing up in Italy, astounding coaches with her raw talent and determination in pool swims and open water contests before she was even old enough to legally compete. Irish adventurer turned expert safety diver Stephen Keenan, meanwhile, was raised near the sea, but as a young man he set out on a quest to find himself, traveling across Africa before landing in Dahab, Egypt and establishing a dive school. Despite their very different paths, the two would meet at the pinnacle of the competitive freediving world, discovering a shared passion for pushing their limits and forming a powerful relationship that felt like fate. From director Laura McGann, this thrilling documentary takes a look inside one of the most dangerous sports in the world, using everything from raw underwater dive footage to childhood home movies to chronicle Zecchini and Keenan’s lives and careers. Director and writer Laura McGann (The 8th, Revolutions) stops by to talk about her exploration of the bond between Zecchini and Keenan that propels THE DEEPEST BREATH emotional journey into the stunning, silent depths of the ocean, a breathtaking place unseen by all but the fortunate few – where exhilarating accomplishments and the unavoidable risks that await them.

http://www.kuci.org/podcastfiles/683/FS-7-14-23%20McGann%20-%20Deepest%20Breath.mp3

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Watch at: netflix.com/The Deepest Breath

About the filmmaker – Director / Producer / Cinematographer Laura McGann is a documentary filmmaker from Ireland who started making films and producing theater when she was 15 years old. She went on to study film in Ballyfermot, Dublin, before getting her masters at Hope University in Liverpool, England. She has worked in Ireland and abroad shooting and directing numerous documentary projects for RTE, SKY, PBS, BBC, Lonely Planet and UTV.

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86% on RottenTomatoes

“The Deepest Breath offers an absorbing insight into this most extreme of sports and the motivations of those brave enough to attempt it.” – Paul Whitington, Irish Independent

“It’s the stuff of epic melodrama, and one of the obvious gifts of the director Laura McGann is her capacity for shaping eccentric non-fiction material into pleasingly familiar Hollywood rhythms.” – Kevin Maher, Times (UK)

“In the most literal sense, The Deepest Breath is a breathtaking documentary, one filled with eye-popping visuals, thrilling competitions and a deftly presented love story.” – Dan Fienberg, Hollywood Reporter

“I had chills the entire film. There wasn’t a moment I wasn’t completely caught up in the story, fully immersed in their experiences and what they were going through. It’s an astonishing doc.” – Alex Billington, FirstShowing.net

“Rounding out the pervasive sense of fear and ecstasy is a mesmerizing, sometimes mind-altering, depiction of the ocean’s depths.” – Lauren Mechling, Guardian

Filmmaker Nancy Buirski (The Loving Story, The Rape of Recy Taylor, By Sidney Lumet) journey through the last 100 years of American cultural, political and artistic touchstones continues with Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy. A half century after its release, John Schlesinger’s Midnight Cowboy remains one of the most original and groundbreaking movies of the modern era. With beguiling performances from Jon Voight (Coming Home) and Dustin Hoffman (The Graduate) as two loners who join forces out of desperation, black list survivor Waldo Salt’s brilliant screenplay, and Schlesinger’s fearless direction, the 1969 film became the only X- rated film to ever win the Academy Award for Best Picture. Its vivid and compassionate depiction of a more realistic, un-sanitized New York City and its inhabitants paved the way for a generation’s worth of gritty movies with complex characters and adult themes. But this is not a documentary about the making of Midnight Cowboy: it is about the deeply gifted and flawed people behind a dark and difficult masterpiece; New York City in a troubled time of cultural ferment; and the era that made a movie and the movie that made an era. Director and producer Nancy Buirski joins us to talk about gathering the extensive archival material and compelling new interviews, and how this one film, Midnight Cowboy captured the essence of a time and a place, reflecting a rapidly changing society with striking clarity.

http://www.kuci.org/podcastfiles/683/FS-6-23-23%20Buirski%20-%20Desperate%20Souls.mp3

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For more go to: zeitgeistfilms.com/desperate-souls-dark-city-and-the-legend-of-midnight-cowboy

About the filmmaker – Nancy Buirski is the director, producer and writer of award-winning films THE LOVING STORY; AFTERNOON OF A FAUN: TANAQUIL LE CLERCQ; BY SIDNEY LUMET; THE RAPE OF RECY TAYLOR; and A CRIME ON THE BAYOU. THE LOVING STORY, shortlisted for Oscar and winner of a Peabody Award was turned into the feature LOVING, co-produced by Buirski. Both DESPERATE SOULS and THE RAPE OF RECY TAYLOR premiered at the Venice Film Festival, where the latter was awarded the prestigious Human Rights Nights Award. Buirski has consulted on many documentaries, including Academy Award winner SUMMER OF SOUL. Prior to filmmaking, Buirski founded and ran the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. She is the former Foreign Picture Editor at The New York Times and wrote and photographed Earth Angels: Migrant Children in America. She is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

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90% on RottenTomatoes

“A sumptuous documentary…” – Kevin Maher, Times (UK)

“Burski eloquently conveys the impeccable (but unpredictable) alchemy of the production by underscoring, with frequency, how much of its brilliance was an accidental confluence, how its specific magic was the right combination of people, events, and timing” – Jason Bailey, The Playlist

“The juiciest parts are digging into the film itself, a work of art that warrants the lavish treatment Buirski gives it and can be expected to get everybody talking again.” – Stephen Saito, Moveable Fest

“Midnight Cowboy remains littered with contradictions… All that makes Nancy Buirski’s new documentary about its production and legacy more interesting.” – Adam Solomons, indieWire

“A snapshot of a time but also a continuation of a conversation.” – Fionnuala Halligan, Screen International

Marking the directorial debut of long-time Duplass brothers’ collaborator, Mel Eslyn, BIOSPHERE drops us into the confined lives of Billy (Mark Duplass) and Ray (Sterling K. Brown), lifelong best friends and the last two men on earth. Their survival is largely due to Ray, a brilliant scientist who designed a domed structure with all the systems necessary to sustain life on a planet that could no longer support it. Their custom biosphere is outfitted with basic necessities and creature comforts that make it possible to retain a sense of what life used to be like. A hydroponic garden provides fresh vegetables and a carefully managed fishpond supplies essential protein. Recently, however, fish have begun dying at an alarming rate. With a mere three fish remaining, Billy and Ray face an ominous future. But life may yet find a way. Uproarious and tender in equal measure, BIOSPHERE was a festival favorite. Director Mel Eslyn (Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off, The Lady and the Dale) joins us to talk about making the leap from producing into the director’s chair, as well as finding the credible cinematic space where humor and pathos can co-exist as well as they do in BIOSPHERE.

http://www.kuci.org/podcastfiles/683/FS-7-7-23%20Eslyn%20-%20Biosphere.mp3

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For more go to: ifcfilms.com/biosphere

About the filmmaker – Mel Eslyn is a film and television producer, writer and director, and President of Duplass Brothers Productions. Winner of the 2016 Independent Spirit Producer’s Award, Eslyn is the veteran producer behind films that include the 2014 Sundance hit “The One I Love”, Clea DuVall’s debut “The Intervention”, Lynn Shelton’s “Outside In”, Miguel Arteta’s “Duck Butter”, Jeff Baena’s “Horse Girl”, Natalie Morales’ “Language Lessons”, and Roshan Sethi’s “7 Days” for which she won her 2nd Spirit Award. On the smaller screen, her television producing credits include HBO’s “Room 104” on which she also frequently wrote and directed, the Independent Spirit Award nominated docu-series “The Lady and the Dale”, Hulu’s “Sasquatch”, and Showtime’s “Cinema Toast”. Most recently she produced the breakout comedy “Somebody Somewhere” as well as Sam Jones’ latest documentary “Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off”, both of which aired on HBO. Upcoming releases include Sarah Adina Smith’s “The Drop”, Jeff Baena’s “Spin Me Round”, and Nnamdi Asomugha’s debut feature “The Knife”. “Biosphere” is Eslyn’s own feature directorial debut.

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#Biosphere

86% on RottenTomatoes

“Biosphere, though sometimes larky in tone, is also a frowningly intense venture that never stops being about itself.” – Anthony Lane, New Yorker

“Post-apocalyptic survival meets the anxious buddy humor of Humpday in Biosphere, a mysterious and hilarious pic that really can’t be discussed much without saying things a prospective viewer would be better off not hearing.” – John DeFore, Hollywood Reporter

“’Biosphere’ is weird and unconventional and literally nothing like you’ve seen before. Its exploration of masculinity is authentic and hilarious and horrifying.” – Stacey Yvonne, Black Girl Nerds

“Like “Humpday,” it’s an act of daring — we’re waiting for the movie to cop out because most movies do. This one doesn’t, and bravo for that.” – Jason Bailey, The Playlist

A warning for a future that could be, GIVE ME AN A features 17 films created by 17 female filmmakers to recount the overturning of Roe v. Wade through a multi-genre lens. GIVE ME AN A is fully committed to address the attack on women’s rights, all proceeds from the screenings will be donated to non-profit organizations in their local markets. GIVE ME AN A is an urgent and passionate response from a group of women committed to protecting or securing their right to privacy, bodily autonomy and healthcare. From satire to horror, to dark comedy, to science fiction, these films are a unifying voice that tells the world how they feel about the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Co-director Natasha Halevi, and actors Molly C. Quinn and Jennifer Holland join us for a conversation on why they, along with all of the participating filmmakers and actors, have devoted their time and skills to this timely project, as well as, how the Dobbs decision could lead to further erosion of women’s autonomy, freedom and health.

http://www.kuci.org/podcastfiles/683/FS-6-30-23%20Halevi%20-%20Holland%20%26%20Quinn.mp3

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For more go to: fractalclouds.com

Watch on: AmazonPrime and AppleTV

One night only:

July 17th | Nitehawk Cinema | Brooklyn, NY

*All proceeds will be donated to the following non-profit organizations in local markets:

Chicago – Midwest Access Coalition

Austin – AVOV

Los Angeles – National Network of Abortion Funds

Brooklyn – NY Abortion Access Fund

Participating filmmakers – NATASHA HALEVI, MEG SWERTLOW, BONNIE DISCEPOLO, DANIN JACQUAY, ERICA MARY WRIGHT, MONICA MOORE-SURIYAGE, SARAH KOPKIN, CAITLIN HARGRAVES, MEGAN ROSATI, HANNAH ALLINE, AVITAL ASH, MARY C. RUSSELL, VALERIE FINKEL, LOREN ESCANDÓN, FRANCESCA MALDONADO, KELLY NYGAARD, ERIKA MIRANDA

Participating actors – ALYSSA MILANO, VIRGINIA MADSEN, GINA TORRES, MILANA VAYNTRUBl, JENNIFER HOLLAND, SEAN GUNN, MOLLY C. QUINN, JASON GEORGE, JACKIE TOHN, MONIQUE COLEMAN

From the filmmakers – There is a void in filmmaking – the female voice. We’re here to fill the void. We started with “Lunch Break Feminist Club” in 2014 as a reaction to feminist issues we saw in the news, on social media and in our lives. This was before the #metoo era and feminism was confusing and not particularly cool. Today, we continue to explore feminist topics like reproductive rights with “Give Me An A” and strive to expand that conversation to all communities affected by reproductive rights and women’s rights including people who are female identifying, transgender, and non-binary. We support inclusivity in voices and pride ourselves in supporting storytelling with new perspectives we haven’t seen in film before. We intend to explore the Female Gaze and Female Lens as we support a new era of storytellers who will change film. Fractal Clouds was formed in 2014 with the intention to create horror, sci-fi and satire films that ask questions about how we relate to the world.For more go to: fractalclouds.com

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100% on RottenTomatoes

“Give Me An A is a vital piece of filmmaking.” – Jennie Kermode, Eye for Film

“Though the tones don’t always mesh and the ideas of the films in total don’t always coalesce clearly, there’s no denying the prophetic nature of executive producer Natasha Halevi’s project. … will audiences heed the warning or will it all come true? – Douglas Davidson, Elements of Madness

“A wild ride” – Reel News Daily

“Give Me An A is both a battle cry and a warning of the future that works through complex emotions in the wake of the overturning of Roe v Wade.” – Molly Henery, The Blogging Banshee

“A powerful counter-punch of a film” – Knockturnal

THE CRUSADES follows three friends from private all-boys high school as they receive earth-shattering news about an upcoming merger with their rival school, The bad news sets them and their friends careening towards one last epic weekend before everything changes. Leo (Rudy Pankow, Outer Banks, Uncharted) balances multiple love interests in a constant quest for popularity. Caught in the crossfire is Ryan (Ashley Nicole Williams, Motherland: Fort Salem), a hopeless romantic with a bad habit of giving unlimited second chances. Sean (Khalil Everage, Cobra Kai) struggles with his responsibilities to his cold and calculated girlfriend Jess (Indiana Massara, Hero Mode, Chicken Girls), who is always one step ahead of everyone. Jack (Ryan Ashton) repeatedly clashes with authority and the administration in a never-ending struggle to avoid all responsibility. To make matters worse, the boys unknowingly made an enemy out of Vince (Blaine Maye, Joe Bell) and The Wrecking Crew, who are hell-bent on settling their vendetta at all costs. Completely unaware that the choices made over this fateful weekend could end up impacting their lives more than any merger ever could. Director, writer and producer Leo Milano joins us for a conversation on the long and winding road that The Crusades has taken him and his dedicated crew on, how his career as an actor, Stand-in and Production Assistant on has given him the experience and the confidence to make his debut feature film, The Crusades.

http://www.kuci.org/podcastfiles/683/FS-7-7-23%20Milano%20-%20Crusades.mp3

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For more go to: thecrusadesfilm.com

thecrusadesfilm.com/ways-to-watch

About the filmmaker – Writer / Director / Actor / Producer Leo Milano is a Midwesterner, born and raised in the suburbs of Chicago. It was here he discovered his passion for filmmaking and his desire to tell the stories of the blue collar upbringing he experienced between the coasts. Straight out of High School, Leo’s first job was PAing on Michael Bay’s Transformers 3 and then went on to work full time as Taylor Kinney’s stand-in on NBCs Chicago Fire for 50+ episodes as well as NBCs The Playboy Club and the YA blockbuster, Divergent, after attending film school at Columbia College Chicago. Over the last decade, Leo has directed several commercials, short films, a TV pilot and most recently the Indie feature, The Crusades starring Netflix star Rudy Pankow with veteran actors Nicholas Turturro and Mike Starr. Leo’s next project currently in development is the action filled dramatic comedy Ten Cent Beer Night, inspired by the incredible untold story of the Cleveland Indians riot in 1974. Leo is co-founder of Bad Little Thing, the production company behind Leo’s two features as well as several other projects in development.

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“The performances of the three leads and all of the cast are all solid and authentic.” – Bradley Gibson, Film Threat

“What the actual hell? This was one of the freshest takes on the high school hijinks film that I’ve seen in forever. There are no authoritarian rules, which gives the film a sardonic anarchy and weird vibe … Leo Milano is a writer/director to watch.” – Patrick McDonald, WBGR-FM (93.7 FM)

Set in the heart of 1942 Warsaw, where Jews and refugees from across Poland were imprisoned in a ghetto and cut off from the outside world by a towering wall, LOVE GETS A ROOM follows Stefcia and her fellow Jewish theatre actors as they fight to keep their passion for performing alive. As life in the Nazi-occupied ghetto became a fierce fight against cold, hunger, and epidemics, the actors, against all odds, embark on a daring mission to stage Jerzy Jurandot’s play, risking their lives to create something beautiful in a world of chaos and destruction. Featuring a superb cast of actors led by Clara Rugaard (I Am Mother) as Stefcia, as well, Mark Ryder (City on a Hill),Ferdia Walsh-Peelo (CODA), Anastasia Hille (Snow White and the Huntsman), Magnus Krepper (A Cure for Wellness), and Henry Goodman (The New Pope). Written and directed by visionary filmmaker Rodrigo Cortés (Buried, Concursante), the film takes you on an emotional journey back to the tumultuous time of World War II. With masterful direction and outstanding performances, LOVE GETS A ROOM is a poignant exploration of the power of love, hope, and sacrifice in the face of unimaginable adversity.

http://www.kuci.org/podcastfiles/683/FS-6-23-23%20Cortes%20-%20Love%20Gets%20A%20Room.mp3

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For more go to: buffalo8.com/project/love-gets-a-room

Watch now on: Amazon,Apple TV, Google Play, Vudu

About the filmmaker – In 2007, Rodrigo Cortés writes and directs CONCURSANTE, starring Leonardo Sbaraglia, which wins two Silver Biznagas at the Malaga Festival, including the Critics’ Award. In 2010 he directs BURIED, starring Ryan Reynolds, which wins the Forqué Award for Best Film, as well as ten Goya Awards nominations, of which the films receives three (Cortés receives the award for Best Editing). He also received the Grand Prize European Film Festival in Gold at the Sitges Festival. In 2012 he directs RED LIGHTS (2012), a thriller starring Sigourney Waver, Cillian Murphy and Robert de Niro, for which he receives the Gaudí nomination for Best Non- Catalan Film and Best Sound, and in 2018 he releases DOWN A DARK HALL, in which he works with Uma Thurman and is again nominated at the Gaudí but this time for Best Makeup and Hairstyling. With his latest film LOVE GETS A ROOM, he wins the Feroz Award for Best Director, as well as five Film Writers Circle Medals, including Best Director, Original Screenplay and Editing. The film also received nominations for Best Costume Design and Best Art Direction at the Gaudí Awards, Best Costume Design and Best Production Direction at the Goya Awards, and received the Sant Jordi Award for Best Spanish Film. He is currently working on his new film, ESCAPE, starring Mario Casas, Anna Castillo and other top Spanish actors such as José Sacristán and Blanca Portillo. He also develops a successful parallel career as a writer and talks about cinema, literature and music in “Aquí hay dragones” and “Todopoderosos”, the two most listened Spanish podcasts of the moment.

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100% on RottenTomatoes

“Co-writer/director Rodrigo Cortés … give[s] us some sense of why something so ordinary would be so vital and harrowing in this time and place.” – Mark Dujsik, Mark Reviews Movies

“A fine technical achievement, a moving inquiry into what young love can mean under such conditions, and Cortés’ strongest film since 2010’s Buried.” – Jonathan Holland, Screen International

“A titanic tour de force…” – Blai Morell, Fotogramas

“A beautiful, painful and fun reflection on art as an instrument of survival.” – Luis Martínez, El Mundo (Spain)

In this compelling Netflix original seven-part series, TRANSATLANTIC, takes us back to France in 1940, where American Varian Fry has traveled to Marseille carrying three thousand dollars and a list of imperiled artists and writers he hoped to help escape from the encroaching Nazi collaboration with the Vichy government, within a few weeks. Instead, he stayed more than a year, working to procure false documents, amass emergency funds, and arrange journeys across Spain and Portugal, where the refugees would embark for safer ports. His many clients included Hannah Arendt, Max Ernst, Marcel Duchamp, and Marc Chagall, and the race against time to save them is a tale of forbidden love, high-stakes adventure, and unimaginable courage. TRANSATLANTIC features an excellent cast of American and international actors that includes; Gillian Jacobs, Corey Stoll, Lucas Englander, Corey Michael Smith and Ralph Amoussou. TRANSATLANTIC was produced and co-written by Anna Winger (Daniel Handler),Co-directors Stephanie Chuat and Veronique Reymond (My Little Sister, join us for a conversation on the challenge of directing the first four of the seven episodes, how important it was for them to strike the appropriate tone for a “film” that moves between from life threatening to life affirming within each episodes, working with an international cast and their upcoming project, a English language reboot of their first film, The Little Bedroom.

http://www.kuci.org/podcastfiles/683/FS-6-23-23%20Chuat%20-%20Reymond%20-%20Transatlantic.mp3

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Watch on: netflix.com/Transatlantic

About the filmmakers – Stephanie Chuat and Veronique Reymond have known each other since their childhood. Both passionate about theatre, they were trained actresses and have performed in numerous Swiss and French theatrical productions. They have created many shows as a stage duo as well, and their first step towards cinema was by including video in their plays. This led them to write and direct four short films. One of them, Berlin Backstage, shot in the prestigious Berlin Philharmony, won an award at the Berlin Today Award (Berlinale 2004). The duo moved on to write and direct their first feature film, La petite chambre (The Little Bedroom), starring legendary French actor Michel Bouquet. Premiered at the Locarno Film Festival 2010, the film was selected to represent Switzerland at the Academy Awards, was honered with two Swiss Quartz Prizes (Best Fiction Film and Best Screenplay), and received a dozen Awards in international festivals. Their second fiction feature My Little Sister, with major German actors Nina Hoss and Lars Eidinger was selected in Competition at the 70th Berlinale (2020), is the Swiss Oscars Contender for Best International Feature and wins a bunch of Awards in numerous festivals, among them five Quartz at the Swiss Film Awards. Stéphanie Chuat and Véronique Reymond have explored the documentary field by directing Evening Class for grown-ups (2005) and Buffo, Buten & Howard, (2009). In 2018, they joined forces again to direct Ladies, a documentary premiered at Visons du Réel Film Festival, and selected by a number of festivals. It was nominated for the Swiss Film Award in the Best Documentary category and has been a box office success in Swiss theatres. The duo also wrote and directed Open Book (2014), a series broadcasted on Swiss and French Television. This successful experience led them to write a new series, Toxic, currently in development, produced by Gaumont-France in coproduction with RTS-Switzerland.In 2022, Chuat & Reymond directed Anna Winger’s (Unorthodox) new show Transatlantic, released on Netflix in April 2023. At the same time, the duet is working on developing new projects, among them the US reboot of their first feature La petite chambre-The Little Bedroom. Morgan Freeman, Kate Mara and Laurence Fishburne are attached to this US version of the film. The shooting is planned for 2023.

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95% on RottenTomatoes

“The series as a whole shines a light by association on the ongoing plight of refugees, on resurgent nativism and antisemitism, and the deaf ear we are liable to turn to any crisis not literally on our doorstep.” – Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times

“While the show isn’t afraid to get as dark as its circumstances require, it’s also not afraid to embrace the occasional moment of levity, from funny misunderstandings to romantic drama to even an unexpected musical number.” – Liz Shannon Miller, Consequence

“An effective, crowd-pleasing thriller. It moves briskly, lays out the story and stakes cleanly, and has three strong and likable lead performances by Cory Michael Smith as Fry, Gillian Jacobs as Gold, and Lucas Englander as Albert Hirschman.” – Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone

“A unique gem among World War II stories. The ensemble cast is what lifts Transatlantic into a status beyond just another WWII story, as Winger creates a fully lived world of nuances.” – Alberto Cox Délano, Pajiba

Alethea Root’s second feature film, GOOD SIDE OF BAD, tells the story of three estranged adult siblings, Sara (Jules Bruff), Peter (Alex Quijano), and Florence (Lexi Simonsen) brought back together after a mental health diagnosis forces them to confront harsh future realities regarding the mental state of one of their own. GOOD SIDE OF BAD is a raw and intimate look into what it means to be a family navigating the waters of mental illness. The film dives into humanity’s dark places while illuminating the love, laughter, and light discovered when you reconnect with those closest to you. Based on the bestselling book GOOD SIDE OF BAD, this raw family drama touches on our shared human experience of psychological isolation, and how connecting to each other is ultimately the best way to help one another push through the daunting challenges that face every person. In addition to Jules Bruff, Alex Quijano and Lexi Simonsen, the film also features Myles Grier, Kim Estes and Academy Award nominated actor Tess Harper (Crimes of the Heart). Director and co-writer Alethea Root and Producer, co-writer and actor Jules Bruff join us to talk about the source and inspiration for the film, being selected as the Opening Night film for the 2023 Dances with Film festival, and the hope that the audience will come away from the film with a better appreciation of living with mental illness and the fragility of family.

http://www.kuci.org/podcastfiles/683/FS-7-7-23%20Bruff%20%26%20Root%20-%20Good%20Side%20of%20Bad.mp3

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For more go to: goodsideofbad.com

About the filmmaker – Alethea Root is an award-winning producer and director. She produced the Emmy®-winning short film, A LOVE STORY. Her feature film directorial debut, PART TIME FABULOUS, streaming on Amazon, won eight film festival awards, including two Audience Choice awards, the Film4Change award, and the Exploring Humanity award. Root’s second feature film, Good Side of Bad, is the opening night film of the 2023 Dances With Films Festival in Los Angles.

About the filmmaker – JULES BRUFF (Writer, Producer, Actor) The first feature Jules wrote, produced, and acted in, PART TIME FABULOUS, now streaming on Amazon, won numerous awards, including two Best Actress awards for her performance, 2 Audience Choice awards, the Film4Change award, and the Exploring Humanity award. She can be seen in projects ranging from David Fincher’s ZODIAC to S.W.A.T on CBS to Award-Winning comedy FOR MURIAL with Mindy Sterling.

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