KUCI: Film School

Brighton 4th / Film School Radio interview with Director Levan Koguashvili

BRIGHTON 4th is a beguiling portrait of parental sacrifice and the love of a father for his son, former wrestler Kakhi (played by real-life Olympic champion Levan Tediashvili) embarks on a journey from his home in the Republic of Georgia to visit his son Soso (Giorgi Tabidze) in the Russian-speaking neighborhood of Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. There he finds him living in a shabby boarding house populated by a colorful group of fellow Georgian immigrants. Soso is not studying medicine, as Kakhi believed, but is working for a moving company and has accrued a $14,000 gambling debt to a local Russian mob boss. Kakhi sets his mind to helping his hapless son out of his debt, leading to situations as often comic as they are dire. Lensed by Oscar®-nominated cinematographer Phedon Papamichael (The Trial of the Chicago 7, Nebraska), Levan Koguashvili’s BRIGHTON 4TH won three major awards at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival – Best International Film, Best Actor, and Best Screenplay – and is Georgia’s official submission to the 94th Academy Awards®. Director Levan Koguashvili joins us for a conversation on the challenges and the great rewards of working with non-professional actors, exploring the ex-pat community of Brighton Beach and working with the first time actor and wrestling legend Levan Tedaishvili and Russian screen legend Kakhi Kavsadze.
Playing in Los Angeles at: laemmle.com/brighton-4th
For updates and screenings go to: kinomarquee.com/Brighton 4th

Catch the Fair One / Film School Radio interview with Director Josef Kubota Wladyka

CATCH THE FAIR ONE opens with Kaylee “K.O.” Uppashaw (Kali Reis), a mixed Indigenous boxer, preparing for a championship fight. Her hands are wrapped, gloves taped shut, and face greased. She pounds the mitts with her trainer, Brick (Shelly Vincent). The room echoes with the strength of each hit. She’s preparing for the boxing match of her life. The crowd roars in the distance as the sounds crescendo into a fever pitch, Kaylee wakes up in a women’s shelter from a wishful dream of a life she once had. This is her reality. CATCH THE FAIR ONE chronicles Kaylee embarks on the fight of her life when she goes undercover in a sex trafficking operation to seek answers and revenge against the men responsible for the disappearance of her sister. Her strength and determination are tested as Kaylee fights the real fight of her life—to find Weeta and make her family whole again. Director Josef Wladyka joins us to talk about his creative collaboration with boxing champion, co-writer, and lead actor Kali Reis, the stunningly beautiful work of cinematographer Ross Giardina and the lingering impact of colonial conquest and racism on the indigenous peoples of North America.
For updates and screenings go to: ifcfilms.com/films/catch-the-fair-one
Watch at home: catchthefairone.movie

Poly Styrene - I Am a Cliche / Film School Radio interviews with Co-directors Celeste Bell and Paul Sng

Born Marianne Joan Elliott-Said in July of 1957, Poly Styrene was the first woman of color in the UK to front a successful rock band. She introduced the world to a new sound of rebellion, using her unconventional voice to sing about identity, consumerism, postmodernism, and everything she saw unfolding in late 1970s Britain, with a rare prescience. But the late punk maverick didn’t just leave behind an immense cultural footprint. She was survived by a daughter, Celeste Bell, who became the unwitting guardian of her mother’s legacy and her mother’s demons. Misogyny, racism, and mental illness plagued Poly’s life, while their lasting trauma scarred Celeste’s childhood and the pair’s relationship. Featuring unseen archive material and rare diary entries narrated by Oscar-nominee Ruth Negga, this documentary follows Celeste as she examines her mother's unopened artistic archive and traverses three continents to better understand Poly the icon and Poly the mother. Co-directors Celeste Bell (Poly’s daughter) and Paul Sng have fashioned a clear-eyed, and utterly moving documentary about the turbulent live of X-Ray Spex’s Anglo-Somali punk musician / front woman, who went on to be a key inspiration for the 1980’s riot grrrl and Afropunk movements and who’s personal story of determination continues to inspire.
For news and updates go to: polystyrenefilm.net

The Unmaking of a College / Film School Radio interview with Director Amy Goldstein

THE UNMAKING OF A COLLEGE delves into the 2019 crisis at Hampshire College when students led a 75-day sit-in – the longest in American college history – at the new president's office to thwart her underhanded attempt to shut down one of the most experimenting colleges in the United States. Hampshire College was founded 50 years ago based on the seminal book “The Making Of A College" to radically reimagine liberal arts education. Inspired by this philosophy of critical thinking, a collection of dedicated and charismatic students went on a rescue mission with a coalition of undergrads, faculty, staff, and alumni to find out who was leading the threat to their college, and why. The thrilleresque unfolding of this singular story goes beyond a single school, and foretells a looming crisis in higher education at a time when many colleges are failing. If Hampshire were to close, what would that mean for colleges and universities throughout the country? This is also a story of young people moved to action, how they were changed forever by their choices and how they are becoming our future leaders. THE UNMAKING OF A COLLEGE is constructed from a mix of video captured by the students and their social media threads, traditional observational footage, press conferences, news footage, and radio broadcasts. Hampshire alum, Amy Goldstein, weaves their powerful documentation with interviews with students, professors, whistleblowers, and alumni including filmmaker Ken Burns, into a suspenseful and raucous ode to democracy in action. Director Amy Goldstein (Kate Nash: Underestimate the Girl) joins us for a spirited conversation on the importance a Hampshire-like education can have on the future of students attuned to their approach, following her storytelling instincts, and the potential of all of us to collectively impact the world toward a better future.
For news and updates go to: unmaking-of-a-college

Compartment No. 6 / Film School Radio interview with Director Juho Kuosmanen

In this slow-burn character study by award winning director Juho Kuosmanen, COMPARTMENT No. 6 follows the trek of a young Finnish, Laura woman (Seidi Haarla) as she escapes an enigmatic love affair in Moscow by boarding a train to the arctic port of Murmansk in search of ancient petroglyphs. Forced to share the long ride and a tiny sleeping car with a loutish Russian miner, Ljoha (Yuriy Borisov) the unexpected encounter leads the occupants of Compartment No. 6 to face the truth about their own yearning for human connection. The film is based on Rosa Liksom's 2011 novel of the same name.  COMPARTMENT No. 6 was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival as well as the Finnish entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards. The film was recently shortlisted for Best International Feature Film. Director / co-writer Juho Kuosmanen (The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki) joins us for a conversation on his inspiration for this muted love story, the logistical challenges of filming in Arctic-like weather, and the stellar performances from his brilliant lead performers.
For news and updates go to sonyclassics.com/film/compartmentno6
For more go to: totem-films.com/compartment-n6
Independent Spirit Award for Best International Film.
Compartment No. 6 is short listed for the Academy Award in the International Feature Film category

Lunana - A Yak in the Classroom / Film School Radio interview with Director Pawo Choyning Dorji

In this beautifully rendered gem of a film, Lunana - A Yak in the Classroom, a young teacher in modern Bhutan, Ugyen, shirks his duties while planning to go to Australia to become a singer. As a reprimand, his superiors send him to the most remote school in the world, in a village called Lunana, to complete his service. He finds himself exiled from his Westernized comforts after an arduous 8 day trek just to get there. There he finds no electricity, no textbooks, not even a blackboard. Though poor, the villagers extend a warm welcome to their new teacher, but he faces the daunting task of teaching the village children without any supplies. He wants to quit and go home, but he begins to learn of the hardship in the lives of the beautiful children he teaches, and begins to be transformed through the amazing spiritual strength of the villagers. Director and writer Pawo Choyning Dorji stops by to talk about his home country of Bhutan and his nation's aspirational motto "Gross National Happiness", the challenges of making a film in a community with no modern utilities and the joy that comes from facilitating a spectrum of disarming performances from people who had never seen a film before his arrival.
For more go to: samuelgoldwynfilms.com/lunana-a-yak-in-the-classroom
filmsboutique.com/news/post/lunana-shortlisted-for-the-oscars
Shortlisted for the International Feature Film Academy Award, First Bhutanese Film to Submit for Oscar in 23 Years

Salt in My Soul / Film School Radio interview with Director Will Battersby and Diane Shader Smith (Mallory’s Mom)

SALT IN MY SOUL is the story of a woman, Mallory Smith, wise beyond her years who was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at the age of three. In her twenty five-year battle with the deadly disease, Mallory carved out a life that most of us don’t come close to. Based on the bestselling posthumously published memoir of the same name, SALT IN MY SOUL is a documentary and classic coming of age story about a young woman figuring out how to live while dying. Using Mallory’s posthumously published 25,000-page secret diaries, hundreds of hours of newly discovered footage, and audio recordings, the film offers Mallory as the narrator of her own extraordinary chronicle. Director Will Battersby and Mallory’s mom, Diane Shade Smith join us for a conversation on the honest approach that Salt in My Soul takes in telling Mallory’s story, the resolve of the young women to live beyond medical, social and personal expectations this disease imposed on her and the determined search by her dad for a identify a viable therapy to save her life. 

For news and updates go to: saltinmysouldoc.com

Ferroequinology / Film School Radio interview with Director Alex Nevill

FERROEQUINOLOGY follows the travels of two artists enthralled by the uncanny lure of locomotion set out on journeys across America. Andrew Cross chases freight trains through the Black Rock desert in Nevada in pursuit of a perfect landscape shot. McNair Evans travels on an Amtrak train from San Francisco to Portland, sharing stories and making portraits with fellow passengers. Desolate carriages take on an otherworldly presence and time loses its grasp in this study of photographers in motion, capturing slow travel in today’s increasingly fast-paced society. Railroad documentaries hold a significant place in film history. From Auguste and Louis Lumière’s early experiments in The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station to the iconic John Grierson narrated Night Mail or D. A. Pennebaker’s Daybreak Express - the movement, machinery, infrastructure and culture surrounding railroads has fascinated filmmakers since the birth of cinema. FERROEQUINOLOGY draws on this established tradition and brings this potent documentary theme into focus for the contemporary era. Gravitating toward collaborators with particularly artistic sensibilities, Nevill set about filming in ways that engaged directly with their creative work. Shooting in black and white helped to distance the film’s cinematography from each character’s photographic project and reflected the romanticized gaze many of these enthusiasts brought to their images as well as their often sentimental relationship with railroads. Director Alex Nevill joins us for a conversation on his own fascination with trains drew him into a further exploration of this world, meeting McNair and Andrew and the films selection for the 2022 Slamdance film festival.
For news and updates go to: ferroequinology.net 
2022 slamdance.com/festival

Simple as Water / Film School Radio interview with Director Megan Mylan

SIMPLE AS WATER is a soft-spoken meditation on love, displacement, and fracturing familial relations from Academy Award-winner Megan Mylan. Closely-observed portraits of Syrian families filmed across five countries reveal the impact of war, separation and displacement, SIMPLE AS WATER takes us into Syrian families’ quests for normalcy and through the whirlwind of obstacles—to building life anew. As a conflict at home forces separation and movement to unfamiliar ground, Mylan’s cinematic lens finds the powerful yet everyday acts of nurturing and kinship, traveling with her protagonists as they build a new sense of belonging. From brotherly protection, motherly love, and the playful guidance of a sibling, these closely observed scenes show touching stories of resilience and reveal ties that bind families together in the face of adversity. Filmed in Turkey, Greece, Germany, Syria and US, Mylan’s sensitive camera amplifies the universal importance of family. Oscar®-winning director Megan Mylan (Lost Boys of Sudan, Smile Pinki.) joins us for a conversation on her extraordinarily intimate and empathetic multi-part story of four families looking for a semblance of humanity and relieve from implacable state run-institutions.
To watch go to: hbo.com/simple-as-water
For more about Megan Mylan go to: principeproductions.org
Simple As Water has been “Shortlisted” for Best Documentary Feature

Three Songs for Benazir / Film School Radio interview with Co-director(s) Elizabeth Mirzaei (Gulistan Mirzaei) and Producer Omar Mullick

Co-directors Elizabeth Mirzaei and Gulistan Mirzaei’s insightful documentary, 3 SONGS FOR BENAZIR tell the story of Shaista, a young man who—newly married to Benazir and living in a displacement camp in Kabul—struggles to balance his dreams of being the first from his tribe to join the Afghan National Army with the responsibilities of starting a family. Gulistan and Elizabeth Mirzaei’s remarkable access sheds light on the experience of modern-day Afghans who live, love, and seek space for themselves amid constant instability. Co-director Elizabeth Mirzaei (Gulistan Mirzaei) and Producer Omar Mullick join us for a conversation on their strikingly intimate portrait of a young man in love determined to break free of his tribal bonds, defying his elders, in order to make his mark in the hyper-violent world of 21st century Afghanistan.
For more news and updates go to: threesongsforbenazir.com
Watch on Netflix
3 Songs for Benazir shortlisted for 2022 Oscar© - Documentary Short
Nominated for the 15th Annual Cinema Eye Honors