Ep 198: Valeria Golino & Jasmine Trinca • Robert May • Keith Miller, Iva Radivojevic & Alex Mallis

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The new Italian film Honey (Miele) is the focus of the first segment. Actress turned filmmaker, Valeria Golina (Rain Man) and actress Jasmine Trinca are the guests. Their film will be enjoying its theatrical engagement at the Elinor Bunin Monroe Theater up at Lincoln Center beginning this Friday, March 7th. Operating from a seaside community outside of Rome, Irene aka Honey provides peace to the terminally ill—who no longer wish to live—via a powerful barbiturate she smuggles in from Mexico. When one of her clients is revealed not to be sick but just tired of living, Honey resolves to stop his suicide. Eschewing the sermonizing one expects to find in similarly themed “issues” pictures, this thoughtful character study embraces the complexity of its world and inhabitants. Golino’s directorial premiered at Un Certain Regard in last year’s Cannes Film Festival.

Next up is filmmaker Robert May whose new documentary, Kids For Cash, is currently in theaters. The film premiered at DOC NYC last November and is currently in theaters in both Philadelphia and New York City. It opens in Los Angeles on Friday, March 7th. Kids for Cash is a riveting look behind the notorious scandal that rocked the nation when it first came to light in 2009. Beginning in the wake of the shootings at Columbine, a small town in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania elected a charismatic judge who was hell-bent on keeping kids in line. Under his reign, over 3,000 children were ripped from their families and imprisoned for years for crimes as petty as creating a fake MySpace page. When one parent dared to question this harsh brand of justice, it was revealed that the judge had received millions of dollars in payments from the privately-owned juvenile detention centers where the kids—most of them only in their early teens—were incarcerated. For screenings near you, visit the website.

Lastly, Filmwax Radio is visited by the Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective. In this lively conversation I sit with members/filmmakers Keith Miller (Welcome to Pine Hill), Iva Radivojevic and Alex Mallis. Keith’s new film, Five Star, will have its world premiere at Tribeca Film Festival this Spring. Miller is a filmmaker and artist living in Park Slope. As I write this Iva, one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 2013 25 New Faces of Film, is gearing up to premiere her new film, Evaporating Borders, at SxSW.  Lastly, Alex Mallis is a prolific filmmaker also living in Brooklyn. The final part of this segment takes place during a recent meeting at the Made In New York Media Center in DUMBO where the Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective has its monthly meetings. Check out the website to see more about the organization and its members.

Filmwax Radio is presented by Rooftop Films. Like us on Facebook.