Special Episode! AwardsWatch Podcast Ep. 287 – 78th Cannes Film Festival Preview with Guest Christina Birro

This week host Christina Jeurling Birro is joined by Joe Swanberg – maybe one of the hardest working filmmakers in the indie world with 29 director credits to his name at the age of 35. His work has been at the center of the mumblecore film movement that has also included the Duplass brothers, Lena Dunham and many more. Often low budget, featuring naturalistic dialogue and relationship focused, his films like Digging for Fire, Happy Christmas and Drinking Buddies have attracted talent like Orlando Bloom, Anna Kendrick, Jack Johnson and Olivia Wilde. Swanberg has been called an American auteur and critics have compared him to Lars von Trier and even Ingmar Bergman. His latest project Easy, Netflix for which he is the creator, writer and director, is probably more mainstream than his previous work, but does not stray away from his usual themes. Each episode focuses on a different relationship and stars Marc Maron, Dave Franco, Malin Akerman, Orlando Bloom, Hannibal Buress, and many more. Don’t miss this portrait interview with Swanberg where he shares his work process, how he includes his own life and family into his films, what it’s like to punch a critic, why he hates movie awards - and much more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

26 Okt 201651min

We are joined Oscar winning director Roger Ross Williams whose inspiring documentary 'Life, Animated' tells the story of Owen Suskind, an autistic boy whose family discovered he was communicating with them thru the Disney films he was watching and The Playlist's Jessica Kiang guides us through some of the biggest trends and controversies of the film season. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

19 Okt 20161h 3min

Emmy award winning actress, active spokesperson for fair funding of public schools, breast-cancer survivor and ambassador Susan G. Komen For The Cure – Cynthia Nixon is just as powerful as the amazing kaleidoscope of characters she has portrayed. For most of us, she is best known for playing the glamorous lawyer Miranda on the iconic series Sex and the City, a role that still resonates with viewers today. Her most recent role is a spot-on portrayal of Nancy Reagan in the National Geographic movie Killing Reagan. Based on the best selling book of the same name, the movie also stars West Wing alum Tim Matheson as Ronald Reagan. The story centers on the assassination attempt on President Reagan in 1981 by John Hinckley, Jr. – an event that rocked the world and forever changed the security protocols for any US President. We are honored to speak with Nixon about Nancy Reagan’s legacy, how she is similar to her character Miranda, how surviving breast cancer has changed her, and much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

12 Okt 201619min

Politics, power, and comedy. We speak with David Litt, former senior presidential speechwriter for Barack Obama and head writer/producer at “Funny or Die” DC, and author Rudolph Herzog who’s book “Dead Funny” documents humor in Hitler’s Third Reich. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

29 Sep 201644min

Critic and author Matt Zoller Seitz spent 100 hours interviewing Oliver Stone for his new book “The Oliver Stone Experience” and he joins us this week to tell all. Then we speak to director David Farrier about his documentary that shocked at Sundance. “Tickled” dives into a mysterious tickling competition online and Farrier shares the deep resistance he faced when trying to document a story stranger than fiction. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

9 Sep 20161h 4min

The Fall movie lineup is upon us and we speak to Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune’s film critic, to get his recommendations and early Oscar contenders. We also speak with Javier Peña, the real DEA agent that helped bring down the murderous drug lord Pablo Escobar. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

1 Sep 201648min

The Fall TV season is here! NPR TV Citric Eric Deggans guides us through the new shows, trends, hits and misses, to give us his recommendations. The season offers a mixed bag of genres with a lot of 70’s and 80’s nostalgia, which includes a MacGyver reboot on CBS and the series The Exorcist, starring Geena Davis, based on the iconic film. We also discuss the much-awaited Netflix superhero Luke Cage, which of the political satire shows will stand out in their election coverage, and is it possible to have carpool karaoke without James Corden? Deggans weighs in on The Get Down, This is Us, Bull, The Good Place and much, much more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

20 Aug 201642min

The big talk of the Summer TV season (and one of our favorite shows) is the Netflix original drama Stranger Things, a show that transports us back to 1983. On this weeks show speak to breakout star Shannon Purser who plays fan favorite Barb on the show, and veteran prop master Lynda Reiss who has been able to capture the 1980’s to a tee. Created by the Duffer Brothers, Stranger Things is an eight part series starring Winona Ryder and Mathew Modine, but the story centers on a group of 12 year-olds and a supporting group of teenagers all played by an absolutely superb bunch of new actors. Shannon Purser plays Barbara Holland or Barb, the best friend of popular girl Nancy Wheeler, and she fantastically embodies the outspoken and intelligent character that we all identify with. Her performance has created what’s being called Barb-mania, with fans creating memes, fan art – even painting murals of her. Set in a small Indiana town, the show follows the disappearance of a young boy, uncovers a dark conspiracy and a scary monster along the way. The other star of the show is 1980’s American pop culture – everything from the opening credits, the music and the loving attention to details in the props plays homage to films of the era. Lynda Reiss is the prop master on the show and she has created a veritable time capsule of the 80’s with trapper keepers, BMX bikes and some wonderful fashion. Reiss shares with us how she approaches a period piece like this, her work on American Beauty and the elaborate prop work on True Detective, and much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

20 Aug 201658min