The Oscar Project Podcast

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In today's episode, I interview Birdy Wei-Ting Hung, the director of the experimental short film "A Brighter Summer Day for the Lady Avengers." The film looks at the experience of a young girl in 1980s Taiwan and won a gold award at the 2024 Student Academy Awards.
Listen to hear how the film was inspired by two other films, how important formative film experiences are, and the importance of the sound to create the world of the film.
Books mentioned in this episode include:

• Abject Pleasures in the Cinematic: The Beautiful, Sexual Arousal, and Laughter by Aaron Kerner
• Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park Hong

Films mentioned in this episode include:

• "A Brighter Summer Day for the Lady Avengers” directed by Birdy Wei-Ting Hung
• The Lady Avenger directed by Yang Chia-Yun
• A Brighter Summer Day directed by Edward Yang
• Kill Bill Vol. 1 directed by Quentin Tarantino
• Kill Bill Vol. 2 directed by Quentin Tarantino
• Amer directed by Hélène Cattet & Bruno Forzani
• Female Prisoner 701: Scorpion directed by Shunya Itō
• Suspiria (1977) directed by Dario Argento
• Suspiria (2018) directed by Luca Guadagnino
• Lady Snowblood directed by Toshiya Fujita
• All the Colors of the Dark directed by Sergio Martino

You can follow Birdy on Instagram @birdymakesfilms and check out her website at https://www.birdyweitinghung.org/.
The film showed at Fantastic Fest in Austin, TX last month and can be seen this month at the Kaohsiung Film Festival in Taiwan from October 12-27.

Read Birdy's essay about the two films that inspired her work at MaiFeminism.com.

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In today's interview, I speak with Andrew Stanley Kiste, a campus life director and life long lover of all things Disney. He has written articles and books including Walt Disney and the 1964-1965 New York World’s Fair, and three volumes of A Historical Tour of Walt Disney World. He joins me today to talk about his new book, The Early Life of Walt Disney.
Listen to hear how Walt Disney's father Elias impacted how Walt became the man we know, where Walt learned his storytelling and artistic abilities, and some of the early animated creations before Walt's famous mouse Mickey.
Books mentioned in this episode include:

• The Early Life of Walt Disney by Andrew Stanley Kiste
• The Story of Walt Disney by Diane Disney Miller
• Walt Disney: an American Original by Bob Thomas
• Building a Company: Roy O. Disney and the Creation of an Entertainment Empire by Bob Thomas
• Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination by Neal Gabler
• Walt Disney's Missouri: The Roots of a Creative Genius by Brian Burnes, Dan Viets, and Robert W. Butle
• Walt in Wonderland The Silent Films of Walt Disney by Russell Merritt and J. B. Kaufman
• Oswald the Lucky Rabbit: The Search for the Lost Disney Cartoons by David A. Bossert
• Disney War by James B. Stewart
• The Disney Revolt: The Great Labor War of Animation's Golden Age by Jake S. Friedman
• The Queens of Animation: The Untold Story of the Women Who Transformed the World of Disney and Made Cinematic History by Nathalia Holt
• How Walt Disney Changed Animation Forever by Andrew Stanley Kiste (forthcoming in 2025)

Films mentioned in this episode include:

• Cinderella directed by Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, and Clyde Geronimi
• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs directed by David Hand
• Alice in Wonderland directed by Ben Sharpsteen, Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, and Hamilton Luske
• "Der Fuehrer's Face" directed by Jack Kinney
• "The Thrifty Pig" directed by Ford Beebe
• "Alice's Wonderland" directed by Walt Disney
• Oswald the Lucky Rabbit films
• Saving Mr. Banks directed by John Lee Hancock
• Napoleon Dynamite directed by Jared Hess
• Forrest Gump directed by Robert Zemeckis
• Toy Story directed by John Lasseter

Follow Andrew on Facebook (@Andrew Kiste-Author) and check out his website and Amazon Author Page for links to all of his books. Check out his articles in

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Happy New Year! It's my first interview author of 2024, and today I speak with Saul Austerlitz, a freelance writer whose work has been published in the New York Times, Esquire, Vanity Fair, and Rolling Stone. He is an adjunct professor of writing and comedy history at New York University, and the author of Generation Friends, Just a Shot Away, Sitcom, Another Fine Mess, and Money for Nothing. He joins me today to talk about his new book, Kind of a Big Deal: How Anchorman Stayed Classy and Became the Most Iconic Comedy of the Twenty-First Century.
Listen to hear the how Adam McKay and Will Farrell created some of the most memorable scenes in the film, how the film uses the character of Veronica to comment on the male dominated newsroom culture, and why the early 2000s spawned so many great comedy films. Follow Saul's Substack called Hope in the Dark.
Books mentioned in this episode include:

• Wild and Crazy Guys: How the Comedy Mavericks of the '80s Changed Hollywood Forever by Nick de Semlyen
• Freaks, Gleeks, and Dawson's Creek: How Seven Teen Shows Transformed Television by Thea Glassman
• The Deluge by Stephen Markley
• The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

Films mentioned in this episode include:

• Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy directed by Adam McKay
• Monty Python directed by Terry Jones & Terry Gilliam
• Don't Look Up directed by Adam McKay
• Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues directed by Adam McKay
• Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie directed by Adam McKay
• The 40-Year-Old Virgin directed by Judd Apatow
• Superbad directed by Greg Mottola
• Marvel Cinematic Universe
• Star Wars Franchise
• Bridesmaids directed by Paul Feig
• Bottoms directed by Emma Seligman
• Barbie directed by Greta Gerwig
• City Lights directed by Charlie Chaplin
• The Shop Around the Corner directed by Ernst Lubitsch
• Wes Anderson Netflix shorts
• Rushmore directed by Wes Anderson
• Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby directed by Adam McKay

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In this author interview, I speak with Suzanne Ferriss whose first book about Sofia Coppola The Cinema of Sofia Coppola: Fashion, Culture, Celebrity was published in February 2021 and she edited The Bloomsbury Handbook to Sofia Coppola, which was published in early 2023. She joins me today to talk about her latest book, Lost in Translation from BFI Film Classics about Coppola’s film that celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.
Listen to hear about Suzanne’s approach to writing about Coppola’s work, the wealth of films she recommends, and thoughts on who might be a good fit to cast in Lost in Translation if it were made today.
Books mentioned in this episode include:

• The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
• The Bloomsbury Handbook to Sofia Coppola edited by Suzanne Ferriss
• Sofia Coppola: The Politics of Visual Pleasure by Anna Backman Rogers
• Sofia Coppola: A Cinema of Girlhood by Fiona Handyside
• The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson
• The Overstory by Richard Powers
• Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu
• The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen
• Good for a Girl: A Woman Running in a Man's World by Lauren Fleshman

Films mentioned in this episode include:

• Virgin Suicides directed by Sofia Coppola
• An Affair to Remember directed by Leo McCarey
• Manny & Lo directed by Lisa Krueger
• Girl with a Pearl Earring directed by Peter Webber
• Asteroid City directed by Wes Anderson
• Groundhog Day directed by Harold Ramis
• Rushmore directed by Wes Anderson
• On the Rocks directed by Sofia Coppola
• Past Lives directed by Celine Song
• Rear Window directed by Alfred Hitchcock
• Parasite directed by Bong Joon-ho
• Somewhere directed by Sofia Coppola
• The Thin Man directed by W. S. Van Dyke
• Party Girl directed by Daisy von Scherler Mayer
• Silver Linings Playbook directed by David O. Russell
• Psycho directed by Alfred Hitchcock
• Grand Budapest Hotel directed by Wes Anderson
• The Shining directed by Stanley Kubrick

John Kacere on Wikipedia, inspiration for the opening shot of Lost in Translation.

Video for Shawn Mendes's sons "Lost in Japan", inspired by Lost in Translation.

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In today's episode, I interview Daniel Salas the director of the experimental short film "WIRED," a surreal look at the impact technology can have on a person. The film was selected as a finalist for the 2024 Student Academy Awards.
Listen to hear how the film changed in the editing process, some of the challenges in shooting the film in just three days, and the importance of the sound supporting the visuals of the film.
Books mentioned in this episode include:

• Monsters by Barry Windsor-Smith

Films mentioned in this episode include:

• "WIRED” directed by Daniel Salas
• Videodrome directed by David Cronenberg
• MK Ultra directed by Joseph Sorrentino
• Blue Velvet directed by David Lynch
• Mulholland Dr. directed by David Lynch
• Paris, Texas directed by Wim Wenders
• Eraserhead directed by David Lynch
• The Fly directed by David Cronenberg
• The Elephant Man directed by David Lynch

Follow Daniel on Instagram @des_alas for updates on screenings and festival selections this fall.