Bluebird premiered at SXSW 2019 but had a stronger reception at Nashville Film Festival several months later, where festival organizers ended up giving it four screenings to accommodate audience interest. I saw the film while attending the Nashville Film Festival and got to interview Brian there.

Some of the things we discuss include

• How he was able to get a number of prominent musicians like Taylor Swift to be in his film
• Why The Bluebird Cafe is such a memorable venue
• The challenges of shooting and/or performing in a confined space

Commentary

After I did the interview, certain subsequent news stories involving Taylor Swift came out, and they did affect my take on the film. Since Taylor Swift was prominently featured in the Bluebird documentary and discussed in my interview with Brian, I decided to do a supplemental commentary track to expand on my thoughts about her and how she affected my interpretation of the documentary.

Playlist

Here’s the playlist I put together of related songs, some of which I discovered while exploring the musicians featured in the film. Others are songs I revisited while trying to rekindle the magical spark of inspiration that is the Nashville music scene.

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Sponsors for this Episode

nsavides productions 

I make friendly, engaging videos for earnest people. Some of my videos are here.

I want to get better at connecting with others, so I’m putting together a couple of videos as an experiment. This is the one I made while attending the Nashville Film Festival, and it does include a photo of me and Brian.

Say hello: podcast@nsavides.com

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MasterClass

Online training from some of the world’s best filmmakers, musicians, and creative leaders.

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My MasterClass recommendations for this episode

Ken Burns, the filmmaker behind the Country Music docuseries, shares his insights about capturing nuanced human drama on screen.

Reba McEntire shares her insights on country music and building a music career.

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Related Episode

I liked Bluebird enough to include it in my top five picks from Nashville Film Festival 2019. In this episode, I elaborate on why I picked it and share my other recommendations from the festival.

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Related Things

• The Bluebird film page.
  • Facebook, Instagram, Twitter
  • The first tweet from Bluebird_Movie
• More of my podcast coverage of Nashville Film Festival
• Ghost-writing trends as reported by WORLD Magazine

• Shortcut for the podcast: nicksav.show

Additional music for the show provided by Rob Costlow.

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If You Liked the Show

• Donate $1 to help keep the show going.
• Sign up for The nsavides Newsletter.
• Subscribe or leave an honest review:

Apple Podcasts

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• Say hello on Twitter:  @nsavidesPRO

Thank you for visiting!

The post Regarding the Bluebird Cafe and Taylor Swift appeared first on NICKSAV Film & Music SHOW.

The first interview is with Amanda Young, one of the directors behind Every Two Minutes, a compilation of stories relating to human trafficking. The short was done through StoryGive, which partners filmmakers in Nashville with non-profits that tackle various social issues. For Every Two Minutes, StoryGive connected local filmmakers with End Slavery Tennessee, a non-profit dedicated to caring for survivors of human trafficking and tactically addressing the issue.

The second interview is with Chilean director Vicente Manzano. His experimental short Bubble uses bubble framing in a novel, story-driven way. Virtually everything in the film was custom-designed for the film, which involved careful planning to pull off.

Some of the things we discuss include

• Using film to address a social issue in an impactful way
• How to collaborate with accomplished filmmakers and crew members on limited budget
• How to make a short film that is driven by stylized production design

Sponsors for this Episode

nsavides productions 

I make friendly, engaging videos for earnest people.

I shot this New Orleans wedding video for Cece & Andy last year. Even one year later, I’m still getting positive feedback about the video from the couple’s friends and family.

More of my videos are here.

Say hello: podcast@nsavides.com

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MasterClass

Online training from some of the world’s best filmmakers, musicians, and creative leaders.

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Related Episode

Emmy-winning filmmaker and co-founder of Stillmotion, Patrick Moreau, talks about the challenges of putting together a high-quality, issues-driven documentary in this episode.

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Related Things

• Nashville Film Festival
• Amanda Young
  • Instagram

• StoryGive
• End Slavery Tennessee 
• Vicente Manzano
  • Instagram
• More of my podcast coverage of Nashville Film Festival

• Shortcut for the podcast: nicksav.show

Additional music for the show provided by Rob Costlow.

If You Liked the Show

• Donate $1 to help keep the show going.
• Sign up for The nsavides Newsletter.
• Subscribe or leave an honest review:

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Overcast

• Say hello on Twitter:  @nsavidesPRO

Thank you for visiting!

The post Two Notable Shorts from Nashville Film Festival appeared first on NICKSAV Film & Music SHOW.

On this podcast episode I interview Hannah about her work on The Planters, a quirky, character-driven comedy that won Best of the Fest, Best Cinematography, and Best Song at Nashville Film Festival. Along with Alexandra Kotcheff, Hannah co-wrote, co-directed, co-starred, and co-shot the film. The Planters ended up taking 127 days to shoot, and Hannah and Alexandra were the only crew members on set.

Some of the things we discuss include

• How to shoot a high-quality film with a two-person crew
• The camera and lighting setups they used for the film
• How the stop-motion sequences in the film came together

At the end of the episode you can hear a preview of “You and Me Together,” the film’s award-winning song from Phil Danyew.

Sponsor for this Episode

nsavides productions – I make friendly, engaging videos for earnest people.

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This is Up to Date, a short comedy about a blind date gone wrong. It’s the first live-action short I directed a few years ago, and it was written by Stephen Hoover. His script Damage Control was a finalist in the Nashville Film Festival’s screenwriting competition, and he helped to make possible my podcast festival coverage.

More of my videos are here.

Say hello: podcast@nsavides.com

Related Episode

If you’d like to learn more about how comedy works, then check out this interview I did with Steve Kaplan. He teaches comedy workshops around the world. Companies like Dreamworks, Disney, HBO, Paramount, and Touchstone regularly hire him as a consultant and script doctor. 

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Related Things

• Nashville Film Festival
• The Planters
  • Facebook, IMDb, Instagram
• More of my podcast coverage of Nashville Film Festival

• Shortcut for the podcast: nicksav.show

Additional music for the show provided by Rob Costlow.

If You Liked the Show

• Donate $1 to help keep the show going.
• Sign up for The nsavides Newsletter.
• Subscribe or leave an honest review:

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Overcast

• Say hello on Twitter:  @nsavidesPRO

Thank you for visiting!

The post How to Make an Award-Winning Film with a Two-Person Crew: The Planters appeared first on NICKSAV Film & Music SHOW.

My Nashville Film Festival podcast coverage began with this interview I did with some of the filmmakers behind Lost Bayou. More filmmaker interviews are coming soon.

Here, I’ll recap some of the notable films and experiences I had at the festival and share some of the things I learned while attending. The filmmakers, musicians, and creative people who I aim to serve with this podcast are those who seek truth and care about exploring big ideas, and so I will strive for both, as I’ve done with other festivals I’ve covered.

The first pass at my podcast commentary of Nashville Film Festival came in close to three hours, so I’ve broken it up into three parts.

Part I

Part I includes

• General observations and strengths of the festival
• Music insights from a few panels and films
• Reactions to Marriage Story, the new Noah Baumbach film; Speed of Life, a narrative film in which the death of David Bowie causes a disruption to the space-time continuum that threatens the romance of a young couple; and Chuck Berry, the documentary about the founding father of rock n roll that premiered at the festival.

This is the player for Part I:

Part II

Part II is the meat of my coverage, where I go through a number of feature films I saw at the festival and discuss what worked for me and what didn’t. Some of the related topics that come up include doing the right thing in spite of social pressure, police brutality on screen, gender identity issues, and more.

This is the player for Part II:

Part III

In Part III, I share my top five films from Nashville Film Festival and why I picked them. It’s a more personal take, so I also share some related things that came up when trying to put together the list.

Sponsor for this Episode

nsavides productions – I make friendly, engaging videos for earnest people.

We got to explore all kinds of places in Houston while making this music video I directed for the chamber-rock band Mystery Loves Company. Not long after the video was released, the band got an opportunity to perform at a few venues in France.

More of my videos are here.

Say hello: podcast@nsavides.com

Related Episodes

A number of the films that screened at Nashville Film Festival this year also screened at SXSW 2019. Episodes from my SXSW 2019 podcast coverage are here.

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Johnny Cash influenced how actor John Schneider (Dukes of Hazzard) thinks about faith, which came up in this podcast interview.

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Related Things

• Nashville Film Festival
• Nashville’s Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
• Collegiate film T-shirts from Chad McClarnon
• SNL’s 1950s music sketch featuring Will Ferrell
• Tunefind, useful for finding music featured on films, TV shows, and games
• Bureau of Justice Statistics 2018 report on police encounters with the public
• The court battle in Dallas for the gender identity of a seven year
• Dr. Anne Georgulas’s Google reviews
• Unplanned, the documentary about Abby Johnson, a Planned Parenthood employee of the year who became a pro-life activist, is now streaming online

• Shortcut for the podcast: nicksav.show

Additional music for the show provided by Rob Costlow.

Films Discussed

• III
• Alice
• America, America
• Appalachian Holler
• Bluebird
• Berry Hill: From Creative Workshop and Beyond
• Chuck Berry 
• Cool Daddio: The Second Youth of R. Stevie Moore
• Country Music (the docuseries from Ken Burns)
• Eternal Winter
• Five Women in the End
• The Gift: The Journey of Johnny Cash
• A Hidden Life
• Jojo Rabbit
• The Kill Team
• Lost Bayou
• Manuel
• Marriage Story
• Mickey and the Bear
• The Planters
• Reckoning
• Red Dog
• The Sheriff of Mars
• The Short History of a Long Road
• Stuffed
• The Thin Red Line
• Tuscaloosa
• Unplanned
• The Way you Look Tonight
• What’s Eating Ralphie May
• VR films
  • Accused #2: Walter Sisulu
  • Ambrosia
  • Agreda’s Dungeon
  • Only at the Air, Only at Each Other

Bands & Musicians Discussed

• Bob Dylan
• Bruce Springsteen
• Chuck Berry
• Corey Hart
• Dave Bartholomew
• Garth Brooks
• Hank Williams
• Haroula Rose
• Jimmy Buffett
• Johnny Cash
• John Carter Cash
• June Carter Cash
• Kanye West
• Lauren Daigle
• The Lumineers
• The National
• Taylor Swift
• Vince Gill

If You Liked the Show

• Donate $1 to help keep the show going.
• Sign up for The nsavides Newsletter.
• Subscribe or leave an honest review:

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Overcast

• Say hello on Twitter:  @nsavidesPRO

Thank you for visiting!

The post Nashville Film Festival 2019 Recap appeared first on NICKSAV Film & Music SHOW.

During the Nashville Film Festival, I had the chance to interview director Brian Richard, writer-producer Hunter Burke, and actor Jackson Beals about the film.

Some of the things we discuss include

• Honoring, not exploiting, the Cajun faith-healing community
• Getting the Cajun accents right and using them for story purposes
• Working with the Grammy-winning band Lost Bayou Ramblers on the soundtrack
• Nurturing a family-like atmosphere on set
• Exploring a crisis of faith on screen

Sponsor for this Episode

nsavides productions – I make friendly, engaging videos for earnest people. My videos are here.

Say hello: podcast@nsavides.com

Related Episode

A few years ago I had the opportunity to interview Brian and Hunter about their short film Atchafalaya. That conversation is included in my coverage of the New Orleans Film Festival 2015.

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Related Things

• Nashville Film Festival
• Lost Bayou
  • Facebook, Instagram, Twitter

• Good for What Ails You, the doc directed by Glen Pitre that explores Cajun faith healers.
• Lost Bayou Ramblers, the band that provided the music for the film
• If you are in or near New Orleans, you can catch Lost Bayou on Oct. 17 & 23 at the New Orleans Film Festival.

• Shortcut for the podcast: nicksav.show

Music for the show provided by Rob Costlow.

#

If You Liked the Show

• Sign up for The nsavides Newsletter.
• Subscribe or leave an honest review:

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Overcast

• Say hello on Twitter:  @nsavidesPRO

Thank you for visiting!

The post Capturing Authentic Cajun Culture on Screen: Lost Bayou appeared first on NICKSAV Film & Music SHOW.