Host Christopher Funderburg is joined by his old friend Adam Leon to discuss Leon’s new film Italian Studies. Starring Vanesse Kirby (The Queen, Mission Impossible: Fallout, Pieces of a Woman), the film follows an author who suffers a psychotic break and wanders Manhattan, joining up with a group of random teenagers in attempt to take ahold of herself and her identity once again.

The discussion touches on Leon’s sudden success with the SxSW-winning, Cannes-selected Gimme the Loot, the weird intersection of success and failure that came with his follow-up film Tramps, and the risks of making a film that you know will be divisive like Italian Studies. Leon talks about the process of working with an actress like Kirby on a somewhat experimental film, how he found the film’s teenager actors, and why his film’s titles are always awful.

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Intro music: Unleash the Bastards / “Tea for Two”

Outro music: Marcus Pinn / “Vegas"