KIM TRAN & Zoe and Hanh

Explicit content warning

10/22/20 • 21 min

This week, we chat with Kim Tran, a first-gen Vietnamese writer, director and comedian who once rode her bike from Texas to Alaska. Her films have been official selections of SXSW, Palm Springs ShortFest and Short of the Week. Her film Zoe and Hanh recently earned a Vimeo Staff Pick. She received the Michener Fellowship to pursue her MFA in Screenwriting and Playwriting at the University of Texas at Austin. As a writer, she has written for Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls, was a semifinalist for the Humanitas, NBC and Disney writing programs and a finalist for the HBO Pitch Competition at the Women in Comedy Festival. In her work, she explores messy Asian American women trying to find their way in the world. Since we chatted with Kim, some exciting updates have come up! Kim was awarded a development grant from the Austin Film Society to develop Zoe and Hanh into a feature film. The short played at Palm Springs Shortfest and will be playing at Hollyshorts.

Previous Episode

BRIDGET MOLONEY & Blocks

For this week's episode, we talked with Bridget Moloney, back at the beginning of quarantine! Bridget is an award-winning writer and director working in television, film and commercials. We talk to her about the short film, BLOCKS, that she wrote and directed. She is also the writer/director of the independent television pilot I Was A Teenage Pillow Queen that premiered at the 2018 Tribeca TV Festival. Bridget shot Blocks while a member of AFI’s Directing Workshop for Women 2020. The AFI Directing Workshop for Women has been dedicated to advancing the number of women working professionally as narrative screen directors since 1974. The workshop annually provides eight gifted directors with immersive training in screen directing, professional development resources and inroads to the industry – all at no cost to participants. Blocks was an official selection at Sundance, SXSW, Brooklyn Film Festival, Women and Film Festival, Atlanta Film Festival, and Oxford Film Festival, and will be playing at this year’s AFI FEST. AFI Fest starts today, so buy a ticket to watch Blocks at FEST.AFI.com.

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JESSIE KAHNWEILER & He's The One

This week, we chat with Jessie Kahnweiler about her short film He’s The One. Jessie first became known for writing, directing and starring in a short film called ‘Meet My Rapist’ that imagines Jessie bumping into her rapist at the farmer’s market, and then dating him. Jessie then wrote, directed, and starred in ‘The Skinny’, a dark comedic series based on her 10-year relationship with bulimia. ‘The Skinny’ was produced by Jill Soloway, Paul Young, and Refinery29, and premiered at Sundance. Jessie also developed ‘Viagra Diaries’ for CW, ‘Bump’ for ABC Digital, and staffed on ‘Skam AUSTIN’ for Facebook Watch. Jessie’s short film, ‘He’s The One,’ premiered at Sundance this year. She is currently writing a series for Sharon Horgan at the new streaming service, Topic, based on that short. Check out Jessie’s latest horror short, RETREAT, that she directed for Hulu.