Live! From the Vidéothèque

Sam is joined by Facets own T.J. Watson to talk about the surprisingly relevant documentary, Labor Stories (1975), a Facets release produced by Kartemquin Films.

Facets’ volunteer and digital acquisitions assistant T.J. Watson talks activism. The topic is Labor Stories, a series of under seen of documentaries about unions. T.J. shares some of his own experiences organizing and protesting on behalf of workers’ unions and describes the modern landscape. This issue has become particularly important in light of recent Supreme Court rulings. They also talk about Idaho for a bit. For more information, check out the following links:

Labor Stories (1975) directed by Judy Hoffman, Sharon Karp, Gordon Quinn, Jerry Blumenthal, and Peter Kuttner

Kartemquin Films

Janus v. AFSCME

Z (1969) directed by Costa-Gavras

Hoop Dreams (1994) directed by Steve James

Host: Sam Lounsbury is Facets’ official floater, has worked for the organization in one capacity or another since he moved to Chicago in 2015. He can be found sitting silently in any of the theaters or yelling at one of his fellow staff members about cinema in general.

Guest: T. J. Watson brings a background in film theory and criticism to Facets label releases. His main area of focus is on cult and exploitation films, as well as other genres traditionally seen as unworthy of attention.

Head out of the Vidéothèque and into a friend’s basement, another good spot to talk film. This time the conversation veers toward one of the most influential European directors in the American film tradition.

Matt meets up with a friend and occasional projectionist to wax a eulogy for Milos Forman. Forman was the rare pioneer of two New Wave movements, first the Czech New Wave as a young director and as an established filmmaker he revolutionized the American New Wave as well. Follow along through Forman’s work from Loves of a Blonde (1965) to Valmont (1989) and today:

Madea’s Family Reunion (2006) directed by Tyler Perry

Medea (1987) directed by Lars von Trier

Dancer in the Dark (2000) directed by Lars von Trier

The Five Obstructions (2004) directed by Lars von Trier

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) directed by Milos Forman

Taking Off (1971) directed by Milos Forman

Academy Award winner Bobo Bates

Easy Rider (1969) directed by Dennis Hopper

Jonah Who Will Be 25 in the Year 2000 (1976) directed by Alain Tanner

Black Peter (1964) directed by Milos Forman

Fireman’s Ball (1967) directed by Milos Forman

Amadeus (1984) directed by Milos Forman

Man on the Moon (1999) directed by Milos Forman

People vs. Larry Flynt (1996) directed by Milos Forman

Hair (1979) directed by Milos Forman

Host: Matt Silcock has worked at Facets for a very long time as shipping and receiving manager and as co-manager of the Vidéothèque. He doesn’t watch as much film as he’d like to, but he thinks about them all the time.

Guest: Bruce Neal is a sometimes fixture at Facets, but was also co-founder of the performance art group The Dol Furies. His work and documentaries have been featured on NPR, PBS, and HBO as well as won awards at the Orlando Latino Film Festival.

Sam and Peter talk about a master of the old school from the period of New Hollywood.

Sam is joined by Peter Hogenson to talk about filmmaker and sometime Nick Nolte impersonator, Paul Schrader seen here lamenting about the state of film in his characteristic cranky voice. They also talk about his theory about the transcendental style in the modern cinema landscape. They start off with an Indie Wire article discussing Schrader’s new introduction to his book. From there the conversation touches on the following:

Easy Riders, Raging Bulls (2003) directed by Kenneth Bowser

Taxi Driver (1976) directed by Martin Scorsese

First Reformed (2017) directed by Paul Schrader

The Canyons directed by Paul Schrader

Stan Brakhage

Empire (1965) directed by Andy Warhol

Gus Van Sant

Andrei Tarkovsky

Yasujiro Ozu

Carl Dryer

Robert Bresson

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971) directed by Mel Stuart

And introducing David Lynch, an up and coming filmmaker from Missoula, Montana.

Host: Sam Lounsbury is Facets’ official floater, has worked for the organization in one capacity or another since he moved to Chicago in 2015. He can be found sitting silently in any of the theaters or yelling at one of his fellow staff members about cinema in general.

Guest: Peter Hogenson has been writing about film for ten years, most recently as a student at the University of Minnesota and as the marketing production assistant at Facets.

This week we explore the underground film scene, get to know what transgressive cinema is like today, and reflect on the virtues of the VHS format.

The Chicago Underground Film Festival, or CUFF, is in it’s 25th year, programmer and director Bryan Wendorf waxes nostalgic about the genesis of the underground film scene with Matt and Sam. CUFF was hatched in a video store in 1993 around the same time a generation of rebellious filmmakers were settling into loosely formed movements. The conversation becomes an important history lesson about how something called a VHS changed what the public can see and what festivals can show.

Below you can find the relevant information on the underground scene:

Mod Fuck Explosion (1994) directed by Jon Moritsugu

Richard Kern

Pink Flamingos (1972) directed by John Waters

Quimby’s Bookstore is an indie book store in Wicker Park.

Nick Zedd

The Brown Bunny (2004) directed by Vincent Gallo

The Last Exorcism (2010) directed by Daniel Stamm written by Huck Botko

Eraserhead (1977) directed by new commer David Lynch

Terminal USA (1993) directed by Jon Moritsugu

Scumrock (2002) directed by Jon Moritsugu

Watch the trailer for Ape Sodom (2016) directed by Maxwell McCabe-Loko

Craig Baldwin

The Chicago Underground Film Festival takes place June 6 to June 10, 2018

Host: Matt Silcock has worked at Facets for a very long time as shipping and receiving manager and as co-manager of the Vidéothèque. He doesn’t watch as much film as he’d like to, but he thinks about them all the time.

Host: Sam Lounsbury, Facets’ official floater, has worked for the organization in one capacity or another since he moved to Chicago in 2015. He can be found sitting silently in any of the theaters or yelling at one of his fellow staff members about cinema in general. You can follow Sam on Twitter @ItsLounsbury.

Guest: Bryan Wendorf is the programmer and director of the Chicago Underground Film Festival. Since 1993 the festival has been reactionary to the exclusivity of the “indie” and the mainstream and introduced the public to the international scene of the adventurous and the new in cinema.

Matt is on a trip with his family when he discovers an unlikely family secret.

What are the odds that all the fans of the always tepidly received 2005 adaptation of the Roald Dahl classic, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, would come from one family? Matt Silcock investigates while on vacation in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California.

Some important notes from Matt and his wife include:

Grease (1978) directed by Randal Kleiser

Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1992) directed by James Cameron

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971) directed by Mel Stewart

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) directed by Tim Burton

Tim Burton

Gene Wilder

Johnny Depp

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) directed by Gore Verbinski

Dead Man (1996) directed by Jim Jarmusch

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) directed by Terry Gilliam

Host: Matt Silcock has worked at Facets for a very long time as shipping and receiving manager and as co-manager of the Vidéothèque. He doesn’t watch as much film as he’d like to, but he thinks about them all the time.

Guests: Matt’s family.

Inspired by a recent theatrical release, Sam invites Facets’ marketing intern Emma Greenleaf to discuss the challenging work of the Scottish filmmaker.

Discovering that they both saw You Were Never Really Here, Sam and Emma use it excuse to watch the work of Lynne Ramsay, thinking it would lead to a fun discussion. After doing so they both find out that instead of the word “fun” they should have said “relentlessly depressing”.

Show notes:

Gummo (1997) directed by Harmony Korine

Ratcatcher (1999) directed by Lynne Ramsay

Morvern Callar (2002) directed by Lynne Ramsay

We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011) directed by Lynne Ramsay

You Were Never Really Here (2018) directed by Lynne Ramsay

American Honey (2016) directed by Andrea Arnold

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017) directed by Martin McDonagh

Taxi Driver (1976) directed by Martin Scorsese

Host: Sam Lounsbury is Facets’ official floater, has worked for the organization in one capacity or another since he moved to Chicago in 2015. He can be found sitting silently in any of the theaters or yelling at one of his fellow staff members about cinema in general.

Guest: Emma Greenleaf spends all of her time watching, writing, and thinking about films. She’s currently getting her degree in Media and Cinema studies at DePaul University and works as the Social Media Intern at Facets.

Matt walks through films by director Mikhail Kalatozov and cinematographer Sergey Urusevskiy. While waxing philosophical about Westerns and the inner landscapes of emotion, Sam treats listeners to a Werner Herzog impression.

Matt has a love for landscape films in general but he may have discovered a new favorite. Letter Never Sent (1959) is a recent discovery of his in the Vidéothèque library which he shares with Sam. The third and last of this director and cinematographer collaborations was I Am Cuba, which was clearly seen by at least one renowned contemporary American filmmaker.

Some further references:

Letter Never Sent (1959) directed by Mikhail Kalatozov

The Cranes Are Flying (1957) directed by Mikhail Kalatozov

I Am Cuba (1964) directed by Mikhail Kalatozov

Boogie Nights (1997) directed by Paul Thomas Anderson

There Will Be Blood (2007) directed by Paul Thomas Anderson

No Country for Old Men (2007) directed by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

Cinema as Poetry: Kalatozov & Urusevsky film about the filmmakers.

Host: Matt Silcock has worked at Facets for a very long time as shipping and receiving manager and as co-manager of the Vidéothèque. He doesn’t watch as much film as he’d like to, but he thinks about them all the time.

Host: Sam Lounsbury, Facets’ official floater, has worked for the organization in one capacity or another since he moved to Chicago in 2015. He can be found sitting silently in any of the theaters or yelling at one of his fellow staff members about cinema in general. You can follow Sam on Twitter @ItsLounsbury.

Jumping off topics discussed in “Episode #6: The Annihilation Episode”, Matt goes deeper on why he thinks book-to-film adaptations cause problems, except when they don’t.

Using Sam as a sounding board, Matt works through some long-brewing thoughts about why he is usually disappointed by book-to-film adaptations.  Several examples are discussed, some of which actually aren’t disappointing, because art is a tricky thing and nothing is absolute in this crazy world.

Some further references:

Annihilation (2018) directed by Alex Garland

The Godfather (1972) directed by Francis Ford Coppola

Moby Dick (1956) directed by John Huston

The Avengers (2012) directed by Joss Whedon

Watchmen (2009) directed by Zack Snyder

Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)directed by Peter Jackson

Inherent Vice (2014) directed by Paul Thomas Anderson

WTF Podcast with Paul Thomas Anderson

Ulysses (1967) directed by Joseph Strick

Adaptation (2002) directed by Spike Jonze

The Shining (1980) directed by Stanley Kubrick

Maximum Overdrive (1986) directed by Steven King

Host: Matt Silcock has worked at Facets for a very long time as shipping and receiving manager and as co-manager of the Vidéothèque. He doesn’t watch as much film as he’d like to, but he thinks about them all the time.

Host: Sam Lounsbury, Facets’ official floater, has worked for the organization in one capacity or another since he moved to Chicago in 2015. He can be found sitting silently in any of the theaters or yelling at one of his fellow staff members about cinema in general. You can follow Sam on Twitter @ItsLounsbury.

Sam is both puzzled and haunted by his weekend viewing of director Alex Garland’s newest film, Annihilation(2018).

Sam tells Matt about Alex Garland’s puzzling, challenging, and somewhat terrifying adaptation of Jeff VanderMeer’s novel, Annihilation (insert scary bear reference here). This leads to further musings about book-to-screen adaptations. Harry Potter fans enter at your own risk, you might not like what you hear.

Some further references:

Annihilation (2014) written by Jeff VanderMeer

Stalker (1979) directed by Andrei Tarkovsky

Ex Machina (2015) directed by Alex Garland

Sunshine (2007) directed by Danny Boyle and written by Alex Garland

28 Days Later (2003) directed by Danny Boyle and written by Alex Garland

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001) directed by Chris Columbus

Host: Matt Silcock has worked at Facets for a very long time as shipping and receiving manager and as co-manager of the Vidéothèque. He doesn’t watch as much film as he’d like to, but he thinks about them all the time.

Host: Sam Lounsbury, Facets’ official floater, has worked for the organization in one capacity or another since he moved to Chicago in 2015. He can be found sitting silently in any of the theaters or yelling at one of his fellow staff members about cinema in general. You can follow Sam on Twitter @ItsLounsbury .

Sam and Matt go into in-depth discussions about Netflix’s shows, movies, their future and their recent feature, Will Smith’s Bright (2017).

Netflix has become a massive hit over the years with many successes such as Marvel’s series, Stranger Things (2016), and 13 Reasons Why (2017). Their platform has become so large that they have decided to move onto their own original movies. But, is this move the right one? Are their films as successful as their shows? What’s next with Netflix?

Bright was released by Netflix in December of 2017 and though it garnered the eyes of millions, the reviews underscored that it did not do well with audiences.

Sam and Matt look into the film and why it didn’t do as well as it could have, as well as what the future holds for Netflix and their other films. Additionally, in the light of releases like Bright, Matt and Sam consider the places and spaces where audiences see good films and what makes those places important.

Host:Matt Silcock has worked at Facets for a very long time as shipping and receiving manager and as co-manager of the Vidéothèque. He doesn’t watch as much film as he’d like to, but he thinks about them all the time.

Host: Sam Lounsbury, Facets’ official floater, has worked for the organization in one capacity or another since he moved to Chicago in 2015. He can be found sitting silently in any of the theaters or yelling at one of his fellow staff members about cinema in general.