The 3rd annual Fredericksburg Film Festival runs from June 25 – 28. Today’s guests are Dalton Okolo, President and Executive Director, and Carlos Naranjo, Partnership Director of the festival. Our discussion includes:
– How the festival began?
– How it’s changed in 4 years.
– Working with the community
– This year’s theme
– Extended discussion of “Shallow”

LINKS
Fredericksburg Film Festival
1108 website
Lucas Huff’s website
My podcast with Melody Rocher about “Bird in Hand”
Silent Music Revival at Dogwood Dell
My review of “Obsession”

Jon Burkett started at CBS 6 as a photographer and worked his way up to become known as the “Crime Insider,” reporting on thousands of cases. He recently announced his retirement, which will be official on September 29, marking the day he started 26 years ago. We’ll talk about:
– Getting his start at Wendy’s
– A mistake that took him from radio to TV in the Navy
– Getting the job at CBS 6
– The creation of Crime Insider
– Witnessing executions
– The most unusual fan encounter
– Developing sources
– How crime & reporting has changed
– His next job

LINKS
Jon’s CBS 6 page
Crime Insider Facebook
Jeanne Meserve podcast

Filmmaker Sasha Waters was on this podcast in 2022 to talk about her previous doc: “Garry Winogrand: All Things are Photographable.” She returns with her new film, “Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World” about the acclaimed poet. It will air Aug. 26 on the on the PBS series “American Masters.” Our discussion includes:
– Where Pieshake Pictures got its name
– Making short films
– Why she chose Mary Oliver as her next project
– Landing interviews with Steve Colbert, John Waters, Oprah Winfrey, Maria Shriver, Lucy Dacus, Helena Bonham Carter and Steve Busemi
– A new editing workflow
– Dealing with thousands of fan letters
– Finding a middle school group who are now adult fans

LINKS
The trailer for “Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World” on PBS
Pieshake Pictures
Sasha’s podcast on “Garry Winogrand: All Things are Photographable”
Justin James Reed’s website
Lights in the Sky Gallery
My podcast with Departure Point Films
Good for Her Films

Victoria Fraser & Marc Weinberg are partners in life and work. They’ve written for numerous film and TV projects, the most recent being “Outrage.” It stars Reed Birney as a conservative talk show host who’s being held captive in a basement. They also served as Executive Producers. Our lively chat includes:
– Marc as a film critic for Richmond Magazine
– Victoria working for Disney
– How they met and decided to work together
– Their writing process
– The inspiration for “Outrage”
– Getting hate mail from Leonard Nimoy
– The difference between “&” and “and” for a writer credit
– Types of Executive Producers
NOTE: They’ll be back on the show to talk about their LA experiences.

LINKS
“Outrage” on Instagram
Branch Museum BEST movies (June 4)
My review of “Obsession”

Max Fischer is a Richmond cinematographer who’s worked on numerous commercials, movies and TV shows. In addition to shooting the new thriller, “Saturnalia,” Max also served as Executive Producer. We’ll discuss:
– The film’s idea born out of the strikes
– The meaning of the title & Easter eggs
– Giallo’s influence
– Shooting at Dover Hall & the Pump House
– Music by the best-known giallo composer
– Eating mutton as a vegetarian in Mongolia
– Getting the movie on streaming and beyond

LINKS
Saturnalia website
Daniel’s IMDB page
Podcast with Vivian Owen on being a script supervisor
Ashland Theatre
My podcast about the 75th anniversary of the Ashland Theatre

Richmond native Steve Segal started animating as a young boy and his first major project was “Futropolis” (my podcast about the movie with him and co-director Phil Trumbo is linked below). After he left Richmond, his career included:
– Creating animations on early computers
– Getting to meet John Lassiter
– Scenes he animated on “Toy Story”
– Being a scene planner on “A Bug’s Life”
– Working on animation for “Pee-wee’s Playhouse”
– Directing “It’s Tough to be a Bug” at Disney World
– Controversy teaching History of Animation
– What’s next (maybe even AI)

LINKS
Steve Segal’s website
My podcast with Steve & Phil Trumbo about “Futropolis”
“Futropolis” on YouTube
My podcast with Debra Freeman about “Finding Edna Lewis”

Brandon Shillingford started Exposure Cinema in 2024 for people to explore, watch, discuss and connect through film. There have been several screening events with the next one coming up this month, “One for the Money,” which he’ll describe in this interview. We’ll also discuss:
– Why he’s in Rome
– Taking film class in high school
– His previous jobs at NPR, CNN and VPM
– Why he started Exposure
– His podcast on cinema
– The event coming up

LINKS:
Exposure Cinema
My podcast with Hard Light Cinema
My podcast with Cinema Niche
My review of “The Drama”

Phil Trumbo was born and raised in Virginia and he started his career as an animator here with the movie he co-produced with Steve Segal, “Futropolis” (podcast with them about the movie is linked below). After he left Richmond, Phil’s career took him “careening” in several directions:
– Not getting accepted in VCU’s art program
– Being in bands, including The Orthotonics
– Working on national commercials & MTV spots
– Animating the opening and dinos for “Pee Wee’s Playhouse”
– Designing for “Doug” and other TV shows
– Creating the official video game of the 1996 Olympics
– Video game design for 100+ games including Harry Potter, Shrek & Spiderman
– Developing a bachelor’s degree in Game Design

LINKS
Phil’s website
”Futropolis” podcast
Frank Gresham’s website