Discover Indie Film

Leo Chor with Jeff Howard at the Q&A for “How To Get A Boyfriend” at FILA 2019 What are the 4Q’s? Name your favorite film of all time (limit 3) Name a film you think is underrated Name a film you think is overrated Name a lesser-known film that you think people should seek out Leo Chor’s film How To Get A Boyfriend is in Season 2 Episode 2 of the Discover Indie Film TV...

Leo Chor at Film Invasion Los Angeles, June 2019 Leo Chor’s film  How To Get A Boyfriend won the Porgrammers Prize at Film Invasion Los Angeles in 2019.  And I’m proud to say that it is part of season two of the Discover Indie Film TV Series .  Darkly funny with a wicked spirit, this the kind of film that we want people to see when they stream the DIF series on Amazon Prime Video. Leo...

Patrick & Jeff at the DIF mic’s What are the 4Q’s? Name your favorite film of all time (limit 3) Name a film you think is underrated Name a film you think is overrated Name a lesser-known film that you think people should seek out Patrick Connolly’s short film The Creeping Ritual anchors episode 9 of Season Two of the Discover Indie Film TV Series .  Check it out on Amazon Pr...

Patrick Connolly stops by for a DIF interview The first time that I saw Patrick Connolly’s The Creeping Ritual it basically kicked my ass.  How a short film could bring together spirituality, punk rock, coconut water, sex, the Devil and God into one story and have it entertain all the way through?  I don’t know how, but The Creeping Ritual does it. I’m proud to say that  The Cree...

Anderson Cowan with cinematographer Milan Janicin at FILA 2019 What are the 4Q’s? Name your favorite film of all time (limit 3) Name a film you think is underrated Name a film you think is overrated Name a lesser-known film that you think people should seek out The indie feature Groupers won four awards at Film Invasion Los Angeles in 2019, so of course I had to pull filmmaker Anderson Cowan...

Anderson Cowan (center) at the FILA 2019 Q&A for “Groupers” At Film Invasion Los Angeles in 2019, the feature film  Groupers took home four awards; including Best Feature, Best Director, Best Lead Actress and Best Supporting Actor.  Writer/Director Anderson Cowan had a great screening at the festival and a great Q&A, so I knew he’d be a great filmmaker to interview for th...

Erik Bork (center) at SOFF 2018 What are the 4Q’s? Name your favorite film of all time (limit 3) Name a film you think is underrated Name a film you think is overrated Name a lesser-known film that you think people should seek out Erik Bork made the award winning short film I Got This , that took home a handful of award at SOFf 2018.  He came in for an interview so of course I have him answe...

Erik Bork (second from left) at his SOFF 2018 Q&A The short film  I Got This took home three well-deserved awards from the 2018 Sherman Oaks Film Festival.  Filmmaker Erik Bork put together a wonderful film that typifies how a filmmaker can tell a complete, three-act story within the short film format and leave the audience delighted yet also wanting to see more. The film won the Grand Jury Pr...

Brett Nicoletti enjoying his Q&A at SOFF 2018 What are the 4Q’s? Name your favorite film of all time (limit 3) Name a film you think is underrated Name a film you think is overrated Name a lesser-known film that you think people should seek out Documentarian Brett Nicoletti won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sherman Oaks Film Festival for Best Documentary with his film The Running Man of Pa...

Jeff Howard & Brett Nicoletti at SOFF 2018 The first night of the 2018 Sherman Oaks Film Festival started with a screening block that ended with the wonderful documentary  The Running Man of Pasadena .  We were excited to have the filmmakers and the movie’s subject in attendance! The film went on to win the Grand Jury Prize for Documentary, and when you watch it below you can see why.  F...

Philip A. Ramos with his “The Kidnapping of a Fish” lead actor Stephen Friedrich What are the 4Q’s? Name your favorite film of all time (limit 3) Name a film you think is underrated Name a film you think is overrated Name a lesser-known film that you think people should seek out Philip A. Ramos is an industry pro and lifetime movie fan.  He’s also a great writer and directo...

Philip A. Ramos stops by DIF HQ to record with Jeff. The first time I saw The Kidnapping of a Fish was at the Sherman Oaks Film Festival in 2016 when it took home a Grand Jury Prize for Short Film.  This super enjoying film mixes drama, comedy and action in a way that few short films can manage.  In fact, if ever there was a short that audiences watched and said, “That felt like a feature fi...

D.A. Keenan at the Sherman Oaks Film Festival in 2018 What are the 4Q’s? Name your favorite film of all time (limit 3) Name a film you think is underrated Name a film you think is overrated Name a lesser-known film that you think people should seek out D.A. Keenan premiered his smart, hilarious horror film  Rotsy at the Sherman Oaks Film Festival in 2018 and came in for a podcast around 8 mo...

Q&A with D.A. Keenan following the Rotsy premiere at SOFF 2018. The horror comedy Rotsy was a hit when it premiered at the Sherman Oaks Film Festival in 2018.  The brainchild of writer/director/producer D.A. Keenan, Rotsy  is the touching tale of a killer clown spending quality time with his fellow mass murderers.  This smart, hilarious, visually stunning film has been rocking festival audienc...

Russell Brown with two of his actors from “Search Engines” What are the 4Q’s? Name your favorite film of all time (limit 3) Name a film you think is underrated Name a film you think is overrated Name a lesser-known film that you think people should seek out Russell Brown’s feature film  Search Engines won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Feature Film at the Sherman Oaks Film F...

Search Engines , from writer/director Russell Brown, won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Feature Film at the 2016 Sherman Oaks Film Festival.  Russell is a filmmaker who appreciates and makes the most of the film festival circuit.  Every now and then, he even sends a programmer like me an email that updates me about his newer projects. With out last email exchange I realized it was long past due for...

Charlotte, Sean & Jeff having a laugh at FILA 2018 What are the 4Q’s? Name your favorite film of all time (limit 3) Name a film you think is underrated Name a film you think is overrated Name a lesser-known film that you think people should seek out This episode we get to hear those four questions answered by Charlotte Barrett & Sean Fallon, the team that made the fantastic short fil...

Charlotte Barrett & Sean Fallon are the filmmaking team behind A Bad Feeling which took home a Grand Jury Prize at tFilm Invasion Los Angeles 2018 for Best Short. Interviewing Charlotte & Sean it became pretty obvious that their smart, funny, and emotionally honest film is a direct reflection of their talent.  Still, it’s always reassuring to find out that the people behind a delight...

TJ Power shares a moment from the set of his film “Your Call Is Important To Us” at SOFF 2018 What are the 4Q’s? Name your favorite film of all time (limit 3) Name a film you think is underrated Name a film you think is overrated Name a lesser-known film that you think people should seek out This episode we get to hear those four questions answered by TJ Power, the writer-directo...

TJ Power’s short film  Your Call Is Important To Us won four awards at the Sherman Oaks Film Festival in 2018.  Brilliantly smart and bitingly hilarious, this is one of those films that people who worked the festival that year keep bringing up to me as one they will never forget. When you hear filmmaker TJ Power’s story, two things are going to happen.  First, you’re going to see...

Every year we do a Discover Indie Film  “Oscar Predictions Podcast” and it would be ridiculous to not get the gang back together and go over their predictions.  This long conversation took place on two days… and then sat on the hard drive a long time.  My bad! Here are the wonderful people whose opinions you will hear on this podcast: Heather Hillstrom (The King In The Ring) Caro...

Filmmaker Benjamin Caro’s short film Cathedrals took the Sherman Oaks Film Festival by storm in 2018.  The Filmmakers Jury gave it three awards, including Outstanding Short Film, Outstanding Directing, and Outstanding Acting – Individual. Ben came in for a Discover Indie Film interview so of course we added on a Four Questions. What are the 4Q’s? Name your favorite film of all ti...

Filmmaker Benjamin Caro’s short film Cathedrals took the Sherman Oaks Film Festival by storm in 2018.  The Filmmakers Jury gave it three awards, including Outstanding Short Film, Outstanding Directing, and Outstanding Acting – Individual. The film hasn’t been released online yet, so I cannot urge you to watch it before listening to the interview.  But Ben is a great guy and I rea...

Patrick Cohen — actor, writer & director — on the DIF mic Patrick Cohen started out as a huge movie fan.  The kind of person who watched movies  all the time , over and over.  Before he knew it he was a working actor in New York and soon enough he was out in L.A. adding writing to his resume.  Last year he directorial debut  First Dates was a hit at Film Invasion Los Angeles.  I kn...

Patrick Cohen hanging out with Jeff at DIF HQ Patrick Cohen brought his great short film First Dates to Film Invasion Los Angeles in 2018 and it was a smash hit.  It’s a funny thing to say, but nowadays not too many filmmakers aim to make their audience feel good.  And  First Dates  is a refreshingly feel-good film. Patrick came in for a DIF interview even though  First Dates isn’t onl...