Episode #77 - Eric Hynes (Quick Change)

Click here to listen to the episode

"Documentaries are where the most exciting stuff in film is happening. Inevitably that's what I'm going to write about and push for."

Eric Hynes may not want to be boxed in for his work on documentaries, but it seems more and more to be where his interests as a writer for Reverse Shot and Film Comment alongside programming duties at the Museum of the Moving Image have taken him. But Eric is so much more, and has become one of the most valued writers of criticism and beyond—someone who shows passion and acute judgement within his sentences without ever condescending nor falling into cliché. In his interview with Peter, Eric traces his way into writing through music criticism and books, his decade-long tenure at one of the most important institutions in online film writing, and a continuing love of Star Wars. Then, the two turn to a truly forgotten gem of 90s cinema: Bill Murray and Howard Franklin's Quick Change, perhaps the last film to show New York City when it was truly the worst, in the best way possible.

0:00-3:37 Opening
4:22-54:46 Deep Focus — Eric Hynes

55:52-1:00:23 Sponsorship Section
1:02:08-1:21:46 Double Exposure — Quick Change (Billy Murray and Howard Franklin)

1:21:51-1:23:30 Close

Read Eric Hynes at Film Comment, Reverse Shot, Rolling Stone, Slate, and Cinema-Scope. Read his 2013 Neither/Noir monograph for True/False, and follow him on Twitter.
Check out Quick Change here.

Episode #76 - David Wilson (Gummo)

Click here to download the episode

"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.

True/False 2016

Click here to listen to the episode

One might not expect much from a film festival right in the dead center of America's Heartland, but for thirteen years, True/False has been changing the way to think about the micro-film festival as well as the form of cinema in major ways. In this dispatch from Columbia, Missouri, Peter sits with critics Sam Adams, Tim Grierson, and (eventually) Scott Tobias to look at how the documentary-oriented festival puts aesthetics into the conversation while remaining politically engaged. While the subjects can be galvanizing—the US prison system, delinquent teenage girls in Tehran, Chinese miners, the fall of Iraq—the films continually break the mold for how one thinks about the format by exploring the relationship between the filmmaker and their subject. Plus, a discussion about Concerned Student 1950, a student-made documentary addressing the issues of the University of Missouri protests in 2015, and what its premiere could mean for the future of the festival.

0:00-2:50 Opening
2:50-8:00 Concerned Student 1950

8:00-49:35 True/False Favorites

50:47-54:16 Sponsorship Section
55:05-1:19:05 True/False Favorite Scenes

1:19:08-1:20:47 Close

Read more about True/False at their website.

Follow Our Guests on Twitter: Sam Adams, Tim Grierson, and Scott Tobias.