Filmwax Radio

My guest is the director of “The Cycle of Love“, Orlando von Einsiedel.

In 1977, PK, a 23-year-old Delhi street artist from a poor, ‘untouchable’ family, set off on a 6000-mile journey with just a handful of paintbrushes and second-hand bicycle. His mission: to find Lotta, the woman whom the stars had foretold would capture his heart.

A love story like no other, “The Cycle of Love” is an inspiring, heart-warming, epic true-life adventure about believing in love against all odds, and risking everything for what your heart tells you.

My guests on this episode of Filmwax TV are filmmaker Nick Beaulieu and, returning for his 4th visit the filmmaker Doug Block (“51 Birch Street”, “The Kids Grow Up”). Doug is a producer on Nick’s directorial debut “My Omaha“.

Set in Omaha, Nebraska — where the legacies of Malcolm X, racial segregation, and political division still shape everyday life — “My Omaha” follows filmmaker Nick Beaulieu as he documents his city’s racial justice movement while attempting to reconnect with his terminally ill father Randy, a staunch Trump supporter. As activist Leo Louis II draws Nick deeper into North Omaha’s struggle and resilience, the film becomes an intimate portrait of family, race, and the uneasy search for truth inside modern America.

The film is having a special screening on Tuesday, September 29th at the Tribeca Screening Room in Tribeca. Then the film will have its broadcast premiere on PBS’ Independent Lens on October 5th.

My guests are the director Don Scardino and actors Elizabeth A. Davis & Michael O’Keefe (returning to Filmwax for his 2nd visit). Their film “A Break in the Rain” which had its world festival premiere at the Woodstock Film Festival last year, is having its NYC theatrical debut on Friday, September 25 at the Village East. Michael and Elizabeth will be present for a Q&A following the 7:10 PM screening.

Jake Watson (O’Keefe) has been on the road for ten years, since his wife died of cancer. He left the house he shared with his late wife to his son James and his young family, took his dog Cleo, and went off to try and deal with her passing. Ten years later, and his son has died of the same cancer. Jake comes home to the life he put on hold. Determined to contribute and get to know his family, he takes a job driving for a limo service, owned by his old friend Felicia. Like a horse who won’t take a saddle, he struggles with his new life, until one rainy night he picks up a Nashville singer, Catriona Walsh (Davis). They hit the road together, and his life changes again. Is he on the run, or on the mend?

Laurence Kardish is the former senior curator in the Museum of Modern Art’s Department of Film, where his career spanned more than forty years and where he organized over a thousand film exhibitions covering the history and culture of the moving image. In the mid-1960s, Kardish worked at the Film-makers’ Distribution Center with artists such as Shirley Clarke, Jonas Mekas, and Andy Warhol. He now teaches at New York’s School of Visual Arts and codirects an annual festival, FilmColumbia, in Chatham, New York. The festival this year takes place October 16—25.

Shirley Clarke (1919–1997) was an American independent filmmaker, electronic media pioneer, and teacher who resisted the norm wherever life brought her. A decade after receiving her first camera as a wedding present, Clarke launched her film career with the short Dance in the Sun (1953). Her documentary “Skyscraper” (1959) garnered an Academy Award nomination, and her first feature film, “The Connection” (1961), adapted from Jack Gelber’s off-Broadway play portraying artists with heroin addictions, sparked attention when the State of New York censored it for obscenity. While Clarke’s documentary “Robert Frost: A Lover’s Quarrel with the World” (1963) won an Oscar, she is perhaps best known for directing “Portrait of Jason” (1967), which features an interview with a gay Black man openly discussing his life as an entertainer and sex worker, his successes, and his experiences with discrimination. Until now, Clarke’s legacy has been largely pushed to history’s margins.

In “Shirley Clarke“, author Laurence Kardish presents a vivid portrait of a filmmaker whose life was often at odds with the societal expectations of a privileged woman born in twentieth-century New York City—a woman who admitted to being deeply conflicted about motherhood and who advocated for reproductive rights. Frequently allowing Clarke to speak through her diaries, this biography traces her life from birth to modern dance training, personal relationships, struggles with mental illness, video adventures on the roof of the Chelsea Hotel, and collaborations with creatives like Agnès Varda, Sam Shepard, and Ornette Coleman. Kardish offers an up-close account of a rebel who battled convention to depict the raw truth on screen, a filmmaker whose countercultural impact and innovations in diverse media deserve wider attention.

This is filmmaker Sam Green’s 2nd time on the podcast. He last visited on Episode 510 in April of 2019 with his film “A Thousand Thoughts”. He’s back with his latest documentary “The Oldest Living Person in the World” which begins a theatrical at New York City’s Anjelika Film Center this week.

“The Oldest Person in the World” is a decade-long odyssey chronicling the ever-changing record holders of the title of oldest person alive. As the title inevitably passes from one supercentenarian to the next, acclaimed filmmaker Sam Green traverses the globe to meet each new record holder, his personal fascination with what the title means becoming entangled with events and milestones in his own life. What begins as a portrait of longevity becomes a poignant meditation on the passage of time, the randomness of fate and the joy and profound human experience of being alive.

A cinematic classic meets a striking new musical vision in this special screening of “Frankenstein”, at Stissing Center in Pine Plains, NY starring Boris Karloff, featuring the world premiere of a chamber ensemble score by composer Michael Shapiro. Performed live by the Argus String Quartet with pianist Steven Beck—praised as “vivacious” by The New Yorker—this reimagined score brings new emotional depth to the film’s iconic imagery. Shapiro’s full orchestral version has already been performed by more than 80 orchestras worldwide.

The evening begins with a Q&A with Boris Karloff’s daughter, Sara Karloff.

At the heart of the score is the mirrored relationship between Henry Frankenstein and his creation. “The monster is the doppelganger of Henry Frankenstein,” Shapiro notes, a connection reflected musically in unexpected ways. Dark, driving themes underscore the doctor’s ambition, while the monster is accompanied by music that is at times gentle, haunting, and deeply sympathetic. Karloff’s portrayal—imbued with a sense of soul—feels newly illuminated through this lens.

Shapiro’s score ebbs and flows alongside the film, heightening both its terror and its humanity—from the charged electricity of creation to the quiet, tragic innocence of the monster’s brief encounters with the world.

“Boorman and the Devil” is about John Boorman’s 1977 horror film “Exorcist II: The Heretic”, which almost ended his career. Boorman, Linda Blair and Louise Fletcher are among the cast and crew interviewed in David Kittredge’s deep dive into a notorious flop.

The film has its theatrical premiere at NYC’s Quad Cinema on Friday, August 24th:

My guests on this episode are both appearing for the first time. The co-authors of a new book about the Hollywood filmmaker Jonathan Demme, Louis Black and Steve Fore.

Jonathan Demme was one of the most accomplished American film directors of his era, yet despite the scope and variety of his work, he remains under appreciated. After apprenticing with the B-movie impresario and former podcast guest Roger Corman, from whom he learned to make films cheaply and quickly, Demme rapidly rose through the Hollywood ranks while retaining his restlessly curious instincts. He directed eighteen feature films and twelve documentaries and music films, as well as numerous shorter works. Among them are critical and cult favorites such as “Something Wild,” blockbusters including “The Silence of the Lambs,” and groundbreaking performance films, notably “Stop Making Sense”

This book “The Cinema of Jonathan Demme: Champion of the Soul” offers an in-depth look at Demme’s four decades of filmmaking, tracing the core elements that unite the disparate strands of his work. Louis Black and Steve Fore argue that Demme’s films share a compassionate, emotionally generous perspective on humanity’s flaws and foibles. No matter their scale, style, or subject matter, they show an affection for and fascination with people, as individuals and in communities. Ranging from low-budget productions to the pinnacle of Hollywood success, this book highlights the humanist sensibility, artistic ambitions, keen social criticism, and wry humor that are hallmarks of Demme’s work. Lively and comprehensive, The Cinema of Jonathan Demme offers a new lens on a major director.

About the Authors

Louis Black was the longtime editor of the Austin Chronicle and a cofounder of South by Southwest. A film critic and historian, he has participated in the restoration and rerelease of classic Texas independent films, including Eagle Pennell’s “The Whole Shootin’ Match”. Steve Fore is retired from the School of Creative Media at the City University of Hong Kong. He previously taught at the University of North Texas, Ohio University, and the University of Texas.

Darren Devivo joined WFUV in September 1983, making his on-air debut on February 26, 1984. In January 1991, following WFUV’s transition to a non-commercial public radio station, he was hired as the station’s first weekday afternoon drive show host/DJ. From that point, he occupied all weekday air shifts – including morning drive, middays, afternoon drive, evenings and late nights. Darren has nearly 42 years of experience hosting these air shifts that were part of WFUV’s regular daily programming. During those years he conducted hundreds of artist interviews, emceed countless concerts and other live events, hosted many on air “specialty” shows – including his own album spotlight show in the 1990s – and more. He was the station’s assistant music director for a short span, as well as the music promotions director. I also wrote the station’s weekly “New Dig” (WFUV’s new album of the week) album overview that was published on wfuv.org.

Darren currently hosts “Noises From The Valley” on the Hudson based radio station WKZE on Fridays from 7 — 11PM. By way of full disclosure, Filmwax Radio host Adam Schartoff is the Director of Operations at the same station.

The author and filmmaker Rustin Thompson makes his first appearance on the podcast. His new documentary “The Last Picture Shows” will be premiering at the Village East in NYC as of August 7th and in LA on August 21st.

In “The Last Picture Shows”, director Thompson travels through the rural West’s ‘cinema deserts,’ where a single-screen theater may be the only movie house for miles. Expecting to find a pattern of abandonment and extinction, Thompson instead discovered theater owners and communities fighting to keep these cultural landmarks alive. The film follows the people preserving the moviegoing experience in their communities against the odds. The Last Picture Shows is ultimately a story of resilience and community.