JULY 7, 2009
UNDER OUR SKIN
An interview with ANDY ABRAHAMS WILSON the producer and director of the documentary UNDER OUR SKIN — a gripping tale of microbes, medicine & money. UNDER OUR SKIN investigates the untold story of Lyme disease, an emerging epidemic larger than AIDS. Each year thousands go undiagnosed or misdiagnosed, often told that their symptoms are "all in their head." Following the stories of patients and physicians fighting the disease, the film brings into focus a haunting picture of the health care system and a medical establishment all too willing to put profits ahead of patients. Founder of Open Eye Pictures, Andy Wilosnis an Emmy-nominated producer, director and cinematographer. Past productions include the HBO special BUBBEH LEE & ME, and HOPE IS THE THING WITH FEATHERS, broadcast on the Sundance Channel. Andy was the Director of Photography for the PBS special TWISTED and the award-winning documentary TOUCHED, as well as cinematographer for the Sundance hit DADDY & PAPA.  

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JUNE 30, 2009
THE STONING OF SORAYA M.
An interview with CYRUS NOWRASTEH the director of THE STONING OF SORAYA M. - a classic fable of good vs. evil and an inspiring tribute to courageous women fighting against violence all around the world. In a world of corruption and injustice, a single courageous voice can tell a story that changes everything. This is what lies at the heart of this emotionally charged film. Based on a true story, this tale of a village's persecution of an innocent woman becomes both a daring act of witness and a parable about how people react when someone in their community is turned into a scapegoat: who will join forces with the plot, who will surrender to the mob, and who will dare to stand up for what's right. THE STONING OF SORAYA M. is inspired by French-Iranian journalist Freidoune Sahebjam's acclaimed international best-seller of the same name which first brought global attention to the real Soraya, who in 1986 was stoned to death by her fellow villagers, in the presence of her children.
 

JUNE 16, 2009
13 MOST BEAUTIFUL… SONGS FOR ANDY WARHOL'S SCREEN TESTS
An interview with DEAN & BRITTA soundtrack artists for 13 MOST BEAUTIFUL…SONGS FOR ANDY WARHOL’S SCREEN TESTS. Between 1964 and 1966, Andy Warhol shot nearly 500 Screen Tests, beautiful and revealing portraits of hundreds of different individuals, from the famous to the anonymous, all visitors to his studio, the Factory. Subjects were captured in stark relief by a strong keylight, and filmed by Warhol with his stationary 16mm Bolex camera on silent, black and white, 100-foot rolls of film. The resulting two-and-a-half-minute film reels were then screened in slow motion, resulting in a fascinating collection of four-minute masterpieces that startle and entrance, mesmerizing in the purest sense of the word. 13 Most Beautiful... Songs for Andy Warhol's Screen Tests features 13 of Warhol's classic silent film portraits. Subjects include Nico, Lou Reed, Edie Sedgwick, Dennis Hopper, and more. Songwriters Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips, formerly of the band Luna and currently recording as Dean & Britta, incorporated original compositions as well as cover songs to create new soundtracks for the 13 films.  13 Most Beautiful...Songs for Andy Warhol's Screen Tests will screen at the Los Angeles Film Festival this Saturday, June 20 with Dean and Britta performing their soundtrack live.

JUNE 9, 2009
MOON
An interview with DUNCAN JONES the director of MOON — a science fiction thriller about a solitary lunar employee who finds that he may not be able to go home to Earth so easily. The film is the feature film debut of commercial director Duncan Jones. Sam Rockwell stars as the lunar employee. Kevin Spacey voices his robot companion. The film premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival in January 2009. Bell is an employee contracted by the company Lunar to mine on the Moon the natural gas Helium 3, which could reverse Earth's energy crisis. Sam is stationed at the lunar base Sarang with only a robot named Gerty, but two weeks before completing his three-year assignment, he begins feeling out of place. An extraction goes wrong, and Sam suspects Lunar of trying to replace him as he realizes someone else is on the Moon. Jones co-wrote the script with Nathan Parker. The film was specifically written as a vehicle for actor Sam Rockwell and pays homage to the films of Jones' youth, such as Silent Running (1972), Alien (1979) and Outland (1981). Duncan Jones is also known as Zowie Bowie, the son of David Bowie and his ex-wife Angela Bowie.

JUNE 2, 2009
MUNYURANGABO
An Interview with SAMUEL ANDERSON the director of MUNYURANGABO. After stealing a machete from a market in Kigali, Munyurangabo and his friend, Sangwa, leave the city on a journey tied to their pasts. Munyurangabo wants justice for his parents who were killed in the genocide, and Sangwa wants to visit the home he deserted years ago. Though they plan to visit Sangwa's home for just a few hours, the boys stay for several days. From two separate tribes, their friendship is tested when Sangwa's wary parents disapprove of Munyurangabo, warning that "Hutus and Tutsis are supposed to be enemies." Munyurangabo, Anderson's first feature film, premiered in the Un Certain Regard program at the Cannes Film Festival.

MAY 19, 2009
TRANSCENDENT MAN
An interview with ROBERT BARRY PTOLEMY the director of TRANSCENDENT MAN — a documentary that chronicles the life and ideas of Ray Kurzweil, an inventor and futurist that presents his bold vision of the Singularity, a point in the near future when technology will be changing so rapidly, that we will have to enhance ourselves with artificial intelligence to keep up. Ray predicts this will be the dawning of a new civilization in which we will no longer be dependent on our physical bodies, we will be trillions of times more intelligent and there will be no clear distinction between human and machine, real reality and virtual reality. Human aging and illness will be reversed; world hunger and poverty will be solved and we will ultimately cure death. Critics accuse Ray of being too optimistic and argue that the dangers of the Singularity far outweigh the benefits, pointing out the apocalyptic implications that once machines achieve consciousness, we may not be able to control them. Whether Rays controversial ideas incite excitement or fear, dogma or disbelief this ambitious documentary will forever change the way you look at life, death, and your own future.

MAY 5, 2009
OUTRAGE
An interview with Academy Award nominated filmmaker KIRBY DICK the director of OUTRAGE — a searing indictment of the hypocrisy of closeted politicians who actively campaign against the LGBT community they covertly belong to. OUTRAGE reveals the hidden lives of some of our nation’s most powerful policymakers, details the harm they've inflicted on millions of Americans, and examines the media's complicity in keeping their secrets. DICK’S highly-regarded film, DERRIDA, premiered at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival and won the Golden Gate Award at the San Francisco Film Festival. In 1997, he directed the internationally acclaimed SICK: THE LIFE & DEATH OF BOB FLANAGAN, SUPERMASOCHIST, which won the Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and the Grand Prize at the Los Angeles Film Festival. The film earned an IFP/West Spirit Award Nomination and an International Documentary Association Nomination for Best Feature Documentary of 1998. Dick's other projects include TWIST OF FAITH (2004) and THIS FILM IS NOT YET RATED (2006), an exposé of the interior workings of the MPAA ratings system.

APRIL 28, 2009
LOS ANGELES ASIAN PACIFIC FILM FESTIVAL
An interview with SHINAE YOON the Executive Director of Visual Communications which presents the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival running April 30 - May 7. Visual Communications (Southern California Asian American Studies Central Inc.) – known as "VC" – is a community-based non-profit media arts organization in Los Angeles, dedicated to creating, preserving and presenting Asian Pacific American history and culture through the media arts. Founded in 1970, the organization, through its numerous film, video and community multimedia productions and through its various screening activities, photographic exhibits and publications, has pioneered many vital developments in the national media arts arena. VC offers production and training in filmmaking, video and photography, for Asian Americans. In addition to maintaining a large archive of Asian Pacific photographs, VC annually presents the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival.

APRIL 21, 2009
CHILDREN OF INVENTION
An interview with TZE CHUN the writer / director of CHILDREN OF INVENTION — a story of two young children living outside Boston who are left to fend for themselves when their mother gets embroiled in a pyramid scheme and disappears. Based on Tze Chun's own award-winning short film, WINDOWBREAKER, which screened at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, CHILDREN OF INVENTION is a drama about the influence of an adult world on children, the immigrant mentality, and shortcuts to the American dream. CHILDREN OF INVENTION made its world premiere at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and won Special Jury Prizes at the 2009 San Francisco International Asian American and Sarasota Film Festivals.

12 STONES
An interview with SANDY SMOLAN the director of 12 STONES — a short documentary that captures the journey of a group of illiterate women in southern Nepal. In a country where running water and electricity are luxuries, most of the people in Nepal live below the poverty line. A group of women, with the help of Heifer International, an aid organization that promotes sustainable development, are helping hundreds of other women and their families rise from poverty to reclaim a future. Smolan's critically acclaimed debut feature RACHEL RIVER was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at The Sundance Film Festival and took awards for Best Cinematography. 12 STONES will screen at the Newport Film Festival April 29 and 30.

APRIL 7, 2009
GOODBYE SOLO
An interview with RAMIN BAHRANI the director of GOODBYE SOLO. On the lonely roads of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, two men forge an improbable friendship that will change both of their lives forever. Solo is a Senegalese cab driver working to provide a better life for his young family. William is a tough Southern good ol‘ boy with a lifetime of regrets. One man‘s American dream is just beginning, while the other‘s is quickly winding down. But despite their differences, both men soon realize they need each other more than either is willing to admit. Through this unlikely but unforgettable friendship, GOODBYE SOLO deftly explores the passing of a generation as well as the rapidly changing face of America. Winner of the Venice Film Festival’s prestigious FIPRESCI International Critics Prize, ‘Goodbye Solo’ is the latest film from internationally-acclaimed filmmaker Ramin Bahrani (‘Chop Shop,’ ‘Man Push Cart’). 'Solo' has been hailed as “A force of nature!” by Roger Ebert. And The New York Times’ A.O. Scott says it has “an uncanny ability to enlarge your perception of the world.”

MARCH 31, 2009
AMERICAN SWING
An Interview with JON HART and MATTHEW KAUFMAN co-directors of AMERICAN SWING a documentary on the rise and fall of 1970s New York City nightclub Plato's Retreat. In 1977, New York City was scorched by stifling heat waves, enervated by energy crunches and inflation and hurtling toward social unrest. But its citizens partied on. Nightlife flourished, disco and cocaine ruled at the exclusive Studio 54 and punks smashed guitars at CBGB. Meanwhile, a raging orgy was underway at Plato's Retreat. Chronicling the rise and fall of this notorious sex club and its quixotic owner Larry Levenson, American Swing captures the glorious last gasp of the (mostly hetero) sexual revolution that had been birthed in the sixties. AMERICAN SWING opens Friday April 3 in Los Angeles at Laemmle's Sunset 5.

MARCH 24, 2009
SUGAR
An interview with RYAN FLECK the writer / director of SUGAR — the story of Miguel Santos, a.k.a. Sugar, a Dominican pitcher from San Pedro De Macorís, struggling to make it to the big leagues and pull himself and his family out of poverty. Playing professionally at a baseball academy in the Dominican Republic, Miguel finally gets his break at age 19 when he advances to the United States’ minor league system; but when his play on the mound falters, he begins to question the single-mindedness of his life’s ambition. Filmmakers Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden burst onto the independent film scene in 2006 with their feature debut Half Nelson, a sensitively wrought drama that earned five Spirit Award nominations and brought its star, Ryan Gosling, an Academy Award ® nomination for best actor. A lifelong baseball fan, Fleck thought he knew everything there was to know about the game. He knew that for decades the small island nation of the Dominican Republic has been supplying American teams with some of their most talented players: home run hero Sammy Sosa, the Alou brothers, pitching greats Juan Marichal and Pedro Martínez, and many more. But until a couple of years ago, he had no idea why. When Fleck and his partner Anna Boden learned that the Dominican Republic is home to training academies for every major league team in America, they were immediately drawn to the human side of the phenomenon.

MARCH 17, 2009
THEY KILLED SISTER DOROTHY
An interview with DANIEL JUNGE the Director of THEY KILLED SISTER DOROTHY — a documentary on the killing of 73-year-old Catholic nun and activist Sister Dorothy Stang in February 2005, in the state of Pará (Brazilian rain forest), where she, for 30 years, fought along with environmentalists and the underprivileged local communities against the exploitation of powerful loggers and landowners. Junge’s first documentary CHIEFS, in the Wynoning Indian basketball team, won the best documentary at the 2002 Tribeca Film Festival and broadcast nationally on PBS. His feature documentary IRON LADIES OF LIBERIA, on Africa’s first elected female resident, premiered at the Toronto Film Festival won two wards at the Banff Television Festival, THEY KILLED SISTER DOROTHY premieres on HBO Wednesday March 25th at 8 pm ET and PT.

FEBRUARY 24, 2009
MUST READ AFTER MY DEATH
An interview with MORGAN DEWS the director of MUST READ AFTER MY DEATH. Dews was very close to his grandmother Allis, but it wasnit until after her death in 2001 that he became aware of an astounding archive shed amassed throughout the 1960s. Filled with startlingly intimate and candid audio recordings detailing her family's increasingly turbulent lives, the collection also contained hundreds of silent home movies, photographs and written journals. Using only these found materials, Dews has fashioned a searing family portrait documentary that affords fly-on-the-wall access to one family's struggles amid an America on the verge of dramatic transformation. An accomplished writer, Dews has published numerous articles, stories and poetry. Dews' short film, Elke's Visit, was an official selection of the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. MUST READ AFTER MY DEATH is his first feature.  

FEBRUARY 17, 2009
MEDICINE FOR MELANCHOLY
An interview with BARRY JENKINS the director of MEDICINE FOR MELANCHOLY — a love story about a one-night stand told through two African-American twenty-something's dealing with issues of class, identity, and the evolving conundrum of being a minority in a rapidly gentrifying San Francisco — a city with the smallest black population of any other major American City. When Micah (Wyatt Cenac) and Jo (Tracey Heggins) stumble into the brightness of a sunny San Francisco day after a hook-up, Jo' can't wait to escape the uncomfortable silence, but a shared cab ride and a lost wallet soon bring a well intentioned Micah to her front door. As caution turns to curiosity, the young couple sets off on a romantic ramble through eclectic neighborhoods and their own lives as they swap views on everything from the meaning of blackness to the letting go of heartbreak. Jenkins is the writer-director of the short films MY JOSEPHINE and LITTLE BROWN BOY. MEDICINE FOR MELANCHOLY is his first feature film.

FEBRUARY 10, 2009
SUNDANCE DOCUMENTARIES
An interview with RAHDI TAYLOR Associate Director of the SUNDANCE DOCUMENTARY FILM PROGRAM. Taylor administers the Sundance Documentary Fund which nurtures courageous, independent artists worldwide who surface true stories of human rights, social justice, freedom of expression, civil liberties, and other pressing issues for global audiences. At the core of the Sundance Documentary Program is the Sundance Documentary Fund, which offers a continuum of support through the life of a project, from research to production and post-production, through to distribution and audience engagement. By supporting innovative nonfiction storytelling by both emerging and established documentary filmmakers, the fund promotes the diverse exchange of ideas by artists and audiences, and reflect Sundance Institute’s celebration of documentary as an increasingly important global art form and a critical cultural practice in the 21st century. At right is a video of the trailor to Ondi Timoner's "Be Like Others," a Sundance Documentary Film Program project. An award-winning filmmaker herself, Taylor's works as a writer and director have screened nationally and internationally and garnered her a nomination for the Rockefeller Fellowship for Media Arts. On Tuesday February 10, Taylor will present the film makers at a screening of WOMEN IN SHROUD at The Hammer Museum in Los Angeles.

FEBRUARY 3, 2009
THE GARDEN
An interview with SCOTT HAMILTON KENNEDY the producer / director of THE GARDEN, a documentary that focuses on the fourteen-acre community garden at 41st and Alameda in South Central Los Angeles — the largest of its kind in the United States. Started as a form of healing after the devastating L.A. riots in 1992, the South Central Farmers have since created a miracle in one of the country’s most blighted neighborhoods. Growing their own food. Feeding their families. Creating a community. But now, bulldozers are poised to level their 14-acre oasis. THE GARDEN follows the plight of the farmers, from the tilled soil of this urban farm to the polished marble of City Hall. Mostly immigrants from Latin America, from countries where they feared for their lives if they were to speak out, we watch them organize, fight back, and demand answers. Scott’s debut documentary, OT: our town, was an official selection and won awards at some of the top film festivals in the world. In it’s theatrical release, OT garnered rave reviews, was selected for several ‘best of’ lists (including Kenneth Turan of the LA Times), and was nominated for Best Documentary by the IFP Independent Spirit Awards. THE GARDEN is nominated for a 2009 Academy Award for Best Documentary.

JANUARY 27, 2009
THE OWL AND THE SPARROW
An interview with STEPHANE GAUGER the director of THE OWL AND THE SPARROW a film following the fictional story of three Vietnamese individuals over a period of five days as they meet in Vietnam. Owl and the Sparrow is a fairy tale about a little girl who searches for a family she can call her own. Pham Thi Han, who plays ten-year-old Thuy, describes her character as “down on her luck.” So she runs away from her uncle’s bamboo factory, where her work is never good enough. A flower girl on the streets of Saigon, she discovers two other castaway hearts, in a man who takes refuge as a zookeeper (Le The Lu) and a flight attendant (Cat Ly) who’s looking for love. Gauger's guerrilla-style camera and small-scale mode of production flows with the traffic of the city, but always in step with little Thuy and all that drives her dreams. Gauger was born in Saigon and raised in Orange County, California. The Owl and the Sparrow won Best Narrative Feature at the 2007 San Francisco Asian American International Film Festival.

JANUARY 20, 2009
CINEMA EYE HONORS
An interview with AJ SCHNACK and THOM POWERS , co-chairs of CINEMA EYE HONORS — a new nonfiction filmmaking award, recognizing the wide breadth of documentary filmaking and also specific crafts such as cinematography and editing that are being created from within the documentary community. IndiePix, the internet based distributor of independent film is the presenting partner and sponsor for the awards. SHNACK is a filmmaker and writer (whose 2008 Sundance Video Blog is on the right) based in Los Angeles. He has directed two nonfiction feature films - Kurt Cobain About A Son(2007) which was nominated for a 2007 Independent Spirit Award and Gigantic (A Tale of Two Johns) (2003) Since 2005, Schnack has written the highly-regarded film blog All These Wonderful Things, which focuses primarily on issues related to nonfiction filmmaking. POWERS is the documentary programmer of the Toronto International Film Festival where he has presented premieres by veteran directors such as Werner Herzog, Jonathan Demme, David Guggenheim and Kevin Rafferty; as well as the first feature length works of Adria Petty, Kristopher Belman and Jeffrey Levy-Hinte. His most recent documentaries are Loving & Cheating (Cinemax), about monogamy and infidelity; and Guns & Mothers (PBS), about women on both sides of the gun control debate.

JANUARY 13, 2009
THE ORDER OF MYTHS
An interview with MARGARET BROWN the writer and director of THE ORDER OF MYTHS a film that escorts us into the parallel hearts of Mobile, Alabama’s two racially segregated Mardi Gras carnivals. Brown traces the exotic world of secret mystic societies and centuries-old traditions and pageantry; diamond encrusted crowns; voluminous, hand sewn gowns, surreal masks and enormous paper mache floats. Against this backdrop, she uncovers a tangles web of historical violence and power dynamics, elusive forces that keep this hallowed tradition organized along enduring color lines. Brown is the producer and director of the acclaimed documentary Be Here to Love Me: A Film About Townes Van Zandt. Brown directed the music video “Our Life is Not a Movie or Maybe” for Okkervil River.

JANUARY 6, 2009
THE BETRAYAL
An interview with THAVISOUK PHRASAVATH co-director of THE BETRAYAL — the epic story of a family forced to emigrate from Laos after the chaos of the secret air war waged by the U.S. during the Vietnam War. A Lao prophecy says, "A time will come when the universe will break, piece by piece, the world will change beyond what we know." That time came for the small country of Laos with the clandestine involvement of the United States during the Vietnam War. By 1973, three million tons of bombs had been dropped on Laos in the fight to overcome the North Vietnamese, more than the total used during both world wars. With the rise of a Communist government in Laos, killings and arrests became common among those affiliated with the former government and the Americans. Families were torn apart-some finally emigrating to the U.S. In a collaboration spanning more than 20 years, Phrasavath the main subject of the film worked with co-director Ellen Kuras. Phrasavath takes us through his youth, his escape from persecution and arrest in Laos, his family's reunion and their journey as immigrants to America, and the second war they had to fight on the streets of New York City. Drawing on the techniques of experimental film and the traditions of Laotian culture, The Betrayal is a tale about a country, a family, and a young man who discovers the power and resilience of the human spirit.

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