RIIFF Podcasts
These podcasts were undertaken by Toni Pennacchia and Paul Elsnau for Spoiler Alert Radio.
To hear their most recent podcasts, click here
To hear their 2008 Festival Wrap Mini-Interviews, click here
More: pages 2. 3. 4

Scott Bunt has written for newspapers, magazines and standup comics, penned radio and television shows, worked in the music industry as a songwriter, producer and musician.
His recent feature film, Sea of Dust, is based on the real life villain Prester John, and his vengeful master plan to sacrifice “the psychologically vulnerable” on the altar of evil.
Sea of Dust won Grand Prize for best feature film at the 2008 RI International Horror Film Festival.

Direct download: Scott Bunt: Sea of Dust

Geoff Thompson is a BAFTA winning writer, teacher, and martial artist.
Geoff Thompson has worked through a plethora of menial jobs, from glass collector to floor sweeper; he even spent a decade working as a nightclub bouncer.
Geoff decided to become a martial arts instructor and then followed this by living out his dream of becoming a writer.
He is now the author of over thirty books, a stage play, a BAFTA winning short film, Brown Paper Bag, and two feature films. He wrote a screenplay to the award winning short film, Romans 12:20, which won the Grand Prize International Discovery Award at the Rhode Island International Film Festival.
His latest feature film, Clubbed, about a lonely factory worker whose life is transformed when he becomes a nightclub doorman, has screened a variety of film festivals including the Raindance Film Festival.

Direct download: Romans 12:20
Based in Auckland, New Zealand, Justine Simei-Barton has worked in film, television, and theater, as director, writer, producer, and instructor. She heads her own film production company, Tala Pasifika Productions.
Justine has won a number of awards including the Senior Pacific Artists’ Award, a Rockefeller Foundation Grant, and a QE II Arts Council Travel Grant.
Her recent film The Trophy, portrays a young Samoan girl whose science project wins her a trophy, but creates tension within her tradition-oriented family.
The Trophy has played in film festivals around the world, including the Berlin International Film Festival, the Fajr Iran International Film Festival, and the Rhode Island International Film Festival.

Direct download: The Trophy

We spoke with members of the Toronto film collective team, Flemish Beauty, behind a number of films including the 1 minute animated short, The Inquisitive Snail.
The Inquisitive Snail is the story of Luke, an average, everyday nosy neighbor and his newly acquired pet, an inquisitive snail.
When the inquisitive snail is dispatched by Luke to spy on the inhabitants of a small town, the snail soon discovers that all is not what it seems and other people's secrets can be absolutely delicious.
The Inquisitive Snail has been selected for a variety of film festivals including Annecy, DC Shorts, The Seattle International Film Festival, and the Rhode Island International Film Festival, Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival, and the MergingArts Short Short Story Film Festival.

Direct download: Flemish Beauty

Ryan Gielen was born and raised in Columbia, MD. Ryan attended Washington and Lee University, where he majored in Journalism. He taught himself editing by sneaking into the editing suites after the Broadcast Journalism students left for the night.
Following graduation, Ryan Gielen started his own production company we have creates, training and promotional videos for clients like Johns Hopkins University and MADD. The steady work funded his first documentary, Larry Keel: Beautiful Thing, following a year in the life of an underground bluegrass legend.
Since moving to New York, Ryan has focused on screenwriting, producing and directing. His first short, Deleted Scenes, has won awards andplayed in festivals across the country.
His recent feature film, The Graduates is inspired by his experiences growing up in Columbia, and attending several Senior Weeks in Ocean City. It has played several film festivals and has won the 2008 Directorial Discovery Award at the Rhode Island International Film Festival.

Direct download: Ryan Gielen
Marlyn Mason - Model Rules
Marlyn Mason has been an acting professional from the age of 9. By the mid 1960s, she was playing a recurring role of Sally Welden on TV's Ben Casey.
In 1967, she starred as Carrie Pipperidge in a television version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel and in 1969, she made her big-screen debut opposite Elvis Presley in The Trouble With Girls and as Nikki Bel in the 1970s series Longstreet.
After a long absence, Marlyn returned to television in the early 1990s in a variety of roles. Most recently, she has written, produced, and starred in award winning short, Model Rules.
Model Rules is film about a 70 year old woman who works as an artists’ model posing nude for a classroom full of men. During the session, she begins to fantasize about one of the artists as he draws her nude form. Model Rules has screened a variety of festivals including LA Shorts and has received the Grand Prize for Screenplay at the Rhode Island International Film Festival.

Direct download: Marlyn Mason
2008 RIIFF Wrap-up III: The RIIFF Staff Make it All Happen
On this episode of Spoiler Alert Radio, we spoke with people behind the making of the 2008 Rhode Island International Film Festival including: Demetria Carr, Chase Huneke, Jocelyn Donahue, George Marshall, and Adam Short.
This was the 12th year for RIIFF, which has become a leading showcase for independent filmmakers from around the world, this year screening almost 300 films in six days, in addition to year round film events and sidebar film festivals.
RIIFF is a qualifying festival for the annual Academy Awards in the short film category, a distinction only about one percent of film festivals achieve.
The interviews were recorded on location at the Columbus Theatre and the Courthouse Center for the Arts.

Direct download: RIIFF-WrapUp3.mp3
RIIFF Wrap-up II: Invulnerable, My Inventions, Behind My Eyes, Hugo, and Eclipse
On this episode of Spoiler Alert Radio, we spoke with filmmakers live from the closing night of the 2008 Rhode Island International Film Festival, or RIIFF.
This was the 12th year for RIIFF, which over the years has become a leading showcase for independent filmmakers from around the world, screening almost 300 films in six days, bringing in talented visiting filmmakers from across the globe.
Rhode Island International Film Festival is a qualifying festival for the annual Academy Awards in the short film category, a distinction only about one percent of film festivals achieve.
We spoke with creators of the short films: Invulnerable, My Inventions, Behind My Eyes, Hugo, and Eclipse. The interviews were recorded live from the Columbus Theatre in Providence, Rhode Island.
There will be more RIIFF Wrap-up in our next episode along with more in-depth interviews with festival filmmakers on the future episodes of Spoiler Alert Radio.

Direct download:RIIFF2008-ClosingNight-2of2.mp3
RIIFF Wrap-up I: Hakim, Under My Garden, Gone Fishing, Hold On, and Ikigai
On this episode of Spoiler Alert Radio, we spoke with filmmakers live from the closing night of the 2008 Rhode Island International Film Festival, or RIIFF.
This was the 12th year for RIIFF, which over the years has become a leading showcase for independent filmmakers from around the world, screening almost 300 films in six days, bringing in talented visiting filmmakers from across the globe.
Rhode Island International Film Festival is a qualifying festival for the annual Academy Awards in the short film category, a distinction only about one percent of film festivals achieve.
We spoke with creators of the short films: Hakim, Under My Garden, Gone Fishing, Hold On, and Ikigai. The interviews were recorded live from the Columbus Theatre in Providence, Rhode Island at the RIIFF Wrap Party.
There will be more RIIFF Wrap-up with visiting international filmmakers in our next episode along with more in-depth interviews with festival filmmakers on future episodes of Spoiler Alert Radio.

Direct download: RIIFF2008-ClosingNight-1of2.mp3
Dominic Musacchio - Killer Poet
Dominic Musacchio is a producer at Northern Light Productions in Boston, MA and who has co-produced the powerful documentary, Killer Poet.
Killer Poet is about Norman Porter, a controversial Massachusetts prisoner with 2 life sentences who spent 25 years in prison, escaped and lived in Chicago for 20 years as a poet/intellectual under a fake name, and then was caught in 2005 by the Mass State Police and is back in max-security prison.
It won Best Documentary in the Boston International Film Festival. It also screening in many prestigious film festivals including: Hot Docs, the Woods Hole Film Festival, and the Rhode Island International Film Festival. It will also be featured in the Newburyport Documentary Film Festival.

Click here for more Information and to download.
The Rauch Brothers - Germans in the Woods
The Rauch Brothers, Mike and Tim Rauch, are independent animators out of Brooklyn, NY.
In 2007, they formed Rauch Brothers Animation, a studio that collaborates with visionaries in literature, music, performance, and other creative arts through character design, animation, and visual storytelling.
The Rauch Brothers have recently teamed with David Isay, five time Peabody Award-winning radio documentarian and founder of StoryCorps, to create an animated documentary of the piece from StoryCorps about a World War II veteran Joseph Robertson who recalls shooting a young German soldier at The Battle of the Bulge, his "saddest memory”, called Germans in the Woods.
Germans in the Woods has one 2nd place in the ASIFA-East Animation Festival and is screening at film festivals worldwide including the Animation Block Party, The Rhode Island International Film Festival, and The Palm Springs International Shorts Fest

Click here for more Information and to download.
Doug Lantz - From the 50 Yard Line,
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Doug Lantz is director of the inspiring and uplifting marching band documentary From the 50 Yard Line, which had its World Premiere at the 11th annual Rhode Island International Film Festival, where it won the Viola M. Marshall Audience Choice Award Grand Prize.
Doug Lantz has worked in television broadcasting for the past 15 years and currently works at Blake House Media, a production company based in Los Angeles. He has worked in audio engineering, videography, and producing. He has worked many programs including Good Morning America, Nightline, 20/20, Primetime, and World News Tonight.
As an alumnus of the Centerville Jazz band in 1985, his current passion includes documenting the life-changing effects of this unique high school marching band program in the film From the 50 Yard Line. In conjunction with the film, he has created a music education fundraising website March4Music.

Click here for more Information and to download.
Kristian Söderström - Darkness Of Truth
Thursday, September 20th, 2007
On this episode, we talk with Kristian Söderström, director and writer of the short film Darkness Of Truth.
The film is a surreal psychological thriller about the secrets of a middle-aged actress and former ballet dancer in Berlin and her tenant, a young, attractive female student. They choose to communicate their anger via the former actress’ diary.
Kristian’s film was the winner of the International Discovery Award at the 11th annual Rhode Island International Film Festival. This interview was recorded live at the Film Festival.

Click here for more Information and to download.
Ursula Burton - The Happiest Day Of His Life
Thursday, August 30th, 2007
NEWS: Winner - Grand Prize for Best Comedy Short at RIIFF!
Ursula Burton is a Yale alumna who studied Theater and English Literature. Having done extensive theater work, she has more recently worked in television and film including The Office, The War at Home, and Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya-Sisterhood.

Click here for more Information and to download.
Yoav Segal - The Battle Of Cable Street
Thursday, August 30th, 2007
Our guest is filmmaker Yoav Segal, director of The Battle Of Cable Street.
In 1936, Oswald Mosley and his army of fascist Blackshirts planned to march through the East End. However, Segal’s grandfather, Ubby Cowan, and a host of others, including Jews, Irish, and dockworkers succeeded in stopping the march. This was a seminal event in British history as it loudly declared Britains refusal to accept fascism.
Blurring the line between live action and animation, The Battle Of Cable Street retells the event by presenting a young boy, Danny, who is taken inside the magical world of his own sketchbook by his grandfather and shown what it was like to live
through the events of 1936.

Click here for more Information and to download.
More: pages 2. 3. 4
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