Festive Foreign Film Fans

Festive Fans Unite! (send us a message) What better way for the Festive Fans to celebrate the end of our third season, than by abandoning the snow-covered streets, roaring fireplaces, and winter landscapes of most holiday movies, books and songs to travel down south.  It is June, so we are off to a place known for its tropical warmth, rich cultural heritage and vibrant holiday music and dancing. ...

Festive Fans Unite! (send us a message) Well, the Festive Fans have been toiling for three years, searching out celebrations, rich traditions, and delicious food from all over the world.  We find joy in all of the countries we visit, as we continue our search for the happiest and most magical places on Earth.  Like climbing a mystical mountain, we may have finally reached the pinnacle. Our podcast...

Festive Fans Unite! (send us a message) For this episode, our journey unfolds under warm African skies and rolling green hills, as we venture out of the lingering winter cold and into the famous mountains of Volcanoes National Park.  Instead of tinsel and lights, we are surrounded by dormant volcanoes, dense rainforest, and bamboo groves.  This is the land where Dian Fossey lived for 18 years, stu...

Festive Fans Unite! (send us a message) The Festive Fans are feeling a little tired.  We have been woken up by a little one, relatively new to the world. Like watching any baby, it can be a little messy, unpredictable, and joyful.  Our sense of time must have disappeared completely — April 6th feels exactly like April 18th — but we have been operating on very little sleep.  So join us tonight, as...

Festive Fans Unite! (send us a message) As we arrive, the snow falls softly over the Alps, blanketing the jagged peaks and pine-covered slopes. This is a place of such breathtaking winter scenery, it is like a living snow globe.  There is a chill in the air but, even more so, there is the hardy aroma of … melted cheese.  Yes, this episode the Festive Fans are visiting Switzerland, with its small m...

Festive Fans Unite! (send us a message) Said the night wind to the Festive Fan "Want to go where I go?" An island in the sea, Festive Fan "Want to go where I go?" Witness Christmas, where it’s communist They just keep it hidden from sight They just keep it hidden from sight Wow.  Spring has sprung.  The weather is warmer, the grass is greener, and two hairy bears have emerged f...

Festive Fans Unite! (send us a message) As we kick off the second half today, you might be thinking that it is nearly the end of February and we are still not done with the Christmas celebration. We know it’s been a little bit of time, but we really wanted to share the recording with those who weren’t able to attend. There was something electric about this year’s live show — the space, the stage,...

Festive Fans Unite! (send us a message) Another two-part episode?  What’s next - a crossover podcast with “Deck Hallmark”?   Nope, we decided to start 2026 with big things.  First, we kicked off January with our super-stuffed England episodes filled with extras and special guests.  Now we are presenting our recent live Christmas event in audio form. We don’t want you to experience it secondhand, s...

Festive Fans Unite! (send us a message) Hey, Festive Fans, let nothing ye dismay, we’re back with Part Two of our super-sized Festive Foreign Film Fans Special Royal English Christmas/New Year's Triple-Stuffed Podcast Episode Extravaganza!  Phew, if you think that’s a lot to say, just consider the exciting, action-packed show we’re describing.  It is a two-part journey across England and, alo...

Festive Fans Unite! (send us a message) Wait, don’t think the holidays are over!  They don’t have to be.  It may be the end of the 12 Days of the Christmas, but the Festive Fans want to keep the party going, all year!  We are starting off 2026 with a visit to jolly old England, the granddaddy of the Christmas holiday.  It is so merry, we needed an expanded two-part episode, with special guests, ex...

Festive Fans Unite! (send us a message) Better late than never.  We missed our episode drop date by 10 days.  That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.  It’s so much fun packed into a few short weeks.  Plus, the way the Festive Fans pine away for this holiday all year, we have to squeeze the most out of our season.  We’ve barely had time to make our Christmas lists.  You know that anticip...

Festive Fans Unite! (send us a message) Working in Alaska in the 1980s was no place for the fainthearted. It demanded perseverance and fortitude.  Work began before dawn.  The tasks were repetitive, backbreaking, and physical. Bears wandered close enough that you could hear their breath in the dark, or if the boom on the ship knocked you overboard, they weren’t coming back for you.  A seasonal job...

Festive Fans Unite! (send us a message) For this episode, the Festive Fans start the show feeling a little down.  Our current political landscape in the States has Bob upset with so many in the country living in a constant state of anger.  Then we travel to Colombia, a country with a notorious reputation from a vicious drug trade.  The 1980s and 1990s saw the rise of the infamous drug cartels, who...

Festive Fans Unite! (send us a message) The Festive Fans end their Creepmas in October with a review of the 2021 film “The Advent Calendar” and a salute to Belgium.  We also speak with Sabine Janisela, a diplomat at the Latvian Embassy, who helps us on our Piragi journey, offering both official cultural knowledge along with her own personal experience.  The "Advent Calendar" is a horror...

Festive Fans Unite! (send us a message) The Festive Fans are off to the “nicest place in the world”, a nation that looks like Christmas itself, with its pine forests, captivating snowfalls, and Hallmark worthy quaint little towns.  The people there are so friendly that the place is bursting with joy.  They even claim Santa as an official citizen.  Yes, that’s right, we are off to our neighbor to t...

Festive Fans Unite! (send us a message) The Festive Fans take a thoughtful and enlightening journey to South Africa this episode to discover Christmas in a country still scarred by apartheid.  We tend to overlook how South Africa is a place of extraordinary beauty — with its Table Mountain, Kruger National Park, pristine beaches, and a rich array of wildlife.  Instead, we define it by its painful...

Festive Fans Unite! (send us a message) So this episode is late.  The Festive Fans had to attend a family celebration and a memorable party, but it was not Christmas.  It was a wedding, an event that is surprisingly similar to our favorite holiday.  They are both bright, warm, and full of promise.  I thought about this while sitting on a beach in the dark, meditating about life, in the moonlit sha...

Festive Fans Unite! (send us a message) We thought we could make a joke about what the Festive Fans have in common with this episode’s country.  We like to say it’s because we are tall and long, and we were surprised when our wives agreed, but they said we are tall on appetite and long on belt size.  Ha!  Well, it’s no joking matter, we are off to celebrate in the literal spine of South America –...

Festive Fans Unite! (send us a message) The Festive Fans decided to trek northeast to Greenland to see what the fuss was about.  We found an incredible place the land of the Vikings, filled with towering icebergs, spectacular fjords, incredible wildlife, and the Northern Lights.  OK, so now we get it.   We also watched a Christmas film called Krudt and Kaerlighed (Gunpowder and Love) from 2019, we...

Festive Fans Unite! (send us a message) As the wives of the Festive Fans know, the best Christmas gifts sometimes come in small packages.  The same can be said of this episode’s location -- Luxembourg.  This mini country is often overlooked and forgotten, as it is wedged in between Belgium, France, and Germany.  However, most Luxembourg residents are trilingual and they enjoy a multicultural histo...

Festive Fans Unite! (send us a message) And so it begins … in Estonia!  We kick off the Festive Fans new season in this small but mighty Eastern European country.  Estonia is a captivating place with considerable natural assets, and, as Mark reminds us, feminine beauty.  Just ask him to name five models from there.  It is no wonder that our film addresses Estonians deep respect for the outdoors. ...

Festive Fans Unite! (send us a message) Let’s face it, the Festive Fans have willingly talked about foreign Christmas movies twice a month for two years.  You might think that is celebration enough, and you would be right.  It definitely should be, but it’s absolutely not.  Because we also need to have an awards show, of course.  It has to be an over-the-top, completely unnecessary, gloriously sel...

Festive Fans Unite! (send us a message) We’re sizzling all the way into a Festive Fans milestone moment — it’s our two-year anniversary and we’re inviting you to join the celebration!   For 50 episodes, we've been traveling the globe and unwrapping the world’s best gifts -- Christmas movies, music, and memories found in so many different places.  We have visited nearly every continent and obs...

Festive Fans Unite! (send us a message) In the waning days of the old year, when the sun turned hot and the wind warm, there came word from the South Country. It was said that the Fellowship of the Festive Fans had a mission in the land of the Middle Earth. A spiritual quest was formed to find the Kiwi Christmas. Could it be there, not in the cold hearts of the orcs and the trolls, but in the ordi...

Festive Fans Unite! (send us a message) The Festive Fans take this episode to Ethiopia to answer that age-old question: “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”  Well, yes they do.  In fact, it’s a lot different than what you might imagine.  They like fasting, then eating, then playing a competitive field hockey game played like medieval combat.  It’s an ancient tradition carried on now with neighbor agains...