Episode #76 - David Wilson (Gummo)

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"That's the heart of independent film...

Figuring out your limitations and then turning them into strengths."

David Wilson had a vision for his dream film festival—and now he has it. The co-founder of Columbia, Missouri's RagTag cinema and now one of the creative heads behind the True/False Film Festival, David has succeeded in transforming the way people can think, imagine, and design a film festival without the prohibitive nature of bending to the economic whims of Hollywood, while also engaging with the most aesthetically groundbreaking cinema without alienating audiences. Peter was lucky to catch David right in the middle of the flurry, and talk to him about his interest in coming back to the Midwest, his own documentary work, and why True/False captures the heart of so many filmgoers, whether they would call themselves cinephiles or not. Finally, the two discuss Harmony Korine's Gummo, a film that David hated so much because of its fictional representation, until it began to appear more and more like a documentary.

0:00-3:10 Opening
4:03-10:30 Establishing Shots — Desperately Seeking Susan and Lá-Bas

11:15-39:50 Deep Focus — David Wilson

40:37-44:10 Sponsorship Section
45:38-1:01:54 Double Exposure — Gummo (Harmony Korine)

1:01:57-1:03:35 Close

Read more about True/False at their website, learn about Ragtag Cinema here, and follow David Wilson on Twitter.
Check out We Always Lie to Strangers here and Big Birding Day here.

Episode #56 - Calum Marsh (The Last Days of Disco)

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"The question of prose is the central question of my life, my writing, and my work."

What is the "work" of film criticism? That question takes center stage in a lively new episode of the podcast, in which Peter travels to Toronto, Canada to talk movies with critic and writer Calum Marsh. Calum traces his cinephilia to his VHS and DVD days in suburban England, eventually developing via the influence of rigorous Jonathan Rosenbaum, and then swinging to an attempt to understand how film criticism can work more similarly to the great literary critics. They talk the beauty of Blackhat and the Kim's Video generation, but most of all they discuss prose and its function in describing a visual medium. They then top it off with a look at Whit Stillman's wondrous nostalgia critique, The Last Days of Disco, using Stillman's own novelization of his work as an examination of the different worlds of cinema and literature.

0:00-1:53 Opening

2:37-9:38 Establishing Shots - Gems from UCLA's Festival of Preservation

10:23-59:27  Deep Focus - Calum Marsh

1:00:04-1:02:16 Mubi Sponsorship - Travel Plans and Broken Specs

1:03:43 -1:26:57 Double Exposure - The Last Days of Disco (Whit Stillman)

1:27:01-1:28:58 Close  / Outtake

Calum Marsh's writing can be found at The Guardian, Hazlitt, Maxim, The Village Voice, and Keyframe Daily. Follow him on Twitter.

The Last Days of Disco is available for streaming on YouTube and iTunes. The novelization is available on Amazon.