Justin Joseph Hall: Marcellus Hall an Artist in New York City, Fog of War

October 9, 2023

Episode #42 - Justin Joseph Hall is an award-winning, multilingual multimedia director and founder of Fourwind Films and Quatre-Vents. His work has been acquired by major television networks such as HBO and he’s worked as a lead creative on projects that received awards at The Emmys, TriBeCa Film Festival, Brooklyn Film Festival, and more.

Our screening resumed back at Fourwind Films’ headquarters.

For his short, Justin brought his short series, Marcellus Hall an Artist in New York City. The five episode season has won six awards and been nominated for many more around the world. The documentary is of New Yorker Illustrator Marcellus Hall who also wrote the song Life Is Still Sweet that inspired Float On performed by Modest Mouse.

We screened the entire series back to back and served white and yellow cheese with steak in conjunction with the series.

The feature Justin chose inspired his series with a one-on-one interview that endures the entire documentary. It was Errol Morris’ Oscar winning Fog of War where Robert McNamara goes through thought processes of military decisions during major wars of the United States of America. We served a juicy homemade Vietnamese Beef And Lettuce Curry during the screening.

To learn more about Justin Joseph Hall, sign up for Fourwind Films newsletter.

Credits:

Host - Laura Davi

Production & Event Space - Fourwind Films

Post-Production - Quatre-Vents

Editor - Billie Jo Laitinen

Sound Mixer - Hans Bilger

The theme song of Season 7 is New Tires by Silent Partner.

Ellen Goosenberg Kent: Anastasia, Afghan Dreamers

December 1, 2022

Episode #37 - Ellen Goosenberg Kent is an Oscar winning documentarian who knows how to produce a compelling story first and foremost. She is always interested in the price paid by common people going against difficult odds, often fighting government systems often unintentionally. She is incredible in her long and varied work. We had the pleasure to talk with her at Nitehawk Cinema - Williamsburg in front of a live studio audience while we screened the documentary.

For her short, Ellen brought MTV short Anastasia. Activist Anastasia Shevchenko was accused of being a threat to Russian state. She was kept under house arrest for two years. Sarah McCarthy’s short documentary tells the story of a civil rights advocate and single mother who longs to see her children grow up in a free society in a deeply personal account of her family and the sometimes unseen cost of activism. The movie is a deeply humanizing tale of the price paid by a woman struggling for freedom and her family’s safety and peace of mind.

Host Justin Joseph Hall and Ellen Goosenberg Kent - Photo by Piper Werle

The feature Ellen chose is her latest, Afghan Dreamers also courtesy of MTV. During the screening Nitehawk’s chefs served a mouthwatering combination: Sheer Chai, an Afghani Salad, and Kabuli Palaw.

Through the story of a robotics team in Afghanistan, Afghan Dreamers recounts the advancements of women in the country since the American invasion and the effects of the Taliban taking over after the Americans left. Using various stock footage of government officials, the story of these high school students is a rollercoaster of joy, pain, hard work, and the country’s struggle for women’s rights in a conservative society.

See Afghan Dreamers on Paramount + in 2023.

Credits:

Host - Justin Joseph Hall

Editor - Billie Joe Laitenin

Sound Mixer - Brian Trahan

Sound Mixing Assistant - Hans Bilger

Lead Marketing Agent - Isabel Restrepo

Event Space - Nitehawk Cinema - Williamsburg

Photographer - Piper Werle

Sponsors: Documentarian Emanuele Mengotti & the documentary Stranger at the Gate by Joshua Seftel.

The theme song of Season 6 is Getting It Done by Kevin MacLeod.

Rebecca Stern: Snowy, The Thin Blue Line

April 26, 2021

Episode #32 - Meet Rebecca Stern, a director and producer of documentary films. She has absolutely soared in her career since one of her first jobs as a Production Coordinator on the Oscar-nominated feature documentary Cartel Land. Her directorial debut Well Groomed is now streaming on HBO. Rebecca, or Becky, is open, humble, and a delight to talk with.

Our appointed contributors for Feature & a short are asked to choose one short and one feature, and they have to have been involved with one of them but not the other. Rebecca brings the sleeper success Snowy. This documentary short about a pet turtle named Snowy whose owner embarks on a journey to find what would make him happy got into Sundance after a cold submission. We discuss what it’s like to get into Sundance, funding short films, and what Rebeca thinks needs to evolve in that process.

The feature is The Thin Blue Line, a film Becky had never seen — though she has worked on films about the legal system and incarceration in the US.

Learn more about Rebecca Stern and her work on her website.

And keep an eye on a Fourwind Films short-form documentary series coming soon: Marcellus Hall: An Artist in New York City.

Credits for podcast:

Production Company - Fourwind Films

Appointed Contributor - Rebecca Stern

Host - Justin Joseph Hall

Sound Mixer & Additional Music - Brian Trahan

Line Producer - Laura Davi

The theme song of Season 5 is This Monster by Sun Nectar

Jon Alpert: When Life Hands You Lemons, Papa

March 15, 2020

Episode #21 - This episode features Jon Alpert, Oscar-nominated and Emmy-award winning documentary journalist. Prestigious award ceremonies aside, Alpert has been making films for over forty years and has stories for DAYS. Highlights include the story of how he was chosen as the director for the first Sundance film by Robert Redford, and another dives into how he and his partner Keiko Tsuno managed to get breaking footage in Vietnam during the war. As a co-founder of DCTV he shares how the Chinatown documentary incubator offered film equipment to anyone who wanted to tell stories about the community. Alpert’s career was birthed out of supporting his community, and he continues to prioritize doing so to this day.

The films he curated for the episode are both extremely personal. The short film by Jasmine Barclay is called, “When Life Hands You Lemons.” It tells the story of how she was houseless for all of high school without most people in her life having any idea. For the feature, Jon chooses his most personal documentary, “Papa.” Jon also shares how this film got made by working with documentary legend Sheila Nevins

Jasmine was part of the DCTV program “ProTV.” The free school teaches underprivileged high schoolers how to make film. Link to donate.

Credits:
Photography - Justin Joseph Hall, Piper Werle, Laura Davi

Host - Justin Joseph Hall

Location - Downtown Community Television Center

Production Assistant - Laura Davi

Production Company - Fourwind Films

Jay Giampietro: the thing that kills me the most!, Private Practices: The Story of a Sex Surrogate

December 26, 2019

Episode #18 - Jay Giampietro is a director and editor who is a huge fan of films and sports. He is super easy to talk to and it seems always maintains a positive vibe towards anything unique. His unique lens really focuses on New York awkward single males and we think it’s safe to call him a true auteur. He is prolific and makes a short film at least once a year. We’ve shown Hernia at our annual Holiday Mixer several years ago.

This time for the short Jay presented his most recent film the thing that kills me the most! Sticking to odd New York area male characters. It is a very pretty experimental film that uses light in a unique way and takes documentary audio and montages it for new experience in motion picture.

Private Practices: The Story of a Sex Surrogate is a very 1980’s documentary with minimal soundtrack and tons of intrigue. Jay being a student of film history and the odd that is out there in the world chose to bring this film that captures one’s attention watching nervous men have sex with a young sex therapist for money.

Check out more of Jay’s work through is production company Magic Square Films.

Episode hosted by Justin Joseph Hall.

Credits:

Host - Justin Joseph Hall

Sound Mix & Additional Music - Brian Trahan

Theme song of Season 4 is Johnny's Tune In Waltz by Salitros’ Ridin’ Rainbow.

Inga Moren: Luz Marina, I'm So Excited!

September 24, 2019

Episode #15 - Inga Moren is a joy to have in the edit studio. She’s a vibrant character who knows how to articulate her thoughts and feelings on any subject. She works as an editor, writes, and directs experimental film. She’s also worked on camera crews, post-production processing, and so much more. Originally from Colombia, she currently makes money from Universal Studios.

Inga brought her new film Luz Marina an experimental short that explores the cults of modern day and the popularity of reality television that we have lived with since the turn of the century. The film moves through spaces and ideas rapidly presenting scenes that bridge the audience from idea to idea, almost like a dream in fast-forward.

Afterwards we were pleasured with the viewing experience of a Pedro Aldomovar film, I’m So Excited! A silly, colorful, and melodramatic film. It recounts several characters on a plane voyage. The story jumps in-between from pilots in the cabin, to the stewards, and the passengers. The film is filled with drinking and bold characters.

Inga’s knowledge of film history and unique vision on what the medium can be helped make this episode especially introspective, not only on the films she presented, but also of the possibilities of using film as a storytelling device itself.

Episode hosted by Justin Joseph Hall.

Credits:

Host - Justin Joseph Hall

Production Company & Location - Fourwind Films

Olga Loginova: Volte, Sacred Leaves

August 29, 2019

Episode #14 - As the appointed contributor, Director, Producer and Cinematographer Olga Loginova is an incredible collaborator and artist who speaks poetically and with no filter. She recently graduated from Columbia where she learned to make scientific documentaries. Originally from Belarus with Russian roots, she has chiseled her vision of a storyteller through rigorous training in Germany, China, and the U.S.A., as well as by traveling and reporting across continents.

Our screening took place in Bushwick, Brooklyn, at Fourwind Films’ headquarters where for the short, Olga presented the stunning film Volte (2017), directed by Monika Kotecka and Karolina Poryzala. Volte is a truly moving, 10-minute coming-of-age documentary from Poland. Olga talks about how she resonates with the film because “as a child I danced, and very soon I became too tall. I was lagging behind because I was too big, too big, too big.” This film is made in the Slavic school of teaching “where every shot is perfect.” Olga describes this film as “the difference between trying to document something and art. This is art.” This Eastern European documentary that was picked up by The New York Times Op-Docs.

For the second film of the event, Olga presented her very own feature Sacred Leaves. The documentary is about the wonders of the Amazon rainforest and the constant destruction it faces for human profit. Olga talks about how her interest in the Amazon grew from how climate change in Brazil changes people’s lives as it does in her own ancestral lands of Siberia. There are countless adventure stories from her seventeen days of shooting. She discusses characters who come “once in a century,” and what surprised her most. She shot the film before the wildfires hit, and offers insight into the many sources of deforestation that led to the rainforest’s current state. She plans to return to Brazil in the winter to show the film.

For Sacred Leaves, we served caipirinhas and pão de queijo.

Olga herself is a character who comes once in a lifetime, and we were thrilled to have her international talents. Enjoy the episode.

Episode hosted by Justin Joseph Hall.

Olga Loginova - Director/Cinematographer

Credits:
Host - Justin Joseph Hall

Production Company & Location - Fourwind Films

Transcript:

00;00;02;00 - 00;00;29;00

Justin Joseph Hall:

Welcome to Feature & a short. My name is Justin Joseph Hall and this is a podcast presented by Fourwind Films. Feature & a short is a monthly screening hosted by us where an appointed contributor presents their chosen feature motion picture and a short movie. There's only one condition for the screening. The presenter must have been directly involved with one picture and not the other. This time, we have the lovely Olga Loginova

00;00;29;00 - 00;00;30;00

Olga Loginova:

Hi guys!

00;00;30;00 - 00;00;34;00

Justin Joseph Hall (as narrator):

who decided to bring her first feature that she finished called Sacred Leaves.

00;00;34;00 - 00;00;37;00

Olga Loginova:

It's a term. It's a Brazilian term, actually. “Folhas Sagradas.”

00;00;38;00 - 00;01;00;00

Justin Joseph Hall (as narrator):

Olga is a producer, director, cinematographer. She's done pretty much everything. But she uses natural light better than most people I've seen in documentaries. And the short that she brought is Volte, which is an Eastern European documentary that was picked up by The New York Times Op-Docs. It's a nice short, ten-minute piece about young women and horses.

00;01;00;00 - 00;01;57;00

Olga Loginova:

It took my breath away. I think it's so beautiful and so well-made. It's something that I would aspire to do. It's a coming-of-age documentary made by two Polish filmmakers, Monika Kotecka and Karolina Poryzala. They're both graduates of the uh, National Film Academy in Łódź. And well, this is one of the best filmmaking schools in the world. I tried to get in there like years ago. This is the best.

Legitimately, Poland is uh such a treasure for filmmakers. The cinematographer had a degree in Social Science and the screenwriter was a zoologist. And so, they kind of merged and they made this beautiful, beautiful short that also premiered at the IDFA. I think it was selected by Sundance Lab. It's chosen by Op-Docs and, uh, many other festivals just, like, so, and I hope you like it. And it's made by women filmmakers. I didn't even know that. Yeah, and I'm not gonna say another word about it. Enjoy.

00;01;57;00 - 00;02;01;00

Justin Joseph Hall (as narrator):

So after the short, we had a small discussion on what happened.

00;02;01;00 - 00;02;41;00

Olga Loginova:

So, I was going through different descriptions of the film on different websites and uh the one that is on Polish Institute website is kind of, I don't know, it kind of captures it, but it's uh observational and creative portrait about sacrifice, frustration, physical limits and endurance. Uh, and it shows how the team must accept that Zuzia’s position is basically untenable, that she has just grown too big. And so as a child, I danced. And uh, very soon I became too tall, I’d at, always being, like, lagging behind because you're too big, too big, too big. Really, it's not the reason why I chose this film, but I kind of know how it feels.

00;02;41;00 - 00;02;42;00

Audience:

I felt connected to it

00;02;43;00

Olga Loginova:

Yeah.

00;02;43;00 - 00;02;45;00

Audience:

because uh growing up in Russia, you always feel the pressure

00;02;46;00

Olga Loginova:

Yeah.

00;02;46;00 - 00;02;48;00

Audience:

to be born to be the best.

00;02;48;00 - 00;02;56;00

Olga Loginova:

You feel that, like, it's you. What a difficult career. Like, talking about the subjects, though. The girl is 12. So

00;02;56;00

Audience:

Yeah.

00;02;56;00 - 00;03;47;00

Olga Loginova:

at 12, she's too big and, like, her emotions were not the emotions of a child in a way. But again, for me, like, what, I'm kind of jealous of this film to be honest. Because again, like every shot here is beautiful and I, like, I wish every shot in my film, like. I know how to frame or, like, you know, I've been learning cinematography and the cinematography is unparalleled. Sometimes you are somewhere and you just don't have time. It's so perfect, and like, this perfection eludes you. And then you see something that is, like, perfect from the beginning, end to end. And it's like, “ugh!” I think it's very much also Slavic school of documentaries, the Russian school as well, like where every shot is perfect. That’s taught. And again, this speaks to Łódź school. Pawel Pawlikowski, the one who made Ida and Cold War, he’s a graduate of that school.

00;03;47;00 - 00;03;49;00

Justin Joseph Hall:

That was one of the most beautiful shorts I’ve seen in a long time…

00;03;50;00 - 00;03;56;00

Olga Loginova:

I'm telling you, Poland is incredible. Krzysztof Kieślowski, um, Zanussi. They're all Polish.

00;03;56;00 - 00;03;58;00

Justin Joseph Hall:

Kieślowski’s now my favorite one.

00;03;58;00 - 00;03;59;00

Olga Loginova:

I love Kieślowski.

00;03;59;00 - 00;04;01;00

Justin Joseph Hall:

I mean, it's beautiful, but it…

00;04;00;00 - 00;04;05;00

Olga Loginova:

Watch Blue, Red, White. Blue, White, Red. Those are amazing and uh

00;04;04;00

Justin Joseph Hall:

Yeah.

00;04;05;00

Audience:

Yeah.

00;04;05;00 - 00;04;20;00

Olga Loginova:

The Secret Life of Veronica is amazing, it’s just, it’s the great films. They’re fantastic.

Um, so how do you capture the audio if you're not in their faces? And I don't think there was a boom, so I think it was a long lens, I can assume.

00;04;21;00

Justin Joseph Hall:

Yeah.

00;04;21;00

Olga Loginova:

I don't know…

00;04;22;00 - 00;04;25;00

Audience:

And most all of the editing. How they integrated the horses,

00;04;26;00

Olga Loginova:

Yeah!

00;04;26;00 - 00;04;29;00

Audience:

the sounds with the music, anything with it, you know?

00;04;29;00

Audience:

Yeah.

00;04;30;00 - 00;04;44;00

Olga Loginova:

And that shot of a girl, Zuzia, just like her stare. And you can hear the hooves of the horses and the music and it's like, ah! But this is the difference between just trying to document something and makes art, because this is for me, is art.

00;04;45;00 - 00;04;49;00

Justin Joseph Hall:

Well, it is like a documentation too, and it has a whole arc…

00;04;48;00 - 00;05;00;00

Olga Loginova:

Yeah, it’s like a feature film, but just, it’s like there is a catharsis, there is this drama. This is the second time I watch it, actually, but I've been thinking about it, like, for over a year.

00;05;00;00

Justin Joseph Hall:

Yeah.

00;05;01;00 - 00;05;05;00

Justin Joseph Hall (as narrator):

Then leading into her film, Olga had a few words to say.

00;05;05;00 - 00;05;49;00

Olga Loginova:

I just graduated from Columbia and my specialty was science documentaries. In a way, it is a student project because I did have to follow and work with my advisor and science is supposed to be a big part of it. It's ethnobotany. And uh sometimes it gets in the way of narrative. While I did everything on my own, more than ever I realized that filmmaking is a team effort and it's not an effort of one person. Uh, it’s not perfect. I love it very much and I think it tells an important story. It will change in the course of the next six months, but I hope you like it. My soul is in it, like everything I can do is in this film. I think it's my best work.

00;05;49;00 - 00;06;10;00

Justin Joseph Hall (as narrator):

During the showing of Sacred Leaves, we had a few less things to eat and a few more things to smell. As her film is set in Brazil in the rainforest, there were some unique things that I’ve never seen before, and I don't think most of the audience had either. On top of that, we had Caipirinha and Pão de queijo for everyone to snack on.

00;06;11;00 - 00;06;14;00

Justin Joseph Hall:

Does anybody want a Caipirinha before we start?

00;06;14;00

Audience:

(chatter)

00;06;17;00 - 00;06;25;00

Justin Joseph Hall (as narrator):

In the end, after the movie was over, because this was a unfinished product for her feature, she had a few questions for the audience and we discussed it a little bit.

00;06;26;00 - 00;07;04;00

Olga Loginova:

So, the reason why I did this film was kind of also personal. My family's from Siberia, from the, like, the heart of Siberia, and generations of women in my family were doing the same thing. They were going to Taiga and collecting herbs and barks and oils, and they were treating their family and the whole community. So when I had to choose a topic, I had two topics and I went for this, for ethnobotany and how deforestation affects medicine. So yeah, I think this aspect has really shown how climate change and deforestation in Brazil would change people's lives.

00;07;04;00

Audience:

Yeah.

00;07;05;00

Audience:

Defores… yeah.

00;07;06;00

Audience:

Yeah.

00;07;06;00 - 00;07;07;00

Audience:

What did you shoot it on?

00;07;07;00 - 00;07;08;00

Olga Loginova:

C100 Mark II.

00;07;08;00 - 00;07;10;00

Audience:

Okay. Those are nice. Especially for run and gun.

00;07;11;00 - 00;07;13;00

Audience:

How long were you th, how long was the shoot?

00;07;13;00 - 00;07;14;00

Olga Loginova:

I had 17 shooting days.

00;07;14;00 - 00;07;15;00

Audience:

Oh okay.

00;07;15;00 - 00;07;16;00

Justin Joseph Hall:

And you were there?

00;07;16;00 - 00;07;17;00

Olga Loginova:

21 days.

00;07;17;00 - 00;07;18;00

Audience:

Fun trip.

00;07;18;00 - 00;07;19;00

Olga Loginova:

Oh, it was a fun trip.

00;07;19;00 - 00;07;21;00

Audience:

Who you were traveling with? The crew, were you just

00;07;21;00 - 00;07;22;00

Olga Loginova:

It was just me.

00;07;22;00 - 00;07;25;00

Audience:

you, and you weren't scared that you were, like, going to have your camera broken or?

00;07;25;00 - 00;07;56;00

Olga Loginova:

Oh, I was very scared. It was my personal camera. I took the, the school's tripod which was the worst tripod ever. He was so light. It would move from, like, the air movement. It was like, but also it fit my suitcase and I had very little money so I had to save on every bag.

I, I have a question for you. I think, personally, the whole first scene, it's like probably not as well shot as the rest of the film, but it's kind of important because it gives the introduction to the main character. Did it bother you that the camera was shaking?

00;07;57;00 - 00;07;58;00

Justin Joseph Hall:

I didn't notice.

00;07;58;00

Daria Huxley:

I didn’t know.

00;07;59;00 - 00;08;03;00

Justin Joseph Hall:

The only thing I, the only thing I did notice but there was the one where you did a stabilization.

00;08;03;00

Olga Loginova:

Yeah.

00;08;04;00 - 00;08;05;00

Justin Joseph Hall:

That was a lot.

00;08;05;00 - 00;08;09;00

Audience:

Uh, I just paid more attention on, like, this huge sky shot.

00;08;10;00 - 00;08;12;00

Justin Joseph Hall:

Yeah. It was nice. Lightning’s always fun to watch.

00;08;12;00 - 00;08;13;00

Olga Loginova:

Oh yeah. Yeah.

00;08;13;00

Justin Joseph Hall:

(laughter)

00;08;13;00 - 00;08;15;00

Olga Loginova:

And I was lucky to be there.

00;08;15;00 - 00;08;16;00

Audience:

Do you have a translator?

00;08;16;00 - 00;08;17;00

Olga Loginova:

I hired a translator

00;08;17;00

Audience:

Okay.

00;08;17;00 - 00;08;19;00

Olga Loginova:

there because I don't speak Portuguese.

00;08;19;00

Audience:

Yeah, I was like.

00;08;20;00 - 00;08;23;00

Olga Loginova:

Yeah, but she was very moody and she would not translate, but

00;08;23;00

Audience:

Ah.

00;08;23;00 - 00;08;24;00

Olga Loginova:

it's a different story.

00;08;24;00 - 00;08;26;00

Audience:

Bad translator. Bad.

00;08;26;00 - 00;08;31;00

Olga Loginova:

The first scene I edited, I edited it for 3 weeks because I didn't understand the words.

00;08;31;00

Audience:

(laughter)

00;08;31;00 - 00;08;34;00

Olga Loginova:

So, but that, also that scene is the best scene in the film.

00;08;35;00

Justin Joseph Hall:

Yeah.

00;08;35;00 - 00;08;37;00

Olga Loginova:

So honestly, we don't need to understand what's going on.

00;08;38;00

Audience:

(laughter)

00;08;40;00 - 00;09;26;00

Olga Loginova:

American woman, Patricia, uh 20 years ago maybe, she studied forestry and then she went to Brazil and she wanted to do normal research. She worked with a big organization and she needed to count the trees and how much they bloom. And she met this woman from a village and they started talking, and actually, they started working together. And when uh Patricia wrote a book, together with Gloria, they would go from village to village and they talk to people in the villages saying, “Hey, you sell your trees?” Because this is what, it’s like,

of course, sometimes just like the big farming industry moves in and cuts everything and then there is a legal, illegal deforestation. But very often, a guy with money comes to the village. Everyone has their own patch of forest. And then the guy says like, “Hey, here is $1,000.”

00;09;27;00

Audience:

Yeah.

00;09;27;00 - 00;09;48;00

Olga Loginova:

And they say, “Yeah, take it.” But the forest costs much more. The trees are amazing. They bring everything, not just the medicine but also food. And if there, there is no fruit, they attract game. So one tree of ???? attracts, like, 50 whatever coxinha, the little pigs, they're very cool. Well, you know (laughs). Yeah, so they lose everything.

00;09;49;00 - 00;09;51;00

Audience:

I really like that man, the…

00;09;51;00 - 00;09;52;00

Olga Loginova:

Yeah, he’s a legend.

00;09;52;00 - 00;09;53;00

Audience:

How did you get involved?

00;09;54;00 - 00;10;02;00

Olga Loginova:

Oh my god. It's like, again, pre-production, it was like a detective story. He lives there, he’s now a naturalized Brazilian.

00;10;02;00

Audience:

Wow.

00;10;03;00 - 00;10;32;00

Olga Loginova:

He's like Charles Darwin with better character. He's this interdisciplinary scientist who's a geneticist, archaeologist. I think people like him, like, they come, like, once in a century. He kind of teaches generations of ethnobotanists and um if you do research of the field, you kind of come across the big names and you ki-kind of try to get in touch with them. So, he was one of the names. Patricia is the main one. It took me 4 months to find her. I was calling like hundreds of people.

00;10;32;00 - 00;10;34;00

Justin Joseph Hall:

What were you most surprised about when you went down?

00;10;37;00 - 00;10;40;00

Olga Loginova:

Me, like as a human, by

Justin Joseph Hall:

Huh? Poverty.

00;10;42;00

Olga Loginova:

poverty.

00;10;42;00 - 00;11;14;00

Olga Loginova:

I like, so I grew up in a country that was not rich. Especially Bela-, uh, I think Russia is, like, more affluent than Belarus. In Belarus, we’re like shit. But then you go to Brazil and you see a favela where people… well in Brazil only 30% of people have sanitation. They don’t have sewage. You know, when people have nothing, and what they have to do to survive, you kind of, it’s, or that when people have nothing but they manage not only to survive but be happy. When you’re always, like, I always complain about stuff.

00;11;16;00

Daria Huxley:

New Yorkers.

00;11;16;00

Olga Loginova:

Yeah.

00;11;17;00

Audience:

Yeah.

00;11;17;00 - 00;11;18;00

Olga Loginova:

So that surprised me the most. Uh, but everyone also uses, like, oils and barks

00;11;24;00

Audience:

Oh, yeah.

00;11;24;00 - 00;11;25;00

Olga Loginova:

and you open the medicine cabinet.

00;11;25;00 - 00;11;26;00

Audience:

Yeah, yeah.

00;11;26;00 - 00;11;30;00

Olga Loginova:

This is what you use. There, like people don't have roads, well they do have roads, but

00;11;30;00

Audience:

Yeah.

00;11;30;00 - 00;11;33;00

Olga Loginova:

their main road is the river, the Amazon.

00;11;33;00

Audience:

Yeah.

00;11;33;00 - 00;11;37;00

Olga Loginova:

And sometimes you live in one spot, and it takes you 3 days to get to a hospital.

00;11;38;00

Audience:

Yeah.

00;11;38;00 - 00;11;41;00

Olga Loginova:

So if there is no copaiba; you’re dead.

00;11;41;00

Audience:

Yeah.

00;11;42;00

Olga Loginova:

Because

00;11;42;00 - 00;11;43;00

Audience:

What’s copi— What’s that?

00;11;43;00 - 00;11;48;00

Olga Loginova:

Copaiba, it’s this oil that uh Justin gave us. This is antiseptic and antibiotic and

00;11;48;00 - 00;11;49;00

Audience:

Oh okay.

00;11;49;00 - 00;11;52;00

Olga Loginova:

it treats cuts and wounds. Uh, like I brought andiroba and

00;11;52;00

Justin Joseph Hall:

Yeah.

00;11;52;00 - 00;11;53;00

Olga Loginova:

copaiba too.

00;11;53;00

Audience:

Oh, cool.

00;11;54;00 - 00;11;56;00

Olga Loginova:

And se- and sexual potency tonic

00;11;56;00

Audience:

Yeah.

00;11;56;00 - 00;11;57;00

Olga Loginova:

accidentally.

00;11;57;00

Audience:

That is

00;11;58;00 - 00;11;59;00

Olga Loginova:

Accidentally.

00;11;58;00 - 00;11;59;00

Audience:

I know you, Olga.

00;12;00;00

Audience:

(laughter)

00;12;00;00 - 00;12;01;00

Olga Loginova:

No, it’s like, you know

00;12;01;00 - 00;12;02;00

Audience:

…accidents…

00;12;02;00

Olga Loginova:

(laughs)

00;12;03;00

Audience:

(laughter)

00;12;03;00 - 00;12;10;00

Olga Loginova:

Like we get home and I’m like, “Can you please read me what it’s about?” And she’s like, “Okay. It's like sexual potency for men.”

00;12;11;00

Audience:

For men.

00;12;11;00 - 00;12;13;00

Olga Loginova:

“Good, good for a prostate.” And I'm like, “Great.”

00;12;13;00

Audience:

(laughter)

00;12;14;00

Olga Loginova:

“Great.”

00;12;14;00 - 00;12;15;00

Daria Huxley:

That's great for you.

00;12;15;00 - 00;12;18;00

Olga Loginova:

So if anyone needs something, it's like still in my fridge.

00;12;18;00

Audience:

(chatter)

00;12;18;00 - 00;12;20;00

Audience:

I’ll, I’ll let you know if my prostate!

00;12;23;00 - 00;12;27;00

Olga Loginova:

Yeah, no. Like, I've never been in a, like in a place as dangerous as that.

00;12;27;00 - 00;12;28;00

Daria Huxley:

Why was it dangerous?

00;12;28;00 - 00;12;49;00

Olga Loginova:

In Belém, you cannot be outside. You cannot shoot from a car with the windows open. You cannot stay in the streets after 5:00 p.m. That, that mark—, you're getting robbed or killed. That market that I shot at, people were screaming that I should get away because I'm a white, tall person, foreigner with an expensive camera.

00;12;50;00

Audience:

Target.

00;12;51;00 - 00;12;59;00

Olga Loginova:

And I made a big mistake. So initially, I wanted to work with a woman translator. I thought it would be more comfortable for me. She was freaking out every 5 minutes. I,

00;12;59;00

Daria Huxley:

The woman?

00;13;00;00 - 00;14;45;00

Olga Loginova:

yeah. I was like, it would be much better if I had a man bodyguard, or I don’t know. And like the two guys in this um witchcraft store at the, like in the entrance, they were all waiting for me and so actually they were like, they blocked me there and they, they would not allow me to leave. And then when my translator showed up because I was filming in the store alone, they kind of left and I'm like, something is off. She's like, “We cannot stay here. It's already 5, we need to leave.” Because every mo-moment, it’s getting more dangerous. And um, the moment we started moving, they just jumped out of the next door and, like, it was a very weird feeling. It’s like your safety is compromised and it's kind of your integrity is compromised. Luckily, there was a cop, undercover cop in that store. He escorted us to the car and they kind of like, he started talking loudly and so they left. So the, the feeling of danger that you cannot see, because you don't see like people with guns, but you know that you are being watched. And uh yeah, that was very uncomfortable.

So, I stayed in the house owned by my translator’s mother. So it was like a household. And like, first there was a metal gate and then there was a house, and it had like metal bars and all the windows were barred. And like, then there was another metal, like, basically everything was in cages. And I think it's very, very common in Latin America but for me, like to see bars everywhere and like you need to use two locks to lock yourself in because somebody can come and kill you and it's just like, okay, cool. That was very strange. That was a very new experience. I just tried to be very fast and I knew that I would not have a second take.

Daria Huxley:

Mmm…

Olga Loginova:

That was that.

00;14;46;00 - 00;14;47;00

Daria Huxley:

Well, you do some research, like where

00;14;47;00 - 00;14;48;00

Olga Loginova:

Oh, yeah.

00;14;47;00 - 00;14;48;00

Daria Huxley:

is that window…

00;14;49;00 - 00;14;53;00

Olga Loginova:

Yeah, well, some of it. Yeah, like 50% of it worked, 50% didn’t.

00;14;54;00 - 00;14;56;00

Justin Joseph Hall:

Where exactly were you, like what’s the…

00;14;56;00 - 00;15;01;00

Olga Loginova:

I was in the poorest state. It’s Belém, it’s the capital of Pará state.

00;15;01;00

Justin Joseph Hall:

Okay.

00;15;02;00

Audience:

Would you do it again?

00;15;02;00 - 00;15;03;00

Olga Loginova:

I would do it again in a heartbeat. Again. Next time, I'm going to Nigeria.

00;15;06;00

Audience:

Yeah.

00;15;07;00 - 00;15;10;00

Olga Loginova:

And I want to go back to Brazil in the winter to show them the film.

00;15;11;00 - 00;16;02;00

Justin Joseph Hall (as narrator):

Thank you so much for listening to Feature & a short. We just want you to be aware that if you would like to attend one of the screenings, please just write us at info@fourwindfilms.com or hit us up on social media at @fourwindfilms on almost any platform, that's f-o-u-r-w-i-n-d-f-i-l-m-s. And in addition we also have merchandise for sale for our narrative projects. And we have hats and different things for sale. So head to our website if you'd like to check that out. We've been doing traveling shows, so even if you're outside of New York City and you want to attend the show, contact us because we're likely heading to Minneapolis and Seattle and hopefully we'll be able to do that more in the future. So, thank you for listening to us. And we'll see you next time. Ciao.

Mack Williams: Freddie Gibbs - "Michael Jackson's Return to Gary, IN," What About Bob?

April 28, 2019

Episode #12 - Georgia native Director and Animator Mack Williams makes everyone laugh for hours with his stories and film choices as the appointed contributor. Mack is a graceful director and animator who makes working feel like play. His versatility in the commercial world as well as on creative content is always a notch above the rest. He works on a creative level with a fine knowledge for quality post-production on lower budgets. On top of that, Mack makes an incredible drinking partner.

Our screening took place in Bushwick at Fourwind Films’ headquarters where for the first film, Mack presented a short animated documentary that he directed Michael Jackson’s Return to Gary, IN (2013). It’s based off a true story told by Freddie Gibbs for the Pitchfork series FRAMES. Mack graces us with his knowledge of animation workflow as well as stories of creating various cartoons for Cartoon Network, Pitchfork, and Showtime.

For the feature, Mack presented “What About Bob?” (1991), directed by Frank Oz. Mack discusses Richard Dreyfuss’ role in the film and why he makes it great. During the film, we served fried chicken, corn on the cob, and mashed potatoes for everybody to enjoy.

For more info on Mack, check out the Facebook page for his company Pig Apple.

Additional music credits to Sun Nectar. Theme music by Salitros’ Riding Rainbow.

Credits:

Host - Justin Joseph Hall

Location & Production Company - Fourwind Films

Transcript:

00;05;00;00 - 00;41;00;00

Justin Joseph Hall:

Hi, my name is Justin Joseph Hall, owner of Fourwind Films. This is Feature & a short, which is a monthly screening hosted by Fourwind Films, where an appointed contributor presents their chosen motion picture and a short movie. There is only one condition for the screening selection. The presenter must have been directly involved with one picture, but not the other.

This week, our presenter is Mack Williams, a director and animator who is currently working on Our Cartoon President. Mack is the most gracious and easy person to work with who always finds a solution and makes your product better than you thought it could be.

00;41;00;00 - 00;44;00;00

Mack Williams:

Yeah. I, I'm, I’m Mack. Hey, I like your shoes.

00;44;00;00

Audience:

(laughter)

00;46;00;00

Audience:

Actually, me too.

00;47;00;00 - 00;56;00;00

Mack Williams:

It was kind of a weird situation, as like, I went to school to study and studied animation and then I immediately got a job out of college being an animator and then I’ve done that ever since, so.

00;56;00;00

Audience:

(laughter)

00;56;00;00 - 00;01;18;00

Mack Williams:

I'm very weird in that way. I started out, uh I worked for a show on Adult Swim called uh Sealab 2021 and then we worked on a show called Frisky Dingo for Adult Swim. And then I was on the creative team that developed Archer and then I directed the first season of Archer. Archer started in a house that was about twice as big as the apartment we're in right now.

00;01;18;00

Audience:

(laughter)

00;01;19;00 - 00;01;25;00

Mack Williams:

And there was like six of us that made the pilot uh and then I moved to New York and became a freelancer.

00;01;26;00 - 00;01;30;00

Maggie Adelaye:

Since you're background in anima-animation or is it, it just like in production but you ended up in animation?

00;01;31;00 - 00;01;56;00

Mack Williams:

I've done a little bit of, like, live action production here and there. Um, but my background is almost totally like comedy, adult-oriented animation. And then when I moved to New York, I actually ended up doing like tons and tons of motion graphics and things like that, just because that's what the freelance market here is more like. Animation in New York is actually, there's a lot of preschool shows here and there's a few, like, comedy shows, uh, I saw in L.A. mostly and then Atlanta.

00;01;56;00

Audience:

Archer’s…

00;01;57;00 - 00;01;58;00

Mack Williams:

Archer's in Atlanta. Yep.

00;01;58;00 - 00;01;59;00

Audience:

Are you from, from Atlanta or are you?

00;01;59;00 - 00;02;01;00

Mack Williams:

Yeah, I'm from Georgia. I grew up about four hours south-

00;02;01;00

Audience:

I was born in Atlanta

00;02;02;00

Mack Williams:

of Atlanta.

00;02;02;00

Maggie Adeleye:

I’m from Still Mountain.

00;02;03;00 - 00;02;04;00

Mack Williams:

Oh, okay. All right. You should go sign my petition because it's got a lot of signatures, like 50,000 signatures. It's to add Outkast riding in a Cadillac next to the Confederate generals.

00;02;14;00

Audience:

(laughter)

00;02;16;00

Mack Williams:

It's like, I just strive to bring balance to the force.

00;02;20;00 - 00;02;25;00

Mack Williams:

But, but yeah, no. Or, or destroy it; or destroy it. It's fine with me too also.

00;02;25;00

Maggie Adeleye:

Either way.

00;02;26;00

Audience:

Yeah.

00;02;27;00 - 00;02;41;00

Justin Joseph Hall (as narrator):

Mack brought a short film he did a while back for Pitchfork in a series called FRAMES where they interviewed a few artists. The particular picture that he brought was an interview of Freddie Gibbs, and it's entitled “Michael Jackson's Return to Gary, Indiana.”

00;02;41;00 - 00;03;45;00

Mack Williams:

I did a series of uh shorts for Pitchfork, the music website, and uh all of them are, uh, mostly storytelling shorts where a musical artist comes on and tells a brief, very funny story about something that happened to them. And this is just like an animated version of this, and this one is uh the rapper Freddie Gibbs. He's talking about um, he's from Gary, Indiana, which is the hometown of The Jackson 5 and Michael Jackson grew up there. Uh, and so this is a story about a time that Michael Jackson came back to Gary, Indiana, to visit. And this was a huge, huge event in the community.

The storytelling animated thing, like, that's like a real go-to quick content idea that you can see on, like, tons of websites and so Pitchfork was getting into that. And so when I'm directing shorts like this, I usually have my hand in little bit of all of it, but then I, you know, I try to hire freelancers who are better than me at their given task so that it improves the total product. They always provided me the audio uh

00;03;45;00

Audience:

Okay.

00;03;46;00 - 00;04;59;00

Mack Williams:

first, like there was never a written version. I would just edit it further without telling them usually, I don't, because I would, like, cut it unnoticeably tighter, like, to them, but I was, like, saving me 20 seconds of animation or something. And they just like doing with hip-hop artists better, because they felt like hip-hop artists told better stories and based on the ones they did, I think that's unquestionably true.

Like I did one with Danny Brown that’s really, really funny. And I did one with the GZA, which was more about like the birth of hip-hop in the Bronx. So that one was really interesting. Actually if you go on YouTube, my username is macklikeatruck, and I have a playlist with all of them but I sent Justin a few of them to pick which one he liked best because they all are kind of special to me.

These are like my very favorite things I've worked on, I think, because I got to do them, not by myself, but like I was coming into my own as a director where I wasn't really supervised by anyone because, um, the guy who produced all these is a guy named R.J. Bentler, who actually isn't with Pitchfork any longer but he was sort of their Head of Video, and he's one of my very favorite people I've ever been fortunate enough to work with. But anyway, they paid for me to go to Sundance and, like, show my short that I made. It was sponsored by Dell, so I had to make it on a Dell computer

00;04;59;00

Audience:

(laughter)

00;05;00;00 - 00;05;10;00

Mack Williams:

and I'm a hardcore Apple guy. Then, I got to show my short that I made and, like, give a brief presentation about how cool it was I made it on a Dell computer.

00;05;11;00

Audience:

(laughter)

00;05;12;00 - 00;05;15;00

Mack Williams:

Um, and then I got to keep the computer. And I gave it, I gave, it to my sister. And so I had a really, really great run with Pitchfork. I don't know if, when I'll get to do those again.

00;05;23;00 - 00;05;26;00

Justin Joseph Hall:

What do you actually, like, when you go into it, do you get the audio for everything?

00;05;26;00 - 00;05;34;00

Mack Williams:

After I listen to it, I would think about what I, what I wanted to do and then when I have a conversation with R.J., the producer, and talk about, like, what he kind of was already thinking about

00;05;34;00

Audience:

Oh, okay.

00;05;34;00 - 00;06;26;00

Mack Williams:

because he had really great ideas also. And so, a lot of times he would kind of steer my direction. But one of the things especially, I did a run of like 3 or 4, and if you look at them visually they're all very different. They look very different. That was intentional because I felt like this was an opportunity for me to really come into my own as a director, and I wanted them to all look different and to be animated in a different way or different style so that I could like- well, two things, one so I could show what I could do, but also so I could play around and see what I like to do.

I think I sent you one that was Danny Brown, and that one's just like a straight-up parody of Hanna-Barbera cartoons with like, where the characters are all cats and dogs and stuff, and uh it was it, it was like a parody of Top Cat which was a very terrible Hanna-Barbera cartoon that was like a third-rate Snagglepuss-type character. I’m kind of throwing Top Cat shade, but that’s fine.

00;06;27;00

Audience:

(laughter)

00;06;27;00 - 00;07;00;00

Mack Williams:

Um, and then I did one where, with Waka Flocka Flame that was a parody of, like, the old Peanuts animated specials. Um and then like, you saw the Melvins one which was, you know, just black and white, more like. It was, the idea of it was like, it’s written, it was like doodles on your school paper in high school was sort of like my aesthetic idea for that one. And they all, and like the Freddie Gibbs one, it looks different than all those ones I just mentioned. Um and that was, that was intentional and that was very much R.J., he was very, very supportive of, like, me doing things a little different.

00;07;00;00 - 00;07;04;00

Justin Joseph Hall (as narrator):

We watched “Michael Jackson’s Return to Gary, Indiana,” and then we had a quick discussion.

00;07;05;00 - 00;07;17;00

Justin Joseph Hall:

Like, your animation is, is, it's not natural world movements. It's, it's a little cartoony and I always like, like, sort of has a joke and just the, just the movements that they have. What makes you steer away a little bit from realism?

00;07;18;00

Mack Williams:

Oh.

00;07;18;00 - 00;07;20;00

Justin Joseph Hall:

And what makes you go more towards it?

00;07;20;00 - 00;07;28;00

Mack Williams:

I have a very good answer for why I avoid doing more animation like what you're talking about and it’s, and it’s talent. It's that I would be really shitty at it.

00;07;28;00

Audience:

(laughter)

00;07;29;00 - 00;09;02;00

Mack Williams:

Um I mean, I, my, my, everything you guys saw that I did is, is all done in uh After Effects and there's some traditional, like, 2D frame-by-frame animation in there but very little. For the most part, I do what's called limited animation, which means that um I'm trying to do things on a low budget quick turnaround quickly and get the most I can out of like the fewest number of drawings that I have to make. Um, and that's sort of what I started my career doing because Sealab was totally in After Effects, Frisky Dingos totally in After Effects.

Archer now is, like, four different types of software that they put all together but when we started, it was just After Effects. Um, on Our Cartoon President now that I'm working on directing, we actually have quite a lot of traditional 2D-animated uh stuff, but it's mostly um, uh hand gestures and more brief actions. The reason we are able to use more hand-drawn animation is we have tons and tons of super amazing, talented animators that work with us. 14 now.

If you're talking about like, like Rick and Morty or something like that where they ship the animation overseas to Canada or to Korea or something like that, like, I mean it's, I don't know, dozens and dozens of, of traditional hand-drawn animators. But uh for, for me, in the shows that

I've worked on which are limited to have 14, that's like amazing. You know, 12, you're drawing 12 frames a second or 24 in some cases. Um, our shows, we uh, do at 12. All the Looney Tunes and stuff that you watched as a kid, like those are all 12 frames a second.

00;09;03;00

Audience:

Oh really?

00;09;03;00 - 00;09;07;00

Mack Williams:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Lots of people do stuff on like, uh, threes or fours. Like we call

00;09;08;00

Audience:

Oh, okay.

00;09;08;00 - 00;09;13;00

Mack Williams:

it on, like, like we say on two, “on twos” means like every 2 frames of 24,

00;09;14;00

Audience:

Yeah.

00;09;14;00 - 00;09;48;00

Mack Williams:

there is some motion. Depending on what you're doing, you do stuff on threes, do stuff on fours, and also that's like if you were doing like a really low budget independent short that you wanted to do it, uh, you know, 8 frames a second or whatever, it's still look really fucking cool if you did it well. It doesn't, animation is very very forgiving in that way. It's absolutely a stylistic choice. Um, the first season of Cartoon President, a lot of it is on 24 frames because we're using this new software that didn't really play well with 12 frames. Um, but now we've, we've kind of got it figured out and all the character stuff is 12 frames.

00;09;48;00 - 00;09;53;00

Maggie Adeleye:

As far as I know that the, the, the Cartoon President they started on, uh, (unintelligible) show.

00;09;53;00

Mack Williams:

Yup.

00;09;54;00

Maggie Adeleye:

But the night one.

00;09;55;00 - 00;10;37;00

Mack Williams:

This new piece of software, Adobe Character Animator came out and they got the idea somehow, hey, let's do an interview with an actual cartoon character because the whole idea behind uh Character Animator is to do, you could do like live streaming animation. You build the puppets and then you sit in from a we- a webcam and animate the puppet that way, and you can make it do certain things, you preset animations. And so they started doing that uh on The Late Show and Colbert was interviewing Cartoon Trump. And then at some point someone uh said, well what if we made this into its own show? And uh Tim was like, no, that's impossible, we can't do that. Uh (laughs) and they were like, too late, we just sold it to Showtime.

00;10;37;00

Audience:

(laughter)

00;10;39;00 - 00;11;29;00

Mack Williams:

And, uh, so then I was brought in with, uh, by Tim with another director, Steve Connor, uh, our director, Karyl Goretzki, and a whole bunch of other people to figure out how to make a half-hour animated show in 11 weeks with this brand new piece of software no one's ever used before. And we were like, you guys have Slack? Like, you guys like Slack? So we had like, yeah so we’re, we’re, we’re, I'm like in a Slack channel literally chatting with, like, the people who invented Adobe After Effects who also invented this software and telling them, like, what's wrong with their software and what features we need. We would run into issues with the software where we're trying to do something and it just won't do it. And like, we can tell them about these things and they'll be like, okay, well hold on, we just wrote a script that does all of that for you with a push of a button.

00;11;29;00

Audience:

Yeah.

00;11;29;00 - 00;11;42;00

Mack Williams:

Okay, now, okay, there's a bug that does this. Okay, well, give us two days. All right, now the bug is fixed and it doesn't do that anymore. Adobe wants to be associated with hit shows. It's a mutually beneficial relationship for sure.

00;11;43;00 - 00;11;48;00

Justin Joseph Hall:

I guess the other question is like, what do you see as a trope that gets annoying when you see other people do? Because you say that, um.

00;11;48;00 - 00;12;09;00

Mack Williams:

I don't know that there's anything in particular that annoys me. I will say that um, let's say you're animating a series like I'm on now, like Our Cartoon President. Well, the Cartoon President lives in the White House and he works in the Oval Office, and we get to reuse those backgrounds every episode and we reuse all the gestures and the facial expressions

00;12;09;00

Audience:

Yeah.

00;12;10;00 - 00;12;26;00

Mack Williams:

he does every episode. When you're doing a series of these storytelling things, every single bit of it is brand new and used only once every time you do this. And so guess what? It costs more per episode

00;12;26;00

Audience:

Yeah.

00;12;27;00 - 00;12;32;00

Mack Williams:

than like a ten episode animated series about the same characters would cost per episode.

00;12;33;00 - 00;12;43;00

Justin Joseph Hall:

But you also do the, the video editing afterwards, right? Like, like you do the animations and I assume that they're, they have handles on them and then you edit it a little bit?

00;12;43;00 - 00;13;06;00

Mack Williams:

In animation, it's very expensive. If you want to add two-second handles to every single shot, that can add up to a lot of work and time. So you really do your editing in the animatic stage. So you have a storyboard, you cut that storyboard to the audio. In an ideal world, although I've rarely ever worked on a project where it worked out this way, that's where you lock, lock your edit. Um, lock.

00;13;06;00

Audience:

(laughter)

00;13;07;00 - 00;13;15;00

Mack Williams:

Um, I'm making quote fingers for the podcast audience. Certainly there are sometimes more edits made, but usually, like, it's what it is by that point.

00;13;16;00 - 00;13;30;00

Justin Joseph Hall (as narrator):

Mack’s second film that he brought was his favorite film which is What About Bob?, one of the most iconic performances by Bill Murray in his entire career. It is really goofy and they used to play it on television all the time.

00;13;31;00 - 00;13;38;00

Mack Williams:

This is 100%, this is legit not a joke, my very favorite movie. And it's because I've watched it a numerous times on TBS.

00;13;39;00

Audience:

(laughter)

00;13;39;00 - 00;13;47;00

Mack Williams:

as a kid, seriously. Like, me and my friend Joey in um middle school in, like, high school. Like, I don't even know how many times I've watched this movie.

00;13;48;00 - 00;14;17;00

Justin Joseph Hall (as narrator):

Coincidentally, the two films that Mack brought featured the same food which was fried chicken. So while we were showing What About Bob?, we brought out fried chicken, corn on the cob, and mashed potatoes for everybody to enjoy. This was the first time that there was no alcohol served in either of the films shown on Feature & a short, but we had libations around anyway. After the viewing, there was a small discussion on Bill Murray versus Richard Dreyfuss.

00;14;17;00 - 00;14;23;00

Mack Williams:

It's one of the few Bill Murray movies where Bill Murray is not the most funny person in the movie, in my opinion.

00;14;23;00 - 00;14;24;00

Justin Joseph Hall:

You don't think so?

00;14;24;00 - 00;14;27;00

Mack Williams:

Richard Dreyfuss, this was Richard Dreyfuss’ finest performance.

00;14;28;00 - 00;14;30;00

Justin Joseph Hall:

I, uh, just say, tell us what I tell you the other day.

00;14;31;00 - 00;14;32;00

Thomas Kelsey:

Scene was terrible.

00;14;33;00 - 00;14;36;00

Mack Williams:

No, I love it. It's so, he's so over-the-top.

00;14;36;00

Audience:

(laughter)

00;14;37;00 - 00;14;44;00

Mack Williams:

Everything about Richard Dreyfuss in this movie is so ridiculously over-the-top and outrageous and I love it.

00;14;44;00 - 00;14;50;00

Justin Joseph Hall (as narrator):

After, the discussion got pretty lively and called it night.

00;14;50;00

Mack Williams:

Showtime rules.

00;14;51;00

Mack Williams (robotic voice):

but HBO sucks.

00;14;52;00

Audience:

(laughter)

00;14;54;00

Mack Williams (robotic voice):

Showtime rules, but HBO sucks.

00;14;56;00

Audience:

(laughter)

00;14;59;00

Mack Williams (robotic voice):

Showtime forever.

00;15;00;00

Audience:

(laughter)

00;15;01;00

Mack Williams (robotic voice):

Um, that was…

00;15;04;00 - 00;15;33;00

Justin Joseph Hall (as narrator):

Thank you for listening to Feature & a short. We have a great guest for you again next month. If you have any comments and want to write us or figure out how to come to a live taping of this show, just hit us up on social media and that is @fourwindfilms. That is f-o-u-r-w-i-n-d-f-i-l-m-s. We'll speak to you again shortly. Peace.

Justin Joseph Hall: Long Distance, The Science of Sleep

October 2, 2018

Episode #9 - Director and Editor Justin Joseph Hall was the appointed contributor. Justin is an independent film director and editor, and the owner of Fourwind Films. He's currently in post-production for his first documentary feature, Frames of Reference, a multi-continental effort that explores localized education across the globe and a short narrative, Prologue. Keep up with him and visual themes on Instagram.

Our screening took place in Bushwick at Fourwind Films’ headquarters where for the first film, Justin presented Long Distance, a one-minute short he directed and released in 2016. The short features Isabel Restrepo and himself as a couple in a long distance relationship. He shares his choice behind excluding dialogue (hint: it has to do with him co-starring in it) and the spontaneity of its origins.

For the feature, Justin presented La Science des Rêves or The Science of Sleep (2006), directed by Michel Gondry. Discussion centers around the use of foreshadowing and dream sequences in the film, as well as Gondry's other work. During the film, we served six-inch baguette sandwiches which were also featured in the film.

Credits:

Host - Daria Huxley

Location & Production Company - Fourwind Films

Transcript:

0:03 - 0:53

Daria Huxley:

Welcome to Feature & a short, monthly screening hosted by Fourwind Films, where an appointed contributor presents their chosen feature motion picture and a short movie. There's only one condition for a screening selection. The presenter must have been directly involved with one picture, but not the other. My name is Daria Huxley. I am a photographer at Fourwind Films.

Today's presenter is Justin Joseph Hall, who is the owner of Fourwind Films, and he's an editor and director. The first film he's presenting is the short that he directed called Long Distance. Long Distance is a one-minute movie. It's about a long distance relationship between a girl in Arizona and a guy in Paris. Justin was acting along with Isabel Restrepo, who is our friend who lives in L.A. After this short film, we had an even shorter discussion.

0:53 - 1:34

Justin Joseph Hall:

There was no room for titles or credits in that short. Hope you enjoyed it. I made that in 2016 and uh, this was all just shot on vacation when I was bored. I was shooting a documentary in Paris and then when I had time off, I shot this. And then like a year, two years later I shot the, the other part. It’s shot while we were waiting to go to the wedding of my friend.

And then I finished it in a week in post-production at my house at night. Obviously, that was all toned. I'm not very good at memorizing lines so the film I directed myself in had no lines in it (laughs). So, that was a fun short.

1:35 - 1:49

Daria Huxley (as narrator):

Justin's choice for the feature was the French movie called Science des rêves or Science of Sleep. It is an arthouse movie featuring Charlotte Gainsbourg and Gael García Bernal.

Justin Joseph Hall:

I feel like this movie has the same kind of feeling for it, the same sort of longing. It also happens to take place, I do believe, in Paris. It's by Michel Gondry. I don't know if you guys have seen, he’s pretty famous for his music videos.

Daria Huxley (as narrator):

During the screening of this Michel Gondry movie, we offered six-inch baguette sandwiches to our audience because they were featured in the movie as well. After the film, we had a discussion as a group.

2:13 - 2:33

Audience:

About the use of different languages was really cool, especially in the first dream sequence because everybody's talking at him but it's all French but in gibberish and none of it matches the lip flap at all. And then in the um park, the main character, he's dubbed the entire time but the flap isn’t great, so-

Justin Joseph Hall:

There was a couple of times they did it when they were speaking in-

Audience:

Yeah.

Justin Joseph Hall:

French and then they would talk in English.

Audience:

Yeah, exactly.

2:38 - 2:39

Justin Joseph Hall:

That’s but that’s right at the beginning. Yeah.

Audience:

Yeah, uh and that was interesting. I really like the mental understanding of all three languages through one person.

2:47 - 2:57

Justin Joseph Hall:

I think it’s very interesting watching it the second time too is that they really suggest something with the way they act, like at the beginning when the two lied about their job but you don't know who's telling the truth.

Audience:

Yeah.

Justin Joseph Hall:

But then they confirm it later on in the film and they did that like 5 or 8 times.

Audience:

Yeah.

3:02 - 3:11

Justin Joseph Hall:

Where they really suggest something but they don't confirm it until way later. I brought that other part up too because it reminds me of, like, The Sound and the Fury. Has anybody read that book?

Audience:

Yeah.

Justin Joseph Hall:

Yeah, you know how they don't tell you anything and then they confirm it like 60 pages later?

Audience:

(laughter)

3:18 - 3:30

Justin Joseph Hall:

To me, it's like the same thing but this is more obvious because you can see social cues that you can’t in the book. So if you guys like this; be sure to watch his music video. He's famous for his music videos. Um, but they have a lot of the animation that’s interesting.

Audience:

I'm just going to ask…

Justin Joseph Hall:

I think he did The White Stripes one.

Audience:

Yeah, I was going to say-

Audience:

Yeah.

Audience:

I definitely heard Jack White in the, in the soundtrack.

Justin Joseph Hall:

Well that was, yeah that was The White Stripes.

Audience:

Yeah.

Justin Joseph Hall:

That's the last album. Then he's done a few Daft Punk videos

Audience:

Oh.

3:44 - 3:50

Justin Joseph Hall:

and a bunch of other stuff. He also did the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. But yeah, he doesn't do a lot of features.

3:51 - 4:05

Jasmine Szympruch:

It was nice getting lost in… Like, it took me a minute to catch on that he was acting out his dreams in real life, like. That… yeah. I felt disjointed with him which was cool.

4:06 - 4:16

Justin Joseph Hall:

Yeah, I like the dream sequence, it’s one of my favorite episodes in The Sopranos, there’s a dream sequence at the end of the season. But I just like watching how other people make it feel like a dream.

Audience:

Sensual…

Daria Huxley (as narrator):

Thank you for listening to Feature & a short. Please follow us @fourwindfilms on social media, at f-o-u-r-w-i-n-d-f-i-l-m-s. Please read our podcast on iTunes, then leave comments. Tell us what you like and what you don't like. Feel free to throw in any ideas because it helps us improve our podcast. Thanks for listening. Till the next time.

Michael Fequiere: Kojo, Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father →

February 13, 2018

Episode #4 - Brooklyn based Filmmaker and Photographer Michael Fequiere was the appointed contributor. Michael's short films have screened in numerous festivals both domestic (Lower East Side Film Festival, Big Apple Film Festival) and worldwide. To learn more about his work, visit his website and check out his Vimeo page.

Our screening took place in Bushwick at Fourwind Films’ headquarters where for the first film, Michael presented Kojo (2017), a short documentary he directed about the gifted 12-year-old jazz drummer Kojo Odu Roney. Michael has traveled to many countries with this film including the Toronto International Film Festival.

For the second film of the event, Michael presented the 2008 documentary Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father by filmmaker Kurt Kuenne. During this film, we didn’t provide any food due to the intense nature of the film. Because it takes place in Canada and the United States, we had homemade shortbread cookies and provided American whiskey and Canadian beer.

Credits:

Host - Justin Joseph Hall

Location & Production Company - Fourwind Films

Michael Fequiere - Director/Editor, photo by Daria Huxley

Transcript:

Justin Joseph Hall:

Hi, welcome to Feature & a short, a monthly screening hosted by Fourwind Films, where an appointed contributor presents their chosen feature motion picture and a short movie. There's only one condition for the screening selection. The presenter must have directly been involved with one picture, but not the other. My name is Justin Joseph Hall, owner of Fourwind Films.

This week's guest is Michael Fequiere. He brought along two great films, one he made in 2017 called Kojo, about a young kid from New York City who plays jazz drums. He has traveled to many countries with this film, including the Toronto International Film Festival. After the first film, we stopped to discuss and the audience had quite a few questions and reactions for Michael.

Michael Fequiere:

This is a short documentary that I did. It's basically about a 12-year-old jazz prodigy. I've known him for like nine years, and we just had a really good opportunity to film this. So this is an interview with him and then kind of following him through his day and his performance and stuff, so.

Audience:

I work with Justin at Fourwind Films. I actually had the good fortune of seeing this prior, at the Landmark Sunshine. I just wanted to commend you cause even the second time showing it was just as good. So, bravo.

Michael Fequiere:

Thanks, man.

Audience:

Yeah, I'm Adam, and I don't know much about film, but I appreciate them. I was wondering, like, how you met that kid.

Michael Fequiere:

I met him, like, about nine years ago. So his older sister and I went to college together, and so we were cool. And so she kind of invited me over to her place. And so I met her entire family, so.

His whole family is talented, like, his mom is like a well-known contemporary dancer, like his sisters in ballet. They did like a cover spread with, like, Misty Copeland. You know, kinda sucks, you know? It’s kind of, like, damn, like, what am I doing? You know, just a cool family to kind of hang around and just kind of pick their brains.

And then nine years later, that happens. So, yeah.

Audience:

Nice.

Michael Fequiere:

Yeah.

Audience:

When did you film this?

Michael Fequiere:

We filmed that 2016 June. So yeah, he turned, he’s 13 now.

Daria Huxley:

Yeah, where is he now?

Michael Fequiere:

Well, he’s actually on tour, so this is gonna screen at BAM. He was supposed to come there and perform, but he's like touring. So, you know, he's a musician. So that comes first.

So he's like, I'm going to do touring because that's going to pay me. So I was like, shit, all right, fine.

Isabel Restrepo:

At the end, I wish there would have been like a little graphic of, like, how long he actually ended up performing. Cause he’s like, I feel like we could do 20 minutes.

Michael Fequiere:

Oh yeah, they definitely go for 20 minutes.

Isabel Restrepo:

And then I wanted like 20 minutes later.

Audience:

(laughs)

Audience:

I was hoping. Wait, but yeah, it was. And he has a great style too. I'm like, how are you so hip and, like, cool and.

Michael Fequiere:

Confident.

Audience:

Yeah, yeah.

Audience:

…It’s cool that, like, you highlighted this kid because I'm trying to think is rare. But at the same time it's not like it's out there with these people, let's just have these interesting ass lives. But normally you get to hear about it. And it's kind of, like, what am I doing with my life?

Audience:

You go from, like, a still portrait of the person straight to the interview.

Michael Fequiere:

Right.

Audience:

Did you find that style somewhere else or did you?

Michael Fequiere:

Yeah, I used an exact similar style on a previous documentary that I made to replace clothes with paint. So with that one, though, in those long takes where it kind of stays on him. That one I got from the 13th, actually, because I remember, yeah, I remember watching it and I was like, the editor did a cool job where it would just like, hang on the faces for a little bit and then cutting to like the next scene or whatever. I was like, oh, that's pretty cool.

Audience:

I don't know what it is about your editing style.

Michael Fequiere:

Yeah.

Audience:

I don’t know what it is about your editing, but, like, pushes you forward.

Michael Fequiere:

Yeah, no. And that's kind of like two story lines. It's like one is following him and then, you know, your classic interview style kind of thing. So it's like as he's telling you, like you're also forced into this point.

Justin Joseph Hall:

Like Frontline, he’ll go to the next part or whatever instead of just…

Michael Fequiere:

Exactly, exactly. So yeah.

Daria Huxley:

Especially, I appreciated the graphics.

Michael Fequiere:

Those were my brother.

Daria Huxley:

Those portraits.

Justin Joseph Hall:

Yeah, Michael’s brother worked on the graphics and.

Michael Fequiere:

We’re twins, so. We’re not identical but fraternal.

Audience:

I'm also curious, what's, what was it like working with your brother especially, like, assuming he should do those as well?

Michael Fequiere:

Yeah, yeah. So he drew those. It's funny. So he just did them very quickly. So he's done some animation series and stuff like that where it's, like, full on animation and just like all in color and it's like way more vibrant. These were like quick sketches for him. But yeah, I mean, it's one of those things where I just, I just isolated the clips and I was like, oh, these would work as animations.

So I just, like, hit him up. I was like, dude, can you just animate these? And he's like, okay. I don't tell him the direction cause Kojo is telling the story. And so he would just animate.

Audience:

But I know a lot of animators don't like to have free rein. They’re like.

Michael Fequiere:

Yeah, I think it's just because those segments I'm giving him have a start and end point. He knows it has to end at some point, whereas if he's just doing something open-ended, it's kind of like he has no direction and he doesn't have anyone telling him that there's a deadline. You know what I mean? So when there's no deadline, it's kind of hard for him to.

I paid him, but I mean, it was super cheap. So we did the Indiegogo, so there was a couple of funds left over. So I was like, at least let me pay the people who are working on the film. So yeah. But to answer your question, I've been, I went to school for film, so I'd been making them since like 2009.

Yeah, yeah. I work, so I work for Great Big Story. So I'm a producer for them. So basically we just travel around the world, just like producing all these short form documentaries that go on their social platforms. We had a big shoot coming up. And so we rented all this equipment, and so we rented it two weeks early cause, you know, when you rent from Adorama, they give you like the special deals or whatever.

So we had an extra whole week of the cameras just sitting there. We rented a bunch of reds and everything. And I was just, like, wait a second. So these are just gonna sit here in this office over the weekend not being used. So I was just like, oh, fuck that. I took it with me. And then I just filmed.

I just went up to him. The interview I shot in a day, and then we ended up getting another guy who owns the red, and then he just lent it to me for like 300 bucks, and I just shot the rest of it. So, you know.

It was literally like an on-camera light that I literally mounted somewhere else. Everything else was pretty much natural. They had really big windows. So that kind of, like, helped with the lighting. The only light I had was this like an on-camera light that I kind of mounted to the side.

Justin Joseph Hall:

Michael’s second film was a 2008 documentary. This is the first time that we had any documentaries presented on Feature & a short. Michael paired his documentary with Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father, which is one of the films that got me interested in documentaries. When I learned what documentary storytelling could be, and that it could have stories just as good or even more unbelievable than narrative film.

Michael Fequiere:

So yeah, like Justin said, the name of this film is called Dear Zachary, a letter from a father to his son. It's, it's a really powerful film. And again, like he said, it's, it's a film that you can totally recommend to anyone, who is not into documentaries, who's never seen a documentary. It's very, very powerful. Might need your tissue box, but.

Justin Joseph Hall:

During this film, we didn't provide any food due to the intense nature of the film. Because it takes place in Canada and the US, we had homemade shortbread cookies and provided American whiskey and Canadian beer for everyone to drown their tears. After, people discuss the film.

(crying/laughing)

Crystal Hilaire:

I was trying to be the strong one.

Michael Fequiere:

I legit cry everytime I watch it.

(crying/laughing)

Crystal Hilaire:

My sweater is soaked.

Michael Fequiere:

Imagine him going there. You don’t, you’re like

Audience Member:
Oh my god!

Justin Joseph Hall:

Thank you for listening to Feature & a short. If you would like to see more of Michael Fequiere’s work, check out his Vimeo page. Please leave us a review on wherever you get your podcast or a comment on our website. Our social media is @fourwindfilms, that is at f-o-u-r-w-i-n-d-f-i-l-m-s. Thank you for listening to Feature & a short where filmmakers present, watch and discuss films.