KUCI: Film School

My Name is Bulger / Film School Radio interview with Director Brendan J. Byrne

Award-winning documentary filmmaker Brendan J. Byrne (Bill Bulger, now 85, was State Senate President for almost 20 years in Massachusetts. His older brother James ‘Whitey’ Bulger was a Boston gangster who was murdered in prison on October 30th 2018, aged 89.  MY NAME IS BULGER weaves its way through the stories of both brothers and their respective rises and falls. Featuring intimate interviews with family and an exclusive conversation with James Bulger’s girlfriend and partner, Catherine Greig, the film strips away the hysteria of daily print headlines and nightly news bulletins to unfold the story of a unique American family who crave to be judged for who they are and what they’ve done, not what their infamous relative did. Director Brendan J Byrne (Elian, 66 Days, One Million American Dreams) joins us for a conversation on the breaking through the noise and perceptions that have clouded the Bulger family legacy and how even the story about the most notorious Bulger, James “Whitey” Bulger is not what you may think it is.
Streaming Exclusively on discovery+ June 17 My Name is Bulger, Director Brendan J. Byrne

Rise Again: Tulsa and the Red Summer / Film School Radio interview with Director Dawn Porter

In 1921, white mobs in Tulsa terrorized and burned down the Greenwood District, known as “Negro Wall Street.” With the discovery of a mass grave, the city reckons with its painful past. In the early 20th century, racial violence erupted in dozens of cities across the United States. Hundreds were killed. Black communities fought back, rebuilt, and prospered in the face of extreme oppression and the evils of white supremacy. RISE AGAIN: TULSA AND THE RED SUMMER comes one hundred years from the two-day Tulsa Massacre in 1921 that led to the murder of hundreds of Black people and left thousands homeless and displaced. Award-winning Washington Post journalist and Oklahoma native DeNeen Brown is at the heart of the film, reporting on the search for a mass grave in her native state. Digging into the events that led to one of the worst episodes of racial violence in America's history, Brown reveals insights into racial conflict incidents that erupted in the early 20th century. Between 1917 and 1923, when Jim Crow laws were at their height and the Klu Klux Klan was resurging across the nation, scores of Black homes and businesses were razed, and hundreds of Black people were lynched and massacred with impunity.  Brown's reporting highlights the revived call for justice for victims and survivors. Following a 2018 investigative report, Brown explores the current anti-racism movement in the context of the Tulsa Massacre and the Red Summer. With access to family members of those killed, city officials, archeologists, and historians, the film reveals the decades-long effort by descendants and community members to find victims' bodies and unearth truths that have been suppressed for nearly a century. RISE AGAIN: TULSA AND THE RED SUMMER also untangles the role the media played in covering events at the time in order to reveal the full extent of the nation's buried past. Director Dawn Porter joins us for a sobering conversation about the shameful abandonment of Reconstruction, the shameless racism of President Wilson, the planned, military grade assault on the Tulsa’s Black community of Greenwood and the buried, figuratively and literally, history that continues to haunt our country.
For updates and screenings go to: nationalgeographic.com/riseagain
RISE AGAIN: TULSA AND THE RED SUMMER will premiere in June on National Geographic, commemorating Juneteenth when the last enslaved Black people in Texas received news of their emancipation, and will air globally in 172 countries and 43 languages.

Rise Again: Tulsa and the Red Summer / Film School Radio interview with Journalist and Subject Deneen Brown

In 1921, white mobs in Tulsa terrorized and burned down the Greenwood District, known as “Negro Wall Street.” With the discovery of a mass grave, the city reckons with its painful past. In the early 20th century, racial violence erupted in dozens of cities across the United States. Hundreds were killed. Black communities fought back, rebuilt, and prospered in the face of extreme oppression and the evils of white supremacy. RISE AGAIN: TULSA AND THE RED SUMMER comes one hundred years from the two-day Tulsa Massacre in 1921 that led to the murder of hundreds of Black people and left thousands homeless and displaced. Award-winning Washington Post journalist and Oklahoma native DeNeen Brown is at the heart of the film, reporting on the search for a mass grave in her native state. Digging into the events that led to one of the worst episodes of racial violence in America's history, Brown reveals insights into racial conflict incidents that erupted in the early 20th century. Between 1917 and 1923, when Jim Crow laws were at their height and the Klu Klux Klan was resurging across the nation, scores of Black homes and businesses were razed, and hundreds of Black people were lynched and massacred with impunity.  Brown's reporting highlights the revived call for justice for victims and survivors. Following a 2018 investigative report, Brown explores the current anti-racism movement in the context of the Tulsa Massacre and the Red Summer. With access to family members of those killed, city officials, archeologists, and historians, the film reveals the decades-long effort by descendants and community members to find victims' bodies and unearth truths that have been suppressed for nearly a century. RISE AGAIN: TULSA AND THE RED SUMMER also untangles the role the media played in covering events at the time in order to reveal the full extent of the nation's buried past. Director Dawn Porter joins us for a sobering conversation about the shameful abandonment of Reconstruction, the shameless racism of President Wilson, the planned, military grade assault on the Tulsa’s Black community of Greenwood and the buried, figuratively and literally, history that continues to haunt our country.
For updates and screenings go to: nationalgeographic.com/riseagain
RISE AGAIN: TULSA AND THE RED SUMMER will premiere in June on National Geographic, commemorating Juneteenth when the last enslaved Black people in Texas received news of their emancipation, and will air globally in 172 countries and 43 languages.

All Light, Everywhere / Film School Radio interview with Director Theo Anthony

Winner of a Special Jury Award for Nonfiction Experimentation at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, Director Theo Anthony (Rat Film, Subject to Review) ALL LIGHT, EVERYWHERE is an exploration of the shared histories of cameras, weapons, policing and justice. ALL LIGHT, EVERYWHERE plunges the viewer into world where police body cams are the hi-tech answer to questions of accountability and As surveillance technologies become a fixture in everyday life, the film interrogates the complexity of an objective point of view, probing the biases inherent in both human perception and the lens. Director Theo Anthony joins us for a wide-ranging conversation on the seemingly relentless march toward an enveloping surveillance state, the expectation of privacy, optic nerves, technological corporate fantasies, bias AI and the Black Box.
For news and updates go to: memory.is/all-light-everywhere
To watch in a theatre go to: superltd.com/films/all-light-everywhere
Winner: Sundance 2021 Special Jury Prize for Nonfiction Experimentation

Holler / Film School Radio interview with Director Nicole Riegel

Nicole Riegel’s starkly drawn feature film debut HOLLER zeroes in on a forgotten pocket of Southern Ohio where American manufacturing and opportunity are drying up, a determined young woman finds a ticket out when she is accepted to college. Alongside her older brother, Ruth Avery joins a dangerous scrap metal crew in order to pay her way. Together, they spend one brutal winter working the scrap yards during the day and stealing valuable metal from the once thriving factories by night. With her goal in sight, Ruth finds that the ultimate cost of an education for a girl like her may be more than she bargained for, and she soon finds herself torn between a promising future and the family she would leave behind. Director Nicole Riegel stops by for a conversation on the challenges of pulling together a shoe-string budget film, that has as much to say about the lack of opportunity for the millions of marginalized people as it does about the love of family, and working with a superb cast that includes Jessica Barden, Austin Amelio, Gus Halper and Pamela Adlon.
For news, updates and screening go to: ifcfilms.com/films/holler

Censor / Film School Radio interview with Director Prano Bailey-Bond

Set in 1985, against the backdrop of social hysteria surrounding gory British video nasties. CENSOR is a psychological horror starring Niamh Algar (Raised By Wolves, The Virtues, Calm With Horses). Film censor Enid takes pride in her meticulous work, guarding unsuspecting audiences from the deleterious effects of watching the gore-filled decapitations and eye-gougings she pores over. Her sense of duty to protect is amplified by guilt over her inability to recall details of the long-ago disappearance of her sister, recently declared dead in absentia. When Enid is assigned to review a disturbing film from the archive that echoes her hazy childhood memories, she begins to unravel how this eerie work might be tied to her past. After viewing the strangely familiar video nasty at work, Enid attempts to solve the past mystery of her sister's disappearance, embarking on a quest that dissolves the line between fiction and reality. CENSOR had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival 2021, opening the Midnight section of the festival, and will have it's European premiere at Berlinale - Berlin International Film Festival. Director Prano Bailey-Bond stops by for a conversation on her debut feature film that flawlessly captures the frightening ambiance of the “nasties” while plumbing the depths of Enid’s defenseless psyche.
For news and updates go to: censormovie.com
Watch On Demand at: censormovie.com

TOVE / FIlm School Radio interview with Director Zaida Bergroth

Zaida Bergroth’s enthralling new film, TOVE begins in Helsinki, 1945. The end of the war brings a new sense of artistic and social freedom for painter Tove Jansson. Modern art, dizzying parties and an open relationship with a married politician: Her unconventional life puts her at odds with her sculptor father’s strict ideals. Tove’s desire for liberty is put to the test when she meets theatre director Vivica Bandler. Her love for Vivica is electric and all-consuming but Tove begins to realize that the love she truly yearns has to be reciprocated. As she struggles with her personal life, her creative endeavors take her in an unexpected direction. While focusing her artistic dreams on her painting, the work that started as a side project, the melancholic, haunting tales she told scared children in bomb shelters, rapidly takes on a life of its own. The exploits of the Moomins, infused with inspiration from her own life, bring Tove international fame and financial freedom. There’s a daily comic strip, syndicated all over the world to 120 newspapers in 40 countries, a stage play and stories that continue to delight people around the world. But as she begins to find her artistic identity she has to learn to find herself. Her unrequited love for Vivica is preventing her true liberty and only by learning to break away from her can she truly be free. Director Zaida Bergroth joins us for an engaging conversation on humanizing the creative journey of an internationally recognized artistic talent and a woman energized by her personal search for freedom, identity and desire.
For news and updates go to: tovemovie.com
TOVE was released by junofilms.com

Upheaval / Film School Radio interview with Director Jonathan Gruber

Imprisoned by the Soviets. Orphaned by the Holocaust. Elected Prime Minister. Crowned peacemaker by the Nobel Prize Committee. Disgraced by the Lebanon War. Menachem Begin was a pillar of the State of Israel and a tireless fighter for the Jewish people. He was, at the same time, a controversial leader. Whether he was challenging the British, founding the Likud political party or fighting to end bigotry against Middle Eastern and African Jews in Israeli society, his dedication to his country and his people was boundless. Still, that unwavering commitment could bear untoward consequences. In 1948, as Israel fought for its life as a nation, his role in the tragic Altalena Affair that ended in the deaths of 19 Jews, and at Deir Yassin, where more than 100 Palestinians died, including women and children, haunted him until the day he died. As Prime Minister of Israel, he made an historic peace deal with Egypt, and he also gave the go-ahead to bomb Saddam Hussein’s Osirak nuclear reactor. His life is a nuanced and complicated canvas that tells the story of key events and currents in the history of modern Israel and its relationship to its Middle East neighbors. The recent ground-breaking peace agreements between Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco make this a propitious time to look back at Begin’s achievements and consider them in a new light. Director Jonathan Gruber stops by for a conversation on one of the most consequential patriots and political leaders in the Israeli history, and a man who was also provided a moral compass for the people he led.
For news and updates go to: upheavalfilm.com

It’s Not a Burden: The Humor and Heartache of Raising Elderly Parents / Director Michelle Boyaner & Producer Katie Ford

Unapologetically honest, IT’S NOT A BURDEN: The Humor and Heartache of Raising Elderly Parents provides an intimate look at the multi-layered and endlessly-complex relationships between aging parents and the adult children who care for them. Emmy® nominated filmmaker Michelle Boyaner shares her very personal journey caring for her long-divorced aging parents (her larger-than-life Mother battling dementia, her Father, a hoarder) as well as weaving in a variety of other families supporting stories, including several “When Harry Met Sally” couch-style interviews. Packed with archival and vérité footage, the families of IT’S NOT A BURDEN open their homes and their hearts, sharing stories of the universal issues we face around the topic of caring for our aging parents and reminding us we are not alone. IT’S NOT A BURDEN not only explores the frustrations and fears, but also the transformative bonds that happen when familial roles are reversed, friends support friends and communities come together, exemplifying our capacity to love. Emmy®-nominated director, writer and producer Michelle Boyaner (Packed in a Trunk: The Lost Art of Edith Lake Wilkinson) and Producer Katie Ford (Miss Congeniality) join us for a conversation on the many challenges as well as the enriching rewards of caring for your loved ones.
For news and updates go to: itsnotaburden.com
Find out more about caring for loved ones at: itsnotaburden.com/resources

The Boy from Medellin / Film School Radio interview with Director Matthew Heineman

From Academy Award®-nominated and Emmy-Winning filmmaker Matthew Heineman (Cartel Land, City of Ghosts, A Private War) comes an astonishingly intimate portrait of one of the biggest international music superstars of our time. THE BOY FROM MEDELLÍN follows as he prepares for the most important concert of his career--a sold out stadium show in his hometown of Medellín, Colombia. But as the performance draws ever closer, the streets explode with growing political unrest, forcing the Latin Grammy-winning musician to wrestle with his responsibility as an artist to his country and his legions of fans around the globe. As the public pressure of the approaching concert heightens, behind the scenes, Balvin also continues to deal with the anxiety and depression that has plagued him for years. Shot entirely in the dramatic week leading up to the concert, THE BOY FROM MEDELLÍN gives us unprecedented access to the “Prince of Reggaeton,” and provides an immersive look into one of the most pivotal and emotionally charged moments of his life. Director, producer, cinematographer and editor Matthew Heineman joins us for a conversation on the insanely compressed and tumultuous week of filming, gaining the confidence and comfort of Balvin’s family and friends and capping the shoot by capturing a stadium-size concert, something he had never attempted before.
Watch at: amazonprime.com/The Boy from Medellin
For more news go to: ourtimeprojects.com/the-boy-from-medellin