Seventh Row Podcast

Seventh Row
Seventh Row Podcast Podcast

A biweekly (during seasons) podcast about socially progressive movies that matter. Become a member to access the full (200+ episode) podcast archive and get early access to new episodes: http://seventh-row.com/join Upending the canon to be more inclusive by spotlighting and diving deep into international and independent films by and about women, Indigenous People, LGBTQ+ people, and other marginalized groups. Find multiple episodes on the films of Kelly Reichardt, Céline Sciamma, Andrew Haigh, and Joachim Trier. COMING SOON: A season on Abortion on Screen (Fall 2023)

  1. TIFF 24 #5: Bicultural daughters and their absent fathers: My Father's Daughter, Winter in Sokcho, and A Missing Part

    4 DAYS AGO

    TIFF 24 #5: Bicultural daughters and their absent fathers: My Father's Daughter, Winter in Sokcho, and A Missing Part

    In this episode of the TIFF 2024 season, Alex discusses three films about bicultural daughters and their absent fathers. Fittingly, the films are about identity, the role of the father-daughter relationship, and what it may mean for both father and daughter for that relationship to be severed.  To discuss the films' differing cultural contexts, I quote from interviews with the filmmakers, who share many similar insights despite their disparate backgrounds. All three films are world premieres at TIFF and are still seeking North American/UK distributors. The films are: Egil Pederson’s My Father’s Daughter (Sápmi) - first feature Koya Kamura’s Winter in Sokcho (France) - first feature Guillaume Senez’s A Missing Part  (Belgium/France) About the TIFF 2024 season: In the TIFF 2024 season, Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney will discuss some of the best under-the-radar gems at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival through themed episodes. This is for you if: You're attending TIFF and looking for recommendations; You're looking ahead to your local film festival for must-see titles; and/or You're interested in how filmmakers from around the world explore similar topics/genres, even if you're not sure if you'll ever see the films. The season will be spoiler-free and designed to be listened to even if you haven't seen the films (or are worried you won't ever be able to).  Check out all of our TIFF 2024 coverage here: https://seventh-row.com/tif24 ---- Interested in attending a film festival? Get my five essential tips for the film adventurer seeking a fantastic festival experience. These tips are tailored to TIFF but will work for any other film festival. Sign up here: http://email.seventh-row.com/tiff24

    35 min
  2. TIFF24 #4: British social realism - Andrea Arnold's Bird and Mike Leigh's Hard Truths

    6 DAYS AGO

    TIFF24 #4: British social realism - Andrea Arnold's Bird and Mike Leigh's Hard Truths

    In this episode of the TIFF 2024 season, Alex discusses two new films from masters of British social realism: Andrea Arnold's Bird and Mike Leigh's Hard Truths. Bird had its world premiere at Cannes in May; Hard Truths had its world premiere at TIFF. Alex finds similarities in subject matter and storytelling approach between the films, including the very strong performances from some Seventh Row favourites, and discusses what each of them is individually doing that's worth noting.  Alex wrote the book on Mike Leigh's Peterloo and his process, so her discussion of Hard Truths places it within Leigh's oeuvre and discusses how his signature process helped make this film an impressive achievement. On this episode 0:00 Intro to the episode 3:34 Andrea Arnold's Bird 16:32 Mike Leigh's Hard Truths 38:14 Closing remarks, more from TIFF to find and look forward to More Andrea Arnold An essay on landscape and limbo in Fish Tank by Gillie Collins A review of American Honey by Elena Lazic An interview with editor Joe Bini by Orla Smith on editing Lynne Ramsay's You Were Never Really Here and how that differs from working with Andrea Arnold More Mike Leigh Read our ebook on Mike Leigh's Peterloo: mikeleighbook.com Listen to Ep. 32: Sorry We Missed You and Peterloo (Members Only) Listen to Ep. 119: Mike Leigh's Naked (FREE) Listen to us discuss Vera Drake and its place in the history of abortion movies in our Abortion on Film season. About the TIFF 2024 season: In the TIFF 2024 season, Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney will discuss some of the best under-the-radar gems at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival through themed episodes. This is for you if: You're attending TIFF and looking for recommendations; You're looking ahead to your local film festival for must-see titles; and/or You're interested in how filmmakers from around the world explore similar topics/genres, even if you're not sure if you'll ever see the films. The season will be spoiler-free and designed to be listened to even if you haven't seen the films (or are worried you won't ever be able to).  Check out all of our TIFF 2024 coverage here: https://seventh-row.com/tif24 ---- Interested in attending a film festival? Get my five essential tips for the film adventurer seeking a fantastic festival experience. These tips are tailored to TIFF but will work for any other film festival. Sign up here: http://email.seventh-row.com/tiff24

    40 min
  3. TIFF 24 #3: Sports movies for people who don't like sports movies

    SEP 7

    TIFF 24 #3: Sports movies for people who don't like sports movies

    In this episode of the TIFF 2024 season, Alex discusses three films from around the world that take place within the world of sports but aren't really about sports.  Alex finds common ground in how the films are shot and tell stories, often through gestures and blocking rather than dialogue. These films are: Leonardo van Dijl’s Julie Keeps Quiet – Belgium/Sweden (sales title) Frida Kempff's The Swedish Torpedo - World Premiere - Sweden (sales title) Hiroshi Okuyama’s My Sunshine - Japan (Film Movement will distribute) About the TIFF 2024 season: In the TIFF 2024 season, Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney will discuss some of the best under-the-radar gems at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival through themed episodes. This is for you if: You're attending TIFF and looking for recommendations; You're looking ahead to your local film festival for must-see titles; and/or You're interested in how filmmakers from around the world explore similar topics/genres, even if you're not sure if you'll ever see the films. The season will be spoiler-free and designed to be listened to even if you haven't seen the films (or are worried you won't ever be able to).  Check out all of our TIFF 2024 coverage here: https://seventh-row.com/tiff24 ---- Interested in attending a film festival? Get my five essential tips for the film adventurer seeking a fantastic festival experience. These tips are tailored to TIFF but will work for any other film festival. Sign up here: http://email.seventh-row.com/tiff24

    28 min
  4. TIFF 24 #2: Palestinian films: No Other Land, To a Land Unknown, Happy Holidays, and From Ground Zero

    SEP 6

    TIFF 24 #2: Palestinian films: No Other Land, To a Land Unknown, Happy Holidays, and From Ground Zero

    In this episode of the TIFF 2024 season, Alex discusses the four Palestinian films at this year's festival. These films are: No Other Land (Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Rachel Szor) - Norway/Palestine To a Land Unknown (Mehdi Fleifel) - Germany, France, United Kingdom, Greece, Netherlands, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia Happy Holidays (Scandar Copti) - Germany, France, Italy, Palestine, Qatar From Ground Zero (22 directors), France, Jordan, Palestine, Qatar About the TIFF 2024 season: In the TIFF 2024 season, Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney will discuss some of the best under-the-radar gems at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival through themed episodes. This is for you if: You're attending TIFF and look for recommendations; You're looking ahead to your local film festival for must-see titles; and/or You're interested in how filmmakers from around the world are exploring similar topics/genres, even if you're not sure if you'll ever see the films. The season will be spoiler-free and designed to be listened to even if you haven't seen the films (or are worried you won't ever be able to).  Check out all of our TIFF 2024 coverage here: https://seventh-row.com/tiff24 ---- Interested in attending a film festival? Get my five essential tips for the film adventurer seeking a fantastic festival experience. These tips are tailored to TIFF but will work for any other film festival. Sign up here: http://email.seventh-row.com/tiff24

    19 min
  5. Good One (feat. India Donaldson): A teenager heads into the woods with her divorced dad

    AUG 16

    Good One (feat. India Donaldson): A teenager heads into the woods with her divorced dad

    Announcement: I'm covering TIFF, the Toronto International Film Festival! Sign up to receive my five essential tips for the film adventurer seeking a fantastic festival experience, whether at TIFF (or any other festival) at email.seventh-row.com/tiff24. --- Alex Heeney interviews writer-director (and Seventh Row fan!) India Donaldson about her debut feature, Good One. Inspired by Seventh Row favourites Kelly Reichardt and Joanna Hogg (we wrote the books on both of them!), Donaldson's film is a quiet story of a teenage girl who goes camping in the woods with her self-absorbed divorced father and his father's best friend. We observe her as she observes the adults who don't quite behave like adults in ways that are often quite hurtful to her. Donaldson tells Alex about adjusting her expectations to get her first feature made, working with her incredible cast, telling a story about a child of divorce, shooting outdoors in a remote area, and more. The film premiered at Sundance before screening at the Cannes Film Festival in the Director's Fortnight sidebar. The film is now in theatres in the US and Canada. Want to keep exploring Joanna Hogg's and Kelly Reichardt's films? Get our ebook on Joanna Hogg at thesouvenirbook.com Get our ebook on Kelly Riechardt's films and process at reichardtbook.com Listen to our podcasts on Kelly Reichardt and her films Listen to our podcast on Joanna Hogg's The Souvenir Part I & II (ep. 118: FREE!) Stay updated on Seventh Row Follow Seventh Row on Twitter and Instagram. Read our articles at seventh-row.com. Follow Alex Heeney on Twitter and Instagram.  For detailed show notes, visit the Seventh Row website. There is also an AI-generated transcript available.

    37 min
  6. My Lady Jane: An addictive, swashbuckling, Tudor-era romance

    AUG 9

    My Lady Jane: An addictive, swashbuckling, Tudor-era romance

    Toronto film critic Nathalie Atkinson joins Alex Heeney to discuss their latest obsession -- Amazon Prime's swashbuckling fantasy series, My Lady Jane -- and why we can't stop thinking about it. From husbands that are sometimes horses, to intimacy coordination by Ita O'Brien (Normal People), to an incredible cast (Edward Bluemel!), the show is a whole lot of fun with impressive craft behind it. The limited series reimagines the story of Lady Jane Grey, the Tudor Queen who, at age 16, was queen for nine days. The show asks, what could have happened if Lady Jane lasted a little bit longer, had a whole lot of gumption, and also, uh…what if a bunch of people, named Ethians, could also transform into animals? The show is part romance, part adventure, part YA coming-of-ager, with an incredible supporting cast. >> Subscribe to our FREE newsletter for updates on the best new under-the-radar films and streaming theatre productions Follow Seventh Row on Twitter and Instagram. Read our articles at seventh-row.com. Follow Alex Heeney on Twitter and Instagram.  Follow Nathalie Atkinson on Instagram For detailed show notes, visit the Seventh Row website. There is also an AI-generated transcript available. ----- Announcement: Our new membership, Reel Ruminators: A Movie-of-the-Month Discussion Club is now open for new members in August! Doors close on August 9 at 11:59 p.m. EST. Once doors close, we won't be opening them again until October. Find out more and reserve your spot by clicking here.

    1h 18m
  7. 140. Mapantsula (1988) with director Oliver Schmitz

    JUL 31

    140. Mapantsula (1988) with director Oliver Schmitz

    Announcement: Our new membership, Reel Ruminators: A Movie-of-the-Month Discussion Club is now open for new members in August! Doors close on August 9 at 11:59 p.m. EST. Once doors close, we won't be opening them again until October. Find out more and reserve your spot by clicking here. --- Alex Heeney interviews South African director and co-writer Oliver Schmitz about the 4K restoration of his landmark 1988 film, Mapantsula. Mapantsula was the first movie about the realities of apartheid that was actually made by South Africans in South Africa.  In the press notes for, director Oliver Schmitz writes, “Mapantsula is not just a film, it is an act of defiance. It is guerilla filmmaking and a cameo of some of the best talent from South AFRICA in the 1980’s — and by that, I mean Black talent, that had been held back, had no voice, and could not speak freely. Mapantsula was a taste of freedom at a time of the worst repression in South Africa. It was a loud andclear expletive at the Apartheid Government. It was a film that should not have been made, and yet, it was.” The film is now in theatres in the US and available to stream on BFI Player in the UK. >> Subscribe to our FREE newsletter for updates on the best new under-the-radar films and streaming theatre productions Follow Seventh Row on Twitter and Instagram. Read our articles at seventh-row.com. Follow Alex Heeney on Twitter and Instagram.  For detailed show notes, visit the Seventh Row website. There is also an AI-generated transcript available.

    42 min
4.9
out of 5
22 Ratings

About

A biweekly (during seasons) podcast about socially progressive movies that matter. Become a member to access the full (200+ episode) podcast archive and get early access to new episodes: http://seventh-row.com/join Upending the canon to be more inclusive by spotlighting and diving deep into international and independent films by and about women, Indigenous People, LGBTQ+ people, and other marginalized groups. Find multiple episodes on the films of Kelly Reichardt, Céline Sciamma, Andrew Haigh, and Joachim Trier. COMING SOON: A season on Abortion on Screen (Fall 2023)

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