interviews

The Last Witness – Interview with Piotr Szkopiak

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Who Gets to Call it History?

Director Piotr Szkopiak Talks Justice, Katyn, and The Last Witness

Director Piotr Szkopiak on the set of The Last Witness

Photo courtesy of Momentum Pictures

 

By Christopher M. Rzigalinski

History is written by the victors and those with power. Significant events in the lives of ordinary citizens often go missing from news reports, calendars, and textbooks. But May 11th, 2018 was a monumental date. The Last Witness, Polish-Anglo writer and director Piotr Szkopiak’s second film, opened in Poland that day. Red carpet arrivals and press coverage mattered little compared to the importance of Szkopiak’s mother being present to watch the film.

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Steven Tyler: Out on a Limb – Interview with Casey Tebo

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Director Casey Tebo Talks Inspiration, the Rebirth of Steven Tyler, and Out on a Limb

Director Casey Tebo (left) and Steven Tyler (right) at the 2018 Nashville Film Festival

By Christopher M. Rzigalinski

A 45 year-old male audience member once asked English writer and actor Quentin Crisp what he should do about his thinning hair. “Shave your head. This is the principle on which [style] works. You are losing your hair. So you embrace the loss of your hair. You swim with the tide, but faster,” Crisp responded. “Embrace what you alone have.” I’ve always considered this argument to be the most effective defense against aging. Director Casey Tebo’s film called Steven Tyler: Out on a Limb (2018) proves that, at the age of 70, the Aerosmith frontman is just beginning to find his greatest inspiration.

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AND THEN I GO – Interview with Vincent Grashaw

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Friendship, Childhood, and Guns in the Post-Columbine Era

Director Vincent Grashaw Discuss And Then I Go

By Christopher M. Rzigalinski

How far would you go for your best friend? If they were the only person in the world to which you felt connected, would you let anything jeopardize that bond? Would you sacrifice your own life to make them happy? Director Vincent Grashaw uses the United States cultural epidemic of school shootings to examine the roots and depths of friendship in his latest project, And Then I Go (2017). But he was quick to point out that this film is not about topical tragedies; rather, mass shootings by disaffected young boys are treated as manifestations of a broken society.

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Survivors Guide to Prison – Interview with Matthew Cooke

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Matthew Cooke talks art, activism, and Survivors Guide to Prison

By Christopher M. Rzigalinski

What does it mean to be an activist? On the basest level, it means promoting social change by raising awareness about an issue or idea. Activism is often depicted in historical narratives through larger-than-life figures and mass movements. But the greatest activism takes place when ordinary individuals work to connect with others on a one-on-one level. From those small gestures, hope transforms into promise for everyone. Director Matthew Cooke (How to Make Money Selling Drugs) and I discussed this interpersonal activist approach as it appears in his latest documentary project, Survivors Guide to Prison (2018).

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Entanglement (2018) – Interview with Jason Filiatrault

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Jason Filiatrault Talks Physics, Thomas Middleditch, and Entanglement

By Christopher M. Rzigalinski

Consider the circumstances that led to this moment. You’re in front of a screen, reading the words I wrote. One difference in either of our lives could have prevented this moment from happening. We’ve hurdled along almost infinite combinations of pathways just to get here. Was it a conscious trip, or were we guided by quantum entanglement?

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Cinephellas Podcast – Episode 23 (Interview with Rachel Belofsky)

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Screamfest 2017: An Interview with Rachel Belofsy

by Logan Myerz

What does it take to be an artist? Is it the passion you put into your craft or is it the countless hours perfecting your craft? These are questions I ask myself everyday by researching, writing, reviewing, and creating videos on the Cinephellas website. Being a film-maker isn’t as easy as it looks and getting the film showcased in the industry isn’t an overnight process. The horror film genre is one that is easily overlooked for its creativity, chilling story-line, and jump scares. The Academy has not taken too kindly to the horror genre and it seems many great films are snubbed come Oscar Season. But does it really matter? With many film festivals today, there are movies awarded for the Best Feature, Directing, Cinematography, as they should be for the distinguished film-making skills. What I appreciate about this genre of film making is the blood, sweat, and tears put into every shot of the movie. More importantly, it’s not about making money or the fame, rather it’s about the art-form and making a piece that is memorable.

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Cinephellas Podcast – Episode 22 (Interview with Zack Andrews and Bobby Roe)

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The House October Built 2: Interview with Zack Andrews and Bobby Roe

by Logan Myerz

When you think of the Halloween season, you probably think of two things, Haunted Houses and Horror movies. Both go hand in hand and if you’re an avid Haunted House attendee like myself, you can almost guarantee you will get the shit scared out of you before the month is over. But, what really draws people to these Haunted Attractions? Is it the adrenaline rush, overcoming your worst nightmares, or confronting the evil that lies beneath these houses?

The Houses October Built was a film that tackled these very questions in 2013 where a group of friends embarked on a road trip to find the ultimate Horror attraction. What they found out was more than they asked for and left the audience with many questions. The first film was one of my favorites of the year and I saw the film do well domestically with a pretty large following. I think the film did so well was the original premise, real life events that people can relate to, and showcasing the scariest places you can visit during the Halloween season.

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Cinephellas Flashback: Logan’s Interview with Brandy Schaefer (The Houses October Built)

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by Logan Myerz

Just in time for the Halloween season, the newest tale of horror and macabre takes place in everyone’s favorite seasonal attraction, the Haunted House.  Five friends embark on a haunted trip in 2013 to find the ultimate horror attraction, but what they find is far more traumatizing than they expected. As they come across numerous haunted houses throughout Texas and Louisiana they interview the creepiest and most demonic individuals employed by these houses. Are these attractions built just for the normal adrenaline junkie or is there a darker secret waiting inside? This movie touches on many of the questions I have been asking myself for years walking through haunted houses. As a paying customer do we really trust the person behind the mask scaring us, or are they truly insane? This documentary style film answers some of these questions, and in my opinion is something truly unique in the horror genre. The audience is given admission to many Haunted attractions throughout the south with point-of-view camera angles, real actor interviews, and hundreds of blood curdling screams. Tobe Hooper’s The Funhouse was a fictitious film back in 1981 that touched on the same subject, but with a non-believable monster lurking within the shadows. What makes this film more authentic is the touch of realism and dementia that resides in America’s backyard that only comes out thirty-one days a year. This is as real as movies come and people should be aware of their surroundings because they don’t know if the masked ghoul is an actor or a crazy convict on the run.

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Cinephellas Podcast – Episode 20 (Interview with Angelic Zambrana)

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Life Imitating Art : A Conversation with Angelic Zambrana

by Christopher M. Rzigalinski

On today’s episode of the Cinephellas Podcast I’m chatting with Angelic Zambrana about her role in the film Bushwick (2017), which hits theaters and VOD on this Friday, August 25th. Bushwick is the horrifying story about a present-day civil war in which several southern states decide to secede from the United States. A group of mercenaries from Texas invade the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York and martial law is declared. Stupe (Dave Bautista) and Lucy (Brittany Snow) have to retrieve Lucy’s sister Belinda (played by Angelic) and escape this war zone with their lives.

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