Episode 736: Casablanca (1942)

We’re discussing the 1988 film from Karen Shakhnazarov, Zero City. The film stars Leonid Filatov as Aleksei Varakin, he’s from a Moscow Mechanical Plant and comes to a small town to meet with a man about air conditioners. He soon finds himself in an absurdist nightmare where he’s served a cake that looks like his own head by a chef who is not his father and commits suicide.Samm Deighan and Alistair Pitts join Mike to talk about the film while director Karen Shakhnazarov provides more context to the making of the movie.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-projection-booth-podcast--5513239/support.Become a supporter of The Projection Booth at http://www.patreon.com/projectionbooth

1 Feb 20231h 51min

The rest of Mike's interview with Andrew Birkin about his vast career from his early days as a photographer to The Name of the Rose, to The Cement Garden, and more.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-projection-booth-podcast--5513239/support.Become a supporter of The Projection Booth at http://www.patreon.com/projectionbooth

30 Jan 20232h 49min

Mike talks with Assistant Professor of Modern Japanese Cultural Studies at the University of Alberta and guest curator Will Carroll (Suzuki Seijun and Postwar Japanese Cinema) and Peter Tatara, the brand-new Director of Film at Japan Society and founder of Anime NYC about the Japan Society's Seijun Suzuki Centennial.Celebrating 100 years of iconoclast director Seijun Suzuki (1923-2017), a singular force in Japanese cinema whose radical stylistic vision and unpredictable narratives shaped the B-movie genre, Japanese cinephilia and the political New Left, Japan Society and The Japan Foundation present Seijun Suzuki Centennial—a selection of six films from across the filmmaker’s nearly 60-film body of work, all on imported 35mm prints straight from Japan. Covering ground from his earliest yakuza feature (Satan’s Town) to his unbridled return to studio filmmaking after being blacklisted for 10 years (A Tale of Sorrow and Sadness) and his subsequent independent success (Kagero-za), this special series offers a rare glimpse into the core of Suzuki's creative genius.For complete information visit japansociety.org.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-projection-booth-podcast--5513239/support.Become a supporter of The Projection Booth at http://www.patreon.com/projectionbooth

30 Jan 202325min

Jim Donahue and Richard Hatem join Mike to discuss this formerly hard-to-find film while writer/director Juleen Compton discusses her career and struggles with Hollywood film making. in her at her titular Plastic Dome, a large structure which comes to act like a tent in a holy revival.Jim Donahue and Richard Hatem join Mike to discuss this formerly hard-to-find film while writer/director Juleen Compton discusses her career and struggles with Hollywood film making.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-projection-booth-podcast--5513239/support.Become a supporter of The Projection Booth at http://www.patreon.com/projectionbooth

25 Jan 20231h 36min

On this special episode, Mike spoke with writer/director/actress Wendy McColm about her sophomore feature Fuzzy Head (2023) which plays at this year's Slamdance Film Festival.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-projection-booth-podcast--5513239/support.Become a supporter of The Projection Booth at http://www.patreon.com/projectionbooth

23 Jan 202326min

Mike talks with Mark Shapiro about the documentary he co-directed with Douglas Brian Miller, Downwind, a searing documentary about the over 900 nuclear tests that took place in Nevada over a half century and the affects they've had on the generations of people that live downwind from the radiation.Downwind has its premiere at Slamdance on Jan 23, 2023.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-projection-booth-podcast--5513239/support.Become a supporter of The Projection Booth at http://www.patreon.com/projectionbooth

19 Jan 202327min

We’re confronting some of our biggest fears and learning that maybe what we’re running from… maybe we’re just running from ourselves. Yes, of course, we’re talking about Orgazmo. Released in 1997 the film was directed by and stars Trey Parker who plays Joe Young, a Mormon on his mission in the big bad city of Los Angeles where he happens upon a porn shoot and gets recruited to play an adult superhero, the titular Orgazmo.David Rodgers and Brad Jones join Mike to discuss the movie while Toddy Walters and Jason McHugh talk about the making of Orgazmo (as well as the other early Parker/Stone films).Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-projection-booth-podcast--5513239/support.Become a supporter of The Projection Booth at http://www.patreon.com/projectionbooth

18 Jan 20232h 15min

Uwe Boll unofficially "retired" in 2016 but now he's back with a few films underway and a few more in pre-production. Hear what Dr. Boll has been up to and what he has planned.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-projection-booth-podcast--5513239/support.Become a supporter of The Projection Booth at http://www.patreon.com/projectionbooth

17 Jan 202335min