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 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 54: Frank and Caroline Mouris / The Handmaiden

Excerpt from FRANK FILM (1973) by Frank and Caroline Mouris

Description

On today's episode of Deep Focus, host Tom Breen welcomes experimental animators and filmmakers Frank and Caroline Mouris and film archivist Brian Meacham to the show to talk about the Mouris' careers making movies, some reflections on the mesmerizing world of experimental animation, and upcoming screenings of their films at the Whitney Humanities center. For the second segment of the show, Breen, Allan Appel, and Lucy Gellman review the new movie The Handmaiden.

Timeline

00:00 - 43:02 -- interview with filmmakers Frank and Caroline Mouris and Yale film archivist Brian Meacham
44:00 - 59: 38 -- review of The Handmaiden

Other Links

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZm67rgUAfQ
https://www.facebook.com/events/964252377030216/

Episode 51: Home Movie Day 2016 / 13th

Molly Wheeler (Lucy Gellman photo)

Timeline

00:00 - 31:20 -- interview about Home Movie Day
34:40 - 55:38 -- review of 13TH with Babz Rawls Ivy

Description

On today's episode of Deep Focus, host Tom Breen talks to Brian Meacham, Molly Wheeler, and David Pilot about Home Movie Day New Haven 2016, hosted Saturday 10/15 at the New Haven Museum. During the second half of the show Breen welcomes fellow WNHH host and Inner City News CT editor Babz Rawls Ivy for a review of Ava Duvernay's new Netflix documentary, 13TH.

Other Links

http://www.centerforhomemovies.org/hmd/

Episode 31: Latin American Cinema / Class Pictures

How to Listen

Listen on SoundCloud

Listen on iTunes

First Segment

Guests: Margherita Tortora
0:00 - 29:39 - interview with Margherita Tortora about Latin American filmmaker series

Second Segment

Guests: Brian Meacham, Carolyn Jacobs, Andrew Vielkind
29:40 - 1:04:34 - interview about the role of the film archive, and about the Class Pictures screening night

Description

On this week's episode of Deep Focus, host Tom Breen talks with Yale Spanish teacher Margherita Tortora about her new series that brings filmmakers from Latin America to the Elm City for post-screening discussions with students and the general public alike. The series concludes this weekend with a 5-film tribute to Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, one of the founding fathers of post-revolutionary Cuban cinema. For the second segment of the show, Tom talks with Yale film archivist Brian Meacham and graduate students Andrew Vielkind and Carolyn Jacobs about a night of screenings that focuses on the history and practice of the film archive.

Video Links

Clip from Strawberry & Chocolate (1994) by Tomas Gutierrez Alea. 

Episode 26: Herb Graff Collection / Son of Saul

SON OF SAUL

How to Listen

Listen on SoundCloud

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First Segment

Guests: Brian Meacham, Bennett Graff
0:00 - 37:01 - interview about the Herb Graff film collection

Second Segment

Guests: Allan Appel, Lucy Gellman
37:02 - 57:01 - review of Son of Saul

Description

On this episode, host Tom Breen speaks with Bennett Lovett-Graff, editor at the New Haven Review and Chief of Operations at Rainmaker Thinking Inc., and Brian Meacham, Archive and Special Collections Manager at Yale's Film Study Center about the Herb Graff Collection of over 500 films now at Yale. In the latter part of the episode, he discusses the recent film "Son of Saul" with New Haven Independent reporters Allan Appel and Lucy Gellman.

Video Links

Trailer for Son of Saul (2015) by László Nemes

Episode 9: Home Movie Day / VHS

Molly Wheeler (Lucy Gellman photo)

How to Listen

Listen on SoundCloud

Listen on iTunes

First Segment

Guests: Brian Meacham, Molly Wheeler
0:00 - 27:01 - interview with local film archivists Brian Meacham and Molly Wheeler about Home Movie Day at the New Haven Museum

Second Segment

Guests: David Gary, Joe Fay
27:02 - 52:53 - discussion of the Yale library's new VHS collection and a VHS swap at Lyric Hall

Description

For the first segment of today's show, Tom Breen talks with film archivists Brian Meacham and Molly Wheeler about Home Movie Day at the New Haven Museum. For the second segment, he talks about the cultural and historical importance of the VHS with Yale librarian David Gary and Lyric Hall movie programmer Joe Fay.

Video Links

Trailer for the VHS documentary REWIND THIS

Episode 6: Yale Film Archive / The Diary of a Teenage Girl

Brian Meacham (Lucy Gellman photo)

How to Listen

Listen on SoundCloud

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First Segment

Guest: Bran Meacham
0:00 - 33:52 - interview with film archivist Brian Meacham about the Yale Film Archive and the Treasues from the Yale Film Archive series

Second Segment

Guests: Allan Appel, Lucy Gellman
33:53 - 53:22 - review of THE DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL

Description

Deep Focus host Tom Breen sits down with Brian Meacham, Archive and Special Collections Manager at the Yale Film Archive, to discuss films that will be showing for free at the Whitney Humanities Center this fall and winter. In the last 15 minutes, New Haven Independent reporter and WNHH Station Manager Lucy Gellman join in for a discussion of a new release, "Diary of a Teenage Girl."

Video Links

Trailer for THE DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL