Film Forum Presents

Welcome to Lobby Talk , a new podcast series from Film Forum Presents. At Film Forum, the theaters are where you experience cinema - but the lobby is where you truly begin to engage with and make sense of cinema. Lobby Talk celebrates this magical space that has provoked over 55 years of conversation, good-humored disagreement, and impassioned hot takes. In these episodes, the die-hard movie people on staff at Film Forum weigh in on the upcoming programming they're excited about, and you'll also meet special guests that happen to be passing through the lobby. In this, our inaugural episode, we will be talking about COPPOLA, the exciting 25-film series devoted to beloved auteur Francis Ford Coppola, running August 20 - September 10.

In our new Unfolding the Calendar episode, Film Forum's Director Tabitha Jackson talks with Repertory Artistic Director Bruce Goldstein and Premieres Artistic Director Mike Maggiore about the programming on our calendar for July - September 2026. With these conversations, we hope to give a behind the screen look at upcoming programming – and to provide some fun inside intel and trivia along the way. Please enjoy.

In today's episode, filmmaker Philip Hartman discusses the enduring resonance of NO PICNIC, his gritty 1986 neo-noir drama and priceless artifact of pre-gentrication East Village, with film critic and writer Mark Asch in a conversation recorded at Film Forum specifically for this podcast. A new 4K restoration of NO PICNIC has been playing to sold-out crowds since it opened with us on April 20 of this year. We highly recommend that you read Mark's excellent article about the film at www.hellgatenyc.com . Photo by Chris Grubb.

In our new Unfolding the Calendar episode, Film Forum's newly-appointed Director Tabitha Jackson talks with Repertory Artistic Director Bruce Goldstein and Premieres Artistic Director Mike Maggiore about the programming on our calendar for April - June 2026. With these conversations, we hope to introduce the people behind the programming here at Film Forum – and to provide some fun inside intel and trivia along the way. Please enjoy.

In our new Unfolding the Calendar episode, Film Forum programmers Sonya Chung and Mike Maggiore discuss upcoming premieres on our calendar for January - March 2026. With these conversations, we hope to introduce the people behind the programming here at Film Forum – and to provide some fun inside intel and trivia along the way. Please enjoy.

In our new Unfolding the Calendar episode, Film Forum programmers Sonya Chung and Mike Maggiore discuss upcoming premieres on our calendar for October - December 2025. With these conversations, we hope to introduce the people behind the programming here at Film Forum – and to provide some fun inside intel and trivia along the way. Please enjoy.

In our new Unfolding the Calendar episode, Film Forum programmers Sonya Chung and Mike Maggiore discuss upcoming premieres on our calendar for July - September 2025. With these conversations, we hope to introduce the people behind the programming here at Film Forum – and to provide some fun inside intel and trivia along the way. Please enjoy.

In this edition of UNFOLDING THE CALENDAR, we welcome back filmmaker Richard Shepard, who joined us previously to discuss last year's "Out of the 80s" series, which was inspired by his docu-memoir FILM GEEK. In today's episode, Shepard talks to our repertory artistic director Bruce Goldstein about the actor John Cazale, whose remarkable and all-too-brief five-title filmography is the subject of both our upcoming 90th anniversary tribute series and Shepard's 2009 documentary I KNEW IT WAS YOU: REDISCOVERING JOHN CAZALE. The series will run for one week only, from June 13th through 19th, featuring free admission screenings of I KNEW IT WAS YOU, and Shepard will be joining us in person at several screenings over opening weekend. The full schedule and special event information can be found at filmforum.org.

In our new Unfolding the Calendar episode, Film Forum programmers Sonya Chung and Mike Maggiore discuss upcoming premieres on our calendar for April - June 2025. With these conversations, we hope to introduce the people behind the programming here at Film Forum – and to provide some fun inside intel and trivia along the way. Please enjoy.

In this episode of Unfolding the Calendar, Film Forum Director Sonya Chung and Premieres Artistic Director Mike Maggiore discuss the new films opening in February and March 2025. With these conversations, we hope to introduce the people behind the programming here at Film Forum – and to provide some fun inside intel and trivia along the way.

In this episode, Film Forum Director & Premieres Co-Programmer Sonya Chung discusses our January openings with Premieres Artistic Director Mike Maggiore; and Mike talks to filmmaker Steve Pink about his new documentary THE LAST REPUBLICAN, opening January 3.

In our new Unfolding the Calendar episode, Film Forum programmers Sonya Chung and Mike Maggiore discuss upcoming premieres on our calendar for October – December 2024. With these conversations, we hope to introduce the people behind the programming here at Film Forum – and to provide some fun inside intel and trivia along the way. Please enjoy.

In Part 4 of the July – September 2024 installment of UNFOLDING THE CALENDAR, Film Forum Director Sonya Chung sat down at the theater with Lana Wilson, the brilliant director of the new documentary LOOK INTO MY EYES, a revelatory portrait of psychics in New York City and the people who come to them seeking connection – on this plane or another one. The film opens Friday, September 6 from A24. Lana has a long history with Film Forum. After working in our administrative office for several years early in her career, her bold, moving debut feature AFTER TILLER, about four of the US's most courageous and controversial abortion providers, opened with us in 2013. Since then, she has established herself as one of the most exciting and empathetic documentarians working today with the Spirit Award-nominated feature THE DEPARTURE, the IDA-nominated short-form series A CURE FOR FEAR, and two intimate profiles of iconic women: the Taylor Swift portrait MISS AMERICANA and the multiple Emmy-nominated PRETTY BABY: BROOKE SHIELDS. We are thrilled to welcome Lana back to Film Forum. Please enjoy their conversation.

In part 3 of the July – September 2024 installment of UNFOLDING THE CALENDAR, Film Forum's Repertory Artistic Director Bruce Goldstein has a lively, free-wheeling conversation with Odie Henderson, chief film critic of The Boston Globe, about our upcoming festival BLAXPLOITATION, BABY!, opening Friday, August 16, and continuing for a week with 16 genre classics from the early 1970s, including SHAFT, SUPER FLY, COFFY, CLEOPATRA JONES, and much more. The festival coincides with the publication of Henderson's new book, Black Caesars and Foxy Cleopatras: A History of Blaxploitation, available for purchase at our concession during the festival. Odie will appear in person at Film Forum to introduce screenings of FOXY BROWN, WILLIE DYNAMITE, and BLACK CAESAR – with a book signing follow Friday night's show of FOXY BROWN. As a young man, Odie attended every single movie in Film Forum's -- and the world's – very first Blaxploitation festival in 1995, programmed by Bruce and pioneering author and film historian Donald Bogle, who also collaborated on the current series. Justin Simien's 4-part documentary HOLLYOOD BLACK, based on Bogle's book, premiered this week on MGM+.

In part 2 of the July – September 2024 installment of UNFOLDING THE CALENDAR, Film Forum Director and premieres co-programmer Sonya Chung talks with WAR GAME filmmakers Jesse Moss and Tony Gerber, along with one of the film's participants, former Montana Governor Steve Bullock. For WAR GAME, the filmmakers, in association with the non-partisan organization Vet Voice, staged a White House war room simulation of a second January 6th-type insurrection attempt, with former members of US military high command and politicians acting in both the government and insurrectionist roles. Bullock plays the role of president in the simulation. WAR GAME opens Friday, August 2. Please enjoy their conversation, recorded especially for this episode.

In our new Unfolding the Calendar episode, Film Forum programmers Sonya Chung and Mike Maggiore discuss upcoming premieres on our calendar for July – September 2024. With these conversations, we hope to introduce the people behind the programming here at Film Forum – and to provide some fun inside intel and trivia along the way. Look out for the second part in early August, which will feature FF Repertory Artistic Director Bruce Goldstein discussing our "Blaxploitation, Baby!" festival (August 16 - 22) with Boston Globe film critic and series advisor Odie Henderson. Please enjoy.

Film Forum's Director Sonya Chung talks with filmmaker, novelist, and memoirist Bridgett M. Davis on the occasion of the restoration and release of her 1996 film NAKED ACTS — which will screen at FF on Thursday, June 6 at 7:00. Davis shares her influences and inspirations, including Julie Dash and Kathleen Collins, her passion for storytelling in multiple genres, and her return to filmmaking after 30 years.

For Part 2 of our April – June Unfolding the Calendar installment, Film Forum's Founding Repertory Artistic Director Bruce Goldstein has a lively, wide-ranging conversation with film director Richard Shepard about their favorite NYC moviegoing and moviehouse experiences in the 1970s and 80s. Shepard's own memories are the core of his new documentary FILM GEEK, having its NYC premiere as part of our upcoming four-week, 50+ film festival "OUT OF THE 80s," opening May 17.

In this, our fourth Unfolding the Calendar episode, Film Forum programmers Sonya Chung and Mike Maggiore discuss upcoming premieres on our (now three-month!) calendar for April – June 2024. With these conversations, we hope to introduce the people behind the programming here at Film Forum – and to provide some fun inside intel and trivia along the way. Since we expanded the calendar, we have also expanded the podcast into two episodes. Look out for the second part in early May, which will feature FF Repertory Artistic Director discussing our four-week "Out of the 80s" festival (May 17 – June 13) with Richard Shepard, director of the new documentary FILM GEEK, which inspired – and will serve as the centerpiece for – the series. Please enjoy.

In this, our third Unfolding the Calendar episode, Film Forum programmers Sonya Chung, Bruce Goldstein, and Mike Maggiore provide a behind-the screens look at our February-March 2024 calendar. They discuss films and filmmakers, a little FF history, the programming process, and what they each find particularly exciting about upcoming programming. With these conversations, we hope to introduce the people behind the programming here at Film Forum – and to provide some fun inside intel and trivia along the way. Please enjoy. Chung photo by Patrick Quarterman; Maggiore photo by Robin Holland; Goldstein photo by Grant Delin.