Film Forum Podcasts

WILD STYLE: Elusive graffitist Zoro (legendary artist Lee Quinones) has the South Bronx and the whole NYC subway system for a canvas, but fame threatens to blow his cover. Indie filmmaker Charlie Ahearn captured the very early days of hip hop in near-documentary style, casting real (and now-pioneer) DJs, MCs, graffiti artists, breakdancers, and rappers. With appearances by Fab Five Freddy, Grandmaster Flash, Grand Wizard Theodore, Busy Bee, Cold Crush, and Rock Steady Crew, climaxing in a raucous impromptu East River Park concert (filmed without permits!). Plus Ahearn’s short Bongo Barbershop (2005): a Tanzanian finds authentic hip hop in a Bronx tonsorial parlor. This podcast is the Q & A with director CHARLIE AHEARN and guests, recorded November 15, 2008, during their appearance at a screening of the film at Film Forum.

WILD STYLE: Elusive graffitist Zoro (legendary artist Lee Quinones) has the South Bronx and the whole NYC subway system for a canvas, but fame threatens to blow his cover. Indie filmmaker Charlie Ahearn captured the very early days of hip hop in near-documentary style, casting real (and now-pioneer) DJs, MCs, graffiti artists, breakdancers, and rappers. With appearances by Fab Five Freddy, Grandmaster Flash, Grand Wizard Theodore, Busy Bee, Cold Crush, and Rock Steady Crew, climaxing in a raucous impromptu East River Park concert (filmed without permits!). Plus Ahearn’s short Bongo Barbershop (2005): a Tanzanian finds authentic hip hop in a Bronx tonsorial parlor. This podcast is the Q & A with director CHARLIE AHEARN and guests, recorded November 14, 2008, during their appearance at a screening of the film at Film Forum.

STRANDED: In 1972, a plane filled with cheerful, well-to-do young men, leaving Uruguay for a rugby game in Chile, crashed in a remote part of the Andes. STRANDED recreates the extraordinary experience of the 29 who initially survived the crash, followed by two months of cold, hunger and despair. Now, decades later, the men who found their way out of this frozen hell tell their story to documentarian (and childhood friend) Gonzalo Arijon in a film that eschews both sensationalism and sentimentality. These events were the subject of the 1973 worldwide best-seller, Alive, as well as a feature film, but STRANDED is the definitive, haunting version of this profoundly moving drama. Winner of the Grand Prize at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA). This podcast is the Q & A with director GONZALO ARIJON and plane crash survivor/film subject ADOLFO "FITO" STRAUCH, recorded October 23, 2008 during their appearance at a screening of the film at Film Forum.

FRONTRUNNERS: WHAT DO TIM ROBBINS, THELONIOUS MONK, DREW NIEPORENT, Jerry Nadler, and Lucy Liu all have in common? They all graduated from Stuyvesant, the jewel in the crown of NYC’s high schools for gifted students. Not surprisingly, some of the nation’s smartest, most media-savvy teenagers run an election for class president with primaries, televised debates, newspaper endorsements and considerable schmoozing in the halls. Stuyvesant accepts 3% of the 25,000 kids who apply, and when just one is going to be class president, you can bet that tensions run high. This podcast is the Q & A with NYC Councilwoman/Stuyvesant alum JESSICA LAPIN and film subject GEORGE ZISIADIS, recorded October 17, 2008 during their appearance at a screening of the film at Film Forum.

FRONTRUNNERS: WHAT DO TIM ROBBINS, THELONIOUS MONK, DREW NIEPORENT, Jerry Nadler, and Lucy Liu all have in common? They all graduated from Stuyvesant, the jewel in the crown of NYC’s high schools for gifted students. Not surprisingly, some of the nation’s smartest, most media-savvy teenagers run an election for class president with primaries, televised debates, newspaper endorsements and considerable schmoozing in the halls. Stuyvesant accepts 3% of the 25,000 kids who apply, and when just one is going to be class president, you can bet that tensions run high. This podcast is 2 Q & As with director CAROLINE SUH and producer ERIKA FRANKEL, recorded October 15, 2008 during appearances at screenings of the film at Film Forum.

BALLAST: WINNER, BEST DIRECTOR AWARD, 2008 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL. A young boy drifts through the spare flatlands of a wintry Mississippi township and a middle-aged man sits in his rural home, frozen in grief after his brother’s suicide. These striking images set in motion a riveting story of three people trying to reposition their lives after experiencing a traumatic loss. Lance Hammer has been compared to the Dardenne Brothers, for the assured hand with which he tells a delicate, quietly unfolding story using understated means and non-professionals from the Mississippi Delta. "The one indisputably great film at Sundance '08… (This) poetic and profound movie transcends categories and announces the arrival of a major new filmmaker." — Peter Travers, Rolling Stone. This podcast is the Q & A with director LANCE HAMMER and cinematographer LOL CRAWLEY (Recorded October 1, 2008) during their appearance opening night of the film at Film Forum.

VIRTUAL JFK: SCOTTISH HISTORIAN NIALL FERGUSON CALLS IT VIRTUAL HISTORY: the great what if’s, the plausibility of counterfactuals. First-time filmmaker Koji Masutani and Brown University professor James G. Blight ask: “Can a president make a decisive difference in matters of war and peace… or, are the forces that drive a nation into war a lot more impersonal, out of the control of any single human being, even a president?” In 1963 the US had 16,000 military advisors in Vietnam. In 1968, Johnson had 500,000 troops there. VIRTUAL JFK rethinks the legendary 1,000-day presidency, selecting from more than 250 hours of archival material some of the brightest, funniest moments from the Kennedy press conferences as well as some of the scariest ones, when the Cold War threatens to turn hot. The 800-pound gorilla in the room is, of course, George W. Bush and his war in Iraq. This podcast is the Q & A with director KOJI MASUTANI, producer/historian JAMES G. BLIGHT and JFK advisor/speechwriter THEODORE SORENSEN (Recorded September 17, 2008) during their appearance opening night of the film at Film Forum.

THE POOL: IN THIS CHARMING, ELEGANTLY SHOT FABLE SET IN NEIGHBORHOODS OF POVERTY AND PRIVILEGE IN GOA, India, 18-year-old Venkatesh ekes out a living working in a hotel and pounding the pavement selling plastic baggies. It’s a far cry from his fantasy — to dive into the glimmering David Hockney-esque swimming pool of an upper-class family. Remarkably, this neorealist tale, reminiscent of the great Satyajit Ray, is written and directed by an American, Chris Smith, acclaimed director of AMERICAN MOVIE and THE YES MEN. “A truly independent gem of a feature. A delight on every level. Uplifting without a drop of sap.” — Sheri Linden, The Hollywood Reporter. This podcast is the Q & A with director CHRIS SMITH, recorded September 5, 2008, during his appearance opening night of the film at Film Forum.

RICHARD SERRA: THINKING ON YOUR FEET: RICHARD SERRA’S MONUMENTAL STEEL SCULPTURES are among the defining works of art of our time. Serra is wonder fully articulate, whether talking about his early paintings, Brancusi’s influence upon him, the historical context in which his work developed, or the public controversies and even hostility his art has engendered. He elucidates how “matter imposes form on form,” the unique qualities of steel, and how a space may move simultaneously in two directions — with a lexicon that includes gravitational vectors, open and closed volume, tectonics, conical sections and torquing elipses. An installation of several immensely heavy steel plates (40 tons each) at the Bilbao Museum highlights this elegant portrait of the art world’s man of steel. This podcast is the introduction by MoMA’s JANE PANETTA, recorded September 2, 2008, during her appearance closing night of the film at Film Forum.

RICHARD SERRA: THINKING ON YOUR FEET: RICHARD SERRA’S MONUMENTAL STEEL SCULPTURES are among the defining works of art of our time. Serra is wonder fully articulate, whether talking about his early paintings, Brancusi’s influence upon him, the historical context in which his work developed, or the public controversies and even hostility his art has engendered. He elucidates how “matter imposes form on form,” the unique qualities of steel, and how a space may move simultaneously in two directions — with a lexicon that includes gravitational vectors, open and closed volume, tectonics, conical sections and torquing elipses. An installation of several immensely heavy steel plates (40 tons each) at the Bilbao Museum highlights this elegant portrait of the art world’s man of steel. This podcast is the introduction by DIA Foundation’s LYNNE COOK, recorded August 20, 2008, during her appearance at a screening of the film at Film Forum.

PATTI SMITH: DREAM OF LIFE: WHEN PEOPLE ASK HER “HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE A ROCK ICON?” Patti Smith says she “always thinks of Mount Rushmore.” Steven Sebring’s directorial debut takes a lyrical, stream-of-consciousness approach that is exactly right in his affecting portrait of the “rock ’n’ roll Joan of Arc” (Stephen Holden, The NY Times) who can bring a crowd of devotees to their feet chanting “Glor-i-a!” as effectively as she can share her pain over the early death of her husband, Fred (Sonic) Smith and her brother, and the loss of her close friend Robert Mapplethorpe and of other artists she admires (Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, William S. Burroughs). Everyone knows that Patti Smith’s music, poetry and politics are fearless, funny, raw and original. But this film also captures her physical presence – her gamine beauty – and a charming, self-effacing style that will take you by surprise and leave you deeply moved. This podcast is a film introduction and live performance of two songs by PATTI SMITH, recorded August 19, 2008, during her appearance at Film Forum.

PATTI SMITH: DREAM OF LIFE: WHEN PEOPLE ASK HER “HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE A ROCK ICON?” Patti Smith says she “always thinks of Mount Rushmore.” Steven Sebring’s directorial debut takes a lyrical, stream-of-consciousness approach that is exactly right in his affecting portrait of the “rock ’n’ roll Joan of Arc” (Stephen Holden, The NY Times) who can bring a crowd of devotees to their feet chanting “Glor-i-a!” as effectively as she can share her pain over the early death of her husband, Fred (Sonic) Smith and her brother, and the loss of her close friend Robert Mapplethorpe and of other artists she admires (Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, William S. Burroughs). Everyone knows that Patti Smith’s music, poetry and politics are fearless, funny, raw and original. But this film also captures her physical presence – her gamine beauty – and a charming, self-effacing style that will take you by surprise and leave you deeply moved. This podcast is made of selections from Q & A’s with PATTI SMITH & director STEVEN SEBRING, recorded August 8, 10, 12, 13 & 14, 2008, during their in person appearances at Film Forum.

PATTI SMITH: DREAM OF LIFE: Correction to MP3 file. WHEN PEOPLE ASK HER “HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE A ROCK ICON?” Patti Smith says she “always thinks of Mount Rushmore.” Steven Sebring’s directorial debut takes a lyrical, stream-of-consciousness approach that is exactly right in his affecting portrait of the “rock ’n’ roll Joan of Arc” (Stephen Holden, The NY Times) who can bring a crowd of devotees to their feet chanting “Glor-i-a!” as effectively as she can share her pain over the early death of her husband, Fred (Sonic) Smith and her brother, and the loss of her close friend Robert Mapplethorpe and of other artists she admires (Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, William S. Burroughs). Everyone knows that Patti Smith’s music, poetry and politics are fearless, funny, raw and original. But this film also captures her physical presence – her gamine beauty – and a charming, self-effacing style that will take you by surprise and leave you deeply moved. This podcast is a Q & A with PATTI SMITH and director STEVEN SEBRING, recorded August 6, 2008, during his in person appearance at Film Forum on opening night of the film.

LOU REED BERLIN: directed by Julian Schnabel, captures the first-ever performance of Reed's legendary rock opera, filmed at Brooklyn’s St. Ann’s Warehouse. A Brechtian tale of junkies in love, Berlin was a commercial failure when it was first released in 1973; Reed did not perform it again for 33 years. Here he is backed up by a 35-piece ensemble that includes guitarist Steve Hunter, who performed on the original album, and vocalist Antony, front man for Antony and the Johnsons, who sings a sublime version of “Candy Says,” one of three non-Berlin songs in the film. This podcast is a Q & A with LOU REED, recorded July 28, 2008 during his in person appearance at Film Forum on opening night of the film.

FULL BATTLE RATTLE: THE US MILITARY HAS BUILT A BILLION-DOLLAR MIDDLE EAST VILLAGE IN THE MOJAVE DESERT: A SIMULATED IRAQ, complete with hundreds of Iraqis employed to play civilians and insurgents, terrorist suspects, grieving mothers and innocent shopkeepers. The filmmakers take a smart fly-on-the-wall approach to much of the action, as in-training Army recruits enter “Medina Wasl,” trying to quell uprisings and cajole locales. FULL BATTLE RATTLE observes Army officers explaining local customs to a confused force, under orders to bring “peace and stability” to a place they know nothing about — and one that appears to be disintegrating before their eyes. The movie could be read as a surreal, hilarious goof on the military if the play-acting failures of the troops didn’t look so realistic and if thousands of real lives weren’t on the line halfway around the world. This podcast is a Q & A with co-directors Tony Gerber and Jesse Moss, recorded July 10, 2008 during their in person appearance at Film Forum