Notes on recent podcasting, writing, research, anarchists
The last word on Berlin + some work I've been doing + freshly plucked picks
Dear Last Thing I Saw fans,
This week has been a busy one for writing—some of it about movies I’ve watched very recently, some of it for some original research I began a long while back out of a personal interest. So I’ve chosen a selection of links to share below, as well as the last episodes of Berlin highlights (including films about Thelonius Monk, oil bandits, and anarchists). Joining the mix were two new guests to the show who were attending the festival for the first time. I’d also been hoping to share a very special new episode of the podcast for the latest edition but it’s not quite ready. Soon!
It’s a little difficult for me to get too lighthearted in this letter, given current events, so I will leave it at that. As always, thank you for reading and listening to The Last Thing I Saw!
Sincerely,
Nic
NEW PODCAST NOTES
Ep. 105: Berlin #4 with Inney Prakash (Dry Ground Burning, Instant Life, The Kegelstatt Trio, and more from the Forum section)
Inney Prakash is founder and director of Prismatic Ground, an experimental documentary festival, and a programmer at Maysles Documentary Center.
Ep. 106: Berlin #5 with Giovanni Marchini Camia (Unrest, Mutzenbacher, Death of My Mother)
Giovanni Marchini Camia is a Berlin-based writer, the co-founder of Fireflies Press, and a member of the selection committee of the Locarno Film Festival.
Ep. 107: Berlin #6 with Edo Choi (Dario Argento, Rewind & Play, Sonne, Terra que marca)
Edo Choi is assistant curator at Museum of the Moving Image.
For more information on the podcast’s terrific music by The Minarets (gratefully used with permission), follow the band on Instagram:
@theminaretsmusic
RECENT WRITING
For Artforum, I wrote a report on this year’s Berlin film festival, which had at least two films that had me laughing simply from the joy of how good they were.
Early in the pandemic I tracked down the actor-director Christopher St. John, who directed a fascinating film called Top of the Heap (1972) about a frustrated black cop who daydreams of going to the moon. We started having a series of interviews—what I believe is his first in-depth interview since the 1970s. This is an ongoing project for me with its full fruition down the road, but Reverse Shot has published an excerpt from my Q&A research. I began talking to St. John long before I even knew of the movie’s BAM revival run, and it’s now also available online.
And last but not least, Metrograph published my interview with James Vaughan, director of Friends and Strangers, which is out now. Last Thing I Saw listeners might remember his insightful conversation about silent cinema from last summer’s special podcast.
THIS CRITIC’S PICKS
Delectable selections for home viewing.
Love Meetings (Criterion) Pasolini talks to Italians about love
Wanda (Criterion) 70s canon
THE END
Here I may end with a song.
ABOUT ME
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw! Nicolas Rapold speaking.
Besides hosting this podcast, I’m a writer and an editor. My features, interviews, festival dispatches, and reviews are published in The New York Times, Sight & Sound, Artforum, Filmmaker, and W Magazine (and appeared in dearly departed publications such as The Village Voice, Stop Smiling, The New York Sun, and The L Magazine).
I worked as editor-in-chief of Film Comment, where I was for 15 years. I assigned and edited both web and print editorial, hosted its podcast and talks and screenings, learned from brilliant writers, curated Film Comment Selects, and wrote a lot, including interviews with Spike Lee, Robert Pattinson, Juliette Binoche, and Frederick Wiseman. Film Comment was subsequently awarded the Film Heritage Award by the National Society of Film Critics (an honor historically awarded to the Museum of Modern Art and other institutions).
Feel free to get in touch re: writing, editing, moderating, programming, podcasting, etc.
nicolas.rapold@gmail.com