Madison Art Cinemas owner Arnold Gorlick in Toronto.
Description
On today's episode of Deep Focus, host Tom Breen and Madison Art Cinemas owner Arnold Gorlick recap their favorite films from the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival.
Episode 121: 48 Hour Film Project New Haven 2018 Recap
Haley Copes, Trish Clark, and Ryan Licwinko.
Description
On today's episode of Deep Focus, host Tom Breen talks with 48 Hour Film Project New Haven Producer Trish Clark and with Ryan Licwinko and Haley Copes, two local filmmakers who participated in the 2018 competition during the final weekend of July. Licwinko's team, everyoneleavesnewhaven, made the martial arts movie, "The Warrior, The Guardian, and The Liar. Copes's team, Bounce Lounge Productions, made the comedy, "A Slice of Chaos."
Episode 115: Steve Hamm / The Village
Steve Hamm.
Description
On today's episode, host Tom Breen talks with Steve Hamm, the director of THE VILLAGE, a new documentary and oral history of the Wooster Square neighborhood, which has served for over a century as the city's Little Italy.
Episode 114: NHDocs 2018
Description
On today's episode, host Tom Breen talks with local filmmaker Gorman Bechard about the fifith annual New Haven Documentary Film Festival, aka NHDocs.
Episode 109: Norman Weissman / Griggs Collection
The title sequence from Norman Weissman's 1968 film, THE LANGUAGE THEY SPEAK.
Description
On the first segment of today's show, host Tom Breen talks with Yale film archivist Brian Meacham and documentary filmmaker Norman Weissman about an upcoming screening of Weissman's eclectic industrial and educational films from the 1950s through 1970s.
On the second segment of the show, Breen and Meacham talk about the 50-year anniversary of Yale's acquisition of the John Griggs Collection, which marked the beginning of the Yale Film Archive as we know it today.
Links
An Evening with Norman Weissman—Treasures from the YFA: https://www.facebook.com/events/371080160030135/
Yale Collection of Classic Films: 50th Anniversary Celebration: https://www.facebook.com/events/1941302269466810/
Episode 106: M by Fritz Lang
M poster by Brian Meacham.
Description
On Wednesday, Jan. 31, host Tom Breen introduced a screening of Fritz Lang's 1931 crime thriller M at the Whitney Humanities Center at Yale as part of the Treasures from the Yale Film Archives series. Today's episode features a recording of that introduction, as well as a few thoughts on the enduring appeal of this masterpiece of world cinema.
Links
M Notes for the Treasure from the Yale Film Archive screening: http://web.library.yale.edu/sites/default/files/files/M%20Notes%281%29.pdf
M Poster for the Treasures from the Yale Film Archive screening: http://web.library.yale.edu/sites/default/files/files/M%20Poster.pdf
Episode 97: 2017 Latino and Iberian Film Festival at Yale (LIFFY)
Latin American filmmakers come to town for LIFFY. From left to right: Juan Gomez, Carlos Barba Salva, Luis Alberto García, Deyma D’Atri, and Jean Jean.
Description
This week is the Latino and Iberian Film Festival at Yale (LIFFY), an annual celebration of contemporary Spanish and Portueguese-language cinema that takes place in downtown New Haven at the Whitney Humanities Center at 53 Wall St.
In this week's episode, host Tom Breen talks with a handful of filmmakers who have movies screenings at this year's festival, including Cuban filmmaker Carlos Barba Salva, Haitian/Dominican filmmaker Jean Jean, Cuban filmmaker Deyma D’Atri, Cuban actor Luis Alberto García, and Colombian filmmaker Claudia Fischer.
Links
Episode 96: Trans Awareness Week / A Prophet
IV Staklo and Patrick Dunn
Description
Next week is Transgender Awareness Week, an annual grassroots celebration of trans culture and concerns that takes place in different communities throughout the country, including in New Haven.
The first segment of this episode is all about a trans film series that the New Haven Pride Center has organized to help celebrate Trans Awareness Week in the Elm City. Host Tom Breen is joined in the studio by two of the series’ programmers, Patrick Dunn and IV Staklo, to talk about the movies that will be playing, the different ways that trans people and issues are represented on screen, and the current state of the New Haven’s trans rights community.
On the second segment of the show, Breen joined by the Yale Film Study Center’s Archer Neilson to talk about Un prophete, a 2009 French film by Jacques Audiard that stars Tahar Rahim as a French Arab man learning to navigate the different languages, economies, cultures, and politics of a central French prison in the early 2000s. Un prophete is playing this Sunday at the Whitney Humanities Center on Wall Street as part of the Treasures from the Yale Film Archives series.
Other Links
New Haven Pride Center Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/NewHavenPrideCenter/
New Haven Trans Awareness Week schedule: http://hosted-p0.vresp.com/713637/e3ad37a1d9/ARCHIVE
Episode 95: Loving Vincent / Nasty Women
Description
On the first segment of today’s show, host Tom Breen talks with Allan Appel and Lucy Gellman about LOVING VINCENT, a new animated film from directors Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman that gives the Citizen Kane treatment to the life of Dutch post-impressionist painter Vincent Van Gogh: through a series of flashbacks and second-hand stories, we see the rise and fall of the troubled and inspired life of this eccentric painter, focusing in on the final days of his life in the rural French town of Auvers.
Unlike most animated movies, this story is composed of tens of thousands of hand-drawn oil paintings by over one hundred contributing artists, all simulating the heavy brushstrokes and ebullient style of the movie’s namesake.
On the second segment of the show, Breen is joined by Lucy McClure, Debbie Hesse, and Trish Clark to talk about the Nasty Women Film Event, a screening night of locally made feminist films that will be taking place at the Ely Center of Contemporary Art on Election day, next Tuesday, in honor of, or in defiance of, the anniversary of Donald Trump’s election as president.
Other Links
Nasty Women Film Event Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1962381047383269/
Episode 90: 2017 Toronto International Film Festival
Description
On today’s episode of the show, host Tom Breen is joined by Madison Art Cinemas’ founder and owner Arnold Gorlick to talk about their experiences at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, which ran from September 7th to September 17th and featured almost 340 movies, many of which were making their world premieres.
48 Hour Film Project New Haven
Note
Thursday, July 20, 2017 - Due to a technical error, we accidentally deleted the recording of today's interview with with Trish Clark and Patrick Whalen about the 48 Hour Film Project New Haven. Fortunately, we've had Trish on the show before to talk about the 48 HFP... all the way back on Episode 1! Listen to the interview linked above to hear about the 2015 competition, and click on any one of the links below to learn more about this year's competition.
Links
Episode 83: Tony Conrad: Completely in the Present
Tony Conrad: Completely in the Present (2016)
Description
Today's interview-only episode of the show is all about TONY CONRAD: COMPLETELY IN THE PRESENT, a new documentary about an influential, often overlooked New York artist who was a pioneer in musical minimalism in the late 1950s, in experimental underground filmmaking in the 1960s, in pushing the democratic bounds of public access television in the 1990s and 2000s, and in many other areas of anti-authority creativity besides.
Host Tom Breen is joined by director Tyler Hubby and local filmmaker Brendan Toller to talk about Hubby’s new movie, which Toller will be screening at Lyric Hall in Westville on Thursday, June 29th, at 7 p.m. as part of a new documentary series he’s putting together for that venue.
Links
Tony Conrad movie website: http://www.tonyconradmovie.com/
Facebook event page for Tony Conrad screening at Lyric Hall: https://www.facebook.com/events/1411658772229151/
Danny Says website: http://dannysaysfilm.com/Danny_Says/Danny_Says.html
Episode 82: Father's Day Movies / Manual Cinema
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
Description
In anticipation of Father’s Day this Sunday, the first segment of today’s show is all about movies and dads. Host Tom Breen is joined by certified dad and movie lover Nick Schupbach to talk about movie recommendations for Father’s Day, the different ways that dads and father-child relationships are portrayed on screen, and the experience of being a dad and sharing movies with your kids.
On the second segment of the show, Breen talks with composer Kyle Vegter and artistic director Julia Miller about Manual Cinema, a Chicago-based troupe of artists who create live performances that blend aspects of theater, cinema, and shadow puppetry. Manual Cinema is one of the featured artists at this year’s International Festival of Arts & Ideas, and we’ll talk all about their unique approach to creating “live cinema.”
Episode 80: The Life and Gardens of Beatrix Farrand / The High School That Rocked
THE LIFE AND GARDENS OF BEATRIX FARRAND (2017) by Karyl Evans
Description
On today's episode of Deep Focus, host Tom Breen talks with two Connecticut filmmakers who will be screening their new movies playing at this year's New Haven Documentary Festival.
On the first segment of the show, Breen is joined by six-time Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Karyl Evans to talk about her new movie The Life and Gardens of Beatrix Farrand, about a pioneering female landscape architect who lived and worked in New Haven for over a decade in the first half of the 20th century.
On the second segment, Breen talks with writer / producer Fred Cantor The High School that Rocked, a short documentary about how from 1966 - 1968 Staples High School in Westport, Connecticut hosted concerts by some of the biggest names in rock and roll, including The Doors, The Animals, Cream, The Rascals, and Sly & The Family Stone.
Links
NHDocs: http://www.nhdocs.com/
The Life and Gardens of Beatrix Farrand trailer: https://vimeo.com/201694337
The Life and Gardens of Beatrix Farrand Website: http://www.beatrixfarranddocumentary.com/
The High School That Rocked Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/TheHighSchoolThatRocked/
Episode 79: NHDocs 2017 / Alien: Covenant
Description
On the first segment of today’s show, host Tom Breen talks with Yale film studies professor Charles Musser about the 4th annual New Haven Documentary Film Festival, which runs from June 1 through June 11 at the Whitney Humanities Center and the Main Branch of the New Haven Free Public Library in downtown New Haven. Musser is a co-founder and co-director of the fest.
On the second segment of the show, Breen is joined by New Haven Independent staff writer Allan Appel for a review of Alien: Covenant, the latest installment in the four-decade-old sci-fi / horror series that finds a new ship, a new crew, and a new planet beset by the same old problems of merciless nature and technology, and big chomping mouths with rows upon rows of teeth.
Links
Episode 76: Food Haven
Description
On today's episode of Kitchen Sync, host Lucy Gellman is joined by Deep Focus host Tom Breen and local filmmaker Jim O'Connor to talk about Food Haven, O'Connor's new documentary that explores New Haven's rich and varied culinary scene.
Episode 75: The Lost City of Z / Magneticfest 2 / Breakfast with Curtis
Description
On the first segment of today’s show, host Tom Breen is joined by New Haven Independent staff writer Allan Appel for a review of The Lost City of Z, a new movie from director James Gray that looks at the life of Percy Fawcett, a real-life British explorer, cartographer, and artillery officer who made several expeditions to the Brazilian Amazon in the first quarter of the 20th century before mysteriously disappearing in the heart of what the British Empire referred to as the green desert, or the green hell of the Amazon jungle.
On the second segment of the show, Breen talks with Lyric Hall’s Joe Fay and filmmaker Laura Colella about two movie-related events that will be taking place at Lyric Hall in Westville this weekend: this Saturday will see Magneticfest 2, a VHS swap meet and screening day organized by Fay, and this Sunday will see a screening of Colella’s 2012 indie comedy Breakfast with Curtis, followed by a conversation with the filmmaker and the cast.
Links
Episode 73: Robert Frank Movies
Still from Laura Israel's DON'T BLINK - ROBERT FRANK
Description
Today’s interview-only episode of the show is all about the movies of Robert Frank, the Swiss-born photographer who captured the odd, overlooked, simmering contours of roadside America with his 1958 book The Americans, and then promptly left the field of still photography to become a pioneering figure in the development of post-war American independent cinema. There are two Robert Frank-related movie screenings happening in New Haven this upcoming weekend, and host Tom Breen is joined by the folks who organized and are participating in those events to talk about Frank as a filmmaker, a photographer, and a dedicated, complicated, American observer.
The guests on today's show are Brian Meacham, Laura Israel, and Nicholas Dawidoff. Brian is the archive and special collections manager at the Yale Film Archive, and a regular guest on this show. Laura is an editor, a longtime filmmaking collaborator of Robert Frank’s, and the director of a new feature-length documentary called Don’t Blink - Robert Frank. And Nicholas is a journalist and author of a number of books that explore American culture, sports, and identity, including 2013’s Collision Low Crossers. He is the author of a 2015 profile of Robert Frank for the New York Times Magazine called The Man Who Saw America, and is also a New Haven native and a fellow at Yale’s Branford College.
Links
https://www.facebook.com/events/759586187531706/
http://www.dontblinkrobertfrank.com/
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/05/magazine/robert-franks-america.html?_r=0
Episode 71: 1984 National Event Day Screenings
Michael Radford's 1984 (1984)
Description
On today's interview-only episode of the show is about an event that over 190 art house and independent movie theaters throughout the United States and Canada will be participating in next week that will see coordinated screenings, lectures, and community conversations around 1984, the 1980s big screen adaptation of English author George Orwell's legendary mid-century dystopian novel.
Host Tom Breen talks with Adam Birnbaum of the Avon Theatre in Stamford, Arnold Gorlick of Madison Art Cinemas, and Leana Hirschfeld-Kroen of the Yale Film Colloquium about why these coordinated screenings and conversations will be taking place, the resonance of 1984 and its nightmarish vision of totalitarian government today, and the role of art house and independent movie theaters in the Trump era.
Links
Avon Theatre in Stamford: http://www.avontheatre.org/films/462/national-event-day-screening:-1984-(1984)
Madison Art Cinemas: http://madisonartcinemas.com/page/5633/1984
Yale Film Colloquium: http://www.yalefilmcultures.com/screenings/#/film-against-fascism-spring-2017/
Episode 70: Strange Cinema / Beauty and the Beast
Description
On the first segment of today’s show, host Tom Breen talks with Joe Fay and Alex Dakoulas about Strange Cinema, a new bi-monthly screening series and collaboration between Lyric Hall and Strange Ways in Westville that looks to celebrate 80s and 90s underground culture, from low-budget horror movies to patches, pins, and VHS. On the second segment, Breen and Allan Appel share some thoughts on the latest Disney re-make of Beauty and the Beast.
Other Links
https://www.facebook.com/events/257005164726923/
https://www.strange-ways.com/
http://lyrichallnewhaven.com/