Feature & a short
About
Available on
Community
43 episodes
Riki McManus began with her own talk show on KQRS Radio in Minneapolis while still in high school. She went on to the commercial industry in Minneapolis as On Camera and Voice Over Talent. McManus continued as an agent and then became the Director of Plaza Three Model and Talent Agency. She opened the first casting company in Minnesota, where Purple Rain was the first feature she casted. Since then, she has cast approximately 20 feature films. She won a Clio Award for a self-promotion piece she did with The Fallon Agency in Minneapolis for her company. Our screening took place at the Minnesota Discovery Center the largest museum the largest museum complex in Minnesota outside the Twin Cities. For her short, Riki brought Rated Directed by John Fortson with his directorial debut that won 14 Best Short FIlm Awards at Festivals. We have to say our audience would have given it award as well. The subject matter of the film is so relevant in our technilogical world, it’s a short about social media commenting how kind we are in our society. We had The Rustic Pig pack a school lunch for each of our audience members to enjoy during the screening. The feature Riki brought to screen was Purple Rain, which was not only Prince’s debut feature, but also the first feature Riki worked on as well. She tells stories of when she met Prince, the difficulties in casting the film, and experiencing one of Prince’s famous free concerts. So check this out and don’t forget to drink some champagne and celebrate Prince as we did on this very memorable night at the Minnesota Discovery Center. Credits: Host - Justin Joseph Hall Production & Event Space - Minnesota Discovery Center Food - The Rustic Pig Post-Production - Quatre-Vents Editor - Billie Jo Laitinen Sound Mixer - Hans Bilger Production Assistant - Elizabeth Chatelain The theme song of Season 7 is New Tires by Silent Partner.
Justin Joseph Hall is an award-winning, multilingual multimedia director and founder of Fourwind Films and Quatre-Vents. His work has been acquired by major television networks such as HBO and he’s worked as a lead creative on projects that received awards at The Emmys, TriBeCa Film Festival, Brooklyn Film Festival, and more. Our screening resumed back at Fourwind Films’ headquarters. For his short, Justin brought his short series, Marcellus Hall an Artist in New York City. The five episode season has won six awards and been nominated for many more around the world. The documentary is of New Yorker Illustrator Marcellus Hall who also wrote the song Life Is Still Sweet that inspired Float On performed by Modest Mouse. We screened the entire series back to back and served white and yellow cheese with steak in conjunction with the series. The feature Justin chose inspired his series with a one-on-one interview that endures the entire documentary. It was Errol Morris’ Oscar winning Fog of War where Robert McNamara goes through thought processes of military decisions during major wars of the United States of America. We served a juicy homemade Vietnamese Beef And Lettuce Curry during the screening. To learn more about Justin Joseph Hall, sign up for Fourwind Films newsletter. Credits: Host - Justin Joseph Hall Production & Event Space - Fourwind Films Post-Production - Quatre-Vents Event Producer - Laura Davi Editor - Billie Jo Laitinen Sound Mixer - Hans Bilger The theme song of Season 7 is New Tires by Silent Partner.
Colin Buckingham is an actor and writer who’s worked on Mr. Robot & Sleep No More. He cares deeply about how to improve society as a whole and reflects that in the work he pursues. We held the live event an intimate Fourwind Films studio with a small group of friends and colleagues. For his short, Colin brought the short he wrote and starred in, November Ninth, a personal tale of being assaulted on the election day in 2016. Colin coalesces his accounts of being bullied for his dwarfism into an eight minute action revenge story that takes place in a Manhattan bar and hence we served our audience beer. The feature Colin chose was an account of two outsiders going on a roadtrip during COVID that yields an unexpected friendship between a woman who believes in aliens and a sad recluse with dwarfism. The chosen fiercly independent movies were paired showing experiences of dwarfism and living with a condition not fully understood by society. Our audience enjoyed Chinese takeout and a classic diner ham sandwich and fries plate during the screening. Check out more from Colin Buckingham for his latest via his website. Credits: Host - Justin Joseph Hall Production & Event Space - Fourwind Films Post-Production - Quatre-Vents Editor - Billie Jo Laitinen Sound Mixer - Hans Bilger The theme song of Season 7 is New Tires Done by Silent Partner.
Welcome to the third Fresh Air Award! Four cinephiles continue a Fourwind Films tradition of awarding a film that pushed cinema forward the most as an artform during a particular decade. To be nominated, a motion picture has to have changed movies in some way and made a lasting impression on how movies are made today. This episode delves into the decade that saw the beginning of successful commercial sound in cinema: 1920-1929. Before getting into the nominations with the panelists, our host Justin Joseph Hall goes through a quick history lesson on what was happening in the decade businesswise and technology-wise. The four cinephiles who select the nominees in this panel are cinephiles Elizabeth Chatelain, Tracey Goessel, Justin Joseph Hall, and Kevin Hinman. If the piece has moving images and came out in the appropriate decade, it is eligible for nomination. This group chose an array of documentaries, shorts, animated films, and feature films, including films with the first synchronized score with animation, the first montage, a commercially successful duo tone color film, and the first soundtrack synched on the film strip. Nominations by each panelist: Elizabeth Chatelain nominees Battleship Potemkin (1925) Man with a Movie Camera (1929) Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) Un Chien Andalou (1929) The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) Tracey Goessel nominees Nanook of the North (1922) Don Juan (1926) Steamboat Willie (1928) The Play House (1921) The Toll of the Sea (1922) Justin Joseph Hall nominees Un Chien Andalou (1929) Nosferatu (1922) Battleship Potemkin (1925) The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) Man with a Movie Camera (1929) Kevin Hinman nominees Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) Drifters (1929) Un Chien Andalou (1929) Die Nibelungen: Siegfried (1924) The Gold Rush (1924) To find the 1920’s Fresh Air Award winner click on this link! We hope you enjoy this episode! Share with us your own lists, comments, arguments, and films that we left out via social media @fourwindfilms. We’re on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and LinkedIn. Thanks for listening, Season 7 to come shortly! Thank you to our panelists who did joined this out of their passion for cinema. Credits for podcast: Production Company - Fourwind Films Fresh Air Award Contributors for 1900s Decade - Elizabeth Chatelain, Tracey Goessel, Justin Joseph Hall, & Kevin Hinman Host - Justin Joseph Hall Editor - Billie Jo Laitinen Sound Mixer - Hans Bilger Additional Sound Recordist - Elizabeth Chatelain, Kevin Hinman, Ricky Rosario The theme song of Season 6 is Getting It Done by Kevin MacLeod. Additional Music MOMFG & The Drums! provided by Kevin Hinman & Magnum Opus for interludes. Music in the public domain used in this podcast: Deep Blue Sea - Clara Smith One of Battleship Potemkin’s Scores - Eisenstein wanted the scores to be updated about every decade. Don Juan Soundtrack - Context on who wrote it “William Axt used two pieces that owned by Robbins-Engel, "The Fire Agitato" and "In Gloomy Forest," along with several pieces of European classical music including compositions by Richard Strauss.
Justin Joseph Hall’s work has been acquired by major television networks such as HBO and he’s worked as a lead creative on projects that received awards at The Emmys, TriBeCa Film Festival, Brooklyn Film Festival, and more. He is Director and Founder of Fourwind Films. Dorie Hall hosted the podcast which was held as a private screening in Minnesota. For his short, Justin brought a never publicly screened version of Yeon-Gi, an experimental Buddhist themed movie. This version was created in 32x9 aspect ratio, and includes a full reflections visible on screen. The emotional short created a lot to talk about in our discussion. The feature Justin chose to screen is the famous location documentary, Samsara. During the screening Fourwind chefs served a mouthwatering combination: potstickers, burgers, fries, and a cola. Through the visuals of nature and human altered locations, Samsara shows nature on land nearly void of life until we encounter various locations of cities and former settlements. It’s an emotional journey around the earth with seemingly no connection except our location on the earth and what the montage movie weaves together through the beautiful images.
WARNING: This episode is a workflow episode. It is made for people with extensive knowledge in post-production and can be a confusing listen if you do not have an interest in the material. If you do not have that particular background skip to another one of our episodes. Welcome to another Feature & a Short differences episode where we chat about differences in working in Feature versus short movies. In this episode Director, Editor Justin Joseph Hall explains what criteria to look for when choosing a hard drive in general, but specifically what will save you time on feature projects. Thank you to Bobby O’Brien for requesting this podcast The Biggest difference between a feature & a short is really the transcoding, export time, transfer times (backups). The first thing to look for in either a feature or a short movie is the connection. There are three modern connections found in the fall of 2022 USB-C Thunderbolt USB-3.0 Ethernet connection to a network is also an option if you happen to be working off of a large storage network in an office. Otherwise another storage device to consider is a RAID = redundant array of independent disks. It’s probably not worth it to invest in an expensive RAID for short. There are 3 main ways to set up your RAID. RAID 0 RAID 1 RAID 5 We go through all types, but recommend RAID 0 for editing digital video, mainly because it’s the fastest way to read and write data. Don’t forget to backup your hard drives in three separate physical locations. Plan out before you start post-production where your three locations will be. Justin suggests a few brands G-RAID Seagate LACIE OWC Justin also suggests to diversify backup types including going through what an LTO tape is. Quatre-Vents is Fourwind Films’ sister company in Minnesota! They can be your solution for LTO Tapes and all other Post-Production needs . In the podcast Justin tells how you can get 70% back on video expenditures through tax incentives through Quatre-Vents. Some are direct rebates, just by hiring us and others in the region. Justin also goes through various options of powering your drive and pricing for drives. And don’t forget to always include hard drives in your budgets!
Ellen Goosenberg Kent is an Oscar winning documentarian who knows how to produce a compelling story first and foremost. She is always interested in the price paid by common people going against difficult odds, often fighting government systems often unintentionally. She is incredible in her long and varied work. We had the pleasure to talk with her at Nitehawk Cinema - Williamsburg in front of a live studio audience while we screened the documentary. For her short, Ellen brought MTV short Anastasia. Activist Anastasia Shevchenko was accused of being a threat to Russian state. She was kept under house arrest for two years. Sarah McCarthy’s short documentary tells the story of a civil rights advocate and single mother who longs to see her children grow up in a free society in a deeply personal account of her family and the sometimes unseen cost of activism. The movie is a deeply humanizing tale of the price paid by a woman struggling for freedom and her family’s safety and peace of mind The feature Ellen chose is her latest, Afghan Dreamers also courtesy of MTV. During the screening Nitehawk’s chefs served a mouthwatering combination: Sheer Chai, an Afghani Salad, and Kabuli Palaw. Through the story of a robotics team in Afghanistan, Afghan Dreamers recounts the advancements of women in the country since the American invasion and the effects of the Taliban taking over after the Americans left. Using various stock footage of government officials, the story of these high school students is a rollercoaster of joy, pain, hard work, and the country’s struggle for women’s rights in a conservative society.
Shirley Venard is an incredible Minneapolis-based actress who uses her life experiences to embody a character. She’s kind, thoughtful, and a teacher. She loves to tell stories which is why we love her. Shirley brought Oscar-winning short movie The Railroad Lady (La Femme et la TGV). The first tale of a lonely woman in this pairing. Shirley looked at the great actresses of the 1900’s to find her short and her and Justin talk of Jane’s fake orgasm that made her famous. The feature Shirley chose is the Zellner Brother’s Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter. The Japanese, Texas made movie that was largely shot in Minnesota. It was a Sundance Film Festival favorite, making Minnesota & Japan look beautiful on the silver screen. See Shirley Venard’s work in our short movie Prologue. In the forecast to look forward to please check out Marcellus Hall an Artist in New York City which is playing around the world.
Before getting into the nominations with the panelists, our host Justin Joseph Hall reads an excerpt from film historian David Kiehn of the Niles Film Museum about the second full decade of cinema. The four cinephiles who select the nominees in this panel are cinephiles Elizabeth Chatelain, Justin Joseph Hall, Kevin Hinman, and Jason Tucker. If the piece has moving images and came out in the appropriate decade, it is eligible for nomination. This group chose an array of documentaries, shorts, animated films, and feature films, including one with the film with the first synchronized score. Here is the link to all the nominations: 1900’s Fresh Air Award Nominees - Letterboxd list https://letterboxd.com/justinjosephhal/list/the-1910s-fresh-air-award-nominees-1/ There were several overlaps, but here are the main nominations made by each panelist: ELIZABETH CHATELAIN https://vimeo.com/echatelain NOMINEES https://vimeo.com/558370866 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5eAEXKJRmA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32pzHWUTcPc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1d2_hGp0j8 https://archive.org/details/silent-shoulder-arms JUSTIN JOSEPH HALL https://www.fourwindfilms.com/team/ NOMINEES https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVkVKwPpI1w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rH-lqSrcFNo https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLjWddXHkjgZerflq18ursfs1y8gjgdOkr&v=ZVPQa-10030 (1914) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOWicOwtHa8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__5B3PGoBoI KEVIN HINMAN NOMINEES https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txSJDmt4u6Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sigUDSJ7-Pg https://archive.org/details/silent-anders-als-die-andern-aka-different-from-the-others https://letterboxd.com/director/richard-oswald-2/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDrAjHeQMf4 https://milestone.vhx.tv/products/south-shackleton-and-the-endurance-expedition JASON TUCKER NOMINEES https://youtu.be/GDH-imkL2jM https://youtu.be/67ENQibFW9w https://youtu.be/-_cYhqVblLc https://youtu.be/IUqFB77zPnc https://www.loc.gov/item/mbrs01208297/Hope you enjoy this episode! Share with us your own lists, comments, arguments, and films that we left out via social media @fourwindfilms. We’re on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Thanks for listening, Season 6 to come shortly! CREDITS FOR PODCAST: Production Company - Fourwind Films Fresh Air Award Contributors for 1900s Decade - Elizabeth Chatelain https://www.fourwindfilms.com/feature-and-a-short/2017/10/12/elizabeth-chatelain-sundogs-certain-women, Justin Joseph Hall https://www.fourwindfilms.com/feature-and-a-short/2020/10/31/justin-joseph-hall-prologue-the-rocky-horror-picture-show, Kevin Hinman, & Jason Tucker Host - Justin Joseph Hall https://www.fourwindfilms.com/feature-and-a-short/2018/10/2/justin-joseph-hall-long-distance-the-science-of-sleep Sound Mixer - Brian Trahan https://www.fourwindfilms.com/feature-and-a-short/2021/2/26/creating-a-master-file-differences Additional Sound Recordist - Dakota Anthony https://www.fourwindfilms.com/wdekpodcast/episode-16-dakota-hall-july-16th-2013 The theme song of Season 5 is https://briantrahan.bandcamp.com/track/this-monster by Sun Nectar.
So many colons in this title! Justin Joseph Hall https://www.fourwindfilms.com/team/ is an Emmy winning Editor of vérité documentary movies. He love sifting through mounts of footage to carve out the most interesting aspects of what he discovers in a short amount of time. Today he honors Downtown Community Television where he learned to cut their style of vérité footage by showing his favorite movies they’ve made. For his short Justin brought an off-shoot of the Frontline episode Life on Parole https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/life-on-parole/. The short is called Halfway Home: A Father’s Story https://www.fourwindfilms.com/documentary#/halfway-home/.It’s a movie that follows a father who was released from prison on parole for an entire year to see what life is like after prison. It’s an example of people with forgotten paths that are ignored by society with trials and tribulations that are often ignored by society. Justin speaks of the challenges of editing the movie and the challenges the main character faces in a complicated social justice system. The food served for the short was an apple and cake. The feature Justin selected is an often forgotten movie he considers near perfect High on Crack Street: The Lost Lives of Lowell. The documentary that inspired the movie The Fighter was directed by Maryann DeLeo, Richard Farrell, and Jon Alpert. It covers the use of crack cocaine and the spiral it causes in one’s lives and the pull of addiction to the powerful drug. They served donuts, popcorn and domestic beer for this feature. Learn more about Justin Joseph Hall and his work sign up for Fourwind Films’ newsletter. In the forecast to look forward to please check out host Justin Joseph Hall’s newest movie coming out a comedy special by Nimesh Patel called It’s Dark & Patel Is Hot. CREDITS FOR PODCAST: Production Company - Fourwind Films Appointed Contributor - Justin Joseph Hall Host - Laura Davi Sound Mixer & Additional Music - Brian Trahan The theme song of Season 5 is This Monster by Sun Nectar
Ilaria Polsonetti is an Emmy nominated Editor of documentary films. She creates smooth edits in her edits and enjoys creativity in her work. She is kind and collaborative in her process which she goes through today in our episode. Ilaria brought the New York Times OpDoc Dulce. It’s an ideal documentary for Ilaria that has patience, fantastic locations and subjects, and great sound. It’s an example of the documentaries she would always love to work on in a Direct Cinema style slice of life. The feature Ilaria chose is VICE’s Black South Rising: Inside Charlotte's Mostly Black and Brown Government. Ilaria and her VICE team put together the time after the killing of Keith Lamont Scott by the police in Charlotte, North Carolina documenting the change in the government as more people of color ran for office. It was an emotional screening that shows what it is like when new people take place of old governments. Learn more about Ilaria Polsonetti and her work on her website. In the forecast to look forward to please check out host Justin Joseph Hall on With Nothing to Say chatting about his entry into film and how he shaped his career.
Meet Rebecca Stern, a producer, and director of documentary films. She has absolutely soared in her career since one of her first jobs as a Production Coordinator on the Oscar-nominated feature documentary Cartel Land. Her directorial debut Well Groomed is now streaming on HBO. Rebecca is open, humble, and just a delight to be around. Our appointed contributors for Feature & a short are asked to choose one short and one feature, and they have to have been involved with one of them but not the other. Rebecca brings the sleeper success Snowy. This documentary short is about a pet turtle named Snowy whose owners embark on a journey to find what would make him happy. We have a discussion about funding short films, and what Rebeca thinks needs to evolve about that process. The feature is The Thin Blue Line, a film Rebecca had never seen - though she has worked on films about the legal system and incarceration in the US.
Welcome to another COVID Feature & a Short episode: Mastering File Differences. In this workflow process share, Director/Editor Justin Joseph Hall explains how to export the proper master file for your archives or for delivery. This is important in order to future-proof your final file and what you’ve invested all of your time and your money into. Justin shares how to preserve the best possible quality for your project’s posterity by covering: equipment, creating a master file for a short film versus for a feature, high resolution, why you should avoid letterboxing, suggestions for finishing codec (not H.264!), JPEGS, for example, JPEG 200 files or Targa files for animation, incorporating audio and graphics into your master file, subtitles (don’t include them), and file labeling.
The four cinephiles in this panel are filmmakers Elizabeth Chatelain, Justin Joseph Hall, and Inga Moren Tapias, as well as actress and public speaking coach, Shirley Venard. If the piece has moving images and came out in the appropriate decade, it’s up for nomination. This group chooses an array of documentaries, shorts, animated films, and feature films, including one with the best-trained dog in cinema history.
Megan chose a short film she shot called We’re All Alright, which she fell in love with as soon as she finished reading the script. She talks about the film’s central themes of depression and female friendship, what it was like working with a majority female team, and the challenges of filming on a fire escape. For the feature film, Megan stuck to the theme of mental health with Short Term 12, about young staff members working at a foster care facility. It’s an independent film that continues to find fans years after its release (2013) and is also known for its phenomenal ensemble of now critically acclaimed actors including Lakeith Stanfield, Brie Larson, Kaitlyn Dever, John Gallagher Jr., and Rami Malek.
There’s a connection between 70’s cult classic “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” and Justin Joseph Hall’s directorial debut, “Prologue,” which he gets into this episode of Feature & a short. After watching the two films, Justin answers audience questions. He shares what it was like collaborating with writer Piper Werle on Prologue’s script, how locations are characters in themselves, the casting process, and horror movies that explore the fear of having children.
WARNING: This episode is a workflow episode. It is made for people with extensive knowledge in Post-Production and can be confusing if you do not have that background. If you do not have that background skip to another one of our episodes. Welcome to another COVID Feature & a short episode: Coloring Differences. Owner of Fourwind Films, Justin Joseph Hall, has worked on many projects as Colorist. In this episode he gives us some tips about giving working on a feature and a short as a colorist. It’s important to budget your time and tell people how much it costs. You need to know what program you can use, if you are onlining the material and where you are taking the hand off point from the editor (if you are not editing the film.)Justin guides you through topics like creating a budget and that it’s important to ask questions like how many looks and set ups you need to create. He goes through other essential things to consider in color are color space and exports.If you have any Post-Production questions, email Justin Joseph Hall directly at justinjosephhall@fourwindfilms.com or check out Fourwind’s blog page for helpful tips in creating media.
WARNING: This episode is a workflow episode. It is made for people with extensive knowledge in post-production and can be confusing if you do not have that background. If you do not have that backgorung skip to another one of our episodes. Welcome to another COVID Feature & a Short episode: Assistant Editing.Most assistant editors want to advance their career to become and editor someday.Owner and Editor of Fourwind Films, Justin Joseph Hall, has worked on many projects as Assistant Editor. In this episode he gives us some tips about Assistant Editing. First off to know the different jobs in Post-Production to find opportunities to experiment and try different things. Always discuss at the beginning of the project how your credit is going to be. Remember that as an assistant editor you gotta be the organizational voice. You want to have an easy-to-read organizational format. Be consistent with the way you label files as you working on a team! Talk to the editor about gaining a system for ingesting and synching. Color-correction and sound-mixing are essential parts to consider for a complete proper project. It’s your job to make sure that your work is accurate and that you maintain a high quality product for finishing your video!If you have any Post-Production questions, email Justin Joseph Hall directly at justinjosephhall@fourwindfilms.com or check out Fourwind’s blog page for helpful tips in creating media.
WARNING: This episode is a workflow episode. It is made for people with extensive knowledge in post-production and can be confusing if you do not have that background. If you do not have that background skip to another one of our episodes. Welcome to another COVID Feature & a Short episode: Setting Up in Post-Production Differences, which focuses on how to set up a project in post-production. What differs the most between working on features and shorts is which software editing you use. Owner of Fourwind Films’ Justin Joseph Hall suggests Premiere for faster turnaround time and Avid for longer projects. He also gives us some tips about folder structures and file labeling. Specifically that organization skills are extremely important in post-production. Know your camera. Know your codec. You wanna make sure that things will sort in a logical manner in order not to cause yourself a lot of work towards the end of the post-production process. Here is a link to our folder structure template that is mentioned in the episode. YYYY-MM-DD (Name of Project) Episode hosted by: Justin Joseph Hall. If you have any post-production questions, email Justin directly at justin.joseph.hall@fourwindfilms.com or check out Fourwind’s blog page for helpful tips in creating media.
Welcome to another COVID film list Feature & a short Black Media Matters which focuses on the importance of black voices within the film industry and how diversity within the cinema space benefits the art form. For so long black talent has been suppressed within the industry but when a diamond shines so bright, one can’t help but notice it in the rough; Paul Robeson who began making films in 1925 with Body and Soul. Josephine Baker who was the first black woman to star in a film in 1934 with Zouzou. And perhaps one of the most influential black filmmakers, Spike Lee who made his mark as a staple director with his first feature film, She’s Gotta Have It. With so many gifted black filmmakers & actors, it can be hard to narrow it down to a mere listicle; but in this episode Justin Joseph Hall and Laura Davi hone-in on some of their favorite films which also happen to focus on stories that revolve around black lives, experiences, and issues. (Spoiler alert: Spike Lee is mentioned more than once on the feature films list and throughout the podcast.) Short films discussed include Hair Love, Child of Resistance, 3 Brothers: Radio Raheem, Eric Garner and George Floyd, Dock Ellis & the LSD No-No, and Halfway Home: A Father’s Story. To donate to the Connecticut Children with Incarcerated Parents, please check out their website here. Feature films include The Butler, 13th, If Beale Street Could Talk, Malcolm X, Pursuit of Happyness, and Do the Right Thing. And perhaps just as important as the filmmakers themselves are the actors & actresses that help bring the craft to life. These artists, plus additional filmmakers mentioned by Brian Trahan during this episode, are as follows: Charles Burnett (Director) - Nothing but a Man Viola Davis (Actress) - Fences Jordan Peele (Writer/Director) - Get Out Oprah Winfrey (Actress) - The Color Purple Thandie Newton (Actress) - Crash Melvin van Peebles (Writer & Actor) - Classified X Debbie Morgan (Actress) - Eve’s Bayou Thanks for tuning-in! Stay safe.
Welcome to a totally COVID kind of Feature & a short. Fourwind Films has decided to dedicate a podcast to talking about the best of the contagion films seen by our accountant Laura Davi, and your host, Justin Joseph Hall who has been called a movie encyclopedia. We redirect our documenting of our small film events to bring you our second film list episode! The definition of an epidemic an outbreak of a disease that occurs over a wide geographic area and affects an exceptionally high proportion of the population. We are doing this episode because our lives have been stagnant and we’re looking for ways to cope. Films are a quick way for humans to process other people’s minds. So what will this list do for you? If you watch these films, you may help understand the conditions of contagions in society through the medium of film. These are the films we think are the best at communicating what life might be like during the time of a contagion. First we discuss the BEST SHORT and FEATURE FILMS since STAY AT HOME ORDERS March 22nd in New York Tusalava This animation film appears all over YouTube. A great few minutes to take a step back and reflect. The Shawshank Redemption Frank Darabont watched Goodfellas (1990) every Sunday while shooting this film and drew inspiration from it, on using voice-over narration and showing the passage of time. Place Beyond the Pines Compelling two part story about family and mystery with hunky lead actors, Bradley Cooper and Ryan Gosling. Portrait of a Lady on Fire We loved this film so much we actually watched another film from Céline Sciamma’s earlier work as she’s been making films over the past two decades. The real similarities I noted in her style is her use of music. The absence of a score until the music is so utterly embedded in the moment or feeling of the film. The silence let’s the music drive emotion more when it is present and Céline has mastered this art in Portrait of a Lady on Fire. Also, best title ever. BEST CONTAGION FILMS - Movies that teach us about possible scenarios of human spread contagion Fast Spreading Contagion Films list Philadelphia TriStar the studio actually felt there was a need for this film, not so much about the disease, but to have Jonathan Demme have a homosexual main character was essential in the director and studio’s eyes. Dallas Buyers Club This is one of those “based on a true story” that isn’t quite accurate but is more of a conglomeration to express the mood of the times. Based off of the man Ron Woodroof, but the film budget was incredibly low and they shot the film on twenty-five shoot days. High on Crack Street: Lost Lives in Lowell Everyone knows the crack epidemic. Wordlwide 585,000 people died as a result of drug use in 2017. COVID-19 is 232,180 at the moment. This story is visceral, not only is my favorite film by Episode 21 guest, Jon Alpert who was a producer and cinematographer on the film. Jon and the team with Downtown Community Television captured Christian Bale’s character Dicky Eklund. It’s only an hour and packs an unbelieveable wallop Thriller The death count of zombies is unknown and presumed to be zero. But this metaphor for disease and/or stupidity is a favorite in the film genres. This film is my short, very closely followed by One Cut of the Dead that Thomas introduced me to in our 2010’s Fresh Air Award Episode. Director of Blue’s Brother’s SNL spinoffs, John Landis spent half-a-million dollars in the 1980’s making this 13 minute film. Requiem for a Dream Based on a book written by Hubert Selby, Jr. in 1978. Greeks, Egyptians, Sumarians, Chinese, Americans, Germans all have encountered this seemingly endless contagion in our society. Darren Aronovsfy makes this disease live through music and compression of time. He orchestrates everything you may notice in drug use, especially heroin use. These are our top Contagion films, please write us at info@fourwindfilms.com or shout out to us on social media for the films we overlooked @fourwindfilms Credits for Season 3 podcast: Produced by Fourwind Films Brian Trahan - Sound Mixer Theme song of Season 4 is Loopster by Kevin MacLeod.
Christian Felix is an actor from Chicago now based in New York City. He now regularly does a specific kind of acting in diversity training, which is one of the coolest jobs you’ve never heard of previously. No matter what you say about Christian, he is definitely a professional storyteller. On top of him expressively recounting amazing adventures , he’s a spectacular listener. This is what makes him successful throughout his years and his willingness to be professional in all setting yet still have fun. The exact person you want on any filmset. Christian’s theme for the episode is how film sets can be fun and funny or incredibly contentious and still create great works of art. The short film Book Club by VARIETY SHAC Christian brought is a film where he was a background actor with hilarious comedians (Chelsea Peretti and Fred Armisen to name a couple) where his main job was not to laugh. He talks about other television sets such as the show Blacklist that were more stressful and lead us directly into his feature choice Blue Collar. Blue Collar had three lead actors who were in a tif during the time of shooting. Richard Pryor, Harvey Keitel, and Yaphet Kotto were all told they were the lead and drugs and feuds lead to a rough set life as Christian explains in descriptive detail. The story centers around worker’s unions and the fight of the worker against the larger system is a story that continues to be retold and relived throughout the test of time. If you want to hear more of Christian, please check out our podcast We Don’t Even Know where he co-hosts with Shonali Bhowmik.
Welcome to a totally different kind of Feature & a short. Inspired by the podcast format of Filmspotting’s https://www.filmspotting.net/ Best of episodes and award shows, Fourwind Films has decided to dedicate a podcast to talking about the best of the 2010 decade. We’ve picked a panel of four people who love films to discuss their favorite films of the decade. At the end the group will be begin a Fourwind tradition giving out the for the film that pushed cinema forward the most as an art form during its decade. The four people in the panel to discuss the years 2010-2019 are: Justin Joseph Hall, Thomas Kelsey, Jasmine Szympruch, and Elizabeth Yoo. They all are New York based cinephiles. For each below category each panel member presented 5 films. The group chats movies around a table in a normal New York apartment, heaters, fridge noises, sleepy dog and all. First the panel discusses the best shorts of the decade. To prevent spoilers below is the link to all the nominations. Read the description to see who nominated them: Best shorts of the 2010 https://letterboxd.com/hall0800/list/feature-a-short-best-of-2010s-short-films/ Second the panel jumps to discuss the best features of the decade. Below is the link, read the description to see who nominated them: Best features of the 2010’s https://letterboxd.com/hall0800/list/feature-a-short-best-2010s-feature-films/ Third the panel is giving away our first for the film that pushed cinema forward the most as an art from. We plan to give away a each year for our final episode for the entire following decade. This is our way to honor commercially successful experimenting in film. Below is the link, read the description to see who nominated them: 2010’s Fresh Air Award Nominees https://letterboxd.com/hall0800/list/2010s-fresh-air-award-nominee/ Hope you enjoy, please share with us your lists, comments, arguments, and for sure films that we left out via social media @fourwindfilms Thanks for listening, Season 4 to come shortly! Credits for Season 3 podcast: Produced by Fourwind Films Brian Trahan - Sound Mixer Theme song of Season 3 is Johnny's Tune In Waltz by Salitros Ridin’ Rainbow Interlude music by Sun Nectar Thank you to Laura Davi, Daria Huxley, and Thomas Kelsey for helping throughout Season 3 of the podcast. Thank you to Cisco Bradley & Jennie Romer by hosting us at New Revolution Arts for one podcast.
Episode hosted by Justin Joseph Hall https://www.fourwindfilms.com/team.
Episode hosted by Justin Joseph Hall https://www.fourwindfilms.com/team.
Episode hosted by Daria Huxley https://www.fourwindfilms.com/team.
Episode hosted by Justin Joseph Hall https://www.fourwindfilms.com/team.
Episode hosted by Justin Joseph Hall https://www.fourwindfilms.com/team.
Episode hosted by Justin Joseph Hall https://www.fourwindfilms.com/team.
