Guest mix
- Film festival programmers
- Filmmakers on the circuit
- Creative directors and curators
- People who know how the industry actually works
FestForge Podcast
A film festival podcast for the people inside the run.
Hosted by Brendan Cleaves and Johnny Vivash, the FestForge podcast will talk to programmers, filmmakers, creative directors and people connected with the festival landscape about the work, taste, politics and weirdness behind the industry.
What the show is
A light, sharp and useful conversation series about film festivals from the inside: how programmes come together, how filmmakers survive a run, what makes a festival worth attending and where the industry can be brilliant or full of bullshit.
Episodes will be released in audio and video, with guests who can talk plainly about the festival circuit rather than treating it like a mystery only insiders are allowed to understand.
The tone
Curious, direct and funny when the conversation goes there. The point is to make the festival landscape easier to understand without sanding off the strange parts that make it worth talking about.
Episode threads
Festival rooms
What programmers are looking for, what filmmakers misunderstand, and what makes a screening matter beyond the laurel.
Creative work
Conversations with filmmakers and creative directors about taste, pressure, money, rejection and the routes that open up after a film is finished.
Crak Hack diary
A running festival diary following Brendan Cleaves' new film Crak Hack through its festival run, from submissions and selections to the useful and awkward bits in between.