KUCI: Film School

Queen of Hearts / FIlm School Radio interview with Director May el-Toukhy

QUEEN OF HEARTS tells the story of Anne, a brilliant and dedicated lawyer specializing in children and young adults, living what appears to be the picture perfect life with her doctor-husband, Peter, and their twin daughters. When her estranged teenage stepson, Gustav, moves in with them, Anne’s escalating desire leads her down a dangerous rabbit hole which, once exposed, unleashes a sequence of events that threatens to destroy her world. Denmark’s official entry for the 2019 Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, QUEEN OF HEARTS explores the making of a tragic family secret step by step, as the consequences of hubris, lust and lies conspire to create an unimaginable dilemma. With bold and astonishing vision, co-writer/director May el-Toukhy masterfully builds Anne’s world, seducing the viewer into complicity before maneuvering her protagonist onto an unsettling and shocking path. Trine Dyrholm, one of Denmark’s finest dramatic actresses, skillfully inhabits the complicated Anne. In a finely calibrated performance, Dyrholm humanizes Anne’s contradictions and unpredictable behavior, creating an even more disconcerting character. A riveting and provocative film, QUEEN OF HEARTS is a portrait of a woman who manages to lose everything and nothing at the same time. Director and co-screenwriter May el-Toukhy joins us for a lively conversation on her shattering tale of power, family and self preservation.
For news, screenings and updates go to: bgpics.com/movies/queen-of-hearts
Social Media:
twitter.com/queenofhearts
facebook.com/queenofhearts
instagram.com/queenofhearts
twitter.com/hashtag/mayeltoukhy

Gay Chorus Deep South / Film School Radio interview with Director David Charles Rodrigues

The documentary Gay Chorus Deep South chronicles one community’s response to a wave of discriminatory anti-LGBTQ laws in Southern states and the divisive 2016 election. The San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus embarks on a tour of the American Deep South. Led by Gay Chorus conductor Dr. Tim Seelig and joined by The Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir, the tour brings a message of music, love, and acceptance to communities and individuals confronting intolerance. Over 300 singers travelled from Mississippi to Tennessee through the Carolinas and over the bridge in Selma. They  performed in churches, community centers, and concert halls in hopes of uniting us in a time of difference. The journey also challenges Tim and other Chorus members who fled the South to confront their own fears, pain, and prejudices on a journey towards reconciliation. The conversations and connections that emerge offer a glimpse of a less divided America, where the things that divide us - faith, politics, sexual identity - are set aside by the soaring power of music and humanity. Director David Charles Rodrigues joins us to talk about the expectations and realities that comes with traveling to communities with the hope of changing hearts and minds.
For news, screenings and updates go to: gaychorusdeepsouth.com
Social Media:
facebook.com/gaychorusdeepsouth
twitter.com/gcds_film
instagram.com/gaychorusdeepsouth

St. Louis Superman / Film School Radio interview with Director Smriti Mundhra

Bruce Franks Jr. is a 34-year-old battle rapper, Ferguson activist and state representative from St. Louis, Missouri. Known as Superman to his constituents, he is a political figure the likes of which you've never seen - full of contradictions and deep insights, who has overcome unspeakable loss to become one of the most exciting and unapologetic young leaders in the country. This short verité documentary follows Bruce at a critical juncture in his life, when he is forced to deal with the mental trauma he's been carrying for the nearly 30 years since his 9-year-old brother was shot and killed in front of him, in order to find peace and truly fulfill his destiny as a leader for his community.  Co- director Smriti Mundhra  (Sami Khan) join us to talk about how a dynamic and charismatic man from a traumatized community took tragedy and turned into action.
About the filmmakers: Smriti Mundhra’s A SUITABLE GIRL  premiered at Tribeca in 2017 and won the Albert Maysles Award for Best New Documentary Director. KHOYA, Sami Khan's feature debut, was selected for the Tribeca Film Institute’s Tribeca All Access® fellowship.
Social Media:
twitter.com/smritimundhra
facebook.com/smriti.mundhra
facebook.com/SamiKhan
twitter.com/samikhanfilm

Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound / Film School Radio interview with Director Midge Costin

Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound reveals the hidden power of sound in cinema . . . and our lives. Few have "ears to hear" or comprehend the emotional storytelling impact sound plays in so-called visual media. Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas have both declared "sound is 50% of the movie," with Steven Spielberg noting, "Our ears lead our eyes to where the story lives.” Through film clips, interviews and archival footage--an enlightening and nostalgic look at many of Hollywood's biggest box office hits--the film captures the history, impact and unique creative process of this overlooked art form and the artists behind it. Filled with insights from legendary directors--including George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Barbra Streisand, Robert Redford, David Lynch, Ang Lee, Sofia Coppola and Ryan Coogler, among others--who share revealing stories about the award-winning work their sound collaborators help to create. In Making Waves, we witness the wild creativity of some of the industry's most-respected key sound designers--including Oscar winners Walter Murch (Apocalypse Now), Ben Burtt (Star Wars), Gary Rydstrom (Saving Private Ryan) and Lora Hirschberg (Inception); and Oscar-nominees Cece Hall (Top Gun), Anna Behlmer (Braveheart) and Bobbi Banks (Selma)--who, in pursuing their art and desire to push the medium, are the very people who will go down in the history of cinema as developing sound into the immersive storytelling force it is today. Audiences will discover many unsung collaborators for the key creative artists they are, in a domain that has for too long been characterized as “technical.” Director Midge Costin joins us to evangelize on the power and glory of sound and the visionaries who have pioneered a new frontier in cinema.
For news, screenings and updates go to: MakingWavesMovie.com
Social Media:
facebook.com/makingwavesmovie
twitter.com/makingwavesmov
instagram.com/makingwavesmov

The Riot Act / Film School Radio interview with Director Devon Parks

At the turn of the 1900’s, two years after a quiet murder involving an out-of-town stage actor and a local doctor’s daughter, an esteemed Opera House welcomes a progressive Vaudevillian troupe from the East for its first performances since the tragedy; and along with it, a veiled actress with a curious intent. With tensions still thick surrounding past events, this mysterious performer discovers she isn’t the only one seeking revenge: someone or something has been “haunting” the assailant already. When the two conspirers uncover each other’s secrets, they decide their dual efforts will be more successful in subduing their enemy. THE RIOT ACT is a multi-award winning independent film that deftly immerses audiences in a layered tale of a caste system on the brink of violence where humanity and love are expendable in the eyes of society in the early 1900’s.  Following a wildly successful festival and theatrical run, the film will be available to audiences everywhere on October 8th, 2019. The feature film directorial debut from auteur writer / director Devon Parks (Step Into: Miss Laura’s, The Help), THE RIOT ACT stars Lauren Sweetser (True Detective, Winter’s Bone), Brett Cullen (Joker, 42, Dark Knight Rises), Connor Price (Cinderella Man), Micah Hauptman (Homeland, Rust Creek), Brandon Keener (Traffic, The Purge: Anarchy) and Travis Joe Dixon (NCIS, Blackish).  Director and writer Devon Parks joins us to talk about his intriguing mystery period piece, the he orchestrates from a very talented group of actors.
For news, screenings and updates go to: riotactmovie.com
Social Media:
facebook.com/theriotactmovie
instagram.com/riotactfilm

Made in Boise / Film School Radio interview with Director Beth Aala

The latest documentary film from Peabody Award-winning director Beth Aala, Made in Boise, looks at the world of modern day surrogacy. In the idyllic city of Boise, nurses, nail technicians, and stay-at-home mothers are choosing to become paid surrogates for people from around the world. Made in Boise offers a rare glimpse into this mysterious world by intimately following the lives of four surrogates, as they build relationships with the intended parents, prepare for the rigors of pregnancy, and navigate the mixed feelings of their own families, who struggle to understand their choice to risk the physical and emotional complications of carrying babies for someone else. Legal in some states and illegal in others, a number of states, including Idaho, have no laws governing surrogacy on their books at all. As the number of surrogate births surge across the country, Boise has become an epicenter of the movement, with a large population of healthy women of reproductive age and a significant number of Mormon and Catholic communities who value large families. In this "City of Trees" with a population of a little over 200,000, it is estimated that one in 15 mothers will carry a baby for a stranger at some point in her life. For couples who struggle with infertility, for gay couples, and single men, this industry — outlawed in many countries around the world — is often the last resort to biological parenthood. Director Beth Aala (Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon, Rancher, Farmer, Fisherman )joins us to talk about challenges and rewards of surrogacy for the the women who bear the children and the intended parents.
For more on Made in Boise screening on Independent Lens go to: pbs.org/made-in-boise
For more on the work of Director Beth Aala go to: pinaypictures.org
Additional resources for Made in Boise:
itvs.org/films/made-in-boise
Social Media:
facebook.com/madeinboise

Independent Lens / Film School Radio interview with Executive Producer Lois Vossen

The acclaimed PBS documentary series Independent Lens, recently honored with two Peabody Awards, a Primetime Emmy nomination and 12 News & Documentary Emmy nominations, returns for a new season on Monday, October 28.This year’s premiere is Made in Boise, an engrossing look at the complex and controversial world of gestational surrogacy told through the stories of four women carrying babies for gay men and infertile couples in the conservative heartland of Idaho — the unofficial “surrogacy capital” of the United States. Also on the fall schedule is Decade of Fire, which travels back to the 1970s when the South Bronx was burning, to showcase the dedicated citizens who outlasted the flames and saved their community; The Interpreters, a moving look at the Afghan and Iraqi interpreters who risked their lives aiding American troops and who now struggle to find safety and security for themselves and their families; Conscience Point, which unearths the deep clash of values between the Native American Shinnecock of Long Island and their affluent Hamptons neighbors; and Attla, the rousing story of Alaska Native George Attla, who with one good leg and a determined mindset went on to become a champion dogsled racer. Other highlights of the Winter/Spring 2020 slate include Always in Season, a harrowing look at the history of lynching and the 2014 case of Lennon Lacy, a North Carolina teen who died under unexplained circumstances; Bedlam, a psychiatrist’s chronicle of what mental illness means in the U.S. today, interwoven with the story of how the system tragically failed his own sister; and Rewind, a devastating, autobiographical documentary about the far-reaching consequences of multigenerational child sexual abuse. Independent Lens Executive Producer Lois Vossen joins us to talk about the fundamental principles to support filmmakers telling stories about their communities and commitment to showcase thought-provoking documentaries about the issues that divide us and the ideals and beliefs that bind us together.
For news, updates and screenings go to: pbs.org/independentlens
Social Media:
facebook.com/independentlens
twitter.com/independentlens
instagram.com/independentlens

Diego Maradona / Film School Radio interview with Director Asif Kapadia

In this brilliant followup to his award-winning documentaries (SENNA, AMY) DIEGO MARADONA captures the athletic brilliance and maddening duality of a soccer player widely considered to be best player in the world from the moment he burst onto the scene in his native Argentina. And yet success proved elusive. He failed at Barcelona. He was considered a problem player, too interested in partying. Meanwhile, having never won a major tournament, the ailing Italian football giant SSC Napoli were perennial underachievers. Their fanatical support was unequalled in both passion and size. But how they ached for success… On 5th July 1984, Diego Maradona arrived in Naples for a world-record fee and for seven years all hell broke loose. The world’s most celebrated football genius and the most passionate but dangerous city in Europe were a perfect match for each other. Diego Maradona was blessed on the field and treated like a God off it; the charismatic Argentine loved a fight against the odds and led Naples to their first-ever League title. It was the stuff of dreams. But there was a price… Diego could do as he pleased while performing miracles on the pitch, but as time passed, darker days closed in. Italy turned on him. The third film from the Academy Award-winning & multi-BAFTA-winning team behind SENNA and AMY (director Asif Kapadia, producer James Gay-Rees, editor Chris King, composer Antonio Pinto), and also Paul Martin, DIEGO MARADONA was constructed from over 500 hours of never-before-seen footage from Maradona’s personal archive. DIEGO MARADONA is crafted in the style of SENNA and AMY. It is the definitive feature documentary on the charismatic enigma that is Maradona. In a city where even the devil would need bodyguards, Diego Maradona became a god. Maradona in Naples is the story of his life, the wild and unforgettable story of an unrivalled talent. He was a rebel, cheat, hero and god. This is a story of glory, despair and betrayal, a tale of corruption and, ultimately, of redemption. Director / Producer Asif Kapadia joins us to talk about the enigma of “Diego” and “Maradona.”
For news, updates and screenings go to:hbo.com/documentaries/diego-maradona
For news, updates and screenings go to: diegomaradona.movie

Fantastic Fungi / Film School Radio interview with Director Louie Schwartzberg

Fantastic Fungi, the engaging and informative documentary directed by Louie Schwartzberg, is a consciousness-shifting film that takes us on an immersive journey through time and scale into the magical earth beneath our feet, an underground network that can heal and save our planet.  Through the eyes of renowned scientists and mycologists like Paul Stamets, best-selling authors Michael Pollan, Eugenia Bone, Andrew Weil and others, we become aware of the beauty, intelligence and solutions the fungi kingdom offer us in response to some of our most pressing medical, therapeutic, and environmental challenges. When so many are struggling for connection, inspiration and hope, Fantastic Fungi brings us together as interconnected creators of our world. Directed by the pioneer of time-lapse photography, Louie Schwartzberg (Netflix’s “Moving Art”, Wings of Life for Disneynature, and Mysteries of the Unseen Worlds 3D Imax for Nat Geo still playing in theaters) Narrated by Academy Award-Winner Brie Larson. Director Louie Schwartzberg joins us to talk about the amazing world of fungus and the burgeoning field of scientific research into the thousands of positive, possibly planet saving benefits that can be realized from the magical spores.
For news, updates and screenings go to: fantasticfungi.com
FANTASTIC FUNGI Q&A's with director Louie Schwartzberg following the 7:40 pm show on Friday, 10/25 and Saturday, 10/26 at the Monica Film Center.
Social Media:
facebook.com/FungiFilm
twitter.com/FantasticFungi
instagram.com/fantasticfungi

The Cave / Film School Radio interview with Director Feras Fayyad

Oscar nominee Feras Fayyad (“Last Men in Aleppo”) delivers an unflinching story of the Syrian war with his powerful new documentary, THE CAVE. For besieged civilians, hope and safety lie underground inside the subterranean hospital known as the Cave, where pediatrician and managing physician Dr. Amani Ballor and her colleagues Samaher and Dr. Alaa have claimed their right to work as equals alongside their male counterparts, doing their jobs in a way that would be unthinkable in the oppressively patriarchal culture that exists above. Following the women as they contend with daily bombardments, chronic supply shortages and the ever-present threat of chemical attacks, THE CAVE paints a stirring portrait of courage, resilience and female solidarity. Director and writer Feras Fayyad stops by to talk about the unbelievable courage of the hospital staff led by Dr. Amani Ballor, and the volunteers as they keep an otherwise harrowing day-to-day nightmare from devolving into soul-destroying chaos.
For news, updates and screenings go to: nationalgeographic.com/films/the-cave
The Cave opens on October 18 at the Laemmle Royal Theatre in Los Angeles
SocialMedia:
facebook.com/natgeodocs
twitter.com/NatGeoDocs
instagram.com/explore/tags/thecavedocumentary