Addiction is an all-encompassing force impacting the lives of the afflicted and everyone around them. Documentary film Our American Family provides an honest, unfiltered look at a close-knit Philadelphia family impacted by generational substance abuse. If you are a young person who is worried about your own substance abuse or a parent or teacher with […]
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Aug
26
Academy Update: Film Festivals, Radio Shows, Guest Appearances and More
It’s been a minute since we offered a straight-up Classic Couple Academy update. We’ve been up to some things, mostly interviewing an amazing roster of filmmakers whose work was shown at the the 2022 Tribeca Festival and the 2022 HollyShorts Film Festival. We’re thrilled to have covered these two film festivals as credentialed media. Speaking of […]
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Aug
15
Short on Shorts: Identity as Teacher
Two short films, official selections programmed for screenings at the 2022 HollyShorts Film Festival August 11-20, 2022, highlight the work of authors who embrace their identities to teach others about what it’s like to be viewed as different in society. Each shares in their own words the importance of being true to one’s self and […]
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Aug
13
Filmmaker 5 with Tory Devon Smith: The Baldwin Archives
The Baldwin Archives short film potently reenacts segments of a 1963 BBC interview between famed author James Baldwin and BBC journalist Peter Duval Smith. Running 8:37minutes, The Baldwin Archives historical drama centers on a critical conversation about racism between Duval Smith as journalist provoking Baldwin as interviewee. Throughout, Baldwin commands his responses and elevates the […]
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Aug
12
Filmmaker 5 with Sean Lionadh: Too Rough
Twenty-four-year-old Glaswegian Sean Lionadh has established himself as powerful storyteller as poet, writer, musician and filmmaker. A trailblazer, Sean uses the alchemy of film and poetry to share intimate work, making notable social impact. His short film Time for Love, made for BBC, catapulted him onto the global stage as an artist exploring themes of […]
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Aug
11
Short on Shorts: Family Ties That Bind
Two short films, official selections programmed for screenings at the 2022 HollyShorts Film Festival August 11-20, 2022, highlight the impact of family ties on children moving into adulthood. Both demonstrate the pull of family obligations and the emotional dilemma of choosing to break free and define oneself as an individual. Vastly different, Only the Moon […]
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Aug
07
Filmmaker 5 with Stephen Edwards: Syndrome K
Syndrome K recounts the incredible story of three courageous doctors working in a hospital in Rome during World War II. Fatebenefratelli Hospital, directly across the the Tiber River from Rome’s Jewish ghetto became a refuge for Jews. The hospital’s doctors invented a highly contagious and deadly disease they called Syndrome K. Isolated entire Jewish families […]
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Aug
05
Filmmaker 5 with Dan Crane: Let Me Be Me
Let Me Be Me traces one family’s journey raising a child with autism in the mid-1990s, amid the backdrop of a medical community struggling to find ways beyond behavior modification and even institutionalization to help. Jenifer and Jeff Westphal’s middle child, Kyle, exhibited symptoms of autism at age three. His constant spinning and inability to […]
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Jul
24
Filmmaker 5 with Jo Chim: One Small Visit
One Small Visit tells the incredible true story of immigrant Indian family the Abrahams, who unexpectedly pass through the Midwest hometown of Neil Armstrong in the wake of the ’69 moon landing. Set against the backdrop of the civil rights movement, the Abrahams experience unease from being racially different as they navigate small town America. […]
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Jun
12
Filmmaker 5 with Sarah Carter: In Her Name
After decades apart, family bankruptcy reunites estranged and vastly different sisters facing their egomaniacal artist father’s terminal prognosis. Fiona lives the life of a conservative midwestern housewife as the direct product of her upbringing with their born-again Christian mother who reinvented herself after leaving her philandering artist husband. Freya, a talented artist in her own […]
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