The Brattle Film Podcast

We're joined by film writer, programmer, producer, founder of The Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies, and now documentarian Kier-La Janisse to talk about her new film Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror, as well as the Oct/Nov Brattle series inspired by it - Folk Horror Beyond the Wicker Man.

Are silent movies homework? That's the question we wrestle with as we look forward to the first annual National Silent Movie Day on Sept. 29th. We explore our preconceptions about silent films, the barriers that prevent many audiences from embracing silent films, and some of our favorite silent films (as well as a few new discoveries). But first we spend the first 12 minutes looking ahead to this years Toronto International Film Festival.

We spend the first 20 min of this month's show discussing the Scarlett Johansson vs. Disney lawsuit and its potential ramifications on film exhibition, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the future of movie stars playing fictional characters with pre-existing fanbases. Then we dive deep into a topic Ian, Ivy, Ned and Alissa all agree on—the love of Jim Henson and films he produced, directed, and contributed to; as well as how the craft of cinematic puppetry has lived on long beyond Henson's death.

We kick off Season Three by revisiting the years 1946, 1971, and 1996 on the occasion of their 75th, 50th, and 25th anniversaries. Ian, Ivy, Ned, and Alissa choose one film from each year to discuss along with the three official "Reunion Week" films that were screened as part of the Brattle's first week back open to the public after the long COVID-19 shut down.

We dive deep into the commonalities, tropes, joys, and contrivances in iconic movies about summer jobs.

We announce our plan for reopening the cinema to the public after 14 months of darkness, and then we return to our 20th anniversary celebration by highlighting some of the 400 films the Brattle has premiered during the past 20 years.

We're joined by Brian Tamm and Nancy Campbell of the IFFBoston to talk about this year's line-up, doing the festival virtually for the first time, and how excited we all are that cinemas are finally reopening.

After lamenting the loss of The ArcLight Cinema chain, Ned, Ivy, Alissa and Ian return to discussing the Oscars, the Brattle's Oscar Party, the nominated shorts of 2020, and the nominated the animation, documentary, and international features.

Ned, Ivy, Alissa, and Ian discuss their individual histories and feelings about the Academy Awards, and dive deep into this year's nominated films and performances.

We take a look back on the 20 years of our theatre's history as a thriving non-profit institution. Looking at the highs and lows, the film's we premiered, and the decisions Ned and Ivy made when they took on running the Brattle. And we address a listener question about the "cinema as church" analogy we made during our Movies About Going to the Movies episode, and consider the difference between the way films depict movie-going vs TV-watching: https://vimeo.com/showcase/5148645/video/317138170