Who is Dick Griffin, you ask? Before you give this episode a listen, head to YouTube and watch the music video “Don’t Come Knockin’” by JATK (pronounced “Jack”). You’ll want to hear more from the band, and you’ll wonder why a video that looks like it was recorded forty years ago on a well-worn videotape would be making its debut online in 2023. Don…

BYE BYE CELLULOID is back, and so is former show guest J.P. DISCISCIO, whose recent short film POOR GLENNA has been making the rounds internationally at film festivals. For this episode, J.P. and Brad have each made a list of film books that impacted them, and they take turns discussing their picks — with plenty of digressions along the way: the la…

SUPPORTING CHARACTERS podcast host Bill Ackerman returns to discuss the current state of home media, the seemingly shrinking number of digitally unavailable obscurities, the social significance of film festivals, and directors ranging from Frank Perry to Bill Gunn to Don Coscarelli, as well as Bill's Blu-ray and DVD commentaries. Recorded in Decemb…

On his podcast SUPPORTING CHARACTERS, Bill Ackerman eschews the common movie podcast approach -- that is, structuring episodes around specific films and/or filmmakers -- and instead highlights the work of writers, podcasters, fanzine publishers, programmers, preservationists, and others who make it possible for wider audiences to gain access to (an…

SPECIAL HALLOWEEN EPISODE: Boston-based filmmaker and photographer J.P. DISCISCIO, director of the spectacular horror short BLOODY HENRY, joins the show for a lively discussion of the horror genre. BLOODY HENRY was an official selection at the Independent Film Festival Boston, The Another Hole in the Head Film Festival, the Sidewalk Film Festival a…

Archival soundtrack recording session for the surreal musical comedy THEODORE OF THE ABSURD (2012). Featuring improvised pieces by Don Glanden Free Jazz Project. Track listing: Welcome to Blipburg Choir Practice for Chiropractors Acid Trip Reflux Imploding Organic Preventable If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fixate Don Glanden Free Jazz Project: Mark Allen…

AUDIO COLLAGE: You’ve heard it before — “Know the rules before you break them.” But isn’t that a rule? And once you know it, is it okay to break it? Listen as a dizzying array of authoritative-sounding voices guides you through the rules of cinematic storytelling, then tells you to abandon those rules, then describes some alternatives, then discour…

Boston-based cinematographer and filmmaker Shaun Clarke guests to discuss dance film (or cinedance, or choreo-cinema...take your pique!). Along with covering Shaun’s numerous projects in this genre, we talk about the collaborative process involved in making a dance film, and the challenges and benefits of arriving at the genre from a filmmaker’s ba…

AUDIO COLLAGE: To commemorate the 4th of July, here's a short episode about the great American composer Charles Ives. Guest starring Stan Brakhage, Billy Eckstine, Aaron Copland, Elliott Carter, and Nicolas Slominsky. Source material derived from archive.org and ubu.com USA Composers: The "American" Tradition with Robert Potts (television program, …

While the big studios toil away at The LEGO Batman Movie, Despicable Me 3, Toy Story 4, and other computer-generated cash cows, a number of today's independent animators are largely responsible for keeping traditional hand-drawn animation alive--but without rejecting digital technology outright. Jon Dorn is one such "tradigital" animator. In this e…