Christian Felix: Book Club, Blue Collar

Episode #22 - Christian Felix is an actor from Chicago now based in New York City. He now regularly does a specific kind of acting in diversity training, which is one of the coolest jobs you’ve never heard of previously. No matter what you say about Christian, he is definitely a professional storyteller. On top of him expressively recounting amazing adventures , he’s a spectacular listener. This is what makes him successful throughout his years and his willingness to be professional in all setting yet still have fun. The exact person you want on any filmset.

Christian’s theme for the episode is how film sets can be fun and funny or incredibly contentious and still create great works of art. The short film Book Club by VARIETY SHAC Christian brought is a film where he was a background actor with hilarious comedians (Chelsea Peretti and Fred Armisen to name a couple) where his main job was not to laugh. He talks about other television sets such as the show Blacklist that were more stressful and lead us directly into his feature choice Blue Collar.

Blue Collar had three lead actors who were in a tif during the time of shooting. Richard Pryor, Harvey Keitel, and Yaphet Kotto were all told they were the lead and drugs and feuds lead to a rough set life as Christian explains in descriptive detail. The story centers around worker’s unions and the fight of the worker against the larger system is a story that continues to be retold and relived throughout the test of time.

If you want to hear more of Christian, please check out our podcast We Don’t Even Know where he co-hosts with Shonali Bhowmik.

Credits for podcast:

Produced by Fourwind Films

Brian Trahan - Sound Mixer, extra music

Theme song of Season 4 is Loopster by Kevin MacLeod.

Inga Moren: Luz Marina, I'm So Excited!

Episode #15 - Inga Moren is a joy to have in the edit studio. She’s a vibrant character who knows how to articulate her thoughts and feelings on any subject. She works as an editor, writes, and directs experimental film. She’s also worked on camera crews, post-production processing, and so much more. Originally from Colombia, she currently makes money from Universal Studios.

Inga brought her new film Luz Marina an experimental short that explores the cults of modern day and the popularity of reality television that we have lived with since the turn of the century. The film moves through spaces and ideas rapidly presenting scenes that bridge the audience from idea to idea, almost like a dream in fast-forward.

Afterwards we were pleasured with the viewing experience of a Pedro Aldomovar film, I’m So Excited! A silly, colorful, and melodramatic film. It recounts several characters on a plane voyage. The story jumps in-between from pilots in the cabin, to the stewards, and the passengers. The film is filled with drinking and bold characters.

Inga’s knowledge of film history and unique vision on what the medium can be helped make this episode especially introspective, not only on the films she presented, but also of the possibilities of using film as a storytelling device itself.

Episode hosted by Justin Joseph Hall.

Credits:

Host - Justin Joseph Hall

Production Company & Location - Fourwind Films

Shonali Bhowmik: The Hike, Valley Girl

Episode #11 - In this episode, Nashville native Shonali Bhowmik graces us with her humor and interesting stories. Shonali is one of the most charismatic people you will ever meet and is always working on a bunch of artistic endeavors. An incredibly thoughtful person of many talents, she has a network of friends and collaborators that surround her at all times. She's a frequent collaborator with us for the live podcast she hosts with Christian Felix called We Don’t Even Know, and is the director, lead actor, writer, and producer of Sardines Out Of A Can, a film Fourwind helped make before Fourwind was even a company. You can check out her band Tigers and Monkeys, who recently released a new music video. Shonali is also well known in the internet comedy world for the group Variety SHAC which began as a comedic quartet consisting of Shonali, Heather Lawless, Andrea Rosen, and Chelsea Peretti. During the discussion Shonali celebrates women in film, and sheds light on Variety SHAC’s influences on various comedians in the industry.

For the feature, Shonali brings the Martha Coolidge film Valley Girl. She discusses the casting process for the film that lead to Nicolas Cage playing the lead male. For her short film, she chooses the SHAC’s latest release, The Hike. The episode is a laugh riot and full of references to movie inspired snacks.

Episode hosted by Justin Joseph Hall.

Shonali Bhowmik - Actress/Director/Producer

Credits:

Host - Justin Joseph Hall

Location & Production Company - Fourwind Films

Soundtrack - Salitros Ridin’ Rainbow