Film Forum Podcasts

CHOP SHOP: Ramin Bahrani, after his auspicious debut (MAN PUSH CART), sets his story of a 12-year-old Latino boy and his older sister in the no-man’s-land that is Willet’s Point, Queens, a 20-block stretch of junkyards and chop shops (where stolen cars are dismantled for parts), overshadowed by Shea Stadium’s giant billboard: “Make Dreams Happen.” Perhaps it is because Bahrani and co-author Bahareh Azimi are both of Iranian descent that they are able to conjure up an outsider’s reality with such palpable compassion and realism. Without a smidgeon of sentimentality, CHOP SHOP suggests that for many New York City is closer to a third world country than the glittering jewel in the crown of a land of infinite opportunity. This podcast is a Q & A with director Ramin Bahrani & the film’s star, Alejandro Polanco, recorded February 27, 2008, when they appeared at a screening of the film.

MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS (1974) The supremely luxurious Orient Express is ignominiously trapped in a snowdrift, and even worse, one of the passengers has turned up dead — but not to worry: master detective Hercule Poirot is on board. Agatha Christie’s mystery classic proves a triumph of style, with Albert Finney’s Poirot topping an incredible all-star cast: Lauren Bacall, Sean Connery, Vanessa Redgrave, et al.*, with Ingrid Bergman Oscaring amid five other nominations (Cinematography, Costume Design, Original Score, Adapted Screenplay, and a Best Actor nod for Finney). This podcast is an introduction by production designer TONY WALTON, recorded February 19, 2008, when he appeared at a screening of the film.

DONT LOOK BACK: (1967) Bob Dylan, on tour in England in 1965, takes time out in hotel rooms to casually compose at a piano; keeps on typing as Joan Baez sings and plays beyond his right shoulder; subtly disses acolyte Donovan; argues with a buttoned-down Time correspondent — among the endless stream of reporters trailing in his wake — over “truth” and “facts”; mercilessly puts on a cleancut science student/ college journalist; and more than meets his match in a so-veddy-proper “high sheriff’s lady.” This podcast is a Q & A with filmmaker D.A. PENNEBAKER, recorded February 4, 2008, when he appeared at a screening of the film.

DOC: Harold L. Humes (aka Doc Humes) was brilliant and precocious (he went to MIT at 16), a literary phenomenon (the author of two acclaimed novels, The Underground City, Men Die, who never wrote again), who was instrumental in founding The Paris Review. He was also a deeply paranoid, peripatetic “talking machine” (so dubbed by George Plimpton), who charmed, confounded and infuriated his distinguished friends and far-flung family. Plimpton, Norman Mailer, Paul Auster, Peter Matthiessen, William Styron and Timothy Leary recall an extraordinary man, a Zelig-like figure who led a protest in Washington Square Park (“3000 Beatniks Riot in Village” – NY Daily Mirror headline), championed the use of medical marijuana, and managed Mailer’s 1961 run for Mayor of New York. His daughter Immy Humes, in Doc’s own words, “puts a frame around the wreckage” in her affectionate, yet profoundly disquieting portrait. This podcast is a Q & A with filmmaker IMMY HUMES, recorded January 23, 2008, when she appeared at a screening of this film.

OTTO PREMINGER: Author FOSTER HIRSCH introduces THE CARDINAL, recorded January 16, 2008, at Film Forum in New York City, when he appeared at a screening of the film.

OTTO PREMINGER: Author FOSTER HIRSCH introduces THE FAN, recorded January 15, 2008, at Film Forum in New York City, when he appeared at a screening of the film.

OTTO PREMINGER: Author FOSTER HIRSCH introduces BUNNY LAKE IS MISSING and then does a Q & A with actor KEIR DULLEA, recorded January 10, 2008, at Film Forum in New York City, when he appeared at a screening of the film.

OTTO PREMINGER: Author FOSTER HIRSCH and casting director LIONEL LARNER introduce SAINT JOAN, recorded January 9, 2008 at Film Forum in New York City, when they appeared at a screening of the film.

OTTO PREMINGER: Author FOSTER HIRSCH introduces IN HARM’S WAY, recorded January 8, 2008 at Film Forum in New York City, when he appeared at a screening of the film.

OTTO PREMINGER: Author FOSTER HIRSCH comments on THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM and THE MOON IS BLUE, recorded January 7, 2008 at Film Forum in New York City, when he appeared at a screening of the films.

HANNAH AND HER SISTERS: WOODY ALLEN'S OSCAR-WINNING COMEDY, STARRING MIA FARROW AND MICHAEL CAINE, CONTINUES THROUGH THIS MONDAY, DECEMBER 24 IN A NEW 35mm PRINT. FINAL WEEK!

THE VIOLIN: THE HIGHLY ACCLAIMED POLITICAL DRAMA FROM MEXICO, THROUGH TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11 ONLY

LAGERFELD CONFIDENTIAL: INSIDE THE ULTRA-GLAM UNIVERSE OF A FASHION ICON; NEW DOCUMENTARY NOW PLAYING THROUGH TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6.

CONTROL: RIVETING PORTRAIT OF ENIGMATIC JOY DIVISION SINGER IAN CURTIS, MUST END THIS THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 1!

WAR AND PEACE - FRI, OCT 19-THURS, NOV 1 TWO WEEKS-FIRST THEATRICAL SCREENINGS IN 40 YEARS! SUPER-EPIC ADAPTATION OF TOLSTOY’S CLASSIC, OSCAR-WINNER FOR BEST FOREIGN FILM, OPENS THIS FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19! TWO WEEKS ONLY! WAR AND PEACE WILL BE PRESENTED IN TWO PARTS. EACH PART CAN BE SEEN ON SEPARATE DAYS OR IN A SINGLE DAY ON WEDNESDAYS, SATURDAYS AND SUNDAYS.