Framing Media #5 - Chris Yogerst on the 1941 Senate Investigations into Pro-War Hollywood

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Today's episode features Christopher Yogerst, an assistant professor of communication, at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee and the author of From the Headlines to Hollywood: The Birth and Boom of Warner Bros. We discuss his new book, Hollywood Hates Hitler!: Jew-Baiting, Anti-Nazism, and the Senate Investigation into Warmongering in Motion Pictures, a fascinating look into the 1941 hearings in Congress over Hollywood's role in American life. Yogerst contextualizes an oft-forgotten event in the shadow of World War II, where isolationist Senators (many connected with the anti-Semitic America First Committee) attempted to argue a conspiracy against the film industry for making what they suggested was pro-war propaganda. As Yogerst details, the hearings revealed the follies of the Senate to actually understand the film industry, and highlighted the changing nature of the role of movies within the public. The result is a fascinating telling that would foretell the events that would soon grapple the industry—particularly the HUAC Investigations and the antitrust litigation—and has resonance for the continued role of Congress in its attempts to take on industries in Silicon Valley.

Episode #111 - Michael Sicinski (Sink or Swim)

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"What is this thing in front of us?...Why would somebody paint on film?...How successful is this 45 minute zoom?"

Given the ever growing plethora of criticism, it makes it more and more difficult to find critics whose every word feels inspired, and more than that, fewer critics who are even given spaces to write on films that create impassioned, reflective, and incisive prose and arguments. Houston-based writer Michael Sicinski is one of the rarities left today. His criticism makes experimental films that might alienate audiences feel accessible and who takes the liberal Hollywood schmaltz and demonstrates how alienating it can be. In this broad ranging interview, Michael takes Peter through his move from art history to cinema, the academic sphere to the internet, and from writing to teaching. The two then dive into Su Friedrich's haunting memory film Sink or Swim, and look at how a work that demonstrates formal rigor at every moment is also imbued with emotion that any audience can feel as well. Plus, Peter checks back in with former guest Eric Allen Hatch and his new non-profit video store in Baltimore, looking at how a seemingly "outdated" model of cinephilia might just save its future.

0:00-3:33  Opening
4:25-15:42 Establishing Shots — Beyond Video with Eric Allen Hatch
16:28-1:24:12 Deep Focus — Michael Sicinski
1:25:25-1:29:50  Sponsorship Section

1:31:05-1:52:43 Double Exposure — Sink or Swim (Su Friedrich)

1:52:48-2:00:37 Close / Outtake

Episode #93 - Girish Shambu (Gold)

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"I think there's a place for the skills that we learn as cinephiles in the world at large."

If the cinephilia of lining up on small streets of Paris and New York for obscure rare prints of art films and the auteurs of Hollywood to appreciate the wind in the trees has died with Susan Sontag, what has replaced it? This is one of many questions asked by blogger Girish Shambu in his book The New Cinephilia. In this final report from SCMS, Girish discusses his childhood in India and how he became interested in not just film but the kind of critical discourses it creates, and how he sees himself functioning within that world. The two talk about the opportunities and challenges that cinephilia faces in our current moment, both in terms of the expanding definition of media and its relation to politics. Finally, they turn their eyes toward the ever nebulous group of coy German filmmakers known as the Berlin School, and in particular, Thomas Arslan's Klondike-trekking western Gold with Phoenix star Nina Hoss.

0:00-3:03 Opening 

3:57-12:15 Establishing  Shots — A Tale of Twin Peaks
13:07-52:22 Deep Focus — Girish Shambu

53:14-56:13 Sponsorship Section
57:17-1:16:58 Double Exposure — Gold (Thomas Arslan)
1:17:03-1:18:42 Close

2016 Favorites With Keith Uhlich (Part 2)

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Often, we ask questions about what can cinema do. Perhaps the more important question, however, is to ask what should cinema do. As Keith Uhlich and Peter Labuza countdown their favorite media objects of 2016, this question plays out in a myriad of discussion. From the trascendence of genre to the nature of longform, to the act of describing to the disection of popular entertainment. And finally, the two enter a long debate about the nature of non-fiction and reality, as well as the very act of seeing death in cinema. What function should the camera perform, not just for us but the people who hold it? And is there something unique about art and its function in the surrounding world? Plus, former guests of the show call in with their favorite films of the year.

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0:00-2:57 Opening 
2:57-27:45 Picks for #5
29:06-49:34 Picks for #4
49:34-1:08:04 Picks for #3
1:09:47-1:12:29 Sponsorship Section
1:13-40-1:39:20 Picks for #2
1:40:40-2:11:53 Picks for #1
2:11:53-2:13:37 Closing Thoughts
2:13:47-2:15:27 Close / Outtake

Episode #86 - Gordon Quinn (One Way Or Another)

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"You're not just like your subjects. You're a filmmaker. You need to acknowledge who you are."

If cinema can achieve more than simply be art but a form of action, how does one negotiate the role that the camera plays in reality. Celebrating its 50th Year, Kartemquin Films has used cinema as a tool for addressing social, political, and economic inequality through the documentary from, spearheaded by its co-founder Gordon Quinn. In this wide ranging interview, Gordon reflects on the early days of the collective—from films about retirement homes and the general state of happiness to more direct political engagement through filming labor strikes. He talks with Peter about negotiating the role of the subject, the role of his own identity in filming the stories of others, the importance of character, and the fickle nature between making a statement and making a dollar. Finally, the two discuss a film that shows all of the work in action: Sara Gomez's landmark documentary One Way Or Another, which stages fabricated drama in the midst of real turmoil in 1970s Cuba to a powerful effect.

0:00-3:29 Opening

4:19-10:04 Establishing Shots — Kelly Reichardt's Certain Women

10:49-1:20:13 Deep Focus — Gordon Quinn

1:20:56-51:51 Sponsorship Section

1:24:33-1:42:01 Double Exposure — One Way or Another (Sara Gomez)

1:42:05-1:43:44 Close

Episode #42 - J. Hoberman (Poor Little Rich Girl)

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"I was encouraged to be as opinionated and obscure as I wanted."

While his origins as a cinephile are based largely in his interest in the avant-garde, J. Hoberman has become one of the most influential critics through his examinations of Hollywood blockbusters, world cinema, the outer limits of experimental works, and most importantly, film history. In his appearance on the podcast, Hoberman talks to Peter about his adventures as a kid traversing New York City's film culture, his movement through the the city's underground scene, and eventually to his position at The Village Voice and creating a voice that often examined the relationship between politics and cinema. Finally, the two discuss Poor Little Rich Girl, Andy Warhol's out-of-focus and out of this world portraiture of Edie Sedgwick, which Hoberman describes as a work of "pure cinema."

0:00-1:38 Opening 

2:03-10:18 Establishing Shots - 2 Years of Cinephiliacs / Donations and Reviews
11:02-1:09:29 Deep Focus - J. Hoberman

1:12:19-1:28:52 Double Exposure - Poor Little Rich Girl (Andy Warhol)

1:28:57-1:31:32 Close / Outtake

Read J. Hoberman on his website, the New York Times, Artforum, Tablet, and The New York Review of Books. Purchase Hoberman's dozen books on Amazon. 
Watch Poor Little Rich Girl.

Episode #21 - Victor Morton (Rosetta)

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"Does the film offer a space or entry point to someone who is not sympathetic to its agenda? That's something I think all films should do."

Since film discussion has been on the Internet, so has Victor Morton. The very opinionted and didactic film blogger joins Peter for a journey through his cinephile life. Victor tells the tales of growing up in both Scotland and Texas, before finally finding a voice on the famous UseNet groups of the early Internet. The two then discuss his approach to cinema as a conservative, the influence and analysis of viewing films through a Catholic prism, and the continuing wonders of Romanian cinema. Finally, the two dive deep into Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne's Rosetta, a film which might not have any specific Christian themes on its surface, but the two find to be deeply, deeply spiritual.

0:00-1:00 Opening 

2:22-6:57 Establishing Shots - Allan Dwan / Trivia Round

7:42-1:29:03 Deep Focus - Victor Morton

1:29:54-1:59:27 Double Exposure - Rosetta (Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne)

1:59:28-2:02:51 Close / Outtake - Victor on A Clockwork Orange

Read Victor on Rightwing Film Geek.

Follow Victor on Twitter.