Finding the joy in unfettered creativity. A podcast dedicated to bringing awareness and context to movies of any budget, from anywhere, and during any time.

In Episode 19 I am joined by Special Features Producer extraordinaire, Claudia Pretelin!

Claudia is a fascinating person. She is an international art curator, has worked with some very innovative contemporary artists such as Gary Baseman, and approaches disc production through the lens of wanting to know everything about the movie she just watched.

I really enjoyed this interview, and I'm proud to share with everyone that gets to hear from one of the most recent impressive people VS has brought onto their team.

I am trying hard to secure 2 more episodes in May including the biggest VS fan in the Nordics and an encyclopedia of exploitation. I hope to have these two up in special episodes around the Halfway to Black Friday sale.

Thank you for those who continue to listen and please let me know how I can make this better!

https://instrumentsofmemory.com/tag/claudia-pretelin/

Finding the joy in unfettered creativity. A podcast dedicated to bringing awareness and context to movies of any budget, from anywhere, and during any time.

In Episode 18 I am joined by Oscar Becher, Archivist and Vault Manager at Vinegar Syndrome. We discuss around half of the May announcements that are part of the halfway to black friday flash pre-order, discuss why these were all ambitious projects for different reasons, and get to hear Oscar's passion for his first official producer credit.

Ross Snyder from Saturn's Core comes on next and gives us some insight into what drives him and why he is so excited to release You Are Alone on his label.

15 Minutes With You is back for the third episode in a row as Celeste gets us almost current with the Mélusine titles from 2025.

Coming up next, I am trying hard to secure 3 more episodes in May including the biggest VS fan in the Nordics, an encyclopedia of exploitation, and a VS employee who would be doing her first interview since she joined full time.

Thank you for those who continue to listen and please let me know how I can make this better!

Finding the joy in unfettered creativity. A podcast dedicated to bringing awareness and context to movies of any budget, from anywhere, and during any time.

In Episode 17, Eli is back! to cover March releases with me and more Melusine titles with Celeste. We are lucky to get an extended session with Celeste that catches us up all the way to last months Melusine titles.

And not to bury the lede, but I am thrilled to also be able to sit down with Ryan Kruger, an extremely prolific music video and shorts director internationally who has recently been given the opportunity to dip into features. We discuss Fried Barry as well as his VSP release of the Street Trash reimagining. He was humble and came across as just another film geek, I really loved the discussion. Thank you Ryan!

Coming up in May we have an OCN partner discussion with one of the worlds leading SOV authorities and mid month we are close to finalizing time with one of the VS team members that has not given an interview as part of the VS family.

Thank you for those who continue to listen and please let me know how I can make this better!

Finding the joy in unfettered creativity. A podcast dedicated to bringing awareness and context to movies of any budget, from anywhere, and during any time.

In Episode 16 I am joined by Kurtis Spieler, restoration specialist at Vinegar Syndrome. We discuss the April titles, Vinegar Syndrome's 500th release, and get a glimpse into how many hours are put into an excellent restoration.

Celeste de la Cabra is also back to discuss the hardcore titles in her recurring segment. If timing works out we'll be lucky enough to have her twice this month so fingers crossed.

Coming up next I hope we're able to secure time with a gooey, splooshy director that helmed one of the recent controversial VSP releases.

Thank you for those who continue to listen and please let me know how I can make this better!

Finding the joy in unfettered creativity. A podcast dedicated to bringing awareness and context to movies of any budget, from anywhere, and during any time.

In Episode 15 I am joined by Ewan Cant, the Associate Director of content, acquisition, and licensing at Vinegar Syndrome. We discuss the underrated February releases and spend a good amount of time talking about Ewan's love for unique slashers.

Before working at VS, Ewan worked at Arrow in a similar role. He is the producer behind iconic releases throughout his whole career, and at VS recently has put out Iced, Blood Tracks, Ghost Dance, and Mother's Day.

Coming up next we see the return of our very first guest, the manager of media and special features at Vinegar Syndrome.

Thank you for those who continue to listen and please let me know how I can make this better!

Finding the joy in unfettered creativity. A podcast dedicated to bringing awareness and context to movies of any budget, from anywhere, and during any time.

In Episode 14 we cover the announcements from March 1st along with one of the absolute legends of critical thinking and special feature work around Italian cinema, Eugenio Ercolani.

Eugenio has established himself within Vinegar Syndrome as an Italian expert and produces the special features for entire releases on several of their recent films. He has four movies that he has helped produce in March so it was perfect timing to have him on to help me go through all of the new releases.

In the episode we cover a wide range of topics from Fernando di Leo to Federico Fellini to the interrelationship between genre and arthouse cinema in Italy. It's a history lesson, a dive into the culture of Italy around the time these movies were produced, and amazing insights from someone who not only studies Italian cinema but lived it and has been around it his entire life.

Mid month we will review the February releases with another one of the key producers from Vinegar Syndrome. It will be a first time guest on Punk Vacation and it is also one of the world leading experts on slashers. Thank you for those who continue to listen and please let me know how I can make this better!

Finding the joy in unfettered creativity. A podcast dedicated to bringing awareness and context to movies of any budget, from anywhere, and during any time.

In Episode 13 we mix it up a little bit and bring the hardcore titles front and center in a 90-minute segment with co-host Celeste de la Cabra and adult film expert, writer, and curator Eli Olsberg. We (but mostly they) cover the porn titles from November and December as well as a handy starter guide to dipping your toes into the Vinegar Syndrome adult film waters.

From there Eli and I cover most of the January releases in depth, and spend longer than we should gushing about what a pleasant surprise Deranged was. It's really good.

The first half of the year is already shaping up nicely with some Vinegar Syndrome employees who are coming on in April and May and some special feature experts lining up in between.

Thank you to anyone who listens to even five minutes of this. It means a lot and please don't be shy to tell me if there's something more / less / different you want to see.

Finding the joy in unfettered creativity. A podcast dedicated to bringing awareness and context to movies of any budget, from anywhere, and during any time.

In Episode 12 we cover the announcements from February 1st. The episode covers two lifetime TV directors that made a memorable splash with their feature films. It also covers an absolute stone cold genre legend who is getting one of his two cannibal films out. Between Cannibal! the Musical and the one this month it is cannibal season at VS.

Outside of the main line we see two Cinematographe releases that are both female directed and written movies about navigating sexual awakenings. And a Jodorowsky-lite director from Mexico getting a stunning release of one of his classic films.

Not to be outdone, the OCN releases this month are stellar. Abel Ferrara, Tsai Ming-liang, Tai Kato, Radu Jude, on and on with movies that would sell out at any arthouse theater.
Ryan and Jeremy are back with a quick hitting merch mates segment, and convincing Holly is back in rotation this month.

Looking forward to getting guests back in the booth on the 15th where we will have a Valentine's special. Thank you for those who continue to listen and please let me know how I can make this better!

Finding the joy in unfettered creativity. A podcast dedicated to bringing awareness and context to movies of any budget, from anywhere, and during any time.

In Episode 11 we meet Sam. That's the only name you need. Like Emanuelle or Madonna, Sam is a force in entertainment and most recently the genre film community. He's toured as a musician, done a good amount of voiceover work, has interviewed some amazing filmmakers in his own work, has been on a growing number of commentaries, has a podcast and a videocast, and is a like-minded personality so I knew I needed to get him on the kickoff 2025. Most of his work is centered through his branding of bandsaboutmovies. I'll link below.

Sam's energy for Vinegar Syndrome is infectious. He loves underseen or underappreciated movies and is a firm believer that every completed movie is a miracle. We talk about the Black Friday releases for VS Mainline and every Sublabel including the April Fools Day surprise.

It's a longer episode, but if you listen to Sam you'll understand why. We wrestle with the why behind the appeal of Vinegar Syndrome, where they are headed as a company, and what draws us to movies in the first place.

Starting on Feb 1 we'll get back to the usual schedule and mid February I hope to have a special porn-themed Valentine's Day episode with a guest I'm very excited about. Thank you for those who continue to listen and please let me know how I can make this better!

https://bandsaboutmovies.com/

We did it y'all. 10 episodes in and we're still growing solidly with each one. Thank you to everyone who has listened to any of the episodes, and please seek me out if you've listened to all of them so I can thank you personally.

We wouldn't look this good without the amazing art of Adam Danbury (https://www.adamdanbury.com/film). We wouldn't sound this good without the regular segments from Celeste de la Cabra discussing the hardcore titles and Ryan and Jeremy wading through the merch jungle. And a special shoutout to Holly who inspired the convincing Holly segment.

For the final episode of 2024 I thought we would mix it up a little bit and throw a whole ass interview in the middle. I was toying with the idea, but when schedules worked out to record with the Richard Baylor I knew it was meant to be. His interview starts right around the 1 hour mark if that's what you came to hear.

But even before all of that I am very excited that David, or Professor Gascan, was able to join for what I hope is an annual segment. The man watches over 1,000 movies a year and has had an active blog since 2010. His knowledge of movies from every genre shines in this conversation, I'm excited for people to get to here it.

Taking us home was a longer segment where I actually get to sit down with Celeste and talk about the hardcore titles as well as some of the origin of her getting involved in the podcast to begin with.

I'll include some links below, but honestly just a huge thank you to anyone who has spent any time with Punk Vacation. 2025 will continue to have some exciting names from the VS team, some historians, critics, and hopefully some more filmmakers. Cheers!

David's Blog
https://myworldoffilm.blogspot.com/

David's Top 100
https://myworldoffilm.blogspot.com/2023/07/its-come-to-this.html

David's Letterboxd
https://letterboxd.com/wpqx/

Buy Richard's movie
https://vinegarsyndrome.com/collections/saturns-core/products/our-world-is-drowning-and-going-to-hell-the-underground-films-of-richard-baylor

Celeste's main YouTube channel
https://www.youtube.com/@celestedelacabra

Celeste's Patreon
https://www.patreon.com/CelestedelaCabra