Film and Television (Audio)

Writer/director Sam Kadi and actors William Atherton and Rizwan Manji join moderator Juan Campo (Religious Studies, UCSB) for a discussion of their film The Citizen. They share their experiences making the film and drawing inspiration from real Arab-American stories. They also discuss the continued relevance of the film’s themes, including issues of citizenship, the immigrant experience, racial pr...

Filmmaker Sreemoyee Singh joins moderator Shiva Balaghi (Area Global Initiative, UCSB) for a discussion of her film And, Towards Happy Alleys. They discuss the impetus for the film and Singh’s research into the cinema of Iran, as well as her travels to the country. Singh reflects on her experiences documenting Iranian filmmakers like Jafar Panahi and meeting those close to and following in the foo...

Producer Angela Laprete and actor Lindsay Watson join moderator Tyler Morgenstern (Assistant Director of the Carsey-Wolf Center) for a discussion of their film The Wind and the Reckoning. They discuss the film’s origins and telling the story in the ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi language. They also speak on the development of the script, its approach to genres like the Western and historical drama, working with c...

Director Sam Pollard joins moderator Wendy Eley Jackson (Film and Media Studies, UCSB) for a discussion of his film Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes. They discuss his long and remarkable career as a documentary filmmaker and the life of jazz musician Max Roach. They also reflect on Pollard’s varied documentary subject matter throughout the decades, from dressage to graffiti to the civil rights mov...

Director and co-writer Erica Tremblay joins moderator Lisa Parks (Film and Media Studies, UCSB) for a discussion of her film, Fancy Dance. They discuss the development of the film and Tremblay’s three-year-long journey to study the Cayuga language in preparation. They also discuss Lily Gladstone’s central performance, the role of dance as a central motif, and the foregrounding of queer identity an...

Director Kemp Powers joins moderator Mireille Miller-Young (Feminist Studies, UCSB) for a discussion of his film Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. They discuss the development of the film, the origins of characters like Spider-Punk, and various artistic influences. Powers also shares his experiences working with a large, diverse animation team and thoughtfully addressing issues of representatio...

Director Nicole Newnham joins moderator Kyna McClenaghan (Film and Media Studies, UCSB) for a discussion of her film The Disappearance of Shere Hite. They discuss the origin of the film and her interest in Shere Hite, as well as the archival research undertaken in making the documentary. Together, they also detail the work of Shere Hite in the context of the feminist movement of the time, the sexi...

Filmmaker Jess X. Snow joins UCSB's Heidi Amin-Hong to discuss a selection of Snow’s films and their broader artistic journey. As a multidisciplinary artist, Snow's work encompasses poetry, visual art, and film, often addressing themes like the model minority myth, community care, mutual aid, and the Asian-American immigrant experience. They also explore how their films depict queer intimacy and t...

Writer/director Gregg Araki joins moderator Bhaskar Sarkar (Film and Media Studies, UCSB) for a discussion of his film, Nowhere. Araki reflects on post-punk and do-it-yourself subcultures, as well as his memories taking film classes at UCSB as an influence on his work. He also discusses the cult following and home distribution of the film, the legacy of independent and new queer cinema on his care...

Filmmaker/curator Márton Orosz joins moderator George Legrady (Media Arts & Technology, UCSB) for a discussion of György Kepes: Interthinking Art + Science. They discuss the career of György Kepes and his groundbreaking work at MIT, and presenting his life onscreen. They also explore the development of the field of art and technology in the twentieth century, as well as Kepes’ continued significan...

Actor Meg Ryan joins moderator Brad Silberling for a discussion of the romantic comedy classic When Harry Met Sally. They share behind-the-scenes stories of the film’s late screenwriter Nora Ephron and the enduring legacy of the film. They also reflect on the development of the film’s script and iconic characters, the process of shooting scenes and bringing Harry and Sally to life onscreen, and Me...

Associate producer Steve Starkey and screenwriter Peter S. Seaman join moderator Tyler Morgenstern (Assistant Director of the Carsey-Wolf Center) for a discussion of the film Who Framed Roger Rabbit. They discuss the early development and complex visual effects of the film. They also discuss the state of Walt Disney Studios in the 1980s and the industrial contexts surrounding the film, as well as...

Director Deborah Stratman joins moderator Alex Lilburn (Film and Media Studies, UCSB) for a discussion of her film, Last Things. Stratman discusses the varied ecological, geological, literary, and cinematic inspirations of the film and thinking beyond anthropic time scales. Together, they also discuss the structure of the documentary, the use of voiceover and outside excerpts, the scientific conce...

Kashif Shaikh, co-founder and president of Pillars Fund, joins moderator Mona Damluji (Film and Media Studies, UCSB) for a discussion of the film Polite Society. Shaikh discusses working closely with director Nida Manzoor and themes of sisterhood, class hierarchy, and patriarchal power in the film. Together, they also discuss ways of subverting cliches and stereotypes in South Asian and Muslim rep...

Filmmakers Valerio Ciriaci and Isaak Liptzin join UC Santa Barbara moderator Stephanie Malia Hom to discuss their film, Stonebreakers. They detail the origins of the project and their interest in monuments as a trigger for political action and historical discourse. They also discuss their experiences filming protests and broader political action against police brutality and systemic racism, and sh...

Filmmaker James N. Kienitz Wilkins joins moderator Tyler Morgenstern, Assistant Director of the Carsey-Wolf Center, for a discussion of Still Film. They discuss its narrative and formal structure, as well as its thematic interests in the problems plaguing contemporary Hollywood. They also reflect on the film’s use of language and larger questions of cinema, memory, and nostalgia. Moreover, Wilkins...

Lucas Hilderbrand of UC Irvine joins UC Santa Barbara moderator Graham Feyl to discuss the film Paris is Burning. They review the history of its exhibition and the film’s enduring legacy as a powerful portrait of queer life, resistance, beauty, and art. They also discuss the unique structure of the documentary, the cultural contexts of drag balls for trans communities of color, and Paris is Burnin...

Director Miguel Coyula and actor Lynn Cruz join UC Santa Barbara's Kiley Guyton Acosta and Cristina Venegas to discuss their film, Corazón Azul. They discuss the allegorical significance of its imagery, which draws from Cuban political and historical contexts for its alternate reality narrative. They also share insights into the long, complicated development of the film over the years and reflect...

Filmmaker Juel Taylor joins UC Santa Barbara moderator Mireille Miller-Young for a discussion of his film They Cloned Tyrone as part of our Black Hollywood series. Taylor details the development of the film and its narrative and thematic inspirations and ideas. Together, they discuss each of the three main characters and the film’s playful subversion of racial stereotypes and Blaxploitation tropes...

Filmmaker Alejandro M. Flores Aguilar and moderator Giovanni Batz discuss the film Ixiles: Voices from the Shadows of Time. Aguilar details the origin of the project, as well as the historical contexts of Indigenous resistance in the Ixil region of Guatemala. They also discuss issues surrounding ethnographic research, the responsibilities of academics, and the future of anti-colonial resistance. S...

Filmmaker Anthony Banua-Simon joins moderator Patrice Petro to discuss his documentary film Cane Fire. They explore the historical and colonial relationships between the plantation economy, the film industry, and tourism in Hawai’i, and larger questions posed by the film. Banua-Simon also discusses his approach to interrogating Hollywood history and how archival materials, oral records, and conspi...

Writer/producer Gabe Liedman and moderator Tyler Morgenstern discuss the film Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar, a screening programmed alongside a workshop on comedy writing. Liedman discusses the collaborative work of comedy and the unique comedic style of the film. He also shares his favorite jokes and moments in the movie, and how the film has been impactful for their own work as a comedian an...

Director Arthur Jones and producer Giorgio Angelini join moderator Chelsea Kai Roesch from UC Santa Barbara to discuss their film "Feels Good Man." They talk about working with artist Matt Furie and unpack the social and political contexts behind Pepe the Frog and its cooptation by the alt-right. They also reflect on the cinematic challenges in telling a story about the internet and discuss the la...

Timothy Corrigan of the University of Pennsylvania joins moderator Patrice Petro to discuss Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s classic film Ali: Fear Eats the Soul. Together, they examine the larger body of work and influences of the German filmmaker, which include Brechtian aesthetics and classical Hollywood melodramas like that of Douglas Sirk. They also offer close readings of scenes from the film, ana...

Filmmaker Sam Kadi joins moderator Juan Campo, professor of religious studies at UC Santa Barbara, for a discussion of the film Lamya’s Poem. Together, they consider how the film employs magical realism to interweave scenes from the lives of contemporary Syrian refugees with the experiences of 13th century poet Rumi. Kadi discusses the uses of animation in crafting a fantastical world, and shares...