KUCI: Film School

Emily @ The Edge of Chaos / Film School Radio interview with Executive Producer Thea J. Kerman

Emily @ the Edge of Chaos interweaves Emily Levine’s live performance with animation, appearances by scientists, and animated characters (John Lithgow as Sir Isaac Newton, Lily Tomlin as Ayn Rand, Leonard Nimoy as Sigmund Freud, Richard Lewis as Aristotle, Matt Groening as Aldo Leopold). Emily @ the Edge of Chaos uses physics, which explains how the universe works, to explain our metaphysics – the story of our values, our institutions, our interactions. Using her own experience and a custom blend of insight and humor, provocation and inspiration, personal story and social commentary, Emily takes her audience through its own paradigm shift: from the Fear of Change to the EDGE OF CHAOS! Emily Levine, like her film, was one-of-a-kind. She was a television writer and producer (Designing Women, Love & War and Dangerous Minds), a stand-up performer, and an out-of-the box-thinker, whose brilliant TED Talks have been watched by millions. She made this film with Wendy Apple, who produced and directed it. Wendy died in 2017 and Emily continued working on the film until she also passed away in 2019. Executive Producer Thea Kerman joins us to talk about how her friend and colleague, Emily Levine, poured her heart and should into making this film before cancer took her, and how the unexpected death of the director Wendy Apple played into Thea stepping in to guide the film to completion and distribution.
Opening Friday, May 7 nationwide in virtual cinemas through KINO MARQUEE
Featuring the voices of comic luminaries:
Lily Tomlin as Ayn Rand
John Lithgow as Sir Isaac Newton
Leonard Nimoy as Sigmund Freud
Richard Lewis as Aristotle
Matt Groening as Benjamin Franklin...& more!

High Ground / Film School Radio interview with Director Stephen Maxwell Johnson

In Stephen Maxwell Johnson’s powerful new film, High Ground, a young indigenous man, Gutjuk, teams up with a World War I soldier / ex-sniper, Travis, to track down the dangerous Bayawara, a fierce warrior in the Territory, who is also his uncle. As Travis and Gutjuk journey through the outback they begin to earn each other’s trust, but when the truths of Travis’ past actions are suddenly revealed, it is he who becomes the hunted. High Ground was conceived as a story that would challenge accepted notions of the colonial settlement of Australia. High Ground is a powerful human drama, instilled with a strong sense of hope and fear, a story of treachery, heroism, sacrifice, freedom and love, misguided beliefs, an unequal struggle for power, and grief. But above all it is a story about the finding of one’s roots. Director Stephen Maxwell Johnson joins us for a conversation on the shameful treatment the indigenous peoples of Australia have suffered under, the denial of that history and why it was so important that High Ground reflect the human drama, instilled with a strong sense of hope and fear, but above all a story about the finding of one’s roots.
For news and updates go to samuelgoldwynfilms.com/high-ground
Watch now: tv.apple.com/us/movie/high-ground

Citizen Penn / Film School Radio interview with Director Don Hardy

On January 12, 2010, a 7.0 earthquake devastated Haiti and changed the course of millions of lives. International aid and aid workers descended on Haiti to help in any way they could. One of those people driven to help was American actor and filmmaker Sean Penn. CITIZEN PENN chronicles the moment Sean Penn and his team of volunteers landed in Haiti just days after the earthquake struck and the ten years since. For Penn, Haiti changed his life. He went there for what he thought was a two-week aid mission to drop off supplies, help doctors provide immediate medical care, and then get out … get back to his normal life. Instead, he stayed and created an organization called J/P HRO (now CORE) that took over management duties for the largest camp for displaced people in the entire country. This feature-length documentary delivers unparalleled access to one of America’s most polarizing figures. CITIZEN PENN offers viewers an intimate, honest, and self reflective look into the triumphs and challenges of a man who decided to do something. He got involved in a way few celebrity activists ever will. Director Don hardy joins us to talk about his first impressions of the devastation in Port-Au-Prince, the complicated relationship Haiti has with America and France and the dogged tenacity of Sean Penn to do the right thing.
Premiering on discovery+ on May 6th
For more on Don Hardy go to: ktffilms.com/citizen-penn

ICON / Film School Radio interview with Director Tony Ahedo and Lead Actor Parker Padgett

ICON - Director Tony Ahedo and Lead Actor Parker Padgett
Young love's the topic of so many films, but rarely is it handled with earnest, authentic grace, as we see it in Tony Ahedo’s debut feature film ICON. This moving coming-of-age drama is anchored in the moving performances of Parker Padgett (Surviving Lunch) and Devon Hales (Teenage Bounty Hunters). When a surprise pregnancy forces Sam to facedown many brutal realities of adulthood and responsibility, things spiral rapidly out of control, as he simultaneously tries to fight to find his own truth: why his absent father hasn’t been in his life since one, fading memory and how can he reconcile his struggles with his mother (Julia Denton, The Fundamentals of Caring). ICON charts the perilous journey to adulthood for our charismatic leads Sam (Parker Padgett) and Ana (Devon Hales). Director and writer Tony Ahedo and lead actor Parker Padgett joins us to talk about the collaboration the two of them shared in crafting a complex and nuanced portrayal of young romantic love, dysfunctional family history and relationships and flawed people, young and old, striving to do the right things.
For news and updates go to: iconfeature.com

Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street / Film School Radio interview with Director Marilyn Agrelo

STREET GANG: HOW WE GOT TO SESAME STREET takes audiences inside the minds and hearts of the “Sesame Street” creators, artists, writers, and educators who together established one of the most influential and enduring children’s programs in television history. Inspired by the activism of the late 1960s, socially conscious television executive Joan Ganz Cooney and Sesame Workshop co-founder Lloyd Morrisett conducted a revolutionary experiment: to harness the burgeoning power of television and create an educational, impactful, uplifting and entertaining show that could reach children nationwide, especially those living in urban areas. Cooney recruited trailblazing Muppets creator Jim Henson and acclaimed children’s television writer and director Jon Stone to craft the iconic and beloved world of “Sesame Street.” STREET GANG: HOW WE GOT TO SESAME STREET reintroduces this visionary “gang” of mission-driven artists, writers, and educators that audaciously interpreted radical changes in society and created one of most impactful television programs in history.  With more than 20 interviews with original writers, cast, and crew, and never-before-seen behind the scenes footage, STREET GANG is told from the inside with humor and emotion, weaving together personal narratives and eyewitness accounts. The film explores the original mission of the “gang” that created this cultural phenomenon, now spanning 50-plus years and reaching more than 150 countries. Director Marilyn Agrelo joins us to talk about the enduring legacy of SESAME STREET as well as the beautifully disruptive and groundbreaking approach to connecting with children and in doing so made them into collaborators and the beneficiaries of this illuminating enterprise.
News news and updates go to: screenmediafilms.net/Street Gang
Official Selection - 2021 Sundance Film Festival

LOS HERMANOS/THE BROTHERS / Film School Radio interview with Co-Directors Marcia Jarmel and Ken Schneider

Part Geo-political saga, part ode to their origin country of Cuba, LOS HERMANOS/THE BROTHERS follows the journeys of virtuoso Afro-Cuban musician brothers, Ilmar and Aldo López-Gavilán, born in Havana in the 70s. At 14, Ilmar outgrew his island teachers and was sent to the U.S.S.R. to study violin. He never lived in Cuba again, ultimately landing as a working chamber violinist in the United States. Younger brother Aldo grew up mentored by Cuba’s impressive jazz and classical pianists, his extraordinary talent achieving renown on the island, but stymied elsewhere by the 60-year-old U.S. embargo. Though they see each other when family finances and visa restrictions allow, they've never had a chance to collaborate musically—something they've longed for all their lives. Tracking their parallel lives, poignant reunion, and momentous first performances together on stages across the U.S., LOS HERMANOS / THE BROTHERS is a nuanced, intensely moving view of nations long estranged, through the lens of music and family. Featuring an electrifying, genre-bending score, composed by Cuban Aldo López-Gavilán, performed with his American brother, Ilmar, and with guest appearances by maestro Joshua Bell and the Grammy-winning Harlem Quartet, filmmakers Ken Schneider and Marcia Jarmel take the viewer on a delightful musical tour through Cuba and the US, capturing the artistry behind their music and their deep familial bond.
For news and updates go to: hermanosbrothersfilm.info
Watch Los Hermanos / The Brothers beginning May 14

Pink Skies Ahead / Film School Radio interview with Director Kelly Oxford

Set in Los Angeles in 1998, PINK SKIES AHEAD follows Winona (Jessica Barden) who, after dropping out of college and moving back home to live with her parents, is diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. Skeptical of her doctor’s opinion — she hasn’t had a panic attack after all —Winona carries on with her wild lifestyle. Only when things begin to truly unravel around her, does she reluctantly decide to see a therapist and face her truths. PINK SKIES AHEAD showcases mental health issues in a nuanced and authentic way and is a featured part of MTV’s newly-launched Mental Health is Health initiative. PINK SKIES AHEAD is Director Kelly Oxford’s feature-length directorial debut and is based on “No Real Danger,” an essay from her second book, “When You Find Out the World Is Against You.” PINK SKIES AHEAD stars Jessica Barden (End of the F***ing World, The New Romantic), Mary J. Blige (The Umbrella Academy), Devon Bostick (Diary of a Wimpy Kid), Marcia Gay Harden (Mystic River, Pollock), Michael McKean (Better Call Saul, This Is Spinal Tap), Lewis Pullman (Bad Times at the El Royale), Evan Ross Cameron (The United States vs. Billie Holiday), Odeya Rush (Goosebumps, Lady Bird), Rosa Salazar (Alita: Battle Angel) and Henry Winkler (Barry). Writer and Director Kelly Oxford joins us for a lively conversation on making the jump from novelist / essayist to filmmaker and the role that media and storytelling can play in addressing our nation’s persistent and growing mental health challenges.
PINK SKIES AHEAD, written and directed by New York Times best-selling author Kelly Oxford, will premiere, commercial-free broadcast on Saturday, May 8 at 9:00PM ET/PT on MTV with a simulcast on Pop TV. 

The L.A. Rebellion / Film School Radio interview with Directors Charles Burnett & Billy Woodberry @ TCM Film Festival

In the late 1960s, in the aftermath of the Watts Uprising and against the backdrop of the continuing Civil Rights Movement and the escalating Vietnam War, a group of African and African-American students entered the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, as part of an Ethno-Communications initiative designed to be responsive to communities of color (also including Asian, Chicano and Native American communities).  Now referred to as the "L.A. Rebellion," these mostly unheralded artists created a unique cinematic landscape, as—over the course of two decades—students arrived, mentored one another and passed the torch to the next group. Beyond the films themselves, what makes the L.A. Rebellion movement a discovery worthy of a place in film history is the vitality of its filmmakers, their utopian vision of a better society, their sensitivity to children and gender issues, their willingness to question any and all received wisdom, their identification with the liberation movements in the Third World, and their expression of Black pride and dignity. As part of the 2021 TCM (Turner Classic Movies) Film Festival is spotlighting two of the L.A. Rebellion's leading lights, Charles Burnett and Billy Woodberry in the festival's Special Collections section. Charles Burnett and Billy Woodberry join us for a conversation on their recollections the birth of the L.A. Rebellion and the inspiration for their life altering decision to become filmmakers.
Check out Special Collections at: filmfestival.tcm.com/on-hbomax

let me come in / Film School Radio interview with Director Bill Morrison @ TCM Film Festival

Produced and directed by filmmaker Bill Morrison, "let me come in" features a new song by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Lang performed by soprano Angel Blue, one of opera's brightest stars. The short film incorporates rediscovered (and heavily damaged) footage from the lost 1928 silent film Pawns of Passion to astonishing effect. Filmmaker Bill Morrison, director of the highly acclaimed films Decasia and Dawson City: Frozen Time, has long been fascinated with ancient, decayed nitrate film stock from long-forgotten films—what he describes as "goopy, sticky films deemed not worth saving." For "let me come in," he has resurrected footage from what may be the last surviving reels of the 1928 German silent romance Pawns of Passion,  discovered in a Pennsylvania barn in 2012. After decades of expanding in hot summers and contracting in freezing winters, the deteriorated nitrate film stock now reveals, in Morrison's words, "imagery that seems to be pulled from a state of semi-consciousness, asleep but dreaming.” Morrison describes Lang's song as "a rumination on love and the borderline separating two souls, seemingly from the precipice of consciousness. When I heard Angel Blue’s incredible interpretation, my mind immediately recalled the ambiguous tension in this scene from Pawns of Passion. Left to rot in a barn, and then scanned and archived again for another eight years on my own personal hard drive, it has found a new life through David’s words and music, and Angel Blue’s voice. It was very exciting to see how quickly it came together and how perfectly the image, words and sound meshed.” Director Bill Morrison joins us for conversation on his inspired interpretation of hauntingly beautiful film fragments.
"let me come in" will receive its broadcast premiere as part of the TCM Classic Film Festival on May 7.

Far East Deep South / Film School Radio interview with Director Larissa Lam and Producer Baldwin Chiu

As America currently deals with a rash of anti-Asian sentiment, FAR EAST DEEP SOUTH is a deeply moving story that offers a poignant perspective on race relations, immigration and the deep roots of Chinese Americans in our national identity. The award-winning documentary follows Charles Chiu and his family (including his son, producer Baldwin Chiu, and daughter-in-law, director Larissa Lam) as they travel from California to Mississippi to find answers about Charles’ father, K.C. Lou. A retired Air Force reservist, Charles was left behind in China as a baby and is reluctant to discuss his family’s complicated past with his sons, Baldwin and Edwin. The family’s emotional journey to a place they’ve never seen leads to stunning revelations and a crash course on the surprising history of Chinese immigrants in the segregated South. Through encounters with local residents who remember K.C., as well as interviews with historians, Congresswoman Judy Chu and others, the family’s trip becomes a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for discovery and healing. FAR EAST DEEP SOUTH is based off the award-winning short film, Finding Cleveland. The film presents a very personal and unique perspective on immigration, race and American identity. Director Larissa Lam and producer Baldwin Chiu join us for a conversation on how a family trip and personal film project evolved into a revelatory story and sweeping historical overview of the immigrant Chinese experience and deeply moving family saga.
For news and updates go to: Far East Deep South.com.