Join Wally and Josh as they recount their adventures in Japan — including a pilgrimage to the grave of master filmmaker Yasujiro Ozu — and share some of their favorite works of Japanese cinema.

00:00:29 What we’ve been up to: Emmet Otter’s Jug Band Christmas

00:04:10 What we’ve been up to: Film Festivals

00:05:00 Shai Carmeli-Pollak’s The Sea at Centre Film Festival

00:07:47 Our trip to Japan

00:29:03 Visiting Kita-Kamakura and paying respects to Yasujiro Ozu

00:39:18 Our quest to find Machiko Soga and Kogo Noda’s graves

00:45:44 The World of Yasujiro Ozu: Good Morning, Late Autumn, Tokyo Story, and more!

00:50:40 Takashi Miike’s Audition

00:53:22 Kiyoshi Kurosawa: Cure, Tokyo Sonata, Cloud, Chime, and more!

00:58:17 Obligatory Hayao Miyazaki nerd-out

01:00:01 Satoshi Kon’s Perfect Blue

01:02:36 Hirokazu Kore-eda: After Life, Shoplifters, Monster, and more!

01:05:29 Shinichirou Ueda’s One Cut of the Dead

01:09:01 Side tangent: Chris Smith’s American Movie

01:09:45 Mikio Naruse: When a Woman Ascends the Stairs, Sound of the Mountain, Yearning and more!

01:15:10 Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuichi’s Shin Godzilla

01:19:25 Kinuyo Tanaka’s The Moon Has Risen

01:24:14 Screaming Mad George’s The Guyver

01:26:35 Nobuhiko Obayashi’s House (Hausu)

01:32:22 The things we are thankful for

Check us out on YouTube:

📹 https://www.youtube.com/@wallyfilm

Like what you see? Consider supporting the filmmaker at: 

☕️ ⁠https://www.buymeacoffee.com/wallyfilm⁠

Subscribe to my newsletter:

⌨️ https://wallyfilm.substack.com/welcome

Follow what I'm watching on Letterboxd: 

📽️ ⁠https://letterboxd.com/inwidescreen/⁠

Learn more about Wally Films:

🎬 ⁠⁠https://www.wallyfilms.com/⁠⁠

Get tickets for Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas at Open Stage:

🎟️ https://www.openstagehbg.com/shows/emmetotter

Paul joins Wally as they talk about a busy fall taking RIVER CITY STORIES to film festivals, as well as avoiding burnout, rocking cardigans, and recording a public service announcement about the importance of off-year elections.

Check us out on YouTube:

📹 https://www.youtube.com/@wallyfilm

Like what you see? Consider supporting the filmmaker at: 

☕️ ⁠https://www.buymeacoffee.com/wallyfilm⁠

Subscribe to my newsletter:

⌨️ https://wallyfilm.substack.com/welcome

Follow what I'm watching on Letterboxd: 

📽️ ⁠https://letterboxd.com/inwidescreen/⁠

Learn more about Wally Films:

🎬 ⁠https://www.wallyfilms.com/⁠

Get tickets for River City Stories at the Red Rose and Centre County film festivals:

🎟️ Nov. 7 & 8: ⁠⁠https://redrosefilmfestival.com/⁠

🎟️ Nov. 16: ⁠https://centrefilm.org/⁠

Join us for a special crossover episode with ⁠The Biz Bruja⁠ herself, Vanessa Codorniu, as we talk about improv comedy, the art of being silly, and the joy of embracing your inner payaso.

Check us out on YouTube:

📹 https://www.youtube.com/@wallyfilm

Like what you see? Consider supporting the filmmaker at: 

☕️ ⁠https://www.buymeacoffee.com/wallyfilm⁠

Subscribe to my newsletter:

⌨️ https://wallyfilm.substack.com/welcome

Follow what I'm watching on Letterboxd: 

📽️ ⁠https://letterboxd.com/inwidescreen/⁠

Learn more about Wally Films:

🎬 https://www.wallyfilms.com/

Get tickets for River City Stories at the Red Rose and Centre County film festivals:

🎟️ Nov. 7 & 8: ⁠https://redrosefilmfestival.com/

🎟️ Nov. 16: https://centrefilm.org/

Fresh off a successful run of River City Stories (Part 2), Paul and Wally talk about the latest Spike Lee joint, Highest 2 Lowest, and various issues facing cities big and small.

Check us out on YouTube:

📹 https://www.youtube.com/@wallyfilm

Like what you see? Consider supporting the filmmaker at: 

☕️ ⁠https://www.buymeacoffee.com/wallyfilm⁠

Subscribe to my newsletter:

⌨️ https://wallyfilm.substack.com/welcome

Follow what I'm watching on Letterboxd: 

📽️ ⁠https://letterboxd.com/inwidescreen/⁠

Learn more about Wally Films:

🎬 https://www.wallyfilms.com/

Just in time for Harrisburg Fringe Festival, Paul and Wally recount some of their favorite — and perhaps less favorite — experiences making RIVER CITY STORIES as the next round of stories screens at Midtown Cinema July 17-19.

Check us out on YouTube:

📹 https://www.youtube.com/@wallyfilm

Get tickets for River City Stories and Cinderella at Harrisburg Fringe: 

🎟️ July 17-20: ⁠https://www.hbgfringe.com/tickets

Like what you see? Consider supporting the filmmaker at: 

☕️ ⁠https://www.buymeacoffee.com/wallyfilm⁠

Subscribe to my newsletter:

⌨️ https://wallyfilm.substack.com/welcome

Follow what I'm watching on Letterboxd: 

📽️ ⁠https://letterboxd.com/inwidescreen/⁠

Learn more about Wally Films:

🎬 https://www.wallyfilms.com/

Just in time for Pride, Josh and Wally recount some of their favorite LGBTQ+ themed films, ranging from Pre-Code Hollywood through modern-day classics. 

00:02:30 River City Stories and the Harrisburg Fringe Festival

00:05:41 Cinderella at Fringe

00:09:18 Mrs. Doubtfire and Robin Williams

00:13:17 Mike Nichols’ The Birdcage

00:17:56 Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope

00:24:47 Pre-Code Movies and Baby Face

00:27:56 Nightmare on Elm Street Part II

00:31:30 Sidney Lumet’s Dog Day Afternoon

00:36:35 Jamie Babbit’s But I’m a Cheerleader

00:39:23 Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight

00:43:27 The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Fake-out)

00:43:58 Hairspray and the films of John Waters

00:47:26 John Cameron Mitchell’s Hedwig and the Angry Inch

00:52:16 Reprise: Mike Nichols’ The Birdcage

00:55:13 Sean Baker’s Tangerine

00:59:37 Bury Your Gays Pick: Andrew Haigh’s All of Us Strangers

01:03:37 Bury Your Gays Pick: Tom Ford’s A Single Man

01:06:14 Queer-coded Villains: Doctor Pretorius in Bride of Frankenstein

01:07:09 Queer-coded Villains: Herbert West in Re-Animator

01:07:45 Queer-coded Villains: Joel Cairo and His Gang in The Maltese Falcon

01:08:35 Queer-coded Villains: Ursula in The Little Mermaid

Check us out on YouTube:

📹 https://www.youtube.com/@wallyfilm

Get tickets for River City Stories and Cinderella at Harrisburg Fringe: 

🎟️ July 17-20: ⁠https://www.hbgfringe.com/tickets

Like what you see? Consider supporting the filmmaker at: 

☕️ ⁠https://www.buymeacoffee.com/wallyfilm⁠

Subscribe to my newsletter:

⌨️ https://wallyfilm.substack.com/welcome

Follow what I'm watching on Letterboxd: 

📽️ ⁠https://letterboxd.com/inwidescreen/⁠

Learn more about Wally Films:

🎬 https://www.wallyfilms.com/

Join us for a special crossover episode with The Biz Bruja herself, Vanessa Codorniu, and River City Stories collaborator Paul Hood as we discuss what inspires our creativity. Along the way, we also talk about Alfred Hitchcock, Spike Lee, and what we've inherited from our ancestors.

Get tickets for River City Stories: 

🎟️ May 16 & 18: ⁠https://zoetropolis.com/movies/river-city-stories/⁠

Subscribe to my newsletter:

⌨️ https://wallyfilm.substack.com/welcome

Follow what I'm watching on Letterboxd: 

📽️ ⁠https://letterboxd.com/inwidescreen/⁠

Learn more about Wally Films:

🎬 https://www.wallyfilms.com/

🔮 ⁠https://www.thebizbruja.com/⁠

Inspired by Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, an epic vampire tale set in 1930s Mississippi, Josh and I talk about some of our favorite blood-sucking horror films of all time — everything from F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu (the O.G.) to Grace Jones’ underrated performance in Vamp.

00:49 SIR Christopher Lee and Dracula

01:43 The Man with the Golden Gun (And Three Nipples)

04:14 Creature Feature Weekend and Hacktress

04:57 Ryan Coogler’s Sinners

09:08 Robert Johnson and “Preacher Boy”

13:13 Lovers Rock meets From Dusk Till Dawn

23:20 Dracula and Nosferatu, the O.G.’s

36:58 Tomas Alfredson’s Let the Right One In

39:50 Abel Ferrara’s The Addiction

41:20 Jim Jarmusch’s Only Lovers Left Alive

45:01 Richard Wenk’s Vamp

49:45 Joel Schumacher’s Lost Boys

55:20 Josh Dorsheimer’s Cinderella at Fringe

56:15 River City Stories

Check us out on YouTube:

📹 https://www.youtube.com/@wallyfilm

Get tickets for River City Stories: 

🎟️ May 16 & 18: ⁠https://zoetropolis.com/movies/river-city-stories/⁠

Like what you see? Consider supporting the filmmaker at: 

☕️ ⁠https://www.buymeacoffee.com/wallyfilm⁠

Subscribe to my newsletter:

⌨️ https://wallyfilm.substack.com/welcome

Follow what I'm watching on Letterboxd: 

📽️ ⁠https://letterboxd.com/inwidescreen/⁠

Learn more about Wally Films:

🎬 https://www.wallyfilms.com/

River City Stories collaborator Vanessa Codorniu joins Wally to talk about the movies they watched as young people — everything from Alfonso Arau’s Like Water for Chocolate to Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo — and the lasting impressions those films left at an early age.

00:01:26 An update on River City Stories

00:06:06 Billy Elliott and Bend It Like Beckham

00:07:17 Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Biutiful

00:13:17 Alfonso Arau’s Like Water for Chocolate

00:25:39 What we inherit from our ancestors

00:31:27 Improv comedy and the power of performance

00:41:51 Solange Knowles and Cranes in the Sky

00:57:00 Roman Polanski's Chinatown

00:59:00 Luis Puenzo's The Official Story

01:03:27 Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo

01:05:40 Emotional Processing and the Myth of the Minotaur

01:06:08 John Duigan’s Wide Sargasso Sea

01:10:44 The Biz Bruja

Connect with Vanessa at The Biz Bruja:

🔮 ⁠https://www.thebizbruja.com/⁠

Get tickets for River City Stories: 

🎟️ May 16 & 18: ⁠https://zoetropolis.com/movies/river-city-stories/⁠

Like what you see? Consider supporting the filmmaker at: 

☕️ ⁠https://www.buymeacoffee.com/wallyfilm⁠

Subscribe to my newsletter:

⌨️ https://wallyfilm.substack.com/welcome

Follow what I'm watching on Letterboxd: 

📽️ ⁠https://letterboxd.com/inwidescreen/⁠

Learn more about Wally Films:

🎬 https://www.wallyfilms.com/

River City Stories collaborator Amandine Pope joins Wally for a screening of Agnès Varda's French New Wave masterpiece Cleo from 5 to 7. Along the way, they talk about the politics and culture of France, the use of psychic mediums in movies, and — of course — mortality.

00:03:13 An introduction to Agnès Varda's Cleo from 5 to 7

00:07:09 Wally's fascination with psychics

00:10:52 Amandine's brush with the occult

00:15:34 Quantum physics and the outer reaches of what we know

00:23:23 Cleo from 5 to 7 as a feminist film

00:26:11 The vagaries of language and translation

00:31:37 Teaching French to Americans

00:37:35 French culture and politics

00:49:12 Amandine's favorite French films

Learn French with Amandine:

🇫🇷 https://www.aufrenchcorner.com/

Get tickets for River City Stories: 

🎟️ May 16 & 18: https://zoetropolis.com/movies/river-city-stories/

Like what you see? Consider supporting the filmmaker at: 

☕️ https://www.buymeacoffee.com/wallyfilm

Follow what I'm watching on Letterboxd: 

📽️ https://letterboxd.com/inwidescreen/