The Experimental Film Podcast

Vasco Diogo was born in 1970 in Lisbon. Diogo is now an Experimental Director, Performer, Video Artist, and New Media and Cinema Assistant Professor at the University of Beira Interior (Covilhã-Portugal).Arts and Communication Researcher at Communication Sciences PhD by Universidade Nova de Lisboa: "Video: Specificity, Hybridity and Experimentation" (scholarship of Foundation for Science and Technology - FCT), 2008. Vasco Diogo has won more than 50 awards in experimental cinema at international festivals. Drawing, photography, poetry, electro-acoustic music, and mixed media are other work areas. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/experimentalfilmpodcast/support

Amanda Besl is a painter and experimental filmmaker living in Buffalo, NY. She has shown widely in New York State, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, and Russia. Besl holds an MFA in Painting from the Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI, and a BFA from SUNY Oswego. Her paintings are part of several notable private and public collections, including the Burchfield Penney Art Center, Buffalo; Nichido Contemporary, Tokyo, Japan; the Burger Collection, Hong Kong; and the Tullman Collection, Chicago. Besl uses natural history as a platform to explore social issues. She was awarded a 2024 NYSCA grant for Temple of Hortus, a botanically inspired installation of 2-D, 3-D, and video work questioning curated and commercial approaches to nature, hybridization, mutation, and collection. Resource Art represents Besl, and her 2022 solo exhibition “Blue Mythologies” at The Raft of Sanity gallery began her foray into experimental filmmaking. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/experimentalfilmpodcast/support

Born in Venezuela but raised in New York, where he currently lives, Martin Del Carpio is an artist marked by experimentation, the search of new concepts, sounds and melodies, by a fascination with lyrics and the journey that music takes us on. His evolution as an artist is based on what he calls “street knowledge”, a hands-on personal experience characterized by uniqueness and a somewhat dark voice that Martin has dedicated his life to finding. His work shows a personal conflict between outside forces that point him towards mainstream creation and the need to express something intimate, to be honest no matter what the cost and regardless of what comes out. He defines himself as an underground music artist more than a musician, as his work relies more on ideas and inspiration than technique. In the future, he plans to continue experimenting with sound and visuals, taking us on a journey to places still unexplored. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/experimentalfilmpodcast/support

Madelyn Gowler is a queer, film-based artist focusing on materiality and experimental processes of image-making. They lived in Winnipeg, MB, and received their BFA from the University of Manitoba. They mainly work with textiles, installation, Super 8 film, and analog photography. Exploring themes of gender, film as subject, and the relationship between nature and constructed spaces. Their films have been screened internationally at the Engauge Experimental Film Festival in Seattle, WA, and Experiments in Cinema v18.4 in Albuquerque, NM, as well as locally at Ace Art Inc. and Dave Barber Cinematheque in Winnipeg. In 2023 and 2024, they received the Artist in Schools Grant from the Manitoba Arts Council, which funded a Super 8 course and alternative photo class. They’ve also taught various alternative photo processing workshops for the FLASH Photo Festival and Culture Days MB. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/experimentalfilmpodcast/support

Jake Nicastro is a filmmaker, writer, director, editor, and visual artist. We discuss his films, visual arts, installations, and commercial work. Keep an eye on this young, creative talent. You will see him in the future. Godspeed, Jake. Jake is a development producer at The Workshop and has independent experience as a music video and short film director. He works to uncover new ideas, stories, and perspectives to put into production and offers editing help to the post-production team.  Born in Drexel Hill, PA, Jake studied English and Screenwriting at Loyola Marymount University and is pursuing an MFA in Film Production at the University of Southern California. He currently resides in Los Angeles, CA.  --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/experimentalfilmpodcast/support

Belinda Morén and I discuss her photography, art installations, and film work. We also talk about her film, The Sweet Passing of Time, which she entered into The Experimental Film Fest, and her current exploration of the dream state in her work. "I am a visual artist primarily working with video, photography, and installation art. My work navigates themes of identity, belonging, and social conventions. I guide attention toward what is not typically seen and encourage visitors to participate actively in the exhibition through interaction with the pieces. In this way, I aim to shift the perception of the exhibition site to simply being a place for passive observation and promoting social participation. I am one of the founders of Best Before Collective." --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/experimentalfilmpodcast/support

Mary Hawkins and I had a lot of fun talking about her animations, including Love Letters for the Subway, which is an Official Selection in The Experimental Film Fest (Neither of us knew this at the time of recording). We discussed her role in Gotham Roller Derby and her other work as Art Director, Animator, and Designer. "I'm a typography-driven art director who uses collage, bold type, and big color choices to bring playfulness and whimsy to motion graphics for brands. I also work with nonprofits and social good groups to create positive change. As a freelance art director, I collaborate with creative directors, writers and other creators to build-out 360 campaigns that include social, broadcast and out-of-home. I have a flexible, broad-based skillset in design and illustration, and I love finding new ways to bring motion and life to projects." --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/experimentalfilmpodcast/support

AL JULIAN entered the world of film and television writing, acting, and production eleven years ago after long careers in clinical psychology and law. Since then, he has authored over a dozen feature-length screenplays and a variety of teleplays, stage plays, shorts, and commercials. Productions made from his scripts have done exceptionally well on the festival circuit, and he has won more than two hundred awards for films and screenplays over the last five years. His feature thriller FEVER DREAMS was picked up by MBUR Films in 2021 for distribution on major streaming platforms. He recently completed the television Pilot of THE SESSIONS, a limited series based on a murderer’s group he once ran in another life. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/experimentalfilmpodcast/support

Allison A. Roberts is a lens-based artist and experimental filmmaker who works in video layers, collages, and projections. Her work requires the viewer to keep an open mind in that not everything is as it seems, which you'll see for yourself on her website and Vimeo channel. Be especially sure to check out the film Haptic discussed in the podcast. "My lens-based work is situated at the intersection of still photography, the moving image, and installation. I explore temporality, place, and identity, as experienced during periods of transition- addressing change, uncertainty, and resiliency. The intersections and juxtapositions of image and surface inform my approach to physically and digitally layering photographs- positioning projections to transform and merge with surfaces and objects to address how our memories or anxieties inform our perception of the present.   The subtle performative process inherent in my still photography is central to my moving image work, whether discrete video or integral elements of an installation. In these works, I manipulate the screen, a translucent material, during the projection and filming. This performative element speaks to the effort of shaping the elusive through repeated attempts of control and manipulation." --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/experimentalfilmpodcast/support

Eleni Mylonas is a multidisciplinary artist with studios in New York and Athens. She is a Fulbright scholar and holds a Master’s degree from the Graduate School of Journalism of Columbia University and a degree in photography from the University of London. Eleni Mylonas’ work has most recently focused on video and performance. "My background in journalism informs my identity as an artist. I pursue my need to understand, to look directly where others turn away. The necessity to witness and report is a key to my work and my investigations. I follow and explore an event or an experience that fires up my curiosity and imagination and inspires me to create bridges between different realities. I meet the challenge via any medium at hand, be it photography, film, video, painting, sculpture, performance or a combination of the above. My art practice is a journey from the outside taken in, filtered, and redirected back out via the work. It is a process of self-discovery and a vehicle of communication. The resulting works are as revealing to me as they may be to the viewer. I seek to multiply that vibe and follow the ripples going out to stir new waters changing perspectives, points of view, visions." --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/experimentalfilmpodcast/support

Scott Turri is an experimental artist and filmmaker who appeared on The Experimental Film Podcast in Season 1, Episode 9. His work is beautiful, hypnotic, and thought-provoking, and it has broad appeal due to its layered simplicity. "The paintings and animation are like a metaphorical liminal space. The experience of viewing becomes primarily about sensation. This work parallels minimalism, emphasizing repetition, a restricted set of parameters, and an underlying logically designed framework. Ultimately, I prefer an environment that is not author-centric. I like the work to function independently of its maker. I don’t want the audience to think about me because even though the working methods are highly personal on some level, it is about the handmade in a digital world; it is about slowness in a fast-paced, overtly digital milieu. My work directly responds to the ever-increasing speed and chaos of the world around me by embracing stillness and slow motion." --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/experimentalfilmpodcast/support

Tenley E. Raj is a filmmaker living with her two young children (Millie and Guy) in Houston, Texas. Tenley wrote and painted as a young adult. After motherhood, she turned to film, finding it a more satisfying medium. In 2002, Tenley wrote her first short film, "Before the Freeze." She then produced, directed, shot, and edited the film. "Before the Freeze" is a six-minute-long experimental psychodrama about anxiety and parenthood and the dangers of escapism. Tenley is working on her second film, a longer psychodrama about first love called "After the Freeze." --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/experimentalfilmpodcast/support

Amanda VanValkenburg is a multimedia artist based in Chicago, Illinois. They received their MFA from the Art Institute of Chicago, where they investigated the intersection of art and technology. They primarily work with digital media to investigate digitally mediated interactions between memory, projection, contemporary anxiety, and the relationship between technology and the environment. Currently, their work is focused on using technology to process video to examine the anatomy of a visual scene and flesh out echoes of memory and the membranes of virtual and physical spaces.  Their work has been exhibited and screened internationally and nationally, including at the CICA Museum in Korea, the Hong Kong Art Centre, Currents New Media Festival, Museum of Contemporary Art and the Gene Siskel Theater in Chicago, VastLabs Experimental Festival in Los Angeles and Chicago, Trumbullplex Detroit, Elmhurst Museum, Mana Contemporary, Woman Made Gallery, 6018 North Gallery, Nightingale Cinema, Links Hall, Filmfront, and the Chicago Digital Media Festival. and they have  completed residencies with the Ditrapano Foundation for the Arts, Ragdale, High Concept Labs, and Ox-Bow School of the Arts. They currently teach at Northern Illinois University as an Assistant Professor of Time Arts and at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago as an instructor in ACE and ECP programs. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/experimentalfilmpodcast/support

Kenneth 'Ken' Hess hosts The Experimental Film Podcast, directs the Experiment Film Fest, and is a podcaster, experimental filmmaker, actor, photographer, and mischief maker. You can check out some of his experimental films on his Vimeo channel. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/experimentalfilmpodcast/support

Musician, composer, and filmmaker Kristina Dutton and I speak about music, her music compositions, her experimental films, and her inspirations and aspirations. Kristina also has some good advice for those exploring playing a musical instrument. I sampled some of Kristina's compositions in the podcast. In the introduction, there is an excerpt from Biopixel's score co-written by Kristina and Nate Kinsella. In the middle of the podcast, I excerpted Kristina's Pas de Deux from her SoundCloud collection. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/experimentalfilmpodcast/support

Walter Smits and I spoke in Season 1 of the podcast (Episode 22). Since that time (2021), Walter has been busy creating new works, many of which are feature-length experimental works they call playground absurdism. In this podcast, we discuss their use of high-end photography/filmmaking equipment, their film school experience, story creation, directing techniques, development of "Queer New Wave" and their works in progress. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/experimentalfilmpodcast/support

Evan Chester is the curator and creator of the KubrickLynch YouTube channel that highlights experimental, avant-garde, and art house films. KubrickLynch currently has more than 55,000 subscribers, and Evan has close to 200 videos featuring genres, filmmakers, movements, and individual works by experimental filmmakers. I'm a huge fan of his work, and I hope you find his channel and enjoy the painstaking work he's done to collect and curate this information into one of the best YouTube channels I've ever had the pleasure of visiting. Evan's documentary style is well-paced, educational, and entertaining. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/experimentalfilmpodcast/support

Duane Michals has a career of more than 60 years as a photographer. Michal’s work has been shown in galleries worldwide. Michal’s photographic work incorporates text and sequences to tell a story. In recent years, Michals has transitioned to creating short experimental films. If you aren’t familiar with his work, please take some time to explore it. You’ll find it unique in perspective and essential as inspiration for your work. Mr. Michals and I discussed various topics, including his photography work, his foray into filmmaking, his meeting with Magritte, his time in the Army, and other random topics. I love how his mind works and am glad I’ve had the pleasure and honor of this interview. Rating PG-13: Mild sexual references and mild expletives. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/experimentalfilmpodcast/support

Gerald Habarth is an artist and animator, an Associate Professor of Art at West Virginia University. He heads the Electronic Media program in the School of Art and Design. He holds an MFA degree from the University of South Florida and a BFA degree from Parsons School of Design. His works have been screened at numerous national and international venues and festivals, including the Tampa Museum of Art, the Huntington Museum of Art, the Festival Les Instants Vidéo, and the Stuttgarter Filmwinter - Festival for Expanded Media. In 2010, he founded the West Virginia Mountaineer Short Film Festival. He currently resides on the outskirts of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/experimentalfilmpodcast/support

Madison Hill is a filmmaker and photographer based in Durham, North Carolina. She received a B.A. in Cinema Studies from Virginia Tech and an M.F.A. in Experimental and Documentary Arts from Duke University. Currently, Madison is an Instructor for Cinematic Arts at Duke University, teaching theory and production in Documentary Arts, 16mm Film, and Moving Image Practice. Through her film practice, Madison explores how the documentary medium can be transformed in an evolving 21st-century landscape. Madison utilizes various techniques such as 16mm filmmaking, digital cinematography, archival research, and photography to create work that blurs the boundaries of genre and cinematic expectations. Such work includes processing film in environmental contaminants to emulate their effects on the human body, utilizing fiction production techniques in the documentary genre, and manipulating archival material to question memory and subjectivity. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/experimentalfilmpodcast/support