Sifter

Sergei Troubetzkoy, who’s currently President of Main Street Petersburg, has worked as a film liaison for localities around Virginia, including Petersburg, Lynchburg, Staunton and Bedford. During that time, he’s amassed some great stories about the business and the stars, including: – Working on one of 7 Lincoln films shot in Petersburg – Meeting Sam Waterston…twice &...

FREEDOM HOUSE AMBULANCE – THE FIRST RESPONDERS is the story of the country’s first trained paramedics, a small group of Black men and women from Pittsburgh’s inner city Hill District. The producer for WQED, Annette Banks, will discuss: – How she started at WQED (the home of Mr. Rogers) – Discovering Freedom House – The biggest challenge – A surprise from P...

Erc Hause, Director of the Virginia Queer Film Festival, will fill us in on this new event in Norfolk. Then, we’ll look at OCEAN INVADERS, a documentary about the harm that the invasive Lionfish cause in our waters (It shows free tonite at Maymont). Writer/producer/director Jeff Boedeker and Director of Photography Nicholas Donnelly talk about: – Orange Frame Productions – Discov...

Betty Bodine was a radio character created by Rita Bentley. Her Southern accent and countrified manner made her popular for 20 years on Q94’s morning shows in Richmond. Her character’s bits were also syndicated in Norfolk, DC, Dallas, Mobile, Charleston, West Virginia, AND Charleston, South Carolina. Now she’s written BODINE, THE EARLY YEARS OF RADIO’S BETTY BODINE, a ficti...

Kevin Kravitz has spent his life gathering photos and autographs from all manner of famous people. In our interview we cover: – Meeting a famous drummer in high school – Spotting a famous comic in Finland – Happening upon Backdraft in Chicago, getting cast & meeting Ron Howard – Meeting Jerry Hall & Rupert Murdoch – Acting in To Kill a Mockingbird with Mary Ba...

Andrea Detwiler has been involved with puppets since graduating from VCU. She’s worked on projects for Sesame Street, Jim Henson Studios and two new Star Wars series. In contrast, there’s a GWAR connection. We cover: – Working at Kings Dominion with the “walkarounds” – Starting at Sesame Street Live – The “skins” department for Walking with Din...

Terry Rea was the first manager of Richmond’s iconic repertory cinema, The Biograph from 1972 to 1987, bringing all manner of foreign and art film to its Grace St location near VCU (see foto below of the location). Terry joins me to reminisce about: – Developing the concept of repertory shows – Creating the iconic calendars – Launching midnight movies, including The Rocky H...

In August 2009, John Heidel and his wife, Kristina, opened The Goochland Drive-In Theater. It’s been going strong since then, propelled by their love of movies and a modernized movie-going experience. John takes for a tour that includes: – How and why they wanted to open a drive-in – Defying the nay sayers, including the banks and realtors – What’s different about the...

Anahita fled Afghanistan in August 2021 with her 5 children. This documentary features her interview as she explains her plight, then follows her as she creates a new life in the US. Director Martin Montgomery and Belltower Films producer David Power discuss: – What inspired this story – How they found Anahita – Matt Lively’s illustrations helped tell the story – Work...

The 29 th annual James River Film Fest runs from April 20 – 23. This week’s show is another triple feature with: – Ben Cronly, new Executive Director of the Byrd Theatre Foundation talking about the changes and the future of the Byrd – Susan Donnelly (director) & Ted Salins (DP/co-editor) of ALLIANCE a doc about a farming community in New Jersey founded by immigrant Russian J...

This week’s show is a triple feature. 1. Jasmine Elmore from Oakwood Arts talks about their documentary workshops and monthly film society 2. Director Dave Hobbs and actor Chris Korkalo discuss their new indie film THE MARDI GRAS MAN, which was just at Movieland last weekend (and has upcoming viewings in other areas of the state) 3. VPM’s new docuseries is called LIFE IN THE HEARTLAND...

Andy Umberger was born in Portsmouth, went to VCU and ended up in New York on Broadway before moving to LA, where’s he’s appeared in more than 100 movies and TV shows. Our lively discussion includes: – His Broadway credits including City of Angels, Passion & Company – His wife played Christine in Phantom of the Opera – His first gig on The Drew Carey Show –...

Richmonder Rex Teese has worked in the editing department for major films and TV series. We discuss: – How a fateful car ride turned into his career – Starting as a projectionist – Creating videos for Carbon Leaf – Post producer on The Bronx is Burning – Working for Ridley Scott & getting a personal narration – How Director’s cuts came about – Ed...

Richmond native Caroline Aaron is best known for her role as Shirley Maisel in Amazon’s Primetime Emmy Award-winning series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (which enters its 4 th and final season on April 15). She’s also the featured speaker at the Adolf-Adams JCC Forum on March 16. This 2nd episode of our 2-part discussion includes: – A look at her mother, Richmond icon & activist Nina...

Richmond native Caroline Aaron is best known for her role as Shirley Maisel in Amazon’s Primetime Emmy Award-winning series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (which enters its 4 th and final season on April 15). She’s also the featured speaker at the Adolf-Adams JCC Forum on March 16. The first episode of our 2-part discussion includes: – Shooting the Wonder Wheel sequence and funnel cakes &#8...

The Atlantic Coast Pipeline was to run from West Virginia to North Carolina thru Virginia, but was cancelled in 2020 thanks partly to the opposition from localities affected by it. This year’s Richmond Environmental Film Festival will feature a video about Nelson County’s response. We’ll discuss: – How it was started – Why the approach to the doc is so basic – What we...

Steve Lack is a sound designer, mixer, engineer and composer. He started his career in LA for shows like Seinfeld and Who’s the Boss and later moved to DC to work on documentaries, including How It’s Made , Myth Hunters , Shark Week and the Puppy Bowl IX . He now makes his home in Richmond and has great stories to tell, including: – What is a re-recording mixer and a dialogue edi...

John Mitchell Jr. founded The Daily Planet in 1904 to chronicle life in Richmond’s Black community. This week’s show features people behind the making of BIRTH OF A PLANET, a documentary about Mitchell and his newspaper: Sylvester Tucker, the Director and Jack Nester, the Producer. The doc will air on VPM Feb 28 at 9pm. We discussed: – What is Tilt? – How this project start...

Michigan Hell House debuts February 19 on the Travel Channel and streaming on Discovery+. This house has one of the most documented and violent paranormal cases in history and we’re featuring 4 people who were involved in the re-enactments that were shot here: director Kevin Hirshberger and 3 actors: Kera O’Bryon, Brian Landis and Chris Korkalo:         We discuss:...

Virginian Gene Poe spent most of his career as an extra in movies and TV. In this second episode he covers: – Working on Ellen , including the famous “coming out” episode – Standing in for Anthony Hopkins on Thor – Kenneth Branagh climbed onto his chest – How he got seats  for extras on sets – Being in bed with Ann Margaret – Sneaking in to meet Luci...

Virginian Gene Poe spent most of his career as an extra in movies and TV. He recounts numerous experiences including: – Posing for Playgirl Magazine – Being a hand model on 1000+ commercials – Being in a porno…or not – Getting cast in the first Star Trek movie by Robert Wise – Playing an American hippie in Fellini’s “Roma” – Being Corin Redgrave’s dr...

Andy Edmunds, Director of the Virginia Film Office, kicked off the first podcast last year and he’s back to look at productions in 2022 and what’s coming up, including: – How “super tourists with a payroll” worked during COVID – Movies, TV shows & commercials shot here in 2022 – The Golden Globes – Two interns who went on to great things –...

Most people don’t know that a Jewish family owned Monticello for 89 years (after Jefferson’s death). Director Steven Pressman is bringing his doc to this year’s Israeli & Jewish Film Festival (Jan 19 – 29 at the WJCC and several other venues). Before he comes to town, Steven and I talked about: – Transitioning from being a print journalist – The 2 docs he’s...

Wildcat is one of the top films streaming on Amazon Prime Video. It follows a young British Afgan war vet who travels deep into the Peruvian rainforest where he works to reintroduce ocelots in the wild. This documentary was created by Richmonders Melissa Lesh & Trevor Frost. We talk about: – Their backgrounds and meeting on the James River – The mental health issues beyond the anim...

Here’s a list of favorite films and series from 2022: Guest Reviewer NATHAN LIVELY Everything Everywhere All At Once The Banshees of Inisherin Nope X Barbarian The Northman Top Gun: Maverick Bodies Bodies Bodies The Batman Jackass Forever Honorable Mentions Prey Violent Night JERRY’S MOVIES DOMESTIC (in no particular order) Confess, Fletch John Hamm as an investigative journalist on a...