Interning with Rooftop Films this summer has been so awesome! Who knew you could actually look forward to going to work?! As the 2018 Video and Photo Intern, I’ve gotten the chance to attend outdoor movie events all around the city and capture them on camera. Now that we’re a month in, I thought I […]

In this Father’s Day special edition I interview my Dad, Bob Schartoff. Bob is 81 years old and currently resides in Queens, NY. He was greatly responsible, along with my mother, for introducing me to the arthouse film.

Filmwax Radio is presented by Rooftop Films. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram. The podcast is also available on iTunes, Stitcher & Youtube.

[8 mins. 8 secs.] In the first segment, actor Wendell Pierce (The Wire) and filmmaker Tim Rouhana discuss their new feature film, One Last Thing. The film is about a lonely Florida dentist (Pierce) who is confronted by a figure from the past bringing news that sends him on an eventful journey of discovery. One Last Thing also stars Joanne Froggatt (Downton Abbey) and Jurnee Smollett-Bell in supporting roles. The film hits theaters Wednesday, June 20th, so check your local listings as there is a very wide national release here.

[39 mins. 50 secs.] Then I’m joined by filmmaker Arya Ghamanian who is currently running a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds & awareness about his project, The Candy Store. The film tells the tale of a miraculous friendship between a young Iranian artist (Ghavamian) & the proprietor of the last all-night candy store in NYC. The film is being produced by FIlmwax friend —and upcoming guest— Ari Gold.

The music on this episode is by the musical artist Harper Nilson with tracks from his album The Years.

Filmwax Radio is presented by Rooftop Films. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram. The podcast is also available on iTunes, Stitcher & Youtube.

Meet Suzannah Herbert and Lauren Belfer, director and co-director of Wrestle, which makes its New York Premiere at Rooftop Films on Friday, June 8th. The film documents the experiences and struggles of the J.O. Johnson High School wrestling team with intimacy, nuance, and the empathy all-too-infrequently seen in nonfiction filmmaking. We spoke with Herbert and […]

First up, the programming team behind the 2018 Brooklyn Film Festival, documentary programmer Julie Bridgeham and narrative programmer Jason Stefaniak. The festival, now in its 21st season, runs from June 1st through the 10th. Check out the website for remaining screenings, this weekend’s BFF Exchange and more.

Then we welcome back to the podcast Rumur Films’ filmmaker Michael Galinsky back for his 4th visit to the podcast. This time he’s joined by David Beilinson, who along with Michael and co-director —and wife— Suki Hawley, made their current documentary, Working in Protest, which had two screenings at the Brooklyn Film Festival earlier this week. We’ll keep listeners apprised on how they can keep up with the film going forward.

This episode of the podcast also celebrates the Northside Festival which takes place through this Sunday, June 10th. The interstitial music on this episode is entirely by musical artists performing at the festival including Soccer Mommy with her song Your Dog, Parquet Courts with their song Wide Awake, and Katie von Schleicher with her songs Midsummer and Paranoia. For specific details about these performances and more, check out the full schedule on the Northside website.

Filmwax Radio is presented by Rooftop Films. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram. The podcast is also available on iTunes, Stitcher & Youtube.

Filmmaker Hal Hartley (Ned Rifle, Meanwhile) returns to the podcast to discuss his current Kickstarter campaign to create awareness and funds for the production of The Long Island Trilogy boxset. That trilogy includes The Unbelievable Truth (1989), Trust (1990), and Simple Men (1992). The films will be re-mastered in HD and subtitled in 5 languages, and be available on DVD and blu-ray. Visit the campaign today and consider getting involved with this exciting project. The campaign ends on June 13th.

Fans of Hartley, should listen to his past visit on Filmwax Radio including Episode 191, and two separate conversations on Episode 463.

Filmwax Radio is presented by Rooftop Films. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram. The podcast is also available on iTunes, Stitcher & Youtube.

[4 mins. 50 secs.] In this first segment, filmmaker Silas Howard appears to discuss his new feature, A Kid Like Jake, which premiered at Sundance 2018 to great acclaim. The film, edited by Filmwax friend Michael Taylor, is about the Wheelers, a couple who are trying to find the right primary school for their 4-year-old son, Jake. Described as gender-expansive by his adviser (Octavia Spencer), Jake’s increasingly erratic behavior starts to cause a rift between the couple. Alex (Claire Danes) worries that the adults in her son’s life are labeling him prematurely, while Greg (Jim Parsons) wonders if Jake’s fondness for dressing up might be more than just a phase. The film which was adapted by the playwright Dan Pearle from his own play, also stars Ann Dowd, Priyanka Chopra,and Asif Mandvi, and opens at the IFC Center on Friday, June 1st.

[29 mins. 23 secs.] Film producer and entrepreneur Lorenzo Fiuzzi returns to the podcast for a second visit. Lorenzo was on the podcast almost a year  ago to the day on Episode 408. Lorenzo is back to discuss the latest news with his streaming platform, Filmatique, which is more robust with great international arthouse fare than ever. Listeners of Filmwax Radio will get an additional 20% off the already low subscription price of $4.95 a month when they use the coupon code ‘FILMWAX’ (in caps) at checkout. The first month is also gratis, by the way. Lorenzo also fills us in on the news of a new feature film he produced, Noble Earth, which will have its US festival premiere next week at the Seattle International Film Festival. If you are planning on attending, there are two screenings of the film. Details are available on the website’s schedule.

Music on this episode is by the musical artist MIRS (led by recent Filmwax guest Amir Motlagh) from their new EP, Meat on Your Lonely Bonez, available on iTunes.

Filmwax Radio is presented by Rooftop Films. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram. The podcast is also available on iTunes, Stitcher & Youtube.

[6 mins. 55 secs.] Joe Swanberg returns for his 5th visit to the podcast. Other than a mention of some previous films and the upcoming 3rd season of his Netflix series, Easy, the conversation was about independent film festivals like the one where we were located, The Maryland Film Festival. This episode is the second from that festival in the city of Baltimore.

[24 mins. 33 secs.] Then a freewheeling conversation with Baltimore native and filmmaker/musician, as Skizz Cyzyk returns. Skizz was on Episode 411 back at the Maryland Film Festival 2017. We catch up with Skizz despite the interruption of New Yorker film critique and indie film advocate, Richard Brody.

[44 mins. 43 secs.] Filmmaker Eugene Kotlyarenko was last heard on Episode 285 discussing his 2nd feature, A Wonderful Cloud. Well, he’s back on the podcast and he’s back with a new film called Wobble Palace which premiered at SxSW 2018 and has found its way to the Maryland Film Festival. Shot by Sean Price Williams (Listen Up Philip, Good Time) and takes place a week before the 2016 election, when a couple (Dasha Nekrasova & Eugene) who on the verge of breaking up, decide to split their home over the weekend and test the waters of independence. Wobble Palace is currently in the festival circuit and we’ll keep you abreast of where you can see it.

Filmwax Radio is presented by Rooftop Films. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram. The podcast is also available on iTunes, Stitcher & Youtube.

[2 mins. 35 secs.] Founding Director of the Maryland Film Festival and President of the Producer’s Club of Maryland, Jed Dietz is the first guest on this special edition of the podcast devoted to that festival. 2018 was the 20th season of the festival.

Filmmaker Nathan Silver returns to the podcast for his 4th visit. Nathan has made appearances on Episodes 148, 189 and 298, and we welcome him back with his latest film, The Great Pretender. The film is his 8th feature, and concerns the lives of a French theater director (Esther Garrel), her ex-boyfriend (Linas Phillips), and the two actors playing them (Maëlle Poesy-Guichard & Keith Poulson) whose lives intersect dramatically in a tangled and darkly funny roundelay set in the New York theater world. The film is currently playing in the festival circuit.

Filmwax Radio is presented by Rooftop Films. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram. The podcast is also available on iTunes, Stitcher & Youtube.

The legendary screenwriter & director Paul Schrader (Hardcore, Light Sleeper) is on this episode to discuss his new film, First Reformed. The film, which opens in NYC and LA on Friday, May 18th, stars Ethan Hawke, Amanda Seyfried & Cedric Kyles (aka Cedric the Entertainer) and is being distributed by A24. Reverend Ernst Toller (Hawke) is a solitary, middle-aged parish pastor at a small Dutch Reform church in upstate New York on the cusp of celebrating its 250th anniversary. Once a stop on the Underground Railroad, the church is now a tourist attraction catering to a dwindling congregation, eclipsed by its nearby parent church, Abundant Life, with its state-of-the-art facilities and 5,000-strong flock. When a pregnant parishioner (Seyfried) asks Reverend Toller to counsel her husband, a radical environmentalist, the clergyman finds himself plunged into his own tormented past, and equally despairing future, until he finds redemption in an act of grandiose violence.

Then Baltimore-based filmmaker Matt Porterfield (Putty Hill, I Used to Be Darker) makes his first appearance on the podcast. His new film, Sollers Point, was shot entirely in the Baltimore county titular neighborhood and stars McCaul Lombardi, Zazie Beetz, Jim Belushi, Lynne Cohen & Marin Ireland. Keith (Lombardi) is a 24-year-old drug dealer who is newly released from prison and living with his father (Belushi) under house arrest in Baltimore. He struggles to re-establish himself in a community scarred by unemployment, neglect and segregation. The film is opened this past week in Baltimore and opens in NYC and LA on Friday, May 18th thanks to Oscilloscope Laboratories.

Filmwax Radio is presented by Rooftop Films. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram. The podcast is also available on iTunes, Stitcher & Youtube.