Live! From the Vidéothèque

Sam is joined by Facets own T.J. Watson to talk about the surprisingly relevant documentary, Labor Stories (1975), a Facets release produced by Kartemquin Films. Facets’ volunteer and digital acquisitions assistant T.J. Watson talks activism. The topic is Labor Stories, a series of under seen of documentaries about unions. T.J. shares some of his own […]

Head out of the Vidéothèque and into a friend’s basement, another good spot to talk film. This time the conversation veers toward one of the most influential European directors in the American film tradition. Matt meets up with a friend and occasional projectionist to wax a eulogy for Milos Forman. Forman was the rare pioneer […]

Sam and Peter talk about a master of the old school from the period of New Hollywood. Sam is joined by Peter Hogenson to talk about filmmaker and sometime Nick Nolte impersonator, Paul Schrader seen here lamenting about the state of film in his characteristic cranky voice. They also talk about his theory about the […]

This week we explore the underground film scene, get to know what transgressive cinema is like today, and reflect on the virtues of the VHS format. The Chicago Underground Film Festival, or CUFF, is in it’s 25th year, programmer and director Bryan Wendorf waxes nostalgic about the genesis of the underground film scene with Matt […]

Matt is on a trip with his family when he discovers an unlikely family secret. What are the odds that all the fans of the always tepidly received 2005 adaptation of the Roald Dahl classic, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, would come from one family? Matt Silcock investigates while on vacation in Hollywood, Los Angeles, […]

Inspired by a recent theatrical release, Sam invites Facets’ marketing intern Emma Greenleaf to discuss the challenging work of the Scottish filmmaker. Discovering that they both saw You Were Never Really Here, Sam and Emma use it excuse to watch the work of Lynne Ramsay, thinking it would lead to a fun discussion. After doing […]

Matt walks through films by director Mikhail Kalatozov and cinematographer Sergey Urusevskiy. While waxing philosophical about Westerns and the inner landscapes of emotion, Sam treats listeners to a Werner Herzog impression. Matt has a love for landscape films in general but he may have discovered a new favorite. Letter Never Sent (1959) is a recent discovery […]

Jumping off topics discussed in “Episode #6: The Annihilation Episode”, Matt goes deeper on why he thinks book-to-film adaptations cause problems, except when they don’t. Using Sam as a sounding board, Matt works through some long-brewing thoughts about why he is usually disappointed by book-to-film adaptations.  Several examples are discussed, some of which actually aren’t […]

Sam is both puzzled and haunted by his weekend viewing of director Alex Garland’s newest film, Annihilation(2018). Sam tells Matt about Alex Garland’s puzzling, challenging, and somewhat terrifying adaptation of Jeff VanderMeer’s novel, Annihilation (insert scary bear reference here). This leads to further musings about book-to-screen adaptations. Harry Potter fans enter at your own risk, you […]

Sam and Matt go into in-depth discussions about Netflix’s shows, movies, their future and their recent feature, Will Smith’s Bright (2017). Netflix has become a massive hit over the years with many successes such as Marvel’s series, Stranger Things (2016), and 13 Reasons Why (2017). Their platform has become so large that they have decided […]