In this episode of the Anti-Racist Film Club Podcast, Lauren sits down with Pastor Kelly from Shelton to discuss episode 3 of the Netflix food documentary High on the Hog, oysters, American foodways, enslaved celebrity chefs, why you shouldn't "meet" your heroes, fish heads, and the enduring joy of black food. 

Find more info about the ARFC here: https://fumcoly.org

Read the NY Times article Pastor Kelly mentioned: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/17/dining/osayi-endolyn-high-on-the-hog.html

Watch a video with the filmmakers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAf7AAeTYkw&ab_channel=Netflix

See you next month!

In a spooky Halloween episode of the Anti-Racist Film Club Podcast, Lauren sits down with Pastor Kellen from Tumwater UMC to discuss Jordan Peele's film Us, the horrors of unacknowledged privilege, eating some unusual protein, ballet, Biblical doomsday context, and performative acts of justice. 

Find more info about the ARFC here: https://fumcoly.org

Watch some BTS footage with Jordan Peele: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gB1aA1iAsYA&ab_channel=UniversalPicturesAll-Access

See you next month!

TW: Discussion of suicide and self-harm.

In a BRAND NEW season launch of the Anti-Racist Film Club Podcast, Lauren sits down with Pastor Denise Roberts from Lacey St. Andrews UMC, to discuss Alaskan Nets, high school basketball, the last Alaskan Native Reservation, deep sea diving, the importance of ritual, and the dominant culture's influence on our perception of 'success'.

Find more info about the ARFC here: https://fumcoly.org

Read an interview with the film director here: https://www.slamonline.com/the-magazine/alaskan-nets-metlakatla-chiefs/

See you next month!

In a special bonus Summer episode of the Anti-Racist Film Club Podcast, Lauren sits down with Pastor Heather Sparkman from First UMC Olympia, to discuss the BRAND NEW Barbie film, tokenism, commercial racism in beauty standards, gynecologists, the flattening of Biblical Women's stories, and strategically pink ties.

Find more info about the ARFC here: https://fumcoly.org

Read more about about Mattel's recent history of representation: https://creative.salon/articles/features/this-barbie-is-inclusive

Watch Greta Gerwig and Margo Robbie discuss aspects of the creative process for this film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuWr-v3TOO8&t=672s&ab_channel=ABCNewsIn-depth

See you next month!

In this season finale of Anti-Racist Film Club Podcast, Lauren sits down with Pastor Denise from Lacey St Andrews UMC to discuss the documentary Summer of Soul, the Harlem Cultural Festival of 1969, words from the poet Gil Scott-Heron, Black erasure, and how this monumental social, historical, and musical event was almost entirely forgotten entirely.

Find more info about the ARFC here: https://fumcoly.org

Watch Questlove's short interview for the 2021 Sundance Film festival: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiEdJ4OzQVI&ab_channel=DeadlineHollywood

See you next year!

In another episode of the Anti-Racist Film Club Podcast, Lauren sits down with her own mother, Elizabeth Castro, to discuss Everything Everywhere All at Once, the loss of language through familial diaspora, hot dog fingers, racist IRS policies, generational trauma, and one REALLY big bagel.

Find more info about the ARFC here: https://fumcoly.org

Watch Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan's emotional acceptance speeches for their academy awards last weekend: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8v9wrK_j6Cc&ab_channel=ABC7

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvAdahLczGk&ab_channel=ABC

See you next month!

In another episode of the Anti-Racist Film Club Podcast, Lauren sits down with Pastor Alexa from the First Olympia UMC to discuss Till, how filmmakers choose to show violence on film, biased policies in the workplace, the role of women in tragedy, and the many tropes that lead to dehumanization. 

Find more info about the ARFC here: https://fumcoly.org

Watch the filmmakers discuss aspects of making Till: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bPezLP4kuA&ab_channel=FilmatLincolnCenter

See you next month!

In another episode of the Anti-Racist Film Club Podcast, Lauren sits down with Pastor Denise from the Lacey St Andrews UMC to discuss Lee Daniels' The Butler, assimilation, American civil rights history, the filmography of Sidney Poitier, and a painfully jagged edge to the moral arc of the universe. 

Find more info about the ARFC here: https://fumcoly.org

The Butler is largely based off the Washington Post Article about Eugene Allen, a real-life White House Butler who served through 8 different administrations. Read that article here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/a-butler-well-served-by-this-election/2019/01/02/b2a805a6-07b1-11e9-88e3-989a3e456820_story.html

A correction to what was said in the episode... Hattie McDaniel WAS invited to accept her Oscar at the official ceremony but was forced to sit in a segregated area and went against the hotel's strict policy against black guests. Her invitation was made possible by special request from the film's director. Read more about Hattie McDaniel's incredible life: https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2021/04/hattie-mcdaniel-gone-with-the-wind-oscars-autobiography

See you next month!

In the first 2023 episode of the Anti-Racist Film Club Podcast, Lauren sits down with Pastor Heather from the First United Methodist Church of Olympia to discuss In the Heights, gentrification, the Latinx diaspora to a certain Manhattan neighborhood, colorism in Hollywood casting, and about $96,000 (before taxes).

Find more info about the ARFC here: https://fumcoly.org

Read / Watch more about this film:

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/21/movies/in-the-heights-colorism.html

https://www.theroot.com/lets-talk-about-in-the-heights-and-the-erasure-of-dark-1847064126

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGaqW29ikuM&ab_channel=RottenTomatoes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4GDtrW6Km8&ab_channel=Broadwaycom

See you next month!

In a quasi-festive edition of the Anti-Racist Film Club Podcast, Lauren sits down with Pastor Alexa from the First United Methodist Church of Olympia to discuss Last Holiday, code-switching, the imaginary threat of black womens' dignity, and Hallmark movies.  

Find more info about the ARFC here: https://fumcoly.org

See you next month!