Behind The Lens

First up, take a listen as writer/director MICHAEL KOCH talks about A PIECE OF SKY, Switzerland's submission for the 95th Academy Awards as Best Foreign Language Film. A quiet, reflective, and thoughtful film that tacitly explores the relationship between man and nature, life and death, A PIECE OF SKY is one of the most emotionally beautiful films of the year; not to mention that stunning multi-season imagery of the Swiss mountains. Set in a remote alpine village, (Michèle Brand) works both as a waitress and mail carrier to support her young daughter. She has fallen deeply in love with the village newcomer, Marco (Simon Wisler), a strong and silent farmhand from the lowlands. But soon after their wedding, Marco is diagnosed with a brain tumor. As the seasons change, his behavior grows increasingly erratic, leading up to a severe transgression that threatens to tear the young family apart. Then listen to writer/director SEBASTIAN LELIO discuss the award-worthy film THE WONDER. Directed by Lelio and co

It's a full house on this episode of BEHIND THE LENS as we take a trip to the dark sinister side with actor/writer/producer NIKI McELROY talking SHADY GROVE while ZACH KOEPP is on board talking about his chilling thriller THE WILLOWBROOK. Kicking off the show is actor/co-writer/producer NIKI McELROY talking about her new film, the creepy and bloody, SHADY GROVE. Directed by Dale Resteghini, SHADY GROVE tells the story of a young African-American couple, Shaina (Niki McElroy) and Mark (Todd Anthony), as they leave behind their party lifestyle to find tranquility in an isolated rental cabin with their friend, Elijah (Juhahn Jones). It doesn't take long for them to realize they have checked into a sinister nightmare as the locals reveal the true reason for their solitude. SHADY GROVE is a fictional story that incorporates the role of women in Greek mythology and sets them in our current and controversial Roe vs. Wade world. And then a big welcome to writer/director ZACH KOEPP who also joins us live

This episode of BEHIND THE LENS is a fascinating conversation with director LISA HEPNER and director of photography GUY MOSSMAN as they talk about their new documentary – THE HUMAN TRIAL. Plus, my exclusive interview with writer/director MALI ELFMAN going in-depth talking her feature directorial debut, NEXT EXIT. Joining us live during National Diabetes Month are director LISA HEPNER and director of photography GUY MOSSMAN talking about THE HUMAN TRIAL. Herself a diabetic, this is a very personal project for Lisa. Already an established producer, Lisa moves into the director's chair to take us into the up close and personal world of human clinical trials for a treatment for Type 1 Diabetes. Listen as Lisa and Guy talk about the 7+ year journey of making this documentary, starting with researchers and a biotech company in San Diego, then filming the arduous roller coaster ride of the first two patients in the clinical trial with the good, the bad, and the heartbreaking pain and tears, while also trav

It's a very special BEHIND THE LENS Halloween show as STEVE LEE talks about some big doings with THE HOLLYWOOD SOUND MUSEUM. Plus, I talk about a very important film for our time, especially with midterm elections upon us, the Phyllis Nagy-directed CALL JANE. And Oscar winner RICHARD ANDERSON surprises us with a call to not only talk sound but give us some tidbits on the upcoming political dramedy LEE'D THE WAY which he directed! Sound guru and founder of The Hollywood Sound Museum, STEVE LEE, was in-studio with us once again to announce some very important reveals and surprises about the Museum! And just what was the big announcement Steve had for us all? The Hollywood Sound Museum is having its first pop-up! Long a goal of Steve's to start with some smaller pop-ups on the sound experience as he works up to the physical museum, everyone will be able to experience a sonic montage of some of cinema's most famous sounds at the upcoming LOSCON festival! Steve's got all the skinny for u

It's a mix and match of movie goodness on BEHIND THE LENS this week thanks to DAVID POAG and his film SPIRIT HALLOWEEN: THE MOVIE, and TARUN VERMA and his new film CONCEPTION. If you missed us live, you definitely want to catch up and take a listen now! Kicking off the show is our exclusive interview with director DAVID POAG talking about his new film SPIRIT HALLOWEEN: THE MOVIE. (It's a terrific family film for the holiday!) How would you like to shoot a film in a Halloween store AND in real underground caves AND work with Christoper Lloyd? Well, that's just what David did and he tells us all about it. Can you imagine the challenge of lugging cast, crew, and equipment underground? It's an interesting and fun interview and perfect for Halloween month. Then writer/director TARUN VERMA is with us live discussing his new film, CONCEPTION. With his prior filmmaking experience in comedy, this is Tarun's first stab at a narrative drama and he's got a winner here. A narrative drama ba

A purr-fectly meow-velous week on BEHIND THE LENS thanks to writer/director MYE HOANG and her new documentary CAT DADDIES! If you missed the show live on Monday, take a listen and catch up now as Mye and I spend the entire hour talking about cat cuteness and CAT DADDIES. MYE HOANG's documentary CAT DADDIES is the cat's meow! And as it breaks out across the country on a staggered theatrical release schedule, you want to claw your way to the theatre if need be because you don't want to miss all of this cuteness. Already a longtime friend and admirer of her husband Dave Boyle's work as a writer and director, it was a thrill to now speak with Mye about her filmmaking and storytelling skills. CAT DADDIES follows the journeys of feline-loving "Cat Daddies" and their precious fur babies around the country. Such personalities – both the dads and the cats! But no matter who they are or where they are, there is the inexplicable bond of unconditional love that ties dad and cat togethe

It's another hot topic week on BEHIND THE LENS as filmmakers YUVAL DAVID and MARK McDERMOTT talk about their new documentary WONDERFULLY MADE-LGBTQ+R(eligion), plus our exclusive interview with director AGNIESZKA SMOCZYNSKA talking about THE SILENT TWINS. You've got to hear it to believe and understand as we dive head first into WONDERFULLY MADE-LGBTQ+R(eligion), a documentary that explores the challenges and aspirations of LGBTQ+ Catholics and the hurdles that religious doctrine presents to full acceptance of LGBTQ+ people everywhere. An interesting, enlightening, and educational documentary that began as a photo art project and bloomed into this well-rounded engaging film thanks to the passion and vision of director and narrator YUVAL DAVID and his husband and executive producer MARK McDERMOTT who, as a person of faith, expanded the need for this conversation. Going chapter and verse through the "making of" WONDERFULLY MADE, hear Yuval and Mark talk about the need for not only LGBTQ+ i

We wrap up "summer" with this episode of BEHIND THE LENS with writer/director MICHAEL MANDELL talking about THE MOVIE, plus my exclusive prerecorded interview with writer/director ABI DAMARIS CORBIN talking about the powerful John Boyega-led film, BREAKING. Writer/Director ABI DAMARIS CORBIN has taken one true story involving a veteran and the failures of the VA system and society and delivers the emotionally charged drama, BREAKING. Led by John Boyega and Michael K. Williams in his final film role, BREAKING is the story of former Marine Lance Corporal Brian Brown-Easley and the challenges he faced mentally and emotionally as he tried to reintegrate into civilian life on leaving the military only to have his efforts end in tragedy. As part of the fallacies with veterans' benefits, there is a law on the books that the VA is entitled to recover money directly from a veteran who stops attending classes or drops too many courses. Despite dealing with extreme PTSD and mental issues, in an effort t

It's raining men on this week's episode of #BTLRadioShow thanks to THE UMBRELLA MEN and producer DAN JAWITZ, MATT ESKANDARI talking WIRE ROOM, and a sneak peek into the world of Netflix's WENDELL & WILD from stop-motion guru HENRY SELICK. Writer/Director John Barker was originally slated to join us to talk about THE UMBRELLA MEN, but as things often are during a film festival, especially the hectic nature of #TIFF, John was unavailable at the last minute so producer DAN JAWITZ very kindly stepped in. Quite honestly, it is always a treat to speak with the boots-on-the-ground producer who has been involved in the process through acquiring the script, casting, working with the writers and director to solidify ideas and vision, location selection, hiring of department heads and more. A South African heist film to rival the fun and exploits of Danny Ocean and his Ocean's crews, Dan came to #BTLRadioShow to talk about THE UMBRELLA MEN fresh off its sold-out International Premiere at #TIFF.

We wrap up "summer" with this episode of BEHIND THE LENS with writer/director MICHAEL MANDELL talking about THE MOVIE, plus my exclusive prerecorded interview with writer/director ABI DAMARIS CORBIN talking about the powerful John Boyega-led film, BREAKING. Writer/Director ABI DAMARIS CORBIN has taken one true story involving a veteran and the failures of the VA system and society and delivers the emotionally charged drama, BREAKING. Led by John Boyega and Michael K. Williams in his final film role, BREAKING is the story of former Marine Lance Corporal Brian Brown-Easley and the challenges he faced mentally and emotionally as he tried to reintegrate into civilian life on leaving the military only to have his efforts end in tragedy. Working with the Brown-Easley family, Corbin delivers a film that is undeniably riveting and heartbreaking as we are with Boyega as Brown-Easley inside the bank during the hostage situation, getting into his head and his heart. Balancing that with what is happening on th

Another week of embracing history and WWII on BEHIND THE LENS thanks to director ADRIENNE HALL talking about INTO FLIGHT ONCE MORE while director BIANCA STIGTER talks about THREE MINUTES: A LENGTHENING. We open this week's show with my exclusive conversation with writer/director BIANCA STIGTER who makes her feature documentary directorial debut with THREE MINUTES: A LENGTHENING. One of the most fascinating documentaries you will ever see, thanks to 3 minutes 33 seconds and 28/100ths of a second of denegrated Kodak film footage from 1938, shining a light on a small Polish community just one year before the start of WWII. Originally catching Bianca's attention thanks to a Facebook post about this little home movie, three minutes gradually becomes 69 minutes as we see shriveled and barely discernible footage start to come to life through restoration and then analysis of buildings, signs, trees, architecture, clothing, fabric, buttons, caps, and faces by religious, cultural, historical, and even scient

We're dipping our toes into new waters with this episode of BEHIND THE LENS as we welcome director CHARLOTTE MIKKELBORG to discuss - and explain - the exciting new multisensory Augmented Reality game TIME DETECTIVES: THE MYSTERY OF THE MARY ROSE, while actor THEO ROSSI talks about his terrific new film EMILY THE CRIMINAL. A first of its kind from Picture This Productions, TIME DETECTIVES: THE MYSTERY OF THE MARY ROSE is a multisensory augmented reality game designed to bring history to life through partnerships with key cultural heritage sites across the UK and overseas. With this first app, the game explores the sinking of the Mary Rose, Henry VIII's favorite ship!  A fascinating concept and even more fascinating game app (which I subsequently was able to download and "play"), it's almost like playing Nancy Drew in history as you try to ascertain what caused the sinking of the Mary Rose.  Venturing into new territory herself with this multisensory augmented reality, take a listen as

An interesting meld of films today thanks to our guests TONY AHEDO talking his film ICON, and STEPHEN EDWARDS discussing at length his "must see" documentary, SYNDROME K. First up is writer/director/editor TONY AHEDO who makes his narrative feature directorial debut with ICON, a coming of age story focused on high school students Sam and Ana and the effects of an unplanned pregnancy. While we have seen plenty of films, tv movies, reality shows, etc. with a theme of teen pregnancy, ICON is one of the rare instances where the story is told from the POV of the young father-to-be. And then we jump right into a conversation with documentarian and acclaimed composer STEPHEN EDWARDS talking his new documentary, SYNDROME K. One of my "must see" documentaries of the year, SYNDROME K is fascinating. Showcasing a little-known aspect in the history of WWII and Italy, in October 1943, three dedicated doctors at the Fatebenefratelli Hospital on Tiber Island across from the "Jewish Ghetto" o

BEHIND THE LENS kicks off the last month of 'summer' with a lot of laughs as we take a look at two very different but very funny films thanks to GENEVIEVE ADAMS and JONO McLEOD. First up, our exclusive interview with writer/director JONO McLEOD talking about his hybrid live action-animated feature documentary MY OLD SCHOOL. It's long been said that truth is stranger than fiction and Jono shows us just that as he takes a trip back in time to his high school days as he and his former classmates reflect on one of the greatest frauds in Glasgow's history thanks to their classmate Brandon Lee. A wild story, a fun and entertaining film, and a very fun interview with Jono. Then writer/director/actor GENEVIEVE ADAMS joins us talking about her feature directorial debut – and in which she stars – the fun, funny, and sweet SIMCHAS AND SORROWS. The tale of Agnes, an atheist actress with 13 years of Catholic school to her credit, who attempts to convert to Judaism to marry the man she loves…and she&a

It's a full house on this episode of BEHIND THE LENS with guests ZORA IMAN CREWS and ALEC TIBALDI, plus our exclusive interview with DEBRA McCLUTCHY and ANNE ALVERQUE. First up, take a listen to our exclusive prerecorded interview with documentarians DEBRA McCLUTCHY and ANNE ALVERQUE talking about their hot new Netflix doc – THE MARTHA MITCHELL EFFECT. A fascinating conversation about Martha Mitchell and her appeal and importance in U.S. history, and what led Debra and Anne down the research rabbit hole to tell this chapter of Mitchell's life during the Nixon Administration and Watergate. When you talk about breaking glass ceilings, especially in Washington, Martha Mitchell wielded her hammer with more strength than the mighty Thor. And then, hilarity ensues thanks to ZORA IMAN CREWS and ALEC TIBALDI talking about their "inside baseball" to-die-for mockumentary THE DAPHNE PROJECT fresh off the film's opening weekend theatrical premiere. Weaving their own New York theatre experiences

A bit of mix and match on this episode of BEHIND THE LENS with filmmaker DANIEL J. COPLAN talking about 8 WINDS, plus our exclusive interview with director ANTHONY FABIAN talking about the delightful MRS. HARRIS GOES TO PARIS. First up is writer/director/producer/editor/actor DANIEL COPLAN who is on hand talking about his new film, 8 WINDS. Listen as Dan talks about his 5+ year journey in making 8 WINDS from idea to script and how to bring the page to life on screen. Covering everything, starting with the film being lo budget/no budget/micro-budget and how that dictated what Dan would and wouldn't be able to do with filming which impacted him starting at the script stage, to single camera shooting to using natural light and planning for such, to wireless mics and why scenes were limited to only two speaking characters in a scene, to casting, to pick-up shooting, to editing and more. A lot of helpful information for first-time or novice filmmakers as well as showcasing Dan's passion and sticktoitive

It's all about DOUBLE THREAT on BTL Radio Show with our exclusive prerecorded interview with producer/director/editor SHANE STANLEY. An action-adventure starring Matthew Lawrence, Danielle C. Ryan, Dawn Olivieri, and Kevin Joy, DOUBLE THREAT is fast-paced and action-packed boasting a breakout lead performance by Danielle C. Ryan and a scene-stealing turn by veteran Dawn Olivieri. Shane bares all as he talks in-depth about the contributions and importance of each of his collaborators on the film, from actors to cinematographer Joe Layogan and more, as well as the challenges and serendipitous creative benefits of Covid restrictions and the loss of multiple locations just days before filming. An interesting conversation for new and veteran filmmakers alike as Shane discusses overcoming obstacles, shooting from the hip, and pivoting in a heartbeat. And for all the "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman"/Joe Lando fans out there, you'll want to hear what Shane has to say about his next film, "Night

Last week BTL RADIO SHOW started some cinematic summer globetrotting with films about Mongolia & Genghis Khan and Syrian immigrants rebuilding lives in Canada. This week we continue our cinematic trek and go from the steamy swamps of the bayou in the Southern United States with CHRISTINE CHEN and ERZULIE to the highest point on the Earth – the summit of Mt. Everest – with ALEX HARZ and THE QUEST: NEPAL. First up, director/writer/editor/adventurer ALEX HARZ joins us live talking about his new documentary THE QUEST: NEPAL. Talk about an up close and personal journey!! Alex takes us along on his trek through Kathmandu and up into the Himalayas as he makes his way up Mt. Everest to its summit. Amazing cinematography with even more jaw-dropping images not only shows us the splendor of nature but the beauty of the Nepalese people and their culture. An engaging and entertaining adventurer and filmmaker, I could have chatted with Alex all day talking about THE QUEST: NEPAL. And as you listen to this show, you&a

We're going global on this episode of BTL Radio Show with our films, one a narrative based on a true story and one a documentary, thanks to our special guests JONATHAN KEIJSER talking PEACE BY CHOCOLATE while ROBERT H. LIEBERMAN talks ECHOES OF THE EMPIRE: BEYOND GENGHIS KHAN. Writer/director JONATHAN KEIJSER kicks off the show as he joins us in talking about his narrative feature debut – PEACE BY CHOCOLATE. A feel good true story pulled from the news, this is the story of a Syrian family (and distinguished chocolatiers) who emigrate from Syria to Canada and are forced to rebuild their lives in a new country with language barriers, work issues, family struggles, father-son head-butting, unacceptance and acceptance by the community and more. A wonderful film that inspires and gives hope, Jonathan's story of bringing this film to life and working with the real family in developing the film is inspirational while the production challenges are the things that only make first-time filmmakers better. Th

This episode of BTL Radio Show we help kick off Dances With Films film festival with filmmakers JASON LOFTUS talking ETERNAL SPRING and JENNY WALDO who talks about her feature film debut with ACID TEST, both with films at DWF. First up take a listen to first-time feature filmmaker JENNY WALDO talking about ACID TEST, making its West Coast Premiere at DWF. Knowing she wouldn't be available to join us live on the show, Jenny and I did a prerecorded interview talking about ACID TEST. Somewhat autobiographical in nature, ACID TEST is set in 1992 during the Bush-Clinton-Perot election cycle and focuses on high school senior Jenny who is trying to find herself while trying to survive in her dysfunctional family with a father with anger issues. Rebelling through music, dress, and deeds, including dropping acid in front of her parents, this journey of self-discovery is not only engaging and entertaining, but is beautiful to watch. Jenny goes in-depth about the visuals and their purposeful design, the story, the