We bring you some quick interviews with filmmakers at the historic Enzian Theater for the Florida Film Festival. We chat about their films and then ask them to choose: Cruise or Hanks?

• ​David Anthony Ngo (Never Get Busted!): Fresh off a Sundance premiere, David discusses his "Tiger King in the war on drugs" documentary, executive produced by the team behind Searching for Sugar Man.
• ​Matthew Serrano (Xolo): The LA-based filmmaker and Defunctland collaborator talks about the challenges of directing a senior rescue dog in a narrative involving the Aztec god of death.
• ​Maggie Brill (All at Once): A deep dive into New York filmmaking, navigating surprise concerts in Central Park, and the importance of queer coming-of-age representation.
• ​Khoa Ha & Victor Velle (Y Vân: The Lost Sounds of Saigon): The search for the lost legacy of the "Quincy Jones of Saigon" and the journey of rediscovering a family musical heritage across two continents.
• ​We talk to Lena Greene (Tuna Tartare) about Broadway-singing trash, Sasha Shin (Juicy and Sweet) on being "haunted by apples," and Shengwei Zhou (Perfect City: The Mushroom) on using stop-motion to process grief.
• ​ Plus, Eddie Mauldin (Dreams) and Ryan McCown (Crab Diane) discuss everything from "nontraditional" mental health to cosmic crustacean colonies.
• ​Kim Blanck (Gloria): The Tribeca alum shares the "pre-pro panic" of filming on her own block and working with Gilmore Girls’ Emily Kuroda.
• ​Jorma Taccone joins us to discuss his new film Over Your Dead Body (hitting theaters April 24th!).

Here's our conversation with the team behind the Award-Winning film 'JUNKIE' - writer-director William Means and lead actor Rocky Shay. The film won both the Grand Jury and Audience Awards in the Narrative Feature category at the 2026 Florida Film Festival.

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About the film:

Junkie, the gritty debut feature from writer-director William Means, follows a haphazard 72 hours in the life of Stevie Chapman (played by real-life recovering addict Rocky Shay). A perpetual screwup running on empty, Stevie has escaped rehab (again). On the run, she sets out to make amends and reconcile with her estranged, gay son, Liam, before she skips town for good. Through Stevie’s eyes, we are plunged into an eccentric tour of America’s southern underbelly. An unforgettable odyssey, Junkie evolves into a touching, emotionally raw mother-and-son story about dignity, identity, and the fragile hope of redemption. Executive produced by Patty Jenkins (Monster, Wonder Woman), Junkie announces a bold new voice in Means, while Rocky Shay’s fearless, darkly comic, and deeply human performance as the bonkers yet endearing Stevie stands as one of the great breakout performances of this year’s festival.

Director Bio:

William Means (Junkie) (he/him) is a Los Angeles-based writer and director who earned his MFA in directing at the AFI Conservatory in 2021. Since AFI, William worked alongside cinematographer Lawrence Sher as well as director Patty Jenkins. His most recent short, “Blue Square Heart,” qualified for the 2024 Oscars®.

Here's our interview with Kyle Smith (writer/director) and Jeff Powers (cinematographer), the team behind 'SYLVANIA,' which is part of the "Narrative Features Competition" selection at the 2026 Florida Film Festival.

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About the film:

In Kyle Smith’s Sylvania, a marriage on the brink becomes the backdrop for a sharply observed and deeply human road trip. Stewart (Morgan Beck) and Gracie (Kerry Bishé, Argo) load their four-month-old baby and 17-year-old, basketball-obsessed son into the car and head to St. Louis to convince Gracie’s estranged father, Frank (Paul Dillon), who is in the early stages of dementia, to accept help. But Stewart has his own coping mechanism: he’s abandoned his iPhone and moves the family from Chicago back to his childhood home, committed to living as if it’s the 1990s—complete with mixtapes, period-specific groceries, and analog nostalgia. For Gracie, already stretched thin by sleepless nights and emotional distance, the retro experiment feels less like a reset and more like regression. She’s resolved to leave him after the trip. Once they arrive, her father is mean-spirited and stubborn, but still lucid and with plenty to say about the current family chemistry. Though dementia clouds his present, it sharpens his recollections of the past, offering Gracie fragments of the mother she barely knew. Beautifully acted and emotionally resonant, Sylvania blends road movie and dramedy into a smart, funny, and tender meditation on family, memory, and the ways we cling to the past—set against a perfectly curated ’90s soundtrack.

Director Bio

Kyle Smith (Sylvania) (he/him) was raised in Columbia, Missouri. His previous films include Turkey Bowl and Blue Highway. He lives in Los Angeles with his family.

We bring you some quick reviews on the first round of films we've seen at the 2026 Florida Film Festival in Orlando. Recorded live outside the Enzian Theater.

• ​0:00 - Intro
• ​ 2:05 - Tuner
• ​ 13:28 - Carolina Caroline
• ​ 19:23 - Damned if You Do
• ​ 25:35 - Return from Tomorrow
• ​ 32:17 - If I Go Will They Miss Me
• ​ 35:55 - Crystal Cross
• ​ 40:04 - Valentina
• ​ 43:41 - Sylvania
• ​ 53:52 - Santacon
• ​ 58:23 - A Life Illuminated
• 1:00:44 - School for Defectors

Amaze! Amaze! Amaze! We dig into two of our favorite movies of 2026 so far: ‘Project Hail Mary’ and ‘Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie.’

Project Hail Mary is directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller and stars Ryan Gosling as a stranded astronaut on a mission to save the world. Written by Drew Goddard based on the book by Andy Weir.

Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie is directed by Matt Johnson and stars Johnson and Jay McCarrol as two lifelong friends from Toronto and trying to play a show at the Rivoli.

• 0:00 - Cold Open
• 4:20 - Intro
• 8:47 - Project Hail Mary
• 25:22 - Project Hail Mary SPOILERS
• 1:33:34 - Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie

Our series on the films of Denzel Washington "Mic on Fire" continues. Denzel and Spike Lee team up for the first time in 1990's MO' BETTER BLUES, starting what would become a legendary cinematic partnership. We welcome back Adam Donato to discuss jazz, baseball, basketball, gambling, and Brooklyn!

Check out Adam’s work

https://www.disappointmentmedia.com/reviews

https://boxd.it/vzQJ

We recap the 2026 Oscars, react to the Dune 3 trailer, and preview the upcoming Florida Film Festival at the Enzian. Plus, Baz Luhrmann’s restored Elvis footage, Hulu’s Paradise, The Secret Agent, and more!

Timecodes

• Cold Open - 0:00
• Intro - 3:05
• Oscars recap - 3:44
• Dune 3 and Spider-Man trailer reactions 21:18
• Paradise S1 - 27:54
• Blue Moon - 35:25
• Kpop Demon Hunters - 45:42
• If I Had Legs I'd Kick You - 54:51
• The Secret Agent - 59:25
• EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert - 1:14:55
• 2026 Florida Film Festival preview - 1:28:05

We fill out our ballots for our final predictions of who we think will win in all 24 categories at the 2026 Oscars, happening this Sunday!

Our new arc series begins! "Mic On Fire," covering the films of Denzel Washington. This is GLORY (1989), directed by Edward Zwick and starring Matthew Broderick, Cary Elwes, Morgan Freeman, Andre Braugher, and Denzel Washington in an Academy Award-winning performance.

Here are some quick spoiler-free thoughts on 'Project Hail Mary' the new movie from directors Phil Lord and Christopher, starring Ryan Gosling and based on the novel by Andy Weir.