Ellen Goosenberg Kent: Anastasia, Afghan Dreamers

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.

Shirley Venard: The Railroad Lady, Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter

Episode #36 - Shirley Venard is an incredible Minneapolis-based actress who uses her life experiences to embody a character. She’s kind, thoughtful, and a teacher. She loves to tell stories which is why we love her.

Shirley brought Oscar-winning short movie The Railroad Lady (La Femme et la TGV). The first tale of a lonely woman in this pairing. Shirley looked at the great actresses of the 1900’s to find her short and her and Justin talk of Jane’s fake orgasm that made her famous.

The feature Shirley chose is the Zellner Brother’s Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter. The Japanese, Texas made movie that was largely shot in Minnesota. It was a Sundance Film Festival favorite, making Minnesota & Japan look beautiful on the silver screen.

See Shirley Venard’s work in our short movie Prologue. In the forecast to look forward to please check out the award-winning series Marcellus Hall an Artist in New York City which is playing around the world in 2022.

Shirley Venard at the Question & Answer with host Justin Joseph Hall

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 - The Woman’s Club in Minneapolis

Photographers - Dakota & Dorie Hall

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

Ilaria Polsonetti: Dulce, Black South Rising: Inside Charlotte's Mostly Black and Brown Government

Episode #33 - Ilaria Polsonetti is an Emmy nominated Editor of documentary films. She creates smooth edits in her edits and enjoys creativity in her work. She is kind and collaborative in her process which she goes through today in our episode.

Ilaria brought the New York Times OpDoc Dulce. It’s an ideal documentary for Ilaria that has patience, fantastic locations and subjects, and great sound. It’s an example of the documentaries she would always love to work on in a Direct Cinema style slice of life.

The feature Ilaria chose is VICE’s Black South Rising: Inside Charlotte's Mostly Black and Brown Government. Ilaria and her VICE team put together the time after the killing of Keith Lamont Scott by the police in Charlotte, North Carolina documenting the change in the government as more people of color ran for office. It was an emotional screening that shows what it is like when new people take place of old governments.

Learn more about Ilaria Polsonetti and her work on her website. In the forecast to look forward to please check out host Justin Joseph Hall on With Nothing to Say chatting about his entry into film and how he shaped his career.

Credits for podcast:

Production Company - Fourwind Films

Appointed Contributor - Ilaria Polsonetti

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

Rebecca Stern: Snowy, The Thin Blue Line

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.

Appointed contributor, Rebecca Stern.

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

Megan Masur: We're All Alright, Short Term 12

Episode #29 - Meet Megan Masur, a Brooklyn-based Director of Photography and Steadicam operator. She’s an incredible utility person with a ton of technical experience having worked in animation, as a DIT, and as a camera assistant while building towards her career as a cinematographer. Fourwind Films has had the pleasure of hiring Megan for a number of projects, including as a Camera Op for Prologue.

Megan chose a short film she shot called We’re All Alright, which she fell in love with as soon as she finished reading the script. She talks about the film’s central themes of depression and female friendship, what it was like working with a majority female team, and the challenges of filming on a fire escape.

For the feature film, Megan stuck to the theme of mental health with Short Term 12, about young staff members working at a foster care facility. It’s an independent film that continues to find fans years after its release (2013) and is also known for its phenomenal ensemble of now critically acclaimed actors including Lakeith Stanfield, Brie Larson, Kaitlyn Dever, John Gallagher Jr., and Rami Malek.

Megan’s advocacy for films and open discussion about mental health is evident in her curation for this podcast. We appreciate her coming on for this episode during a time where so many people can benefit from viewing and discussing these kinds of stories. Follow Megan’s work on Instagram, and by watching Prologue at the IndieBOOM festival from Dec. 21 - Jan. 3, 2021.

Megan Masur at the fully-masked, limited capacity, Feature & a short podcast recording. If voices sound a tad muffled, now you know why!

Credits for podcast:

Production Company - Fourwind Films

Appointed Contributor - Megan Masur

Host - Justin Joseph Hall

Sound Mixer & Additional Music - Brian Trahan

The theme song of Season 4 is Loopster by Kevin MacLeod.

Justin Joseph Hall: Prologue, The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Episode #28 - There’s a connection between 70’s cult classic “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” and Justin Joseph Hall’s directorial debut, “Prologue,” which he gets into this episode of Feature & a short. After watching the two films, Justin answers audience questions. He shares what it was like collaborating with writer Piper Werle on Prologue’s script, how locations are characters in themselves, the casting process, and horror movies that explore the fear of having children.

Prologue is a multiple award-winning short film charged with secrets and terrible communication skills. It follows Julie, a young Italian immigrant living in Northern California who is perfectly happy in her marriage until she stops being able to go along with what her husband wants. With the unexpected help of an elderly stranger who thinks Julie is someone she is not, the young newlywed navigates how to live her truth.

Starring - Claudia de Candia, Shawn Thomas Diefenbach, Shirley Venard, Ariel Woodiwiss

Screenwriter - Piper Werle

Assistant Director - Kate Branom

Assistant Producer, Set Photographer - Daria Huxley

Producer - Ricky Rosario

Cinematographer - Gary Jaquez

Director, Editor, Colorist - Justin Joseph Hall

Justin Joseph Hall is an award-winning, multilingual 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.

His many years in the industry allowed him to guide audiences through unforgettable thought and emotional experiences working primarily as a Director and Editor.  He has held positions as Editor for networks such as HBO, NBCUniversal, and PBS.  At Downtown Community Television he helped pitch and develop the show Axios (2018-2021), the Emmy-winning documentary series.  Abuela’s Luck (2018) was picked up by all HBO’s streaming platforms and slated to be adapted into a full-length feature movie.   His mastery of post-production and the visual arts has awarded him opportunities to work with Major League Baseball, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, National Geographic, Discovery, and BMW, to name a few.

Justin’s work as a Director has procured awards.  Prologue (2020) is a superb, surreal exploration of relationships and miscommunication winning Best of Awards at Manhattan Film Festival and Worldfest Houston International Film Festival.  His docu-series on creative careers, Artist & the City (2021) won 6 awards including the Audience Award for Best Series at YoFiFest.

Justin believes in two things: diverse perspectives help solve complex problems and that first rate execution of an idea matters more than the idea itself.  That’s why since he hit the ground running into his career in 2008 and he has directed and managed a talented workforce from New York to Paris to Tokyo.  

Since 2014 under Justin’s direction, Fourwind Films creates high fidelity media exploring statistically underrepresented perspectives.  It’s sister company, Quatre-Vents was created in 2022 to help create a greater Post-Production industry in his home state of Minnesota.  He disrupts the redundant motion picture industry with relevant, fresh perspectives, including his own.

Justin Joseph Hall, owner of Fourwind Films and this episode’s contributor, dressed for a viewing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Host - Laura Davi

Sound - Brian Trahan

Theme song of Season 4 is Loopster by Kevin MacLeod.

Piper Werle: Veronica, The Last Unicorn

Episode #19 - Piper Werle is a writer and producer who loves the genre of fantasy in films. Her script’s dialogue always tickles your ribs and catches you off-guard. She uses the themes of fantasy and integrates them with accessible progressive ideas.

Piper’s short she contributed was her first film she had written and produced for the silver screen after many years writing for the stage. The short is called Veronica after the lead character’s name. It’s about the descendants of the mythical Greek Sirens. Piper uses practical effects and movie magic to bring the audience into the fantasy realm. The story is about dating a topic nearly anyone can relate to.

The Last Unicorn, the feature Piper brought, has a star studded cast including Mia Farrow, Angela Lansbury, Jeff Bridges, & Alan Arkin. It follows the story of a unicorn alone in the world who travels through the forest and to different kingdoms. It is also a fantastical story and has lots of hints at being created in the 1980’s. The animation style really has beautiful depictions of nature and its script includes funny names and silly quotes throughout the entirety of the movie.

Piper’s laugh is contagious so enjoy! Check out more of her work in our upcoming short Prologue, which she also wrote and worked as the Production Designer.

Piper Werle - Writer/Producer

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!

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.

Inga Moren - Writer/Director/Editor

Credits:

Host - Justin Joseph Hall

Production Company & Location - Fourwind Films

Olga Loginova: Volte, Sacred Leaves

Episode #14 - Olga Loginova is an incredible collaborator  and artist who speaks poetically and with no filter. She is a director, producer, and cinematographer who 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.

She chose the stunning short film Volte, a 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.

Olga also brought her 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, which she covers in addition to discussing 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.

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

Andi Obarski: Overslept, Thelma

Episode #13 - Andi Obarski is a cinematographer who brings a great mixture of lightheartedness and practical insight to us not only on this podcast, but also on set. She is a hard worker and a team player more knowledgeable than most.

For her short film Andi chose “Overslept” which is part of an internet series called “Countdown.” The unifying element between each short in Countdown is a character dealing with a serious time constraint. Andi describes the series as “scrappy, Brooklyn indie filmmaking at its finest.” She chose this 4 ½ minute short because there is no dialogue which created a welcome challenge for her as the film's cinematographer. The audience talk with Andi about the type of lighting used, bystanders who didn’t know they were on a film set, Andi’s feelings about what ended up on the cutting room floor, and more.

The feature film is Thelma, an LGBTQ supernatural thriller directed by Joachim Trier. Andi chose the film for its stunning cinematography, and also because “it’s kinda gay. I like that. I like gay things.” We do too, Andi. We do too.

RSVP or inquire at info@fourwindfilms.com about hosting Feature & a short or attending one of our podcast viewing parties. 

Episode hosted by Justin Joseph Hall.

Andi Obarski - Cinematographer

Credits:

Host - Justin Joseph Hall

Production Company & Location - Fourwind Films

Shonali Bhowmik: The Hike, Valley Girl

Episode #11 - In this episode, Nashville native Shonali Bhowmik graces us with her humor and interesting stories. Shonali is one of the most charismatic people you will ever meet and is always working on a bunch of artistic endeavors. An incredibly thoughtful person of many talents, she has a network of friends and collaborators that surround her at all times. She's a frequent collaborator with us for the live podcast she hosts with Christian Felix called We Don’t Even Know, and is the director, lead actor, writer, and producer of Sardines Out Of A Can, a film Fourwind helped make before Fourwind was even a company. You can check out her band Tigers and Monkeys, who recently released a new music video. Shonali is also well known in the internet comedy world for the group Variety SHAC which began as a comedic quartet consisting of Shonali, Heather Lawless, Andrea Rosen, and Chelsea Peretti. During the discussion Shonali celebrates women in film, and sheds light on Variety SHAC’s influences on various comedians in the industry.

For the feature, Shonali brings the Martha Coolidge film Valley Girl. She discusses the casting process for the film that lead to Nicolas Cage playing the lead male. For her short film, she chooses the SHAC’s latest release, The Hike. The episode is a laugh riot and full of references to movie inspired snacks.

Episode hosted by Justin Joseph Hall.

Shonali Bhowmik - Actress/Director/Producer

Credits:

Host - Justin Joseph Hall

Location & Production Company - Fourwind Films

Soundtrack - Salitros Ridin’ Rainbow

Claudia de Candia: New York City Smells, Nights of Cabiria

Episode #10 - Italian born actress, Claudia de Candia, presents New York City Smells, an experimental short shot with an international cast and crew. She shares her experience changing roles the day of the shoot and working with a director who does not speak her language. Then Claudia shares The Nights of Cabiria, a film by Federico Fellini, Italy’s most famous director and one of Claudia’s biggest influences. We discuss the work of Fellini and Italian actress Giulietta Masina, who married Fellini after starring in some of his radio plays, and continued to act in his films throughout her life.

Claudia is a theatre and film actress who will star in the upcoming short film, Prologue. She works in Milan and New York. Follow her life and stories on instagram.

Credits:

Host - Justin Joseph Hall

Location & Production Company - Fourwind Films

Claudia de Candia - Actress

Gladys Mae Murphy: Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall, Pumping Iron

Episode #6 - An editor who was a part of post-production teams on multiple Oscar nominated documentary shorts, Gladys Mae Murphy, takes us through 2 films linked by her mentor, legendary editor Geof Bartz.  Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall was the first film she presented, which was made by a small film team she was a part of and was nominated for an Academy Award.  Gladys takes us through the director's toils of creating this film about how to handle death in prison.  We then lightened the mood with Pumping Iron, a look into the unique world of body building, a fun film centered around a young Arnold Schwarzenegger in his body building prime.

Gladys is an incredibly hard working editor who dives into her projects for months.  Much of her work, including Prison Terminal, are featured on HBO's streaming websites.  To see the latest by her check out her website.  She is currently working in collaboration on another documentary in conjunction with DCTV and HBO.

Credits:

Host - Justin Joseph Hall.

Location & Production Company - Fourwind Films

Gladys Mae Murphy - Editor, photo by Daria Huxley

Stephanie Gould: Dreaming, Mural Murals

Episode #5 - Originally from Australia, Stephanie Gould, a post-production expert, brought to Feature & a short an impressionistic experimental film she shot in 8mm titled Dreaming. This piece in its debut was projected alongside a live dance performance, but for the podcast Steph replaced the live dance piece with a song by Akiva Zamcheck who performed a live soundtrack on the guitar.  Shortly after a discussion we watched Mural Murals by Agnès Varda and enjoyed some Mexican pastries to accompany the L.A. flavor of the film.

Stephanie does animation, coloring, and editing in a wide variety of films and has had much of her own visual work featured at film festivals and live events.  Along with her film, she captures City Skins in photo formats.  To see more of her visual work visit her website at http://www.stephanie-gould.com/

Credits:

Host - Justin Joseph Hall.

Location & Production Company - Fourwind Films

Live Score - Akiva Zamcheck

Sound - Brian Trahan

Stephanie Gould - Director/Cinematographer, photo by Justin Joseph Hall

Uta Seibicke: Last Christmas, Good Bye, Lenin!

Episode #02 - East German born Director, Writer, and Casting Director Uta Seibicke presented this episode.  Her first film she co-wrote and directed.  Last Christmas is a film that takes place in Berlin about an terminally ill woman and a special relationship she has.  Uta talked about her casting and relations of working with the cast.  We enjoyed mulled wine Uta brought and cooked.  In addition to a German breakfast prepared by Thomas Kelsey while we watched Good Bye, Lenin!

Credits:
Host - Justin Joseph Hall

Location & Production Company - Fourwind Films

To watch Uta's film check out it on YouTube here.

Uta Seibicke - Wrtier/Director, photo by Daria Huxley