KUCI: Film School

Angola, Do You Hear Us / Film School Radio interview with Director Cinque Northern

ANGOLA, DO YOU HEAR US chronicles the most important performance of acclaimed Playwright Liza Jessie Peterson life: a 2020 appearance on the chapel stage of the Louisiana State Penitentiary. The prison, with its 6,000 incarcerated men and 18,000 acres of farmland, is better known as Angola, after the homeland of the enslaved people who once labored on the site of the former plantation. Peterson’s journey there, to deliver her one-woman production of “The Peculiar Patriot,” begins many years earlier when she takes a job teaching poetry to incarcerated teenagers at Rikers Island. What begins as a way to pay bills between auditions becomes inspiration, as Peterson strives to expose America’s modern-day plantation system, the prison-industrial complex that imprisons African-Americans for profit. The electrifying performance, speaking truth to power before a fired-up full house, is cut off prematurely when authorities at the prison have heard enough. But the day ends in triumph, as the audience, and an entire prison watching remotely, joins Peterson with defiantly raised fists. Cinque Northern’s film, which utilizes his own original footage and animation, captures the performance and the transformational wake of its shutdown, as told by Peterson and the incarcerated people themselves – all despite the prison’s efforts to pretend nothing ever happened.
To find out more: cinquenorthern.com/apeculiarsilence
Watch at: paramountplus.com/movies/Angola: Do You Hear Us

As Far As They Can Run / Film School Radio interview with Director Tanaz Eshaghian

AS FAR AS THEY CAN RUN takes us to rural to Pakistan, where families with disabled children have few options. Some desperate parents keep their children locked up or even chained. When athletic coaches from Karachi persuade the parents of three teenagers -- Ghulam, Sana, Sajawal – to allow the kids to participate in a sports training program as part of a Special Olympics initiative, the families glimpse the hope that living with disability doesn’t have to mean that their children are "useless." But they and the coaches must confront the question of what sports can—and cannot—change. Over a one-year period, Iranian American filmmaker Tanaz Eshaghian follows three disabled children and their families as they grapple with shame and prejudice in rural Pakistan to realize new talents and a sense of belonging through sports. Intimate and unflinching, hopeful and tragic, AS FAR AS THEY CAN RUN is a fascinating look at those who are struggling to find acceptance and worth in a society that had relegated them to the margins. Director Tanaz Eshaghian joins us for a conversation on all of the daunting challenges, physical, logistically and psychologically in shooting the children and their situation, as well as the joy of seeing the benefit the program has on their lives.
To watch: paramountplus.com/movies/As Far As They Can Run

Anastasia / Film School Radio interview with Director Sarah McCarthy

The Documentary Short, ANASTASIA spotlights the life of Russian civil rights activist Anastasia Shevchenko as she faces the brutal repercussions of speaking out against her government. She endured house arrest for two years, and became the first person found guilty of “organizing activity of an undesirable organization” by a Russian court, for her work with the Open Russia movement. Amnesty International declared her a “prisoner of conscience.” While Anastasia was under arrest, her teenage daughter Alina was hospitalized and died alone, becoming an early example of the Russian regime’s willingness to use the separation of parents and children as a way to silence dissent. This intentional rupture of the parental bond is a denial of the elemental human right to care for our children. The spiritual and emotional burden that Anastasia carries makes her determination even more remarkable, as she continues to raise her two other children. One morning she gathers them, and her elderly mother, and takes a train across Russia to the Black Sea, a journey that this intimate story captures with poetic visual grace. Against the bright horizon, they come to terms with the family’s loss, and Anastasia realizes the only way she can continue to fight is to leave her homeland. Director Sarah McCarthy joins us for a conversation on a woman facing down an authoritarian regime, the loss of her daughter, the daunting challenge of pulling together her shattered family for a final tribute to her departed daughter.
For more go to: anastasiafilm.com

I Am Vanessa Guillen / Film School Radio interview with Director Christy Wegener

I AM VANESSA GUILLEN chronicles the life and death of a young Mexican-American soldier who vanishes from a U.S. Army base. Her family leads an international movement to find her and expose ongoing corruption within the military ranks. Vanessa Guillen always dreamed of joining the U.S. Army, but after reporting being sexually harassed at Fort Hood in Texas, she disappeared. After a two-month search, her remains were found in a nearby rural area, sparking rage at Army officials – and a fight for justice. I AM VANESSA GUILLEN follows Vanessa’s sisters Lupe and Mayra as they carry her name from protests in the streets to the halls of power in Washington, D.C., and offers a behind-the-scenes look at their tenacious pursuit to change a deeply rooted, controversial military justice system. Featuring interviews with family and friends as well as elected officials like Rep. Jackie Spears and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, I AM VANESSA GUILLEN is a bracing, candid testament to what a family’s love can do, even in the face of unimaginable grief. The film was executive produced by Story Syndicate’s Dan Cogan, Liz Garbus, Jon Bardin and Nell Constantinople. Director by Christy Wegener joins us for a conversation on the under-reported incidents of sexual assault that are rife in all branches of the United States military, the steely determination of Vanessa’s family to find her, bring justice to her murder and organize a sustained effort to bring accountability to the unaccountable military chain of command.
Watch at: netflix.com/IamVanessa Guillen
Conduit-films.com/IamVanessaGuillen

Leonor Will Never Die / Film School Radio interview with Director Martika Ramirez Escobar

LEONOR WILL NEVER DIE drops us into the wildly imaginative internal life of Leonor (Sheila Francisco), a retired filmmaker who reads the obits and prefers to talk with her dead son Ronwaldo (Anthony Falcon), rather than her living one, Rudie (Bong Cabrera), who is on her case for not paying the electric bill. One day, however, Leonor is hit on the head by a TV that was thrown out a window and ends up in with hypnagogia — a state between sleeping and waking. She soon enters a limbo that is her unfinished screenplay "Ang Pagbabalik Kwago" ("The Return of Kwango"), a film-within-the-film, in which Ronwaldo (Rocky Salumbides) romances Majestika (Rea Molina) while trying to fend off a series of bad guys. And it is all filmed like a Z-grade action film where the fight scenes are faker than wrestling. But it provides considerable fun as Leonor wanders through the film's scenes like an absent-minded grandmother wielding a hammer in case of danger. LEONOR WILL NEVER DIE is an innovative blend of pulpy action homages, playful comedy, touching family drama, and a wonderfully imaginative tribute to the art of filmmaking. Director Martika Ramirez Escobar joins us for a conversation on the joyous and challenging eight year journey that LEONOR has taken her on, the DIY powered collaboration with her creative partners that sustained the film and the satisfaction of seeing the positive reaction to the film.
For more go to: musicboxfilms.com/leonor-will-never-die

Double Down South / Film School Radio interview with Director Tom Schulman

DOUBLE DOWN SOUTH is a feminist fatale noir set in the dangerous world of illegal, high-stakes keno pool gambling at the turn of the 21st century. Nick (Kim Coates, “Bad Blood”) owns a run-down plantation house in the rural South and is charmed by a smart and tough Keno ace, Diana (Lili Simmons, “Power Book IV: Force”). Diana wants to win big and Nick is determined to stake her. Little Nick (Igby Rigney,“The Midnight Club”) strikes up a friendship with Diana and coaches her to win against the odds. Diana must prove herself in a man’s world to earn a match against Beaumont DuBinion (Justin McManus, “Power Book II: Ghosts”), the undisputed world’s greatest keno pool player, who, it turns out, has a contentious and violent history with Nick. Written and directed by Academy Award© winning writer Tom Schulman (Dead Poets Society), the story is reflective of the misogyny and casual and blatant racism that still exists in our country. Schulman grew up in the South in the 50’s and 60’s and frequented pool halls where high-stakes keno was the game of choice for the regulars, a game which is so insidious from a gambling perspective that it was banned in most states. Director Tom Schulman stops by to talk about his superb cast he has assembled, finding the perfect location for this project and the joy of working in the realm of noir / Southern Gothic genre filmmaking.
For more go to: doubledownsouthfilm.com

Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power / Film School Radio interview with Co-directors Geeta Gandhbir and Sam Pollard

While the march from Selma to Montgomery lives in the collective memory as a high point of the Civil Rights Movement, there was something else blooming in Alabama beyond the terminus of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, just beyond the camera's eye. Stokely Carmichael—a dynamic, young organizer also from SNCC—used this moment on the sidelines to make connections in the crowd, gathering names and information. For Carmichael and the community whose stories he absorbed, this pivotal moment wasn’t a culmination, but a beginning. Nowhere was this next battle better epitomized than in Lowndes County, Alabama, a rural, impoverished county with a vicious history of racist terrorism. In a county that was 80 percent Black but had zero Black voters, laws were just paper without power. This isn’t a story of hope but of action. Through first person accounts and searing archival footage, LOWNDES COUNTY AND THE ROAD TO BLACK POWER tells the story of the local movement and young Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) organizers who fought not just for voting rights, but for Black Power in Lowndes County. Co-directors Geeta Gandhbir (Black and Missing,I Am Evidence) and Sam Pollard (MLK/FBI, Four Little Girls) join us for a conversation on bringing to life the activism and courage of people like Ella Baker, John Hulett, Courtland Cox, Ruby Sales, Reverend Wendell Paris and one of the most consequential Civil Rights leaders Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael).
For more go to: greenwichentertainment.com/lowndes county documentary

LOAN WOLVES / Film School Radio interview with Director Blake Zeff

December 11 - LOAN WOLVES - Director Blake Zeff
LOAN WOLVES follows Blake Zeff, an investigative journalist and former politics editor for Salon, as he gets to the root of the student debt crisis, currently at $2,000,000,000,000 and counting. Following the stories of those most affected, Zeff ultimately zeroes in on the unexpected heart of the problem and exposes the rotten core of the country's policy making. Confronting powerful enablers and challenging lies, LOAN WOLVES is a humorous and eye-opening documentary that demystifies this national debt crisis, and the orgin story behind the obscure “carve out” in the 1998 education bill that now prevents countless Americans from reaching their full potential. LOAN WOLVES features high profile members of Congress, congressional staffers, respected economists and the people most directed impacted by this draconian law, the debtors. Director Blake Zeff joins us for a spirited conversation on the enormity of student debt, the pernicious legal entanglement that make the debt so onerous, and why allowing people to discharge the student debt or debt forgiveness is good for the people in debt, their families, and for a more prosperous economy for all.
“Loan Wolves” airs Sunday, December 11th at 10pm ET on MSNBC and streaming on Peacock.
msnbc-films/loan-wolves

In Her Hands / Film School Radio interview with Co-directors Marcel Mettelsiefen & Tamana Ayazi

In August 2021, the world watched as Kabul fell to the Taliban. Scenes of chaos, anxiety, and fear dominated the media. IN HER HANDS follows the 19 months of lead-up to this through the eyes of Zarifa Ghafari, appointed as the youngest female mayor of Afghanistan at age 26. Her story is interwoven with those of two other key figures: her loyal bodyguard, Massoum; and an antagonist to her ideas, a commander in the Taliban army, Musafer. The varying trajectories of their lives give perspective on the complexities of the 20-year conflict in the region. Afghan filmmaker Tamana Ayazi and Marcel Mettelsiefen use their unique access to Zarifa as she navigates multiple layers of political and personal turmoil, including a tense relationship with her father (a leader in the Afghan military) and a dilemma over working with her bodyguard — all against the constant threat of assassination. We see Zarifa making strides in her fiercely patriarchal town outside Kabul. But as the US troops prepare to withdraw, uncertainty builds and the Taliban increase attacks on political officials. It becomes clear Zarifia and her fiancé, Bashir, will be in mortal danger if they stay in the country. Zarifa’s courage has already won her attention in human-rights circles, and now IN HER HANDS will bring her powerful story to the rest of the world. Co-directors Tamana Ayazi and Marcel Mettelsiefen join us for an enlightening and impassioned conversation on the state of Afghanistan’s present and future.
To watch, go to: netflix.com/In Her Hands

Tantura / FIlm School Radio interview with Director Alon Schwarz

Alon Schwarz’s searingly straightforward feature documentary TANTURA takes a deep dive into the tape-recorded words “erase it” as those two words take on new weight in the context of history and war. When the State of Israel was established in 1948, hundreds of Palestinian villages were depopulated in its aftermath. Israelis know this as the War of Independence. Palestinians call it “Al Nakba” (the Catastrophe). In the late 1990s, graduate student Teddy Katz conducted research into a large-scale massacre that had allegedly occurred in the village of Tantura in 1948. His work later came under attack and his reputation was ruined, but 140 hours of audio testimonies remain. Director Alon Schwarz revisits former Israeli soldiers of the Alexandroni Brigade as well as Palestinian residents in an effort to re-examine what happened in Tantura and explore why the Nakba is taboo in Israeli society. The now elderly ex-soldiers recall unsettling acts of war while disquietly pausing at points they either don’t remember or won’t speak of. Audio from Katz’s 20- year-old interviews cuts through the silence of self-preservation and exposes the ways in which power, silencing, and protected narratives can sculpt history.
For more go to: reelpeakfilms.com