The Cinephiliacs

Three years of absence from the San Francisco Silent Film Festival has only left a longing in Peter's heart. And while The Cinephiliacs remains on permanent hiatus, the return of the best festival in the United States meant a necessary return to podcasting, especially when frequent co-host Victor Morton joining him. In this go around, they marvel at the masters, uncover the unknowns, and celebrate the colors. Watching films across Europe, Ukraine, and Japan, these films once again show us that silent film is not just about finding the old, but seeing anew through the incredible work of archivists, restoration work, and orchestras providing a highlight in the grand ol' Castro Theatre. This might just be a one-off episode, but what better than the Silent Fest to reignite the flames of cinephilia—particularly with fire on screen.

Today's episode features Jennifer Peterson, Professor and Chair of the Department of Communication at Woodbury University and author of Education in the School of Dreams: Travelogues and Early Nonfiction Film. We discuss her article for the "Medicine on Screen" program for the National Library of Medicine entitled "Darkening Day: Air Pollution Films and Environmental Awareness, 1960–1972." Peterson examines a select series of films from the postwar era, all sponsored by the United States government, that tackled growing concerns about air pollution and other environmental concerns in a world before the Environmental Protection Agency. The two look at unique aspects that make these films shocking today, not just for their strong anti-corporate advocacy but often their aesthetic qualities that reflected the experimental films of the era. But Peterson also acknowledges the limitations they held to advocate for positions by turning away from mass mobilization or community organizing by putting trust in the government, a position hard to rationalize in today's continuing climate emergency.

Today's episode features Anne Kaun, as Associate Professors at Södertörn University in the Department of Culture and Education, co-editor of Making Time for Digital Lives, and the author of Crisis and Critique: A Brief History of Media Participation in Times of Crisis. We discuss her co-authored article with Fredrik Stiernstedt entitled “Prison Media Work: From Manual Labor to the Work of Being Tracked,” from Media, Culture & Society. We discuss both the historical and global trends in the relationship between prison work and media infrastructures. Anne examines both the traditions of prison labor in building media as part of ,rehabilitation and professionalization, but also how it has evolved under neoliberal transformations to no longer reflect these goals. Most pointedly, she takes us through the new role of work for prisoners: acting as subjects for data analysis by large private companies looking to strengthen their algorithmic computation. Prisoners no longer do media work themselves as much as are a subject of being worked upon by media. In bringing light to this history, Kaun brings light to the complex network we live in that in many ways is shaped by prisons and the incarcerated without our knowledge.

Today's episode features Christina Lane, an Associate Professor of film studies and chair of the cinema department at the University of Miami and author of Feminist Hollywood: From Born in Flames to Point Break and Magnolia. We discuss her new book, Phantom Lady: Hollywood Producer Joan Harrison, The Forgotten Woman Behind Hitchcock, which narrates the oft-forgotten tale of one of the studio era's most notable female pioneers. As Lane explores, Harrison played a multi-faceted role in the 1930s and early 1940s for director Alfred Hitchcock that cannot be understated, and then went on to become one of the "girl producers" of the 1940s with fascinating noirish thrillers like Phantom Lady, Dark Waters, and Ride the Pink Horse. Through it all, Lane relishes in the details of the nimble yet prodigious navigator of the studio system, and in particular, her unique transition to television and central role as a proto-showrunner on Alfred Hitchcock Presents. As Lane suggests, Harrison was much more than a "gal Friday," and instead someone who balanced personal toil, political scrutiny, and of course, the misogyny of Hollywood—rarely receiving the credit due to her talents, and offering inspiration for us all today.

Today's episode features Christopher Yogerst, an assistant professor of communication, at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee and the author of From the Headlines to Hollywood: The Birth and Boom of Warner Bros. We discuss his new book, Hollywood Hates Hitler!: Jew-Baiting, Anti-Nazism, and the Senate Investigation into Warmongering in Motion Pictures, a fascinating look into the 1941 hearings in Congress over Hollywood's role in American life. Yogerst contextualizes an oft-forgotten event in the shadow of World War II, where isolationist Senators (many connected with the anti-Semitic America First Committee) attempted to argue a conspiracy against the film industry for making what they suggested was pro-war propaganda. As Yogerst details, the hearings revealed the follies of the Senate to actually understand the film industry, and highlighted the changing nature of the role of movies within the public. The result is a fascinating telling that would foretell the events that would soon grapple the industry—particularly the HUAC Investigations and the antitrust litigation—and has resonance for the continued role of Congress in its attempts to take on industries in Silicon Valley.

Today's episode features Hayley O'Malley, a Mellon postdoctoral fellow for the Black Arts Archive Sawyer Seminar at Northwestern University, who researches black women's art and activism. We discuss her article, "Art on Her Mind: The Making of Kathleen Collins's Cinema of Interiority,” published in Black Camera. O'Malley looks across the broad spectrum of work, much of it unpublished, by the director of Losing Ground to find an artist continually using a subjective voice to define identity beyond the grounds of race and gender. Searching through her archives, she argues for a broader understanding of Collins as a writer in search of authentic experiences and attempting to tell personal stories without necessarily falling simply into autobiography. The research thus demonstrates a better understanding of this recently rediscovered filmmaker not just as a curios side note for film history, but perhaps a defining thinker and writer who influenced a number of writers, directors, and other artists in ways we might not realize.

Today's episode features Eleni Palis, an assistant professor of English and Cinema Studies at the University of Tennessee, who researches the intersections between classical and post-classical American cinema. We discuss her article, "Race, Authorship and Film Quotation in Post-Classical Cinema” published in Screen. Palis transforms our idea of the film quotation from a practice of canonization used by the directors of New Hollywood by looking at innovative practices by three African American filmmakers: Julie Dash, Cheryl Dunye, and Spike Lee. In her reading of their films, and particularly the use of manufactured and "fake"quotations, Palis demonstrates an alternative use to the practice that interrogates our own relationship to film histories, both real and imagined. Trough a generation of filmmakers who cannot necessarily look to the past for the same kind of inspiration, her article allows us to rethink our own relationship to Hollywood's own history.

Today's episode features Katie Bird, an Assistant Professor at the University of Texas, El Paso, who researches technology and craft histories in Hollywood film production. We discuss her video essay, "Feeling and Thought as They Take Form: Early Steadicam, Labor, and Technology (1974-1985),” published in the Journal of Videographic Film & Moving Image Studies. Bird emphasizes the operator's role in this unique technology's early history in both major films like The Shining and Halloween, as well as demo reels, industrial works, and more. She emphasizes how the choices of the operators—both physically and affectively, often referring to their own work closer to dancing—ultimately shaped the images we saw and how we respond to them. Bird challenges viewers to see the craft as labor beyond just invisibility, appreciating the art of production at every step. 

Today's episode features JD Scnepf, a scholar of American Studies in Political Culture and Theory at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. We discuss her article, "Flood from Above: Disaster Mediation and Drone Humanitarianism," published in Media+Environment. Schnepf looks at the culture of the drone in humanitarian disasters like hurricanes and floods, studying how the private digital media infrastructure reveals the privatization of American life. Moreover, she explores how seeing and studying how drones work in these environmental situations demonstrates how we are taught to see drones as "life giving" objects, and how that provides a new critique of their military uses.

To suggest that Brian L. Frye has lived an eclectic life would be an understatement. A former experimental filmmaker, a collector of home movies, and a legal scholar of intellectual property among other strange, often quizzical projects at the University of Kentucky. After having Peter on his own podcast, Brian sat down tor return the favor. We discuss his oddball way into filmmaking (including his notorious film, Brian Frye Fails to Masturbate), his collaboration on the most curious documentary about home movies perhaps ever made—Our Nixon—and then look at much of his legal scholarship and the various avenues of exploration that has led him down (including how the defendant of one of the most important cases every 1L learns may have been lying the entire time). The discussion remains quite strange: from the Supreme Court nominee who was squashed by Flaming Creatures to the intellectual property history of the Zapruder film, to why you should plagiarize. Finally, the two discuss The Hart of London, Jack Chambers's amazing experimental film and the failure of words to possibly describe this monumental work. 0:00–5:57 Opening6:43–1:21:44 Deep Focus — Brian L. Frye1:22:21–1:27:24 MUBI Sponsorship Section1:28:34–1:40:16 Double Exposure — The Hart of London (Jack Chambers)1:40:22–1:41:59 Close 

Desperate for bodies in motion, five quarantined cinephiles joined Peter and a number of podcast listeners on Zoom to talk about the recent non-fiction films they've been devouring on the world of athletics. Some shows favor the classic narratives; others a different approach. All made for a great happy hour. Join Peter alongside Carman Tse, Nate Fisher, Eric Marsh, Jake Mulligan, and Matt Ellis for a talk about ESPN and the NBA's ten hour "examination" into Michael Jordan and the 1998 Chicago Bulls with The Last Dance, Jon Bois and Alex Rubenstein's expose into the history of baseball's oddest team with The History of the Seattle Mariners, and Theo Anthony's 30 for 30 special on tennis replay, Subject to Review, which might not actually be about tennis but all society. Plus, they remember some guys. Man, remember those guys? Whatever happened to those guys???? 0:00–5:16 Opening 6:07-51:41 The Last Dance (Jason Hehir [or Michael Jordan and the NBA]) 52:29–56:23 Sponsorship Section 57:25–1:40:10 The History of the Seattle Mariners (Jon Bois and Alex Rubenstein) 1:41:18–2:03:48 Subject to Review (Theo Anthony) 2:04:05–1:56:51 Close

As a constant Instagram user, I find it hard not to love the numerous videos of mammals and other species in behavior whose response always comes down to "they're just like us!" But what about that history of cinema that shows us how animals are not like us, and perhaps encourages us to think outside our own worldview. In Zoological Surrealism, University of Toronto professor James Leo Cahill explores the wondrously strange history of filmmaker Jean Painlevé, best known for his documentary The Seahorse, and explores the numerous scientific films and how he and his collaborators essentially embraced a different worldview by merging art and science. In this long ranging history, James takes us through his first fascinations with cinema and animals as well as through the numerous unique theories he develops through tracing a transhistorical understanding of Painlevé. Finally, the two embrace every emotion through examining Pom Poko, a curious anime from Studio Ghibli that traces the last years of a dying species and celebrates the way we feel loss....a film quite appropriate for our current moment. 0:00–7:10 Opening7:54-13:05 MUBI Sponsorship13:50–1:32:30 Deep Focus — James Leo Cahill1:34:35–1:37:35 OVID.TV Sponsorship Section1:38:21–1:54:08 Double Exposure — Pom Poko (Isao Takahata)1:54:56–1:56:51 Close 

Nothing is more frustrating in our streaming era than turning on any specific app and suddenly staring hundreds of movie posters with only an algorithm trying to decide what you might like (especially if such product is actually made by the company to help its margins). But what if there was a streaming site that only offered a single movie a week, and maybe not even a feature but a short or medium-length feature? And what if it had circulated ultra-rare films by Claire Denis, Hong Sang-Soo, Matias Piñeiro, Jonas Mekas, and fascinating filmmakers you had never heard of? That's the promise Marie-Louise Khondji has brought to her site Le Cinéma Club. Marie sits down to talk about growing up with her father (the cinematographer Darius) and how she moved into management through distribution and production before starting a site to help filmmakers showcase work that needed an outlet and created to be accessible for all. Finally, the two talk about the wonderful Jonathan Glazer film Birth, and how it seems to capture a certain timeless stasis of its upper elite New York culture. 0:00–6:27 Opening7:40-11:32 OVID.TV Sponsorship12:17–45:51 Deep Focus — Marie-Louise Khondji46:40–51:15 MUBI Sponsorship Section52:31–1:03:47 Double Exposure — Birth (Jonathan Glazer)1:04:12–1:06:42 Close 

The podcast returns in our perilous times with a profile of the website all about what's playing in repertory and experimental cinemas across New York. And though the balconies remained closed and the popcorn machines without an ounce, there are plenty of reason to subscribe to Screen Slate and listen to this conversation with Jon Dieringer. Jon takes us to his early programming days and work on a few Hollywood movies before diving into the complex work preserving the history of experimental video at Electronic Arts Intermix. He then talks about the origins of Screen Slate (including its infamous and now defunct competitor) and how it continues to push the boundaries of what curious cinephiles can and should watch. Finally, the two dive into the absolute oddity that is Made in Hollywood, a proto-Lynch take on the industry from Bruce and Norman Yonemoto with Patricia Arquette that is both highly artificial and highly bizarre.  0:00–6:18 Opening7:27-10:43 OVID.TV Sponsorship11:28–1:20:21 Deep Focus — Jon Dieringer1:21:32–1:24:57 MUBI Sponsorship Section1:25:37–1:40:32 Double Exposure — Made in Hollywood (Bruce and Norman Yonemoto)1:40:36–1:42:33 Close // Outtake

If cinema enters what might be its 100th identity crisis since its birth, there is at least a more appropriate question to ask: where will cinema take place? As the first guest of 2020, Peter brings in Art House Convergence director Alison Kozberg to tackle how the art house scene has changed less in Los Angeles and New York but instead transformed cities like Tuscon and Charleston. Alison charts her life as a repertory-goer in the 1990s to learning the tricks of programming for both classic Hollywood and experimental works in places like Minneapolis, Boston, and South Carolina. She then looks at the new challenges—but more so, opportunities—for art houses to engage and create new community spaces. Finally, the two dive back into her teen years to examine Gregg Araki's apocalyptic teenage satire Nowhere, which Alison argues as a rare breakthrough film of the time to openly accept queer identities as normative. 0:00–5:06 Opening5:52–51:11 Deep Focus — Alison Kozberg 52:28–57:34 Sponsorship Section58:57–1:17:03 Double Exposure — Nowhere (Gregg Araki)1:17:28–1:19:21 Close

In some regards, cinephilia often defines itself in knowing what is good from what is bad, highlighting the rarity of intention and execution in a select few texts from the rest of the trash. But what about those supposedly bad films? Do they not offer insight into our culture as well? In Double Negative, Associate Professor Racquel Gates explores the supposed bad mirror image of black cinema and television from the 1980s and beyond. Looking at a set of nearly forgotten works, Gates examines how these texts reveal insights into black popular culture often ignored by the mainstream. As Peter and Racquel discuss, these texts often aim to show a slice of American life what is usually acceptable in white popular culture—if only simply showing suburban middle-class life. In their final segment, they dissect the topic of whiteness with the 2004 Wayans Brother flick White Chicks, a very silly film with a very insightful dissection of privilege and femininity, as well as absolute sheer gross-out humor.  0:00–3:03 Opening3:41–11:37 Establishing Shots — At the Mill Valley Film Festival12:23–49:33 Deep Focus — Racquel Gates50:52–54:23 Sponsorship Section55:33–1:06:04 Double Exposure — White Chicks (Keenen Ivory Wayans)1:06:25–1:08:17 Close / Outtake

As much as many will espouse the "universal language" of cinema, the experience of both making and watching films from location to location is full of fascinating difference. As someone who grew up watching films in both America and Colombia, Daniel Steinhart became attuned to look for these differences as he traveled film festivals as well. But his book, Runaway Hollywood, moves from the audience to the filmmakers who escaped the studio lot and made works across the globe in the postwar era. Peter and Dan discuss this fascinating taxonomy of taxes and tea, gaffers and genre, politics and panning shots. How exactly could this cultural exchange create a change in film style? Finally, they dive into an oddball thriller from Otto Preminger shot in London, Bunny Lake Is Missing, examining how this film balances both its unique locale and the demands of its auteur. 0:00–3:28 Opening5:11–12:52 Establishing Shots — Gilberto Perez's The Eloquent Screen13:37–1:07:22 Deep Focus — Daniel Steinhart1:08:06–1:11:33 Sponsorship Section1:12:52–1:33:02 Double Exposure — Bunny Lake Is Missing (Otto Preminger)1:33:07–1:35:50 Close  

Being the metropolitan area newspaper's film critic has its set of burdens and responsibilities to a number of diverse audiences, but for Justin Chang, those challenges are multiplied by the the odd nature of Los Angeles as the movie capital of the  world. In this final episode from the City  of Angels as Peter says adios to the city he's called home for the last five years, he sits down with the former Variety and current Los Angeles Times critic to explore how to look and consider the industry and the various entanglements that expand out from it. Justin explains his growth from intern to critic within the city's oldest trade publication to the issues of representation and politics within Hollywood today. The two cap off their conversation by looking at Hou Hsiao-Hsien's strange and hypnotic Flowers of Shanghai, looking at how the director lays clues throughout to explore a 19th century brothel wrapped into a romantic mystery. 0:00–3:11 Opening3:51–11:39 Establishing Shots — Celebrating Seven Years of The Cinephiliacs12:24–1:04:31 Deep Focus — Justin Chang1:05:28–1:09:15 Sponsorship Section1:10:27–1:28:49 Double Exposure — Flowers of Shanghai (Hou Hsiao-Hsien)1:29:02–1:31:29 Close / Outtake

As this podcast has aimed to define, those who watch cinema can often be more revealing of culture than cinema itself. In her book, Lewd Looks, Elena Gorfinkel explores the sexploitation era of the 1960s. However, she looks past the texts to consider some of the more aspects of spectators and the public who shaped this unique era. The result is a fascinating text that considers cinephilia's history in ways that imagines both a more dynamic and complex past alongside a new way of formulating our current moment. Peter and Elena go on to discuss the issues surrounding cinephilia today and Elena's own work outside of the academic halls. Finally, Elena brings in the fascinating experimental work The Color of Love from filmmaker Peggy Ahwesh, considering how this work literally found in a dumpster becomes a cinephilie love letter to another forgotten filmmaker. 0:00–3:16 Opening4:01–1:03:33 Deep Focus — Elena Gorfinkel1:04:30–1:03:33 Sponsorship Section1:08:24–1:25:14 Double Exposure — The Color of Love (Peggy Ahwesh)1:25:19–1:26:52 Close

For anyone whose lived in Los Angeles or New York, it's easy to see when a film cheats its its locales. Just watch John Wick 3 and see the eponymous character seemingly make the trip from Midtown to Chinatown in a matter of minutes—and all by foot. But why has location shooting evolved such as it is? Joshua Gleich, a historian making his home at the University of Arizona, Tuscon, explores this by looking at the city of fog, San Francisco. Less an exploration of which films "get it right" or "get it wrong," Gleich's new book explores the evolution of location shooting from the 1940s to the 1970s, and how curiously the films of SF soon diverted from its actual life, attempting to mimic the urban nightmares that took up the imagination of Hollywood. Josh talks about his new book with Peter, exploring a number of classic films and the production contexts that made them. Finally, the two explore Blake Edwards's alcoholic drama Days of Wine and Roses and how a little location shooting can help pepper an entire film, especially one that breaks many of the molds of the classic Hollywood melodrama. Plus, Peter praises the work of the back-in-action Le Cinema Club and its opener with a rare Claire Denis short made in New York. 0:00–3:28 Opening3:51–8:37 Establishing Shots — Le Cinema Club and Claire Denis9:21–59:20 Deep Focus — Joshua Gleich1:00:23–1:03:49 Sponsorship Section1:05:44–1:19:21 Double Exposure — Days of Wine and Roses (Blake Edwards)1:19:27–1:26:52 Close

After a year hiatus, Peter returns to the Castro Theatre alongside Victor Morton to check back in with the good folks at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, now in their 24th iteration. It's more proof that this cinephile culture is alive and well and always expanding toward new avenues despite its century longevity. This year includes discoveries from both the studio era of filmmaking as well as unique corners of the globe, featuring narratives of fallen women, activist women, and women willing to push their vanity to death itself (also the occasional man). The surprise of the festival in part is seeing this period of history both in its innovations as well as its regressions, which sometimes work to turn seemingly simple works into complex objects. Within this, great artists appear: some known and others now reclaimed. Join Peter and Victor as they work their way through this excellent set of films. 0:00–2:41 Opening2:42–15:00 The Signal Tower (Clarence Brown, 1924) 16:36–30:56 Tonka of the Gallows (Karel Anton, 1931) 32:11–49:33 Color Extravaganza! 50:30–53:30 Sponsorship Section 54:16–1:05:08 Goona Goona (André Roosevelt and Armand Denis, 1932) 1:06:03–1:24:03 Romance, Comedy and Otherwise 1:24:52–1:37:38 The Wedding March (Erich Von Stroheim, 1928) 1:37:42–1:26:52 Close

In the search for reclaiming masterpieces, creating streaming services that put every film at our fingertips, and investigating narratives that simply continue variations of the canon, what have we missed? What happens when we put our foot on the breaks and reconsider not just the what's of cinema and media history but the hows? In her extraordinary body of research, Professor Katherine Groo has been looking toward the objects that film history often ignores, simply because it seems there is nothing to do with them. The result in her new book, Bad Film Histories, considers some methods and ideas of how to approach a particular set of objects: early ethnographic film. From there, Peter and Katherine look into her much discussed op-ed for the Washington Post on the role of streaming services like FilmStruck and end by examining not a film but an archive: a set of films and glass plates collected to create an archive of the world by Albert Kahn. Needless to say, it is the odds and ends there that remain more fascinating than considering the body of work itself. 0:00–4:37 Opening5:23–58:48 Deep Focus — Katherine Groo 1:00:09–1:04:36 Sponsorship Section1:05:46–1:25:08 Double Exposure — Archives de la Planète1:25:13–1:26:52 Close

Unless you've had your head in the sand, the awareness of the women dominated Hollywood of the 1910s has moved out of academic circles and into popular discourse. Instead of asking what happened to these women, film scholar Jane Gaines has another: why has this only now become part of our history? A pioneering scholar in mixed-race films, copyright, and documentary, Gaines's latest, long gestating book Pink Slipped mines film studies's own history to look at the reasons and problems of telling history through this one paradigm. In this winding conversation, Jane explores her own history and what led her to explore this problem and where history goes from here. They end their conversation looking at one particularly fascinating woman—Gene Gauntier—who beat out Pearl White and Helen Holmes as the first serial star by playing a cross-dressing confederate spy. A not to be missed discussion! Plus, Peter delivers some thoughts on a rediscovered and restored British drama exploring the Jamaican diaspora.  0:00–4:22 Opening5:14–10:30 Establishing Shots — Franco Rosso's Babylon11:16–51:53 Deep Focus — Jane Gaines52:53–56:54 Sponsorship Section57:19–1:06:52 Double Exposure — The Girl Spy Before Vicksburg (Gene Gauntier)1:06:57–1:09:58 Close / Outtake

In a time of Easy Riders and Raging Bulls, the opportunities for directors of New Hollywood to make ambitious, artistic, and socially conscious movies blossomed in a way the industry had never allowed—but those outside the categories of white and male had a different story. But despite the gender disparity, sixteen daring women broke through. Some of their names are known; others in need of rediscovery. Either way, UCLA's Maya Montañez Smukler saw her goal to tell their narratives, showing how the rise of second wave feminism started the fight against the industry's sexism that continues today. In this wide ranging interview, Maya discusses her early history working for women-focused cinema organizations and how that eventually led to her book Liberating Hollywood. Peter and Maya explore the legal and cultural bookends that make up her project, and contextualize these directors in both their moment and ours. Finally, the two dive into Old Boyfriends, a truly oddball debut feature from Nashville screenwriter Joan Tewkesbury with a screenplay by Taxi Driver's Paul Schrader and an all-star cast. 0:00–3:36 Opening4:21–1:05:42 Deep Focus — Maya Montañez Smukler1:06:34–1:2:05 Sponsorship Section1:12:45–1:27:34 Double Exposure — Old Boyfriends (Joan Tewkesbury)1:27:39–1:29:29 Close / Outtake  

It's easy to claim art serves a purpose, but what exactly is that purpose? How do artists and critics reckon with the images, ideas, and worlds they've created—for better and worse? If art only builds a monument to itself, what value does that hold? In the second part of Peter and Keith Uhlich's look back at the year 2018 in movies, these questions come to the forefront. It's not just what art is but how it strikes us, how it is purposed (or repurposed), and how it becomes part of a dialogue. Though covering just one year of cinema, a list that expands back over a century. The big surprise: who topped their list with film and who topped it with television? Surprises abound in this invigorating discussion. 0:00–2:41 Opening2:41–26:34 Picks for #526:34–41:40 Picks for #441:40–1:00:41 Picks for #31:01:20–1:03:59 Sponsorship Section1:04:47–1:27:08 Picks for #21:27:08–1:30:02 Guest Picks1:30:02–1:59:56 Picks for #11:59:56–2:04:39 Wrap Up 2:05:36–2:08:35 Close / Outtake

Witches, Worship, and White People: Oh my! Keith Uhlich returns for another year of counting down films, television, and other media of 2018 in this Part 1 of 2. The choices remain as eclectic as always, but the spirit of debate shifts toward not just what constitutes not just what cinema is but when it is (2017? 1972? Who Knows!)—part of the larger flux in our ever expanding digital world. Each challenges the other for a statement of principals to understand not just what films get made and who gets to make them, throwing wrenches into questions surrounding the systems that hold the keys and the role of representation on screen. Strap on (!) in for another series of conversations on what might not be the best films of the year, but the ones that engaged us most into a winding conversation. 0:00-2:52 Opening2:52-27:04 Picks for #1027:04-50:21 Picks for #951:08-55:07 Sponsorship Section55:29-1:21:01 Picks for #81:21:01-1:43:53 Picks for #71:43:53-2:05:26 Picks for #62:06:02-2:06:35 Wrap Up 2:06:44 -2:08:52 Close / Outtake

Given the ever growing plethora of criticism, it makes it more and more difficult to find critics whose every word feels inspired, and more than that, fewer critics who are even given spaces to write on films that create impassioned, reflective, and incisive prose and arguments. Houston-based writer Michael Sicinski is one of the rarities left today. His criticism makes experimental films that might alienate audiences feel accessible and who takes the liberal Hollywood schmaltz and demonstrates how alienating it can be. In this broad ranging interview, Michael takes Peter through his move from art history to cinema, the academic sphere to the internet, and from writing to teaching. The two then dive into Su Friedrich's haunting memory film Sink or Swim, and look at how a work that demonstrates formal rigor at every moment is also imbued with emotion that any audience can feel as well. Plus, Peter checks back in with former guest Eric Allen Hatch and his new non-profit video store in Baltimore, looking at how a seemingly "outdated" model of cinephilia might just save its future. 0:00-3:33  Opening4:25-15:42 Establishing Shots — Beyond Video with Eric Allen Hatch16:28-1:24:12 Deep Focus — Michael Sicinski1:25:25-1:29:50  Sponsorship Section1:31:05-1:52:43 Double Exposure — Sink or Swim (Su Friedrich)1:52:48-2:00:37 Close / Outtake

The fine line between art and pornography is as old as visual culture itself, but only recently have those within the industry crafted their narratives for large scale audiences by avoiding the old hat critiques often placed on the profession. Cam, a new horror thriller financed by Blumhouse and made by the creative duo of Isa Mazzei and Daniel Goldhaber, does exactly that by following a cam girl as she fights to reclaim her identity. Dan sits down in this long ranging interview to discuss his creative apprenticeships on documentaries and the lessons he learned from Harvard, the work he and Isa did crafting pornography that thought seriously about aesthetics, and the creative workarounds necessary to make a good film about screen life. Finally, the two talk about Showgirls, a tricky film that nonetheless influenced Cam—Peter and Dan examine how and where the film takes these burlesque dancers seriously, and how the film straddles its campy existence. Plus, Carman Tse joins the show to talk about a few restorations that played the recent AFI Film Festival. 0:00-3:10  Opening4:13-27:48 Establishing Shots — Repertory Talk at AFI Fest with Carman Tsse28:33-1:36:45 Deep Focus — Daniel Goldhaber1:38:00-1:42:00  Sponsorship Section1:43:08-1:58:40 Double Exposure — Showgirls (Paul Vehoven)1:58:48-2:00:37 Close / Outtake

Faint memories of adventures abroad, the streets lined with buildings of the past, and the Disneyland rides long replaced. All memories of others, but preserved for us through the magic of 8 and 16mm celluloid. In this special episode, Peter travels inside the land of Home Movie Day is the show's first "experiential" podcast, recording the sounds and voices of this special event. Hear archivists, projectionists, and others who drudged up canisters from their attics discover the magic of this unique event in which no one knew what was going to be shown. From "Keystone Nuns" from Hungary to the Los Angeles Dodgers and King George II, learn about how home movies provide both historical and emotional experiences that these truly personal films could provide. 0:00-3:06  Opening3:06-27:57 Home Movie Day Part 128:54-32:55  Sponsorship Section33:23-59:53 Home Movie Day Part 259:58-1:01:55 Close 

So often when it comes to cinema we can make easy assumptions, but the questions underneath them are brimming to push boundaries. What exactly should film archives contain and what are their social responsibilities? Could an independent cinema exist under state sponsorship? Why is the goal of scholarship a book or article? What if instead you made films in caves, or highlighted contributions to our history through gravestones? Through her unique career, Terri Francis has brought some of these questions to light in a different way that makes the work of academia feel not just groundbreaking but emotionally powerful. In this long-ranging conversation, the Indiana University professor and director of the Black Film Center/Archive explores a range of topics related to Josephine Baker, Jamaica Film, and understanding and expanding black identity and cinephilia in a time where the very nature of the premise is changing. Finally, Terri and Peter discuss Losing Ground, a pioneering and celebratory melodrama from indie filmmaker Kathleen Collins—Terri tells the story of how the film went from obscurity to the stunning restoration that's made it part of the new canon. 0:00-3:46  Opening4:29-11:11 Establishing Shots — New Streaming Platforms, New Avenues11:57-1:09:32 Deep Focus — Terri Francis1:10:30-1:14:16  Sponsorship Section1:15:36-1:38:44 Double Exposure — Losing Ground (Kathleen Collins) 1:38:49-1:40:33 Close / Outtake 

When Peter first began studying criticism, one person seemed to have the aspirational career he wanted: James Naremore. Not only was he able to teach the history of cinema, but he had written some of the most influential books on Orson Welles, screen acting, and film noir. Now Professor Emeritus at Indiana University, Bloomington, Naremore continues to write and research while still blending a line between film criticism and film academia, but always with a rigor and appreciation that makes him entirely unique. James sits down with Peter to talk about going from English literature to film studies, to his appreciation of classical criticism, and the politics of writing a study of Charles Burnett. Finally, they talk about a rarity that few have seen: the 1929 British silent film A Cottage on Dartmoor, which represents one of the great "last breaths of silent techniques" before sound would change filmmaking, which even gets its own strange cameo in the movie! 0:00-4:10  Opening5:12-11:34 Establishing Shots — Edmond O'Brien The Noirish Chameleon12:18-49:18 Deep Focus — James Naremore49:54-54:04  Sponsorship Section54:47-1:08:48 Double Exposure — A Cottage on Dartmoor (Anthony Asquith)1:08:53-1:10:31 Close 

It is easy to get caught up in the names that have already become known throughout the cinephile world and their accomplishments and great works. But who will carry the torch through the future? One curious fellow worth noting to the is Toronto-based writer and filmmaker Neil Bahaduer. With his iconoclastic ramblings, larky wit, and soft-spoken but all so engrossing enthusiasm, Neil's writing on cinema seems to be pointing toward something different that splices together the past and the future in hope of creating a cinema entirely alien to what we often limit. Peter talks to Neil about his writings on silent films in conversation with more recent art house filmmakers, the role of the marketplace in cinema that hopes to speak politically, and his ambitous first film, From Nine to Nine. They then dive into D.W. Griffith's first feature length film, Judith of Bethulia, and examine how this curious expansion into length allowed the pioneer to bring together questions of aesthetics and politics. Plus, former guest and eating expert Carman Tse joins Peter to discuss the legacy of one of their favorite all time critics, food writer Jonathan Gold. 0:00-4:01  Opening6:02-28:59 Establishing Shots — Remembering Jonathan Gold with Carman Tse29:45-1:26:57 Deep Focus — Neil Bahaduer 1:27:58-1:31:34  Sponsorship Section1:32:34-1:48:10 Double Exposure — Judith of Bethulia (D.W. Griffith)1:48:16-1:50:00 Close / Outtake 

What does it mean to study the means of production? Is one deconstructing the way an industry might operate, its cultural and political signification, or is simply one reproducing an apologia for capitalism itself? In a lively and spirited conversation, Peter explores these questions with one of his all-time academic heroes, Janet Staiger. The author of Interpreting Films, Perverse Spectators, and co-author of The Classical Hollywood Cinema examines the various political undertones that have always peppered her work, and where the future of media studies can go in today's political age, whether it be studying the way images are made or the way they are received. But there's also a lot of fun to be had, including the unique connections between Zombieland, a recent "romantic comedy" that just happens to feature blood and gore, and a certain 2017 film of fashionable elegance. Plus, Peter recaps his recent trip to Il Cinema Ritrovato with Welsh critic Christopher Small, where the two debate whether the films or the gelato stood out more. 0:00-4:00  Opening4:58-29:48 Establishing Shots — Il Cinema Ritrovato with Christopher Small30:33-1:05:47 Deep Focus — Janet Staiger1:06:45-1:11:40  Sponsorship Section1:13:06-1:26:35 Double Exposure — Zombieland (Ruben Fleischer)1:26:39-1:28:18 Close

While hardly a new problem in the media landscape, issues of representation both in front and behind screen have reached new peaks in the cultural discourse through campaigns like #OscarsSoWhite. But what does the path forward look like? Kristen Warner, a scholar of media industries, brings her unique research to the podcast to look at issues of colorblind casting and what she calls "plastic representation." Kristen and Peter look at a number of televisual milieus in which representational politics play out on our screens, and Kristen challenges a lot of issues to ask when real authentic people of color actually appear. Finally, the two discuss Magic Mike XXL, one of the most unique films of the last decade and a rare site where people of color have been in some way given their space. Kristen explains how a film with a white director and almost all-white cast somehow envisions a utopic vision of diverse American culture. 0:00-4:16  Opening5:48-11:46 Establishing Shots — Bill Hader and Barry12:32-48:40 Deep Focus — Kristen Warner49:39-52:28  Sponsorship Section53:40-1:06:08 Double Exposure — Magic Mike XXL (Gregory Jacobs)1:06:49-1:08:41 Close

Perhaps in danger of becoming a new cliché for the show, Peter remains fascinated by actors: what is this business they do and how do they do it, especially those stars that littered the studios in Hollywood's Golden Age? Answering that question is film and theatre critic Dan Callahan, who has gone in depth on many of those actors. His new book, The Art of American Screen Acting, explores the Classical Hollywood style of performance through twenty essays on Hollywood's best and brightest. Peter asks about the genesis of the book as well as various technical aspects remarked upon, as well as on Dan's other two totems on Barbara Stanwyck and Vanessa Redgrave. Finally, the two look at the site of a true clash in William Wyler's The Heiress, where four titans of Hollywood—all with different styles—produce one of the most confounding and wondrous mixtures of screen performance one could possibly imagine. 0:00-2:48  Opening4:27-12:56 Establishing Shots — Old Masters, Digital Tricks13:42-1:05:00 Deep Focus — Dan Callahan1:05:41-1:10:01  Sponsorship Section1:11:23-1:31:48 Double Exposure — The Heiress (William Wyler)1:31:53-1:34:27 Close / Outtake

The skyline of Rochester is filled with the industrial ghosts of the 20th century. However, the haunt is a more than a pleasant one, and perhaps the essential keeper of its history is the George Eastman Museum—a glowing monument to the history of both photography and the moving image. Jared Case has worked the Museum for over 18 years, and in particular has helped steer what has quickly become one of the go-to destinations for cinephiles: The Nitrate Picture Show. Peter attended the 4th iteration of the festival dedicated to the silvery, flammable material that preserved up cinema half-century, and then sat immediately down to discuss with Jared the work behind the scenes of such a wondrous event. Jared also explains the nuances of cataloging motion pictures, the development of a Technicolor database, and how to bring film preservation to the masses. Finally, the two look at John Cromwell's devilish noir Dead Reckoning with a witty Humphrey Bogart and the black hole of evil that is noir's most bad, bad girl, Lizabeth Scott. And as a bonus, Peter takes a tour of the Eastman Museum's frigid vaults to examine their 24,000 reels of film with Deborah Stoiber. 0:00-4:00  Opening5:23-28:20 Establishing Shots — Touring the Nitrate Vaults With Deborah Stoiber29:05-1:15:39 Deep Focus — Jared Case1:16:41-1:20:29  Sponsorship Section1:21:35-1:41:38 Double Exposure — Dead Reckoning (John Cromwell)1:41:56-1:43:387 Close

Every guest of The Cinephiliacs has had their chance in the hot seat to be questioned by Peter on a myriad of topics, but never the other way around. In this very special 100th episode, it is the guests who have control of the mic. Friend of the show Keith Uhlich plays host for an episode to ask Peter about his first cinematic memory, how the podcast got started, and why he turned to film history. Along the way, many other former friends call in to ask their own questions about his favorite theaters, the films he just doesn't understand, and the lessons he's learned through the course of the show. Finally, Peter finally chooses the film and goes with John Ford's enigmatic biopic The Long Gray Line, a story of the military and America in a way that neither Keith nor Peter can wrap their heads entirely around, but find themselves in tears at the end nonetheless. Is it shallow patriotism, or is Ford crafting the most mysterious anti-war film ever made? 0:00-4:27  Opening5:12-1:38:44 Deep Focus — Peter Labuza1:39:24-1:43:24  Sponsorship Section1:44:44-2:18:11 Double Exposure — The Long Gray Line (John Ford)2:18:56-2:24:10 Final Questions / Thanks 2:24:12-2:25:54 Close

The avant-garde just doesn't "happen." It has relied on institutional networks that create any sort of art world to help it find its publics. These networks are just as critical as they were 50 years ago, and Antonella Bonfanti works to keep that tradition alive. The director of the San Francisco based Canyon Cinema sits down to discuss how she fell in love with the tactile form of film and found herself working with home movies and other amateur formats before joining the famed distribution company for experimental cinema. She then explains how Canyon continues to operate and its bright future in finding audiences in the digital age. Finally, she and Peter put on their jazz hands to highlight the work of Bob Fosse's Cabaret, which of course turns into what else but a Liza Love Fest. 0:00-3:08  Opening4:17-11:00 Establishing Shots — New Cinemas Hit Manhattan11:46-58:53 Deep Focus — Antonella Bonfanti1:00:05-1:04:18  Sponsorship Section1:06:05-1:19:15 Double Exposure — Cabaret (Bob Fosse)1:19:42-1:22:43 Close

One of the most critical ways that women can break the overwhelming male-controlled industry in Hollywood is acknowledging how central they have always been to its existence. UC Santa Cruz Professor Shelley Stamp has been on the forefront of that narrative, exploring how women dominated silent film culture both in terms of their moviegoing habits and the films they created. The author of Movie-Struck Girls and Lois Weber in Early Hollywood sits down with Peter to discuss the critical wave of film historiography that blossomed during her early career and the pre-internet research methods she used to create these and other texts, as well as what the future of the field may hold. Finally, they dive into Ida Lupino's directorial debut Not Wanted and look at both the similarities and differences between her and Lois Weber as the actor charted a new type of social problem film for the noir era. 0:00-3:59  Opening4:44-1:05:43 Deep Focus — Shelley Stamp1:06:48-1:10:01  Sponsorship Section1:12:06-1:26:23 Double Exposure — Not Wanted (Lupino)1:26:27-1:18:40 Close

Watching an actor transform in an unexpected way—even if the particular action is so simple and its context so mundane—can be a revelatory experience, and the kind that draws us into the movies we adore. James Urbaniak has made that something of a career, giving us the quiet internal rage inside Simon Grim in Henry Fool, the secretly menacing stares of Grant in the TV series Review, and the dozens upon dozens of strange voices he's taken on for series like The Venture Brothers. In this episode, James sits down with Peter to get into the technical and philosophical ideas that drive his character actor career in a number of shows, while also discussing how his love of Classical Hollywood has influenced his decisions—including his noir homage series, A Night Called Tomorrow. Finally, the two dive into Billy Wilder's The Apartment to explore how they actors take the screwball zaniness of the script and make it melancholy, and turn the film's dramatic shifts into comedy. 0:00-2:52  Opening3:34-9:42 Establish Shots — Contemplating Curtiz10:28-50:19 Deep Focus — James Urbaniak51:11-54:02  Sponsorship Section55:33-1:15:49 Double Exposure — The Apartment (Wilder)1:16:36-1:18:40 Close

On one hand, cinema has mutated. It is no longer contained to the theater and its methods no longer simply produce simply 3 act narrative features. But was it ever so limited? The first films were hand cranked into a box at a parlor on 34th street. The military in WWII made cinema portable in order to bring secrets across enemy lines. Films taught people their trades. Video tape launched a spiritual and later political revolution against the dominant mode. The medium was never the message, so let's just celebrate what was seen and experienced—the movement was not just in the image but in our bodies (the real movement...was love). All is this to say, Keith and Peter have good fun exploring their favorite works of 2017, debating the nature of reality in a series of works either attempting to pull it from other the rug or expose it through unsuspecting places. Is it future? Or is it past? Or is it simply the now in which me must live. And live we must. 0:00-2:27 Opening 2:28-47:16 Picks for #5 47:16-1:16:00 Picks for #4 1:16:01-1:34:31 Picks for #3 1:35:14-1:39:05 Sponsorship Section 1:40:07-2:09:39 Picks for #2 2:09:40-2:25:07 Pick for #1 2:25:08-2:27:14 Final Thoughts 2:27:31-2:29:57 Close

A love of cinema does not necessitate a love of a total work. Often it is a moment—a person, a camera movement, a lighting choice, or an emotional beat—that strikes us. When Peter and Keith discussed returning once again for their annual countdown, they decided that the first half of their lists should do something different. Instead of highlight their 6 through 10 picks for the year, they instead have chosen five "Moments Out Of Time" within often good (though perhaps bad) films that surprised, challenged, and delighted. With such a list, they discuss a plethora of topics, including a serious examination of the structures within Hollywood that have maintained and sustained diminishing standards under increasingly dubious and especially harmful authorities. Individual artists strive to rise above the system, and here, the two critics aim to find out why that is, and what could be done to uplift the system. 0:00-6:08  Opening 6:09-31:49 Picks for #5 31:50-56:49 Picks for #4 56:50-1:23:54 Picks for #3 1:25:08-1:28:10  Sponsorship Section 1:28:36-1:51:48  Picks for #2 1:51:49-2:18:07 Picks for #1 2:18:08-2:26:07 Repertory Picks of the Year 2:26:11-2:28:04 Close / Outtake

While every single restoration brings unique challenges, Mark Toscano sometimes has to ask a very strange question: did the filmmaker intend that scratch or speck or slice or anything that might appear like a problem or mistake as actually critical to the film? It's questions like these that bring energy to Mark as he works as a film preservationist at the Academy Film Archive, helping preserve and restore hundreds of experimental cinema works. Peter sits down with Mark to discuss his road from the George Eastman house to Canyon Cinema to the Academy, and some of the unique questions and relationships he builds as the canon of experimental cinema continue to expand under his purview. Finally, the two dive into the complex and wondrous world of Chick Strand in Soft Fiction, whose detailing of the sexual experiences and desires of women under her lyrical eye has gained complexity in today's discussions of sex and power. 0:00-3:39  Opening 4:54-12:11  Establishing Shot — UCLA's Recuerdos de un cine en español 12:57-1:25:05  Deep Focus — Mark Toscano 1:26:08-1:29:13  Sponsorship Section 1:30:41-1:51:30  Double Exposure — Soft Fiction (Chick Strand) 1:51:35-1:53:20 Close / Outtake

This year's slate of unique films on the festival circuits are works defined by individuals. Some follow how they define themselves to others—romantically or otherwise—while others follow their relationship to work, the state, and to their own being. Performers of dynamic and unique range create compelling faces and bodies to follow through spaces both familiar and alien, traversing time through aesthetic choices. Directors thus create tones through defining space and helping us see what is beyond the camera's gaze. In this report from the AFI Film Festival in Los Angeles, Peter invites on a cornucopia of wonderous guests to discuss some of the fall's most unique films. Works by Hong Sang-Soo, Claire Denis, Sergei Lonznista, Aaron Katz, and Valeska Grisebach explore the contemporary landscape with conviction, empathy, and pathos. 0:00-3:43 Opening4:37-25:27 The Day After and Claire's Camera with Aret Frost26:28-43:39 A Gentle Creature with Carson Lund44:37-48:31 Sponsorship Section50:10-1:03:31  Gemini with Gabriel Anderson1:04:39-1:29:47 Western and Bright Sunshine In with Carman Tse1:30:37-1:32:49 Close / Outtake

Since debuting in the fairgrounds during the Fin de siècle of the late 19th century, movies have never been inseparable from our culture around them. So how does one write about them in a way that gives both the text and the world a fair shake? Over at The Ringer, K. Austin Collins has been using his writing to explore how films operate as cultural artifacts, even as the machine of Hollywood has attempted to vacuum itself from any discussion. Kam dives into his interest in writing as a practice and how he moved from the academic sphere into the weekly reviewing gig, and how he finds ways to bring his training to even writing about blockbusters. The two have a long discussion in particular about movie stars and the particular pleasures of watching them and seeing them create identities. Finally, Kam brings on Kenneth Lonergan's almost lost to litigation masterpiece Margaret with Anna Paquin, which leads to a discussion of what exactly is melodrama and how and why do movies affect us. 0:00-3:22 Opening4:07-1:11:48 Deep Focus — K. Austin Collins1:12:48-1:16:33 Sponsorship Section 1:17:56-1:45:33 Double Exposure — Margaret (Kenneth Lonergan)1:46:37-1:48:36 Close 

As this podcast has explored, the limits of non-fiction have been continually pushed and pulled by daring filmmakers who refuse to understand the limits of what they can do. This week looks at two new releases from three creators asking questions of space, memory, history, and often themselves. First of all, Peter sits down with legendary French New Wave filmmaker Agnès Varda to discuss her new film, Visage Villages (in English, Faces Places), alongside her co-conspirator, the elusive street artist known as JR. They discuss the ins and outs of collaboration when their work ethics seemingly clash, the personalities they present on screen, and the "work" of their images. Then, Peter meets up with Baltimore filmmaker Theo Anthony to dissect his bold directorial debut, Rat Film. They discuss the alien style of the film and its interest in both the collection of data and the relation of its human subjects, all while asking how a film can provoke emotion and ideas in a diversity of ways without ever posing obvious solutions. 0:00-5:07 Opening6:05-29:58 Agnès Varda and JR (Visage Villages)30:43-35:22 Sponsorship Section 36:22-1:00:56 Theo Anthony (Rat Film)1:01:02-1:02:46 Close / Outtake

If more and more people are interested in shooting on film and projecting on film, there's one crucial step in between: how does film get from camera to screen? Through a lab obviously. But what does the lab do? Laura Major has been a staple at the Maryland based Colorlab for a number of years, helping the studio produce new 35mm negatives and positives of documentaries, experimental films, archival orphans, and more. Today, she sits down with Peter to trace out her own history from South Carolina to experimental film lover to a technician. They discuss the ins and outs of film processing and how Colorlab has integrated itself as a critical player in the future of celluloid. Finally, they dive into the Warren Beatty directed, Elaine May co-written Heaven Can Wait, a comedy built around a number of great performances and the strange odyssey that is the (now once again) Los Angeles Rams. 0:00-3:07 Opening 4:12-12:24 Establish Shots — Frederick Wiseman's Ex Libris 13:10-48:50 Deep Focus — Laua Major 50:34-53:18 Sponsorship Section 54:48-1:10:57 Double Exposure — Heaven Can Wait (Warren Beatty) 1:11:20-1:14:09 Close / Outtake

In a summer where blockbusters felt stale and indie films became rote, cinephilia thrived every Sunday night as David Lynch put on an 18-hour spectacle on primetime television. Twin Peaks: The Return saw the filmmaker behind Blue Velvet and Mulholland Dr. return to the soap opera that would in part define two decades of serialized television. He created not just a new spin on the story of Dale Cooper and Laura Palmer, but instead delved into a mystery that felt more aesthetically, narratively, and emotionally involved than any other visual story this year. As the boundaries between cinema, television, streaming, and other categories have become less defined, Twin Peaks: The Return lept past these debates to simply create an utterly singular work about the never ending battle between good and evil. To celebrate the show's culmination (and perhaps the capstone of Lynch's career), Peter invites a Roadhouse worthy group of guests—Alison Herman of The Ringer, Scott Nye of Battleship Pretension and Criterion Cast, and Nate Fisher of Mubi Notebook—to dissect the show's use of nostalgic devices, moral dichotomies, and employment of experimental cinema techniques. Grab a coffee, watch out for the tulpas, and don't give anyone a light, we're all Twin Peaks this week on the podcast. 0:00-4:16 Opening 4:16-46:35 Discussing Twin Peaks: The Return 47:05-49:44 Sponsorship Section 50:36-1:3019 More on The Return 1:31:14-1:34:19 Close / Outtake

When it comes to a cinephilic appreciation of comedy, who better represented it than The Total Film-Maker, Le Roi du Crazy, the Nutty Professor? Jerry Lewis was a totem in the hall of cinephilia and with good reason. No one worked harder to create an entirely unique style of filmmaking that no one else could come close to matching—to the ire of some but to the adoration of a select few. While his collabrators—Dean Martin, Hal Wallis, Frank Tashlin, and Martin Scorsese among others—are equally legendary, it is impossible to take one's eyes off Jerry and what he did, breaking the rules in order to get the funniest of laughs. To celebrate the passing of one of the last titans of Classical Hollywood (even though he never seemed to fit it), Jaime Christley of The Village Voice and Slant Magazine joins Peter to discuss elements of what made this filmmaker so unique and why they still can't stop laughing at his gags. 0:00-3:53 Opening 3:53-32:05 Discussing Jerry Lewis 32:48-36:08 Sponsorship Section 36:56-48:39 Jerry and the Critics 48:39-1:07:48 Favorite Jerry Moments 1:08:56-1:10:51 Close / Outtake

For many historians, what made the 20th century so unique from the time before was the idea of the visual, the idea that we as a society began responding to images (both still and moving) rather than text. This visual life did not just happen through Hollywood, but in films made by advertising groups, for school children, and by families across the world as we documented the world's beauties and scars. Saving a particular section of these images has become the goal of Chicago Film Archives. The institution has spent over a decade finding and saving the images that define the Great Lakes city and the surrounding area, demonstrating how visual images capture and display American life through the 20th century. In this episode, Peter sits down with multiple members of the archives (Michelle Puetz—Curator of Programming; Brian Belak—Collections Manager; Amy Belotti—Digital Collections Manager) to discuss its history and its future. They end their conversation examining one of its most prized works, American Revolution 2, in which ideology along the left becomes an increasingly impossible debate. 0:00-3:42 Opening 4:17-12:27 Establishing Shots — Blockbuster Auteurs (Dunkirk and Logan Lucky) 13:12-50:19 Deep Focus — Chicago Film Archives 50:57-54:10 Sponsorship Section 55:19-1:12:19 Double Exposure — American Revolution 2 (Howard Alk and the Film Group) 1:12:23-1:14:00 Close

Before anything else, films are objects that present a sensorial experience. To understand how they function—as industrial products, as societal mirrors, as ideological machines—we must understand how they interact with our minds and make us think. For the five year anniversary of The Cinephiliacs, Manohla Dargis joins the cast to talk exactly that. The New York Times critic discusses her childhood movie love of watching objects without inhibition and her writing as a form of translating the way of watching films. She also chats about the past and future of the Times, and how the institutional changes have affected the practice of criticism in a digital age. Finally, Manohla and Peter examine Charles Burnett's independent masterpiece Killer of Sheep, examining how the filmmaker's stark portrayal of impoverished black life resonates to today through poetic realism. Plus, a brief chat with James N. Kienitz Wilkins and Robin Schavoir, whose new film, The Republic, is currently streaming on MUBI. 0:00-3:09 Opening 4:23-14:00 Establishing Shots — Five Years of The Cinephiliacs 14:46-47:15 Deep Focus — Manohla Dargis 48:28-1:07:42 Sponsorship Section — An Interview with The Republic team, James N. Kienitz Wilkins and Robin Schavoir 1:09:00-1:23:28 Double Exposure — Killer of Sheep (Charles Burnett) 1:23:32-1:28:38 Close / Outtake