S5.1: Walter Chaw: Memory Kingdoms, the Terror of Anti-Asian Violence & Strength in Struggling

I wish I could properly tell you how much I enjoyed doing this episode.

I say that about every episode and I’m never lying.

It seems like no matter what, it just gets better.

This episode with my dear wonderful friend Walter Chaw is a little longer than usual but I don’t think you’ll feel it. And it officially marks the 4th year that Archivist’s Alley has been “on the air.” So I think that’s pretty cool.

I plan on having Walter on again. We barely touched the surface of so many things. But I hope that you enjoyed this episode and that you look out and read his work as it is published.

There are very few critics that I read anymore (some of the reasons we talk about in this podcast). But I will always read Walter’s work and highly recommend you do the same. Whether you agree with him or not, the writing is solid and brilliant and that’s about as rare as jackalopes.

As usual, bio and links under the episode. AND THERE ARE SOME REALLY AWESOME LINKS, y’all!!!


Bio:

Walter Chaw is senior film critic for FilmFreakCentral.net. He has various bylines, a brilliant and beautiful wife, two amazing kids, a helper dog and a simple dog, and has a book about the films of Walter Hill due in Spring of 2022.

Twitter: @mangiotto

www.filmfreakcentral.net


I’m also just going to PR him a bit because you all should check him out.

Bruce Lee & Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Judas and the Black Messiah

Walter does INCREDIBLE Saturday Matinee Film Discussions with the Denver Public Library. This one is with the always wonderful Edgar Wright!!! Check it out!!!

Here’s another one with Alex Winter (yep, Bill from Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure) for a film I absolutely looooooove!



Heather Buckley: Punk Rock Production & the Preservation of Genre Materials

So very excited to welcome my excellent colleague and friend Heather Buckley to Archivist’s Alley. Not only is she a successful horror film producer but she is a writer, historian and dedicated preservationist who works with a variety of film distribution companies to create additional features on the home releases of various genre films.

I am so thrilled to know her and to be able to have her on the show to discuss issues of genre, collecting and archival work as well as what access means within the world of these valuable materials. Our discussion runs the gamut from her own film productions to exploring our feelings about westerns and masculinity to why genre and “b-films” are just as worthy of preservation and archival treatment as any arthouse or classic silent work.

Dive on in! As usual, the bio and links are below the episode and I HIGHLY SUGGEST checking them out!! There is a LOT of great stuff to read there!!!!


Heather Buckley – Producer |  NYC/NJ/LA- is a graduate of University of the Arts with a graphic design degree and an academic focus on film history and criticism. She worked for thirteen years in the New York advertising world before bringing her creative and story skills into the film world. 
The first feature she produced, Jenn Wexler’s THE RANGER, for Glass Eye Pix and Hood River Entertainment, premiered at SXSW and played numerous festivals on an international run before its limited theatrical release in NYC and LA. THE RANGER was acquired by SHUDDER and is currently available on its streaming platform as well as Amazon Prime.  Heather’s work as a film analyst and journalist spans over a decade, with bylines in VULTURE, DREAD CENTRAL and FANGORIA. Her background in SFX work includes: CIRCUS OF THE DEAD, DEAD STILL (SyFy/Sony) and WE ARE STILL HERE (MPI). 
She is currently a Blu-Ray Special Features Producer having created documentaries for Kino Lorber, Liongate/Vestron, Arrow Films and Shout Factory releases including JOHN CARPENTER’S THE THING, BARTON FINK, THE LONG RIDERS, SAW 10th Anniversary reissue, and ARMY OF DARKNESS
Heather’s background buoyed the marketing on THE RANGER, where Heather took the creative lead on grass roots engagement and social media campaigns.
Heather’s current feature slate includes projects from auteurs that span the spectrum of genre film, exemplary of her attraction to unique stories with strong, detailed visual aesthetics and a clear position in the marketplace.

Follow Heather!!! at:https://facebook.com/joe.spinell.liveshttps://www.instagram.com/_heatherbuckley/https://twitter.com/_HeatherBuckley
INSIDE at the Cannes Film Market:https://variety.com/2019/film/global/cannes-film-market-readies-third-frontieres-genre-platform-1203209691/
THE RANGER is on SHUDDER:https://variety.com/2018/film/global/amc-shudder-sxsw-the-ranger-1202978378/
THE RANGER Vinyl:http://creep-records-store.shoplightspeed.com/the-ranger-original-soundtrack.html
THE RANGER Novelization:http://www.haverhillhouse.com/product/the-ranger-by-ed-kurtz/
THE RANGER T-Shirt:https://atomiccotton.com/product/the-ranger-unisex-t-shirt/

Adam Piron: Media Curation, Format Fetishes & Indigenous Film Language

I could have talked to Adam for HOURS. This was a great conversation! Chatting about the film experience is always my jam but this particular podcast ROCKED. His work at LACMA is inspiring and wonderful and I strongly look to him as a programmer and film professional who balances indigenous work and activism with a real joy and passion for cinema. And that is 100% my kind of person!!

In this episode, Adam and I explore working in the field of film programming/curation (esp in Los Angeles). We focus on ideas of media archiving/preservation, temporality and examining and applying it to media and preservation in a non-hysterical manner. Public perceptions of media formats and the lack of knowledge/education is also a topic before Adam and I explore ideas in and around indigenous film identity, culture and language. DO NOT MISS THIS ONE!! 

All the info on Adam is below the link and trust me- you wanna check it out! He’s cool as hell!!

Adam Piron (Kiowa/Mohawk) is the Assistant Curator for Film at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and a member of the Sundance Film Festival’s Short Film Programming Team. He is also an Associate Film Programmer for short films at AFI Fest. He currently serves on the Board of Trustees and Programming Committee of the Robert Flaherty Film Seminar, an organization devoted to building community around the moving image and the longest continuously running annual film event in North America devoted to creative non-fiction.

From 2014 to 2017, he served as a Manager for Sundance Institute’s Indigenous Program. He has programmed both features and short films for Film Independent’s LA Film Festival. He has also served on competition juries and panels for film festivals such as the Palm Springs International ShortFest, Hot Springs Film Festival, Art House Convergence, imagineNATIVE Film Festival, Big Sky Documentary Film festival and Maoriland Film Festival. He has served as a mentor for the Whistler Film Festival’s Aboriginal Filmmaker Fellowship and as a NATIVe Partner Representative at the Berlin International Film Festival. He has also guest programmed Indigenous Cinema showcases at the Borscht Film Festival and the Eastern Oregon Film Festival and has also been a reader for Creative Capital.

Follow him on Twitter:@adam_piron

Episode 14: Dirty Looks On Location – Bradford Nordeen, Bret Berg and Joe Rubin

 

I have spent almost all of July so far traveling around Los Angeles cradled in the bosom of a magical series of film screenings, happenings and events called Dirty Looks On Location.

Avant garde cinema and dancing at a Latinx drag bar near my house that I have passed by for 20+ years and always meant to go to but never did…until this month- oh hai, Plaza!  I finally made it to the adult theater that used to be The Pussycat on Santa Monica blvd, became the Tomkat and is now Studs (or Pussycat/Studs, TBH). I made friends at Silver Lake leather bar, The Eagle LA, as we watched an incredible Fred Halsted retrospective.

The day this is released, I think I’m going to Queer Karaoke in the valley at what used to be Moonshadows. GIRL, I’VE BEEN BUSY. The calendar might start to open up again in August…after I get some rest from July!!

I took a chance to talk with Dirty Looks founder Bradford Nordeen and two of the curators, Bret Berg and Joe Rubin. We had a great time (even if it was terribly hot in my living room). If you listen closely, my cat Wallach came in a few times expressing his severe disappointment that he couldn’t go to the Pussycat.

Links, pix & bios for these mindblowing guests below the podcast link as usual!

 

Bradford Nordeen is a curator and writer based in Los Angeles. The founder of Dirty Looks, Nordeen served as the Platinum Programmer for Outfest Los Angeles from 2013 – 2017 and guest curator for The Broad Museum’s inaugural public programs (2015 – 2017). He has organized exhibitions for Participant Inc, ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, Rhode Island School of Design, Atelie397 (São Paulo), House of Vans, and the ICA Los Angeles, in addition to curating series and screenings for The Museum of Modern Art, The Kitchen, SFMOMA, The Hammer Museum, ICA Boston, the Film Society at Lincoln Center, Kurimanzutto, Judson Memorial Church and New York Live Arts. His publications include Check Your Vernacular (2014), Dirty Looks at MoMA (2013), Fever Pitch (2008), as well as editing the annual Dirty Looks Volume series.

As theatrical sales director for the Austin, TX-based American Genre Film Archive, Bret Berg works with movie theaters across the globe to bring forgotten / restored genre and arthouse classics back onto the big screen. And, as education director of The Voyager Institute, Bret collaborates with a wide variety of artists / thinkers on Voyager’s monthly free-admission lecture series about movies and music. Previous curatorial residencies include KXLU 88.9fm Los Angeles, Alamo Drafthouse, Cinefile Video and The Cinefamily.

If you are in the LA area, I highly recommend making a trip to check out Bret’s Voyager Institute work. For more on that, go here: https://www.facebook.com/voyagerla/

Joe Rubin is a film archivist, historian, and co-founder of the film distribution company, Vinegar Syndrome. His work has primarily focused on the restoration and preservation of US produced exploitation and hardcore feature films made between the 1960s and 1980s. He most recently contributed a chapter on preservation methods in ‘pornographic’ films to the collection Porno Chic & the Sex Wars, published by University of Massachusetts Press.

As many of you may be aware, Vinegar Syndrome is one of the best boutique DVD/Blu labels around and Joe is amazingly talented. Check their stuff out too.

Episode 13: Outfest Legacy Project Managers of Past & Present- Brendan Lucas, Taylor Morales & Alice Royer

Pride Month has been AMAZING.

To say that my guests have blown my mind would be an understatement.

If you haven’t gotten a chance to check out the episodes with Anne Kelly, Magnus Berg,  or T.J. Tallie, I highly recommend that you do so. I am terribly proud of the fact that I was able to document these incredible people who are making such a difference in our landscape and are such immense figures as far as the idea of Pride is concerned. I am personally proud to know them and call them friends and colleagues but I am inspired by their continued power and brilliance in a world and professional landscape that does not always welcome queerness.

Which leads me to this week and the Outfest Legacy Project. As a 2-time UCLA grad school alumna, one of the things that I love about that school is the preservation work they do on LGBTQ+ materials with Outfest. While I was in archiving school there, I really wanted to intern with them but that never happened. So next best thing: I go to the festival every year, I have volunteered with them and for the grand finale of Pride Month on Archivist’s Alley, I am welcoming three amazing colleagues on to speak about the Legacy Project, Outfest, their work and the film festival coming up in July.

I know I say this about every episode, but really- it’s a GREAT EPISODE. Check it out! Brendan, Taylor & Alice RULE!!!! Bios and pix below the episode link, as usual.

Bios:

Taylor Morales is the Production Art Librarian at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science’s Margaret Herrick Library where she manages and catalogs the Academy’s unique collection of production design drawings, costume design drawings, storyboards, and other artwork related to the motion picture industry. Taylor previously managed the Outfest UCLA Legacy Project for LGBT Film Preservation where she contributed to the restoration of her favorite film Desert Hearts (1985) in addition to preserving and screening many other archival queer films. She is now a proud member of the Legacy Project Advisory Council.

Here is a link to buy the Desert Hearts DVD and Bluray via Criterion:

https://www.criterion.com/films/29139-desert-hearts

Brendan Lucas attended UC Santa Barbara and the Moving Image Archive Studies Program at UCLA. He is currently the Legacy Project Manager for the Outfest UCLA Legacy Project, a joint effort between Outfest and the UCLA Film and Television Archive, where he supports the collection, documentation, preservation and exhibition of LGBTQ moving images. For the past 5 years, Brendan has worked at Deluxe Audio Services (formerly Chace Audio) where he has coordinated and written about audio restoration projects for film and television.
Born and raised in Northern California, he currently lives in Los Angeles, where he is always either interested in–or going to–events in and around his adoptive hometown.
Outfest LGBT Film Festival (July 12-22, 2018)
Outfest UCLA Legacy Project
Legacy Screening Series at the Billy Wilder Theater in Westwood (year-round)
Alice Royer is a film and media scholar, archivist, and programmer living in Los Angeles. She has very nearly completed her PhD in Cinema & Media Studies at UCLA, where she also earned an MA in Moving Image Archive Studies. Previously, Alice oversaw the Outfest UCLA Legacy Project as Legacy Project Manager from 2014-2016, during which time she was selected to serve on the Teddy Award Jury at the 2016 Berlin International Film Festival. She has been a longtime Assistant Programmer for Outfest, and has screened films for AFI FEST, and the Los Angeles Film Festival. And also she has a dog named Walter, whom she probably anthropomorphizes too much.
The following is a short featurette on the preservation of the 1919 silent film that she mentions having worked on during her tenure as Project Manager, Different From The Others (1919).