KUCI: Film School

The Story Won’t Die / Film School Radio interview with Director David Henry Gerson

From Award-winning filmmaker David Henry Gerson a documentary short, THE STORY WON’T DIE. It’s an inspiring, timely look at a young generation of Syrian artists who use their work to protest and process what is currently the world’s largest and longest ongoing displacement of people since World War II. THE STORY WON’T DIE was produced by Sundance Award-winning producer Odessa Rae (Navalny). and geature a wide variety of Syrian born artist that includes; Rapper Abu Hajar, post-Rock musician (Anas Maghrebi), members of the first all-female Syrian rock band (Bahila Hijazi and Lynn Mayya), break-dancer (Bboy Shadow), choreographer (Medhat Aldaabal), and visual artists (Tammam Azzam, Omar Imam and Diala Brisly). All of these talented artists use their art to rise in revolution and endure in exile in this new documentary reflecting on a battle for peace, justice and freedom of expression. It is an uplifting and humanizing look at what it means to be a refugee in today’s world and offers inspiring and hopeful vantages on a creative response to the chaos of war. Director David Henry Gerson stops by to talk about his exploration of artists / activists forced to flee one of the world’s most repressive regimes, away from family and loved ones, but still committed to their art, community and hope for a time when they can return to their beloved country.
For updates and screenings go to: thestorywontdie.com
To watch: thestorywontdie.com/screenings

Catching a Killer - Co-director and Executive Producer Jezza Nuemann

The highly entertaining multi-part real-life crime documentary series, CATCHING A KILLER, offers an unprecedented 360-degree access into a thoroughly modern murder investigation. This innovative and ratings-winning series, deemed the ‘Real life Inspector Morse’, follows major crime investigations from start to finish. Each documentary film is self-contained and follows the work of one major investigation – covering some of the most serious and challenging crimes facing this tri-county force. Beyond the blue flashing lights, how does a major crime investigation work? How do partner agencies come together to support a major investigation? And how much work really goes on behind the scenes to gain a successful outcome in court? Co-director and Executive Producer Jezza Neumann joins us for a conversation on the backstory that led to this impeccably produced five-part documentary series, gaining the confidence of law enforcement and members of the victim’s families and the stress and strain of being ready to pick up a camera on a moments notice.
To watch go to: topic.com/coming-soon-to-topic
For updates and screenings go to: topic.com

Echoes of the Empire: Beyond Genghis Khan / Film School Radio interview with Director Robert H. Lieberman

Echoes of the Empire: Beyond Genghis Khan offers a stunning cinematic view of Mongolia’s past and present. Film director and novelist Robert H. Lieberman takes us into this vast country little known by many. New York Times best-selling author Jack Weatherford opens the film, leading us through the remarkable evolution of Genghis Khan’s Mongol Empire. Intimate portraits of today’s Mongolians provide us with rare and revealing insights into the minds of these former warriors and nomads and the challenges they face in their post Soviet world. Echoes of the Empire: Beyond Genghis Khan is the third in the trilogy of films from the creative team at PhotoSynthesis Productions that includes the acclaimed Angkor Awakens and They Call It Myanmar - hailed as New York Times Critics’ Picks. Director Robert Lieberman (Angkor Awakes, They Call It Myanmar) stops by to talk about largest and most consequential empire in human history led by a man who commanded a disciplined army, deployed brilliant military tactics, elevated the status of women within the empire and created an enduring legacy that continues to inform the lives of modern Mongolian society.
For news, updates and screenings go to: echoesoftheempire.com

Rebellion / Film School Radio interview with Co-directors Maia Kenworthy and Elena Sanchez Bellot

REBELLION is the first feature-length documentary to tell the behind-the-scenes story of Extinction Rebellion, following a group of unlikely allies as they come together to confront the climate emergency. In the decade since the Financial Crisis, action on climate change had slipped right down the political agenda. In 2018 a new group emerged, Extinction Rebellion (XR), with a bold tactic to break through the deadlock: mass civil disobedience on a scale not seen for decades. Rebellion follows the journey of XR co-founders as well as Farhana Yamin, an international environmental lawyer who played a key role in negotiating the Paris Climate Agreement, as she decides to break the law for the first time in her life. For them, climate change is not just an environmental issue but is rooted in - and reinforces - social inequalities. REBELLION crucially tells a story about the health of our own democracy, as we witness moves to restrict the power of peaceful protest - including a government bill threatening 10 year jail sentences for those causing ‘serious annoyance or inconvenience.’ REBELLION poses uncomfortable and important questions about what it means to be an active citizen. First time filmmakers Maia Kenworthy and Elena Sanchez Bellot join us for a conversation about the civil rights issues as they related to protest, the urgency that so many feel regarding the climate crisis and the pressing need for proactive, not reactive actions. We also talk about the internal dynamics that come when a group of political activists begin to experience the spotlight of success.

18½ - Film School Radio interview with Director Dan Mirvish

“18½” humorously crafts its own narrative into the notorious gap in Nixon’s Watergate scandal. Taking place in 1974, “18½” is about  a fictional White House transcriber finds the only copy of the infamous 18½-minute gap in Nixon's Watergate tapes but her attempts to leak it to the press run afoul of hippies, swingers and nefarious forces. “18½” acclaimed cast is led by stars Willa Fitzgerald (Amazon’s Reacher), John Magaro (First Cow), Vondie Curtis Hall (Harriet), Catherine Curtin (Netflix’s Stranger Things), Richard Kind (Argo), Sullivan Jones (The Gilded Age), Alanna Saunders, Claire Saunders, and the legendary voices of Ted Raimi (Spider-Man) , Jon Cryer (Two and a Half Men), and Bruce Campbell (Evil Dead) as President Richard Nixon. Directed by Dan Mirvish, "18½" features a screenplay by Daniel Moya, story by Mirvish and Moya, with classic cinematography by Elle Schneider. Director Dan Mirvish (Between Us, Bernard and Huey) and a Slamdance Film Festival Co-founder joins us to talk about the superb cast of actors he assembled for this historically inspired story that is one part comedy, one part 1970s paranoia, and wholly entertaining.
For news and updates go to: 18andahalfmovie.com
To watch 18 1/2 go to: 18andahalfmovie.com/screenings

Midwives / Film School Radio interview with Director Snow Hnin Ei Hlaing

The story behind MIDWIVES is the story of Hla and Nyo Nyo, both living and working side-by-side in a country torn by ethnic conflict. Hla is a Buddhist and the owner of a makeshift medical clinic in western Myanmar, where the Rohingya (a Muslim minority community) are persecuted and denied basic rights. Nyo Nyo is a Muslim and an apprentice midwife who acts as an assistant and translator at the clinic. Her family has lived in the area for generations, yet they are still considered intruders. Encouraged and challenged by Hla, who risks her own safety daily by helping Muslim patients, Nyo Nyo is determined to become a steady health care provider for her community. The filmmaker’s gentle, impartial gaze grants unique access to these courageous women who unite to bring forth life. Filled with love, empathy, and hope, MIDWIVES offers a rare insight into the complex reality of Myanmar and its people. Director Snow Hnin Ei Hlaing (Burmese Butterfly) joins us for a conversation on her own journey, that included filming in Myanmar for over five turbulent years, witnessing the vilification and ostracized by the international community for their brutal treatment of the Rohingya people and gaining the trust and respect of the women who have made the clinic an integral part of the communities they serve.
For updates and screenings go to: dogwoofsales.com/midwives
Winner - World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award: Excellence In Verité Filmmaking - Sundance 2022

Plague at the Golden Gate / Film School radio interview with Director Li-Shin Yu and Producer James Q. Chan

PLAGUE AT THE GOLDEN GATE takes us back over 100 years before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the world. Back to a time when an outbreak of bubonic plague in San Francisco’s Chinatown in 1900 unleashed a wave of fear and anti-Asian sentiment. It was the first time in history that civilization’s most feared disease — the infamous Black Death — made it to North America. Two doctors — vastly different in temperament, training and experience — used different methods to lead the seemingly impossible battle to contain the disease before it could engulf the country. In addition to overwhelming medical challenges, they faced unexpected opposition from business leaders, politicians, and even the president of the United States. Fueling the resistance would be a potent blend of political expediency, ignorance, greed, racism, and deep-rooted distrust of not only federal authority but science itself. Scapegoated as the source of the disease early on, the Chinese community fought back against unjust, discriminatory treatment. The gripping story of the desperate race against time to save San Francisco and the nation from the deadly disease, Plague at the Golden Gate is based in part on David K. Randall’s critically acclaimed book, Black Death at the Golden Gate. Director Li-Shin Yu and Producer James Q. Chan join us for a conversation on the social, political, economic and medical reasons that this little known, potentially devastating outbreak disproportionally impacted the San Francisco’s Chinese community and just how close that their callous bigotry came to unleashing a catastrophic scourge on the entire country.
For more news go to: pbs.org/americanexperience/plague-golden-gate

Emergency / FIlm School Radio interview with Director Carey Williams

EMERGENCY follows college seniors Kunle (Donald Elise Watkins) and his best friend, Sean (RJ Cyler), as they ready themselves for an epic night of Spring Break parties. Sean has the whole night planned out, including every party they will hit on their “legendary tour.” Kunle is down, yet mostly concerned with finishing up his mold experiment in his lab, as his acceptance to Princeton is hinging on the results. They return to their apartment to pre-game, yet find that their roommate, Carlos (Sebastian Chacon), left the door open. As they enter with trepidation, Sean and Kunle discover a drunk, semi-conscious White female they don’t know on the floor and an oblivious Carlos, who didn’t hear her come in over the videogame blaring in his ears. The moral and practical dilemma of what these three men of color should do with the incapacitated white girl sets in motion a wildly fraught journey through the social, political and racial landscape of America in 2022. Director Carey Williams (Cherry Waves, Emergency (short)) joins us for a lively conversation on his collaboration with screenwriter KD Davila, and how he pulled together an amazingly talented cast newcomers to help him deliver a multi-layered, funny, terrifying, and thrilling cinematic ride.
 
For updates and screenings go to amazonstudios.com/emergency
For theatre tickets go to: emergencymovie.com
For more on Carey Williams go to: cdubfilms.com

Hold Your Fire / Film School Radio interview with Director Stefan Forbes

HOLD YOUR FIRE takes on a deep dive into an incident that has become a touchstone of hyper-aggressive police tactics and community relations. In 1973, four young African-American Muslim men entered a sporting goods store in Williamsburg, Brooklyn to steal guns. They were soon cornered by a score of New York police. The bungled robbery triggered a response of deadly force by a then mostly-white police force and led to the longest hostage siege in NYPD history. The stand-off eventually became, could a visionary police psychologist,  Harvey Schlossberg, convince his superiors to do the unthinkable –  negotiate with “criminals” – and save twelve hostages from a violent bloodbath? In never-before-seen film and eye-opening interviews, HOLD YOUR FIRE is a look into a policing regime that could revolutionize the ways that American law enforcement protects the citizenry and saves lives in the process. Director Stefan Forbes, (Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story) producer Fab Five Freddy (Grass is Greener) and their team reconstruct what took place through the Rashomon-like perspectives of the robbers, hostages, and cops. 
For updates and screenings go to: holdyourfirefilm.com

Pleasure / Film School Radio interview with Director Ninja Thyberg

Ninja Thyberg’s debut feature film PLEASURE is a journey into the Los Angeles porn industry through the lens of newcomer Bella Cherry (Sofia Kappel). A strong, self-confident and determined, Bella leaves behind her small Swedish town and embarks on a mission to become the best adult performer at any cost. PLEASURE was written and directed by Ninja Thyberg and showcases a forthright and fearless performance by Kappel. PLEASURE also features an ensemble of well known adult industry actors. Director Ninja Thyberg (Pleasure (short), Catwalk) joins us for a conversation on the place porn occupies in our public and personal space, the predominance of a male perspective in commercial pornography, the power dynamics that track Bella’s journey through porn’s titular capital, the San Fernando Valley and the celebration of personal sexual pleasure.
For updates and screenings go to: neonrated.com/films/pleasure
2021 Sundance Film Festival Nominated, Grand Jury Prize World Cinema - Ninja Thyberg
2022 Independent Spirit Award Nominated, Best Director - Ninja Thyberg