KUCI: Film School

Black Notebooks: Ronit / Film School Radio interview with Director Shlomi Elkabetz

Based on family archives and excerpts from the trilogy created by Ronit and Shlomi Elkabetz - BLACK NOTEBOOKS: RONIT invites us into the intimacy of a Jewish-Arab family, a family of uprooted exiles, in an imaginary story where a brother and sister revisit the past and the present to defy an implacable future. Ronit Elkabetz was a beloved and critically acclaimed star of Israeli cinema (LATE MARRIAGE, THE BAND’S VISIT, GETT). Elkabetz’s versatility, beauty and magnetism prompted the New York Times, in 2008, to dub her “Israel’s Meryl Streep,” while other international critics compared her to an Almodovar heroine. Ronit Elkabetz co-directed three films, including GETT, with her brother, Shlomi Elkabetz. In BLACK NOTEBOOKS: RONIT, his love letter to his sister and to cinema, Shlomi chronicles the making of their film GETT, as the siblings are faced with Ronit’s illness. Determined for Ronit to stay alive they embark on a journey, traveling the world with their film and attempting to change destiny. Ronit Elkabetz died in 2016 at the age of 51. Director Shlomi Elkabetz joins us to talk about his decision to move forward with this film, Ronit’s artistry as a performer and director and the lasting impact her passing has had on the people whose lives she touched.
For news and screenings go to: panoramafilmsus.com/black-notebooks

Next Exit / Film School Radio interview with Director Mali Elfman

Director Mali Elfman feature film debut, NEXT EXIT, opens with a research scientist (Karen Gillan) making national news “proving” that she can track people into the afterlife. Rose (Katie Parker) sees a way out and Teddy (Rahul Kohli) sees his chance to finally make it. These two strangers, both harboring dark secrets, race to join the doctor’s contentious study and leave this life behind. While Rose is haunted by a ghostly presence that she can’t outrun, Teddy is forced to confront his past. As the two unlikely misfits humorously quarrel their way across the country, they meet people along the way who force them to reckon with what is really driving them. In addition to Katie Parker and Rahul Kohli NEXT EXIT also features a sterling cast that includes Tongayi Chirisa, Tim Griffin, Diva Zappa, and Nico Evers-Swindell. Director / writer Mali Elfman joins us for a conversation on her inspiration for making the film, posing some of the most vexing questions about life and death, working with her brilliant lead actors and the challenges of making her first feature film a “road trip” endeavor.
For more go to: magnetreleasing.com/nextexit
To see in a theatre go to: magnetreleasing.com/nextexit/screenings
To watch at home go to: magnetreleasing.com/nextexit/watch-at-home

Something in the Dirt / Film School radio interview with Co-directors Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead

The latest from the creative filmmaking team behind the trippy sci-fi triumph, The Endless, comes SOMETHING IN THE DIRT. The film focuses on Levi, a man who has snagged a no-lease apartment sight unseen in the Hollywood Hills to crash at while he ties up loose ends for his exodus from Los Angeles. He quickly strikes up a rapport with his new neighbor John, swapping stories like old friends under the glowing, smoke-filled skies of the city. Soon after meeting, Levi and John witness something impossible in one of their apartments. Terrified at first, they soon realize this could change their lives and give them a purpose. With dollar signs in their eyes, these two eccentric strangers will attempt to prove the supernatural. DIY wonderkids Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson serve as co-directors, co-stars, co-editors, writer (Benson) and cinematographer (Moorhead) of this twisted, sci-fi talkie. Their odd-ball chemistry shines on screen and in the script, as these two isolated and unfulfilled individuals spur each other toward wormholes and away from reality. SOMETHING IN THE DIRT tells a tale of these paranoid times, where every answer imaginable is just a Google search away. Co-directors, co-producers, co-editors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead (Synchronic, The Endless) stop by for a conversation on the inspiration for Something in the Dirt, the decision to cast themselves as the lead actors, and how they landed on the right blend of science, occult, history and psychedelic atmospherics.
For more go to: xyzfilms.com/something-in-the-dirt

The Runner / Film School Radio interview with Director Michelle Danner

In Michelle Danner’s latest film a privileged teenager Aiden Albers (Edouard Philipponnat) has one last chance to get his life back on track. His lucrative side hustle dealing drugs to his classmates and his own personal addiction has forced his distraught mother to turn him over to the police. Detective Walls (Cameron Douglas) offers to save him from prosecution if he’ll pose as a drug dealer and lure his supplier, a fellow simply referred to as Local Legend (Eric Balfour), to a party where Aiden will wear a wire. Aiden’s life has been complicated by the fact that he is tormented by guilt over his responsibility for the overdose of his girlfriend Layla (Kerri Medders). As the sting operation is set in motion, Aiden falters, threatening to jeopardize the deal with the police and his very life. Director / Producer Michelle Danner joins us for a conversation on the making of her latest film thriller The Runner, as well as her life long connection to filmmaking and acting, first through her father’s career and later as one of the most sought after acting teachers in Hollywood.
For updates and screenings go to: archstoneent.com/the-runner

Inhospitable / Film School Radio interview with Director Sandra Alvarez

Why are healthcare costs so high in the United States? Filmmaker Sandra Alvarez’s illuminating documentary INHOSPITABLE follows patients and activists as they band together in an effort to stop UPMC, a multi-billion-dollar nonprofit hospital system, from making vital care unaffordable for hundreds of thousands of vulnerable patients in western Pennsylvania. Few are aware that in the past several years many nonprofit hospitals around the country have been building healthcare empires and amassing huge amounts of wealth and political power at the expense of the surrounding residents. The story of INHOSPITABLE illustrates this alarming trend and turns the lens on the seemingly un-winnable battle between the Goliath UPMC and the patients, hospital workers, community activists, labor leaders, journalists, and politicians - almost all of them women - who built a grassroots movement to literally fight for their lives. Director Sandra Alvarez (The History of Comedy, The Nineties) explores the perspectives of patients, hospital workers, advocates, and politicians to shed light on an overlooked fight for justice and how what happened in Pennsylvania can and is happening in every corner of America.
For updates and screenings go to: inhospitablefilm.com
To watch go to: inhospitablefilm.com

Voodoo Macbeth / Film School radio interview with Producer Jason Phillips, Actors Inger Tudor and Jewell Wilson Bridges

Before Citizen Kane and The War of the Worlds, leading Broadway actress Rose McClendon and producer John Houseman convince a gifted but untested 20-year-old Orson Welles to direct Shakespeare’s Macbeth with an all-Black cast in Harlem. Reimagined in a Haitian setting, this revolutionary 1936 production, which came to be known as “Voodoo Macbeth,” would change the world forever, but the road to opening night proves to be a difficult one. Orson and Rose – who is to play Lady Macbeth – clash over everything from scene blocking to crew hires, while Houseman contends with a congressman hell-bent on shutting down what he deems “communist propaganda.” Welles and McClendon must overcome political pressure, personal demons, and protests to realize their groundbreaking vision. Fresh of an award-winning film festival run Voodoo MacBeth is being released for a theatrical run through Lightyear Entertainment. Co-producer Jason Phillips, lead actors Inger Tudor and Jewell Wilson Bridges join us to talk about the story behind the story making a film in which ten directors, six producers and eight writers seamlessly collaborated, how the USC School of Cinematic Arts and USC Originals factor into the making of the film, re-discovering this little known chapter in the life of a filmmaking giant Orson Wells, and the importance of publicly support funding for the arts, including the Federal Theatre Project and its support for Harlem’s Negro Theatre Unit.
For more go to: voodoomacbethfilm.com
Screenings go to: voodoomacbethfilm.com/screenings

Eternal Spring / Film School Radio interview with Director Jason Lofton

ETERNAL SPRING documents the story behind the nationwide crack down of a spiritual group and the incident that brought down the wrath of the Chinese government. In March 2002, a state TV signal in China was hijacked by members of the banned spiritual group Falun Gong. Their goal is to counter the government narrative about their practice. In the aftermath, police raids sweep Changchun City, and comic book illustrator Daxiong (Justice League, Star Wars), a Falun Gong practitioner, is forced to flee. He arrives in North America, blaming the hijacking for worsening a violent repression. But his views are challenged when he meets the lone surviving participant to have escaped China, now living in Seoul, South Korea. Combining present-day footage with 3D animation inspired by Daxiong’s art, Eternal Spring retraces the event on its 20th anniversary, and brings to life an unprecedented story of defiance, harrowing eyewitness accounts of persecution, and an exhilarating tale of determination to speak up for political and religious freedoms, no matter the cost. Director Jason Loftus (Ask Know Questions) joins us for a conversation on the history and the suppression of Falun Gong, how the group of members came together, working with Daxiong and the current political climate in China and his continuing work to uncover the repressive actions of that government through his films.
For more go to: eternalspringfilm.com

UTAMA / Film School radio interview with Director Alejandro Loayzo Grisi

UTAMA takes us to an arid Bolivian highlands where an elderly Quechua couple, Virginio and Sisa, have been living a tranquil life for years. While Virginio takes their small herd of llamas out to graze, Sisa keeps house and walks for miles with the other local women to fetch precious water. When an uncommonly long drought threatens everything they know, the couple must decide whether to stay and maintain their traditional way of life or admit defeat and move in with family members in the city. Virginio and Sisa’s dilemma is precipitated by the arrival of their grandson Clever, who comes to visit with news. The three of them must face, each in their own way, the effects of a changing environment, the importance of tradition, and the meaning of life itself. This visually jaw-dropping debut feature by photographer-turned-filmmaker Alejandro Loayza Grisi is lensed by award-winning cinematographer Barbara Alvarez (Lucretia Martel’s The Headless Woman) and won the Grand Jury Prize (World Cinema Dramatic) at the Sundance Film Festival. Director Alejandro Loayza Grisi joins us to talk about identifying the non-professional actors to play Virginio and Sisa, working with the indigenous villagers and the striking right balance of look, pace and tone for this stark personal tale that also addresses the direct impact that the looming climate catastrophe will have on the poorest people on the planet.
For more info and screenings go to: kinomarquee.com/UTAMA
Watch in LA area starting Nov. 11: laemmle.com/film/utama
UTAMA won the Grand Jury Prize in World Cinema Competition at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival

All Quiet on the Western Front / Film School radio interview with Director Edward Berger

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT tells the gripping story of a young German soldier on the Western Front of World War I. Paul and his comrades experience first-hand how the initial euphoria of war turns into desperation and fear as they fight for their lives, and each other, in the trenches. From German-born director Edward Berger as created a cinematically unique adaptation from a German perspective of Erich Maria Remarque's eponymous novel ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT. Considered by many literary scholars to be one of the most effective and moving anti-war works of all time. The film also includes the story of the German politician, Matthias Erzberger (Daniel Brühl), known as one of the lead diplomats responsible for negotiating the armistice between the Kaiser (German) forces and the Allies. German nationalists later blamed him for the financial collapse and political instability that beset post-war Germany. That chaotic period eventually gave rise to Adolf Hitler and his fascist reign of terror. German nationalist accused Erzberger of treason and assassinated him. Director Edward Berger stops by to talk about the reasons he felt the time was right to revisit the stark and senseless slaughter of World War I and the 44 million people who died, his decision to focus the story on the young and impressionable young men who enlisted in the German infantry and to highlight the relatively unknown aspect of the war that examines the bloodless political calculations that went into negotiating an end to “the war to end all wars” which led to an even deadlier worldwide conflict 20 years later that killed nearly twice as many people.
Netflix.com/All Quiet on the Western Front
Screening on Netflix beginning October 28

Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues / FIlm School radio interview with Director Sacha Jenkins

LOUIS ARMSTRONG’S BLACK & BLUES offers an intimate and revealing look at the world-changing musician, presented through a lens of archival footage and never-before-heard home recordings and personal conversations. This definitive documentary, directed by Sacha Jenkins, honors Armstrong's legacy as a founding father of jazz, one of the first internationally known and beloved stars, and a cultural ambassador of the United States. LOUIS ARMSTRONG’S BLACK & BLUES shows how Armstrong’s own life spans the shift from the Civil War to the Civil Rights movement, and how he became a lightning rod figure in that turbulent era. LOUIS ARMSTRONG’S BLACK & BLUES is a project of Imagine Documentaries and Polygram Entertainment with a production team that includes Sara Bernstein, Justin Wilkes, Michele Anthony, Brian Grazer, and Ron Howard. Director and producer Sacha Jenkins joins us for a conversation on the profound impact that Louis Armstrong has had on American music, specifically jazz, his multi-hyphenated career as a singer, trumpeter, actor, bandleader, artist, ambassador of American culture, his life-long partnership with his wife, Lil, and how important it was for Jenkins to re-set the perception of this humble man with a thorough recounting of his personal, professional and musical life.