From the Booth

a Podcast from BYU’s International Cinema

The directors of the Brigham Young University International Cinema and their special guests discuss the films showing at BYU’s International Cinema–one of the longest running college cinema programs of its kind in the world. IC screens over eighty of the best contemporary and classic films from all over the world each year with support from the BYU College of Humanities, and you can get background about the films here. “From the Booth” is a great way to get insights into foreign films, the history of cinema, and about what is going on in the world of media studies. Click here to find out how to subscribe.

Apr 17
0

2.25 Winter 2020, Week 14 in Review (part 3): Tokyo Godfathers

By | Event, Podcast

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This week special guests join me to talk about the last week of films at International Cinema from 8-11 April (in 3 parts) including:

Part 3

  • Podcast co-hosts Marc Yamada and Marie-Laure Oscarson discuss with me Tokyo Godfathers a Japanese animated film from 2003, by Satoshi Kon;
  • and lastly, we wrap up with some concluding thoughts about the semester (12:58). Thanks for making Winter 2020 (COVID-19 aside) a memorable semester!
Apr 16
0

3.25 Winter 2020, Week 14 in Review: Honeyland (part 2)

By | Lectures, Podcast

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This week special guests join me to talk about the last week of films at International Cinema from 8-11 April (in 3 parts) including:

Part 2

  • Insect specialist Prof. Riley Nelson (Biology) joins me to talk about the academy award nominated documentary from 2019, Honeyland that explores the close connection between nature and humanity.
Apr 16
0

3.25 Winter 2020, Week 14 in Review: Funan, Too Late to Die Young (part 1)

By | Event, Podcast

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This week special guests join me to talk about the last week of films at International Cinema from 8-11 April (in 3 parts) including:

Part 1

  • Prof. Dana Bourgerie (Asian and Near Eastern Languages) comes to the podcast to talk about Funan (01:58) an animated film in French from 2018 by Denis Do set in 1975 Cambodia;
  • Regular podcast guest Prof. Doug Weatherford (Spanish) talks with me about the Chilean film Too Late to Die Young (11:35) from 2018 by Dominga Sotomayor Castillo;

Part 2

  • Insect specialist Prof. Riley Nelson (Biology) joins me to talk about the academy award nominated documentary from 2019, Honeyland that explores the close connection between nature and humanity;

Part 3

  • Podcast co-hosts Marc Yamada and Marie-Laure Oscarson discuss with me Tokyo Godfathers a Japanese animated film from 2003, by Satoshi Kon;
  • and lastly, we wrap up with some concluding thoughts about the semester. Thanks for making Winter 2020 (COVID-19 aside) a memorable semester!
Apr 11
0

3.24 Winter 2020, Week 13 in Review: Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Shadow, Ramen Heads

By | Event, Podcast

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This week we talk with special guests about the films streaming from 1-4 April at International Cinema:

  • Shadow (01:10), a highly stylized Mandarin language martial arts or wuxia film from 2019 by director Zhang Yimou. Discussion with Dewey Walter (grad student Comparative Studies);
  • Hunt for the Wilderpeople (10:26), an English Language 2016 comedy set in the New Zealand bush by Taika Waititi. Discussion with Marie-Laure Oscarson (IC Assistant Director);
  • And finally, Ramen Heads (19:47) a Japanese language documentary by director Shigeno Koki about the cultural and historical significance of ramen. Discussion with Prof. Scott Miller (former IC director, Japanese Program, Dean of the BYU College of Humanities).
Apr 06
0

3.23 Winter 2020, Week 14 Preview: Too Late to Die Young, Funan, Tokyo Godfathers, and Honeyland

By | Event, Podcast

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This week we preview the last week of films for the Winter 2020 schedule including:

  • Funan (2:02) an animated film in French from 2018 by Denis Do set in 1975 Cambodia;
  • Tokyo Godfathers (4:04) a Japanese animé from 2003, by Satoshi Kon;
  • Too Late to Die Young (8:54) from 2018, the third feature from Chilean filmmaker Dominga Sotomayor Castillo;
  • And lastly the academy award nominated documentary from 2019, Honeyland (12:33) in Macedonian and Turkish by directors Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov about the close connection between nature and humanity, the last in our semester-long series: Anthropocene Cinema.
Apr 01
0

3.22 Winter 2020, Week 12 in Review part 2: The Exterminating Angel

By | Event, Podcast

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This week Chip Oscarson hosts special guests to analyze the films playing at BYU’s IC during the week 25-28 March including:

Part 2:

  • The Exterminating Angel   a surrealist biting social commentary from 1962 by the great Luis Buñuel (with Prof. Greg Stallings from Spanish).
Apr 01
0

3.22 Winter 2020, Week 12 in Review part 1: Varda by Agnès and Prince Achmed

By | Event, Podcast

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This week Chip Oscarson hosts special guests to analyze the films playing at BYU’s IC during the week 25-28 March including:

Part 1:

  • Varda by Agnès (1:20), a documentary by and about the great French filmmaker Agnès Varda (with Prof. Daryl Lee from French and Italian) and;
  • The Adventures of Prince Achmed (14:39) from 1926, the oldest surviving feature-length animated film, by avant garde filmmaker Lotte Reiniger (with Prof. Rob McFarland from German and Global Women’s Studies)
Mar 28
0

3.21 Winter 2020, Week 13 Preview: Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Shadow, and Ramen Heads

By | Event, Podcast

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The IC directors Marc Yamada, Marie-Laure Oscarson, and Chip Oscarson preview the films to be coming to International Cinema 1-4 April. These films include:

  • Hunt for the Wilderpeople (1:38) a 2016 New Zealand comedy by hit director Taika Waititi;
  • Shadow (6:14) the latest martial arts film from acclaimed Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou;
  • and Ramen Heads (10:35) a documentary by Shigeno Koki about high-end ramen in Japan.
Mar 24
0

3.20 Winter 2020, Week 11 in Review part 2: Morgen

By | Event, Podcast

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In this episode we take a deeper look at the films that played during Week 11 at International Cinema. The discussion is in two parts.

In Part One:

  • Chip Oscarson talks with Marie-Laure Oscarson (IC Assistant Director) about Sofia (01:07), a 2018 film by director Meryem Benm’Barek-Aloisi about human rights, class, and women’s freedom in Morocco and;
  • We invite special guest Prof. Dan Paul (Italian Dept.) to discuss A Special Day (11:33), an Italian film from 2012 directed by Francesca Comencini that helps to pre-figure the #MeToo movement.

In Part Two:

  • Prof. Anca Sprenger joins us to discuss the Romanian New Wave and Morgen (part 2, 0:00) a slow-burn comedy set on the Romanian-Hungarian border directed by Marian Crisan and Anca Puiu from 2010.
Mar 24
0

3.20 Winter 2020, Week 11 in Review part 1: Sofia and A Special Day

By | Event, Podcast

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In this episode we take a deeper look at the films that played during Week 11 at International Cinema. The discussion is in two parts.

In Part One:

  • Chip Oscarson talks with Marie-Laure Oscarson (IC Assistant Director) about Sofia (01:07), a 2018 film by director Meryem Benm’Barek-Aloisi about human rights, class, and women’s freedom in Morocco and;
  • We invite special guest Prof. Dan Paul (Italian Dept.) to discuss A Special Day (11:33), an Italian film from 2012 directed by Francesca Comencini that helps to pre-figure the #MeToo movement.

In Part Two:

  • Prof. Anca Sprenger joins us to discuss the Romanian New Wave and Morgen (part 2, 0:00) a slow-burn comedy set on the Romanian-Hungarian border directed by Marian Crisan and Anca Puiu from 2010.
Mar 21
0

3.19 Winter 2020, Week 12 Preview: Varda by Agnès, Adventures of Prince Achmed, Exterminating Angel

By | Event, Podcast

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In this episode we preview the IC films for 25-28 March including:

  • Varda by Agnès (1:55) the last film written and directed by the great French filmmaker Agnès Varda before she passed away in 2019. Fittingly it is a documentary about her own work.
  • The Adventures of Prince Achmed(07:19) the oldest surviving feature-length animated film by Lotte Reininger from 1926.
  • And lastly, The Exterminating Angel (12:12) by the great Luis Bunuel from 1962.
Mar 17
0

3.18 Winter 2020, Week 10 in Review, part 2: Sullivan’s Travels and O Brother, Where Art Thou?

By | Event, Podcast

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This week IC directors Marie-Laure and Chip Oscarson discuss the films from the virus-shorted week 10 at IC (10-14 March) including:

In Part 1,

  • Woman at War (01:00) directed by Benedikt Erlingsson, a 2018 Icelandic film about Halla, a 50-year-old woman leading a double life as a passionate, environmental guerrilla activist;
  • And the documentary from Cameroonian filmmaker Rosine Mbakam from 2018: The Two Faces of a Bamiléké Woman (12:57)

Then in Part 2, Prof. Kerry Soper (Interdisciplinary Humanities) joins Chip Oscarson to discuss at pair of related comedies:

Mar 17
0

3.18 Winter 2020, Week 10 in Review, part 1: Woman at War and The Two Faces of a Bamiléké Woman

By | Event, Podcast

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This week IC directors Marie-Laure and Chip Oscarson discuss the films from the virus-shorted week 10 at IC (10-14 March) including:

In Part 1,

  • Woman at War (01:00) directed by Benedikt Erlingsson, a 2018 Icelandic film about Halla, a 50-year-old woman leading a double life as a passionate, environmental guerrilla activist;
  • And the documentary from Cameroonian filmmaker Rosine Mbakam from 2018: The Two Faces of a Bamiléké Woman (12:57)

Then in Part 2, Prof. Kerry Soper (Interdisciplinary Humanities) joins Chip Oscarson to discuss at pair of related comedies:

Mar 16
0

3.17 Winter 2020 Week 11 Preview: Sofia, Morgen, A Special Day, and One Child Nation

By | Event, Podcast

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Despite the temporary closure of International Cinema’s public screenings because of the COVID-19 virus, we will continue to preview the films that were to be screened in the hopes that you are able to find them elsewhere. We are working with distributors to see if we can work out arrangement to have IC go virtual. More on that if/when details become available. In the mean time here is Marie-Laure Oscarson, Marc Yamada, and Chip Oscarson introducing:

  • Sofia (01:21), a social drama from 2018 by director Meryem Benm’Barek-Aloisi about human rights and women’s freedom;
  • Morgen (04:30), a gentle comedy set on the Romanian-Hungarian border directed by Marian Crisan and Anca Puiu from 2010;
  • A Special Day (07:41)an Italian film from 2012 directed by Francesca Comencini that helps to pre-figure the metoo movement;
  • and our documentary for the week: One Child Nation (10:50) directed by Nanfu Wang and Jialing Zhang from 2019 exploring the human and social costs of China’s one-child policy.
Mar 16
0

3.16 Winter 2020 Week 9 in Review Part 2: The Chambermaid and Hard Labor

By | Event, Podcast

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This week in review episode is in two parts. Chip Oscarson, Marie-Laure Oscarson, and Marc Yamada talk about the films that screened at IC from 4-7 March including the films from the  Upstairs/Downstairs series about class on film. In the second part, Prof. Doug Weatherford (Spanish) and Prof. Rex Nielson (Portuguese) are guests.  The films include:

Part 1: go to previous installment

  • the documentary, Maiden  from 2018, directed by Alex Holmes about the first all-woman crew to compete in the Whitbred Round the World Race in 1989;
  • Parasite , the Oscar winning Best Film from 2019, the first ever non-English language film to win the award. Directed by Bong Joon-ho from 2019;

Part 2:

  • (with Prof. Doug Weatherford) The Chambermaid (00:00) a look at the oft-times invisible work of a young woman working in a luxurious Mexico City hotel. Directed by Lila Avilés from 2018;
  • and (with Prof. Rex Nielson) Hard Labor (12:35), a Brazilian film about work and the decaying social fabric of the 21st century by Marco Dutra and Juliana Rojas from 2011.