Fandor Festival Podcast

During his teenage years, Lustig avidly watched a huge volume of lowdown trashy exploitation fare at numerous 42nd Street grindhouse theaters in Manhattan and also worked as a movie theater usher in Fort Lee, New Jersey. After graduating from high school, he took a few film classes at New York University.

In 1980, Lustig found himself at the center of a storm of controversy when he made the grim, gory and disturbing slasher sleaze splatter landmark "Maniac," which boasts an incredibly intense performance by the legendary character actor Joe Spinell as a vicious depraved psychopath and plenty of hideously graphic and gruesome make-up effects by genre icon Tom Savini. In 1982, Lustig followed up "Maniac" with the tough, gritty and exciting New York urban revenge opus "Vigilante." In 1988, he delivered another winner with the terrific "Maniac Cop," a violent horror action flick about an undead New York police officer on a killing spree which was the first of several cinematic collaborations with fellow maverick independent filmmaker Larry Cohen.

Lustig followed up with the 1989 stirring action item "Hit List" and the suspenseful serial killer thriller "Relentless," starring Judd Nelson and Robert Loggia. In 1990, Lustig made the favorite of his films, “Maniac Cop 2,” which many consider superior to the popular original. Lustig's last film as a director to date was the nifty and enjoyable 1996 fright flick "Uncle Sam." Recently Lustig produced the well-received remake of “Maniac” starring Elijah Wood, and is now producing the reboot of “Maniac Cop.”

Since 1997, William Lustig went on to initially produce DVDs for Anchor Bay and now currently runs the outstanding home entertainment label Blue Underground, which restores and re-releases popular and little seen cult movies and other grindhouse horror, thriller, action, and western films.

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The team sits down for a discussion with Mark Mills, as part of the Sonoma Valley Authors Festival.

Mark P. Mills is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a faculty fellow at Northwestern University’s McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science where he co-directs the Institute on Manufacturing Science and Innovation. He is also a strategic partner with Montrose Lane, an energy-tech fund focused on software.

His new book, The Cloud Revolution: How the Convergence of New Technologies Will Unleash the Next Economic Boom and a Roaring 2020s, has risen to #1 in Amazon’s business planning and forecasting rankings. In the book, Mills presents a convincing vision of a coming era of economic prosperity fueled by today’s radical advances in technology, data, and the Cloud. He explains how digital acceleration is changing the value of the physical economy and lays out a common-sense argument for optimism in our ability to grow and innovate, drawing comparisons with the tech revolution that drove the economic expansion of the 20th century and the widespread adoption of telephony, cars, power plants, and plastics.

Mills’ previous books include Digital Cathedrals: The Information Infrastructure Era, and Work In The Age Of Robots, as well as The Bottomless, co-authored with Peter Huber, about which Bill Gates said: “This is the only book I’ve ever seen that really explains energy.”

Mills cofounded Digital Power Capital, which invested in emerging technologies. He has been a technology advisor for Bank of America Securities, and was a director for a preeminent engineering firm that designed power systems for global datacenters. He has testified numerous times before Congress on energy and technology matters.

Early in his career, Mills worked in the White House Science Office under President Reagan and provided science and technology policy counsel to numerous private-sector firms, the Department of Energy, and U.S. research laboratories. Prior to that, Mills was an experimental physicist and development engineer in microprocessors and fiber optics, earning several patents for his work.

Mills holds a degree in physics from Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada.

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The team sits down with the one and only, Roger Love!

Roger Love is recognized as one of the world’s leading authorities on voice. No other vocal coach in history has been more commercially successful in both the speaking and singing fields. Roger has vocally produced more than 150-million-unit sales worldwide and written three top-selling books. Roger coaches singers such as John Mayer and Selena Gomez, as well as speakers like Anthony Robbins, and actors including Brad Pitt, Reese Witherspoon, Zoe Saldana, Keira Knightly, and Bradley Cooper.

If you would like to take advantage of Roger's generous $50 gift for his coaching services, please go to rogerlove.com/winner

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The team sits down with Nikki Erlick, as part of the Sonoma Valley Authors Festival. Nikki's book debuted #6 on the NY Times Best Seller list.

Nikki Erlick is a journalist and travel writer whose work has appeared online with New York Magazine, Harper’s Bazaar, Newsweek, Cosmopolitan, Indagare Travel, The Huffington Post, and Vox.

Erlick’s eagerly anticipated debut novel, The Measure, will be published by HarperCollins in June 2022. Equally charming and thought-provoking, The Measure explores a philosophical question – “what if everybody on earth knew exactly how long they had left to live?” – with compassion and pragmatism, examining how the implications might trickle down into every area of modern life.

Of her inspiration for writing The Measure, Erlick says: “During this past year of tremendous pain and upheaval, I found myself reflecting on the ways in which we measure our own lives and success and happiness, the way we measure the value of others, and the way we measure a society as a whole. All of these thoughts poured into this story of a world that so closely resembles ours—but with one powerful, poignant twist. As someone who has always turned to literature for comfort and guidance, I am in awe of so many authors whose works have inspired such deep empathy within me, and my greatest wish is that this story might accomplish the same.”

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The team sits down with Rebecca Halpern, Director of "Love, Charlie: The Rise and Fall of Chef Charlie Trotter."

Rebecca Halpern

From true crime and social justice docuseries that affect real world change to epic feature documentaries rooted in history and the arts and culture, Rebecca's work evokes emotion, and enlightens and empowers audiences. LOVE, CHARLIE marks Rebecca's directorial debut. Most recently, Rebecca wrote and produced a forthcoming feature documentary with the SpringHill Company. Prior to that, she served as the Co-Executive Producer of "Helter Skelter," a six-part documentary series about Charles Manson for Epix network from Executive Producer Greg Berlanti and Director Lesley Chilcott. Rebecca earned both her Bachelor's and Master's Degrees from Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, where she also played on the varsity women's gold team. Rebecca also sits on the Board of Directors of FACETS in Chicago, and she mentors student athletes through Northwestern University's IMAP program.

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The team sits down to get the scoop on new film, "Traveling Light". Featured in this interview is Bernard Rose, Director and Writer, and Danny Huston, who plays "Harry" in the film.

Traveling Light tells the story of Caddy (Tony Todd) over a twenty four hour period on May 30th 2020 as he searches for his missing son who has been living on the streets, while working as an Uber/Delivery driver during the early days of the Pandemic in Los Angeles. His path crosses Harry (Danny Huston), a cult leader who is holding a bizarre happening/ceremony up on Mulholland drive where Todd (Stephen Dorff) and Mary (Olivia d'Abo) are attending as acolytes. All the while news of the horrific murder of George Floyd reverberates around the city as the social fabric collapses and we realize we are witnessing the end of an era... Funny and frightening in equal measure, Traveling Light is a Bunuelian satire of bourgeoisie life in Los Angeles at a moment of extreme crisis. Directed by Bernard Rose (Candyman 1992).

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Bernard Rose was born on 4th August 1960, in London, England, and began his career by making Super 8 films at the age of 9. The BBC held an amateur movie competition which he won in 1975. He attended The National Film and Television School in Beaconsfield, England, graduating in 1982 with a Master's in Filmmaking and first began directing music videos in the early days of MTV for artists such as UB40, Frankie goes to Hollywood, Roy Orbison, and Roger Waters. He then worked for the BBC, directing TV films before he directed "Paperhouse" and "Chicago Joe and The Showgirl." He gained American attention when he wrote and directed his 1992 cult horror film classic "Candyman."

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Danny Huston is an Award-winning actor, writer and director known for his versatility and dramatic screen presence. Most recognized for his roles in films like Martin Scorsese's The Aviator, Alfonso Cuaron's Children of Men and Alejandro Inarritu's 21 Grams, Huston has worked with some of the finest film directors of his generation. Huston got his start directing Mr. North with Robert Mitchum, Anthony Edwards and his sister Anjelica Huston. He went on to give his breakthrough acting performance in the independent film Ivansxtc for which he was nominated for Best Male Performance at the 2003 Independent Spirit Awards.

In 2013, his critically acclaimed role of Ben the butcher in Magic City (STARZ), earned him a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television. His other television acting work includes the hit television series Masters Of Sex (Showtime), a recurring role in the hugely popular American Horror Story (FX), and performances in You Don't Know Jack (HBO)with Al Pacino and John Adams (HBO/Playtone).

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Georgette Angelos: 

Born in South Florida, Georgette moved to Los Angeles to pursue her love of photography. Working as the house photographer for Silverback Music Management Label, she was soon led to her career in the film industry. She transitioned between assistant directing and associate producing for music videos, commercials and short films presenting the opportunity to work with brands such as Adidas, WWE, GQ, Audi and NFL Films before settling into her position as Senior Producer and overall Head of Video Production for Snoop Dogg’s company, MERRY JANE, from 2014 to 2016. Georgette is an Executive Producer at G2C Productions, most recently the Executive Producer of Boston George: Famous Without the Fortune.  

Chris Chesson:  

In 2008, Chris left a successful small business in South Louisiana to pursue a new venture in production. Currently he owns 2 Marketing/Digital Content Agencies in Colorado and has created viral campaigns for businesses coast to coast. In the last 10 years, his production career has encompassed virtually all formats of film and video content creation. As a hands-on executive producer, he is deeply engaged in the technical aspects of both the physical and creative aspects of production, from development through delivery. His passion is to create. Chris is an Executive Producer at G2C Productions, most recently the Executive Producer of Boston George: Famous Without the Fortune.  

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The once peaceful and booming Yellowstone City has fallen on hard times, but when a local prospector strikes gold, things seem to be turning around. Any hope is soon shattered when the prospector is found dead and the Sheriff quickly arrests a mysterious newcomer. But nothing is so simple in this sleepy western town, and more than a few of the locals have secrets to keep and reasons to kill. As the brutal murders continue, pitting neighbor against neighbor,Yellowstone City goes down a bloody path to a final showdown that not all will survive.

Richard Gray - Director Statement

After scouting almost every western town / back lot in North America, we built Yellowstone

City from scratch in Montana. It took over two years, with many Covid delays, but that gave us time to think about every scene, every beat, the weather — the look of each season. Watch the town grow from the ground up. The area we built in (Paradise Valley) was called Yellowstone City in the 1850s, and now it’s back.

I was so excited reading the screenplay. Eric did such a fabulous job. Murder mystery westerns are rare, that was super cool and original, but there is still such a classic western here and that’s what really impressed me. At its heart we’re dealing with fascinating characters, with major decisions to make. We’re dealing with social injustice, and what folks are prepared to do in seeking the truth. What are they prepared to do for true justice? They risk their lives, they lose their lives — our heroes ultimately aren’t prepared to stay silent, and that’s what makes this film tick. There are themes, moments and truths that are incredibly relevant, then and now.

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Sleeze Lake comes exclusively to Fandor on June 28. In the 1970s, the custom van craze was sweeping America. Van clubs began to form all over the country. In Chicago, one of the wildest to ever exist came into creation: Midwest Vans Ltd. On Memorial Day Weekend in 1977, these blue collar outcasts set out to throw a gonzo party and built their own personal van utopia around a small farm pond. They erected a ramshackle resort town and called it “Sleeze Lake." When over 20,000 people showed up to the party, all bets were off!

Sleeze Lake co-directors Andrew J. Morgan and Nick Nummerdor are lifelong friends and filmmakers. Based in Chicago, they run Little Cabin Films and having been making films since their days of videotaping themselves skateboarding in West Michigan.

Andrew is a director, cinematographer, and editor. He most recently co-directed Sleeze Lake and acted as a director of photography for shadow puppetry material in the 2021 horror reboot of Candyman.

Nick Nummerdor is a director, producer, and editor. His producing credits include the Netflix documentary Hannibal Take Edinburgh as well as the recent documentary release Skate or Die. His work as a director and editor include feature length and short documentaries.

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The team sits down with Director, Alberto Belli, and Writer/Star, Jim Mahoney from film, GATLOPP. 

A group of old friends reunites for a nostalgic evening of fun and games after a decade apart. After one too many, they decide to play a drinking game, but it’s quickly revealed that this game comes with supernatural stakes. Mischief leads to mayhem, and the group realizes that if they can’t come together to win the game by sunrise, they will be forced to play for eternity — in hell. Starring Jim Mahoney, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Jon Bass, and Sarunas J. Jackson; releasing June 23, 2022.

Director Statement:

GATLOPP started when Jim Mahoney (the writer and a dear friend) told me the story of an unforgettable night he had playing a drinking game with estranged friends and how it brought them back together. He had this great idea that the experience could be turned into a movie by giving the game supernatural powers--I was immediately hooked! We started developing it together and two years later, Jim crafted a hilarious script that felt fresh and modern yet held a nostalgic tone. As a director who is influenced by the 80s/90 saction/adventure movies, like Goonies, Gremlins, and Indiana Jones, the script was a dream to direct. It captured the essence of those entertaining movies by having relatable characters mixed with fantastical set pieces and big laughs. The craziest thing? The story all happens inside a house! — Alberto Belli

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