The Oscar Project Podcast

Send us Fan Mail In today's episode, I interview director Rebecca King and actress/producer Nina Yndis about their film "Elsa" about a tense love triangle between a Norwegian civilian woman, her adoring neighbor and a German soldier during World War II. The film will be showing this August at the Flickers Rhode Island International Film Festival . Listen to hear about where Rebecca...

Send us Fan Mail As I gear up for a series of interviews with filmmakers featured at the 2024 HollyShorts Film Festival, I'm kicking off this coverage by bringing you a few interviews that I did with some of this year's filmmakers that I already spoke with previously on the podcast. If you like these excerpts, check out the full episodes below: Nazrin Choudhury, director of "Red, Wh...

Send us Fan Mail In today's episode, I interview director Dana Koops about her upcoming short film “La Bibliothèque” an intimate look at a young woman dealing with grief. The film has its world premiere at ComicCon this July 28th as part of the San Diego International Children's Film Festival. Listen to hear about how Dana's inspiration for the film, how she went about casting someo...

Send us Fan Mail In today's episode, I interview director Antonina Kerguelén Román about her short film “¡salsa!” a look at the world of music through the experience of someone who cannot hear. The film will be shown at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York this June. Listen to hear about how Antonina explored experiencing music as a physical sensation through a character who cannot hear, the...

Send us Fan Mail In today's episode, I interview director Courtney Dixon about her short documentary "Depression is a Beast," a frank look at how horror films can help people cope with anxiety and depression. The film was inspired by a New York Times article and will be shown at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York this June. Listen to hear about how Courtney starts exploring her d...

Send us Fan Mail In today's episode, I interview the writer/director pair of Julia Aks and  Steve Pinder about their short film "Jane Austen's Period Drama," a hilarious comedy about well, periods, set in England two centuries ago. The film played at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in February and will be shown at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York this June. L...

Send us Fan Mail In today's episode, I interview director Nick Russell and writer Nick Musgrove, about their short film "Favourites,"  about parents who are forced to make an impossible choice. The film has been showing at festivals including Australia's Flickerfest and the San Diego International Film Festival and will be shown at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York this Jun...

Send us Fan Mail In today's interview, I speak with Andrew Stanley Kiste, a campus life director and life long lover of all things Disney. He has written articles and books including Walt Disney and the 1964-1965 New York World’s Fair , and three volumes of A Historical Tour of Walt Disney World . He joins me today to talk about his new book, The Early Life of Walt Disney .  Listen to hear ho...

Send us Fan Mail In today's episode, I am joined by Kyle, the winner of the 2024 Oscar prediction contest on The Oscar Project. We talk about a little of everything including what we liked from the 96th Academy Awards, other movies from 2023 we enjoyed, and things we're looking forward to in 2024.   Books mentioned in this episode include: Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel...

Send us Fan Mail Today I am discussing the 1928 film Sadie Thompson . The film tells the story of Sadie Thompson, a woman of questionable moral character, and Mr. Davidson, the devout missionary who makes it his mission to reform her while they are both forced to stay on a remote Pacific island. Listen now to hear about the troubles the film faced in being made, how Swanson's performance can...

Send us Fan Mail In today's interview, I speak with Lisa Stein Haven, a Professor of English at Ohio University and expert in all things Charlie Chaplin. She has written extensively on the actor and director and hosted the first international Charlie Chaplin conference ever held on American soil in 2010, the 100th anniversary of Charlie's first trip to America. In addition to several wor...

Send us Fan Mail As I announced in my spring preview episode earlier this week, today I am discussing the 1928 film The Crowd . The film focuses on the story of John and Mary Sims as they build a family together and face life's challenges in early 1900s New York City. Listen now to hear about the creative people behind the film, and as always, my own thoughts about the film. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail On today's episode, I give a quick preview of some of the things I'm working on for the podcast in the coming weeks a months. Be sure to subscribe to the show in your podcast player and follow The Oscar Project for all the updates. Facebook- facebook.com/TheOscarProject Instagram- @the_oscar_project X (Twitter)- @jytreberg Substack- theoscarproject.substack.com I'm...

Send us Fan Mail With the 96th Academy Awards in the book, I am joined today by Luis Mendez to discuss all the happenings at the Oscars on Sunday night. Check out Luis at The Mendez Report and follow him on Instagram , Twitter , Threads , and Letterboxd . Support the show

Send us Fan Mail It's time for me to break down who I think will win at the Oscars this weekend. In this episode I go over all 23 categories, letting you know who I think will win the Oscar and who I think should win. They don't always match, so listen in to win your Oscar prediction pool! Support the show

Send us Fan Mail In today's episode, I interview Vincent René-lortie, the director of "Invincible",  an ode to the memory of Marc-Antoine Bernier and the tale of a young man yearning for his freedom. The film is nominated for Best Live Action Short Film at the 96th Academy® Awards after winning Best Live Action Short Film at Chicago Children’s Film Festival in 2022 and Rendez-vous Q...

Send us Fan Mail In today's episode, I interview Nazrin Choudhury, the director of "Red, White and Blue",  the story of a single mother in Arkansas who must cross state lines in search of an abortion. After winning the Grand Jury Award for Best Live Action Short at the Edmonton International Film Festival, the film is nominated for Best Live Action Short Film at the 96th Academy® Aw...

Send us Fan Mail In today's interview, I speak with Ryan Britt, a fiction and non-fiction author who has written for Inverse , Esquire , The New York Times , and StarTrek.com, among others. His first two books were Luke Skywalker Can’t Read and Other Geeky Truths and PHASERS ON STUN! How the Making and Remaking of Star Trek Changed the World . He joins me to talk about his latest book, The Sp...

Send us Fan Mail In this week's episode, I interview Misan Harriman, the director of "The After", a powerful and affecting story that follows a man who has to reconnect with himself and society after witnessing a devastating random attack. After its world premier at the Oscar®-qualifying HollyShorts Film Festival, where it won Best Live Action Short, this incredibly thought-provokin...

Send us Fan Mail In this week's episode, I interview Jean Chapiro, recipient of the Bronze Medal in the Documentary category at the 2023 Student Academy Awards. She was recognized for her film "Till We Find Them" which looks at the families of missing persons in Mexico as they look for their loved ones. Listen to hear Jean discuss what drew her to documentary film, the dangers of do...

Send us Fan Mail As we near the end of January, I'm looking back at 2023. I interviewed 10 amazing authors about their books and spoke with six filmmakers as well. There was so much new content on The Oscar Project Podcast, it was hard to pick the best bits, but here are some of my favorite parts of the interviews from 2023. Be sure to pick up the books from all these guests and support their...

Send us Fan Mail The nominees for the 96th Academy Awards were announced early this morning. The nominees come from 53 films across 23 categories and cover all sorts of films from dramas to comedies, blockbusters to indie darlings. There will be plenty more to come from The Oscar Project in the next month and a half, but for today, let’s just get straight to the nominees! Support the show

Send us Fan Mail In today's interview, I speak with Katie Gee Salisbury, a writer and photographer whose work has appeared in the New York Times , Vanity Fair , The Believer , and the Asian American Writers’ Workshop. She also writes the newsletter Half-Caste Woman . She has spoken about her work at the Museum of Chinese in America, Barnard College, New York University, and gave a TED Talk en...

Send us Fan Mail Happy New Year! It's my first interview author of 2024, and today I speak with Saul Austerlitz, a freelance writer whose work has been published in the New York Times, Esquire, Vanity Fair, and Rolling Stone. He is an adjunct professor of writing and comedy history at New York University, and the author of Generation Friends , Just a Shot Away , Sitcom , Another Fine Mess , a...

Send us Fan Mail In my third and final part of the Thanksgiving special, I interview four of the five creators of the animated short film "Boom," which won the Gold Medal in animation at the 2023 Student Academy Awards. Listen to hear the team discuss the process for developing the story, what they enjoyed about visiting Los Angeles, and some of the movies that have inspired them. Follow...