A beautiful March Monday to you all!

What I am about to type is the absolute truth. The first time I watched “Down Town,” the crime-comedy-adventure feature film from writer director Gavin Gaitan,                                                                                I said out loud, alone in front of the TV, “Holy f***ing sh*t.” And I probably said it three to four times in a row, because Gavin’s film simply blew me away.                                                                                                                                                                     I wasn’t alone! The selection jury for the Sherman Oaks Film Festival gave “Down Town” the Best In Fest award!
In fact, at SOFF 2024, Gavin’s film took home four awards:
Best in Fest – Feature Film
Grand Jury Award – Best Feature Film – Comedy
Grand Jury Award – Best Director – Feature Film – Gavin Gaitan
Grand Jury Award – Best Screenplay – Feature Film – Gavin Gaitan

By the way, I was extra excited that Gavin was among the first of the SOFF 2024 alumni to jump onto the podcast.                                                                                                                                                         I was moderating the Q&A’s in theater 7 when “Down Town” was playing in theater 8, so that I was not able to moderate Gavin’s Q&A and tell him all of the things that I admire about his film.
That’s what I love about the Discover Indie Film podcast; it gives me a second chance to have a conversation the filmmakers whose Q&A’s I did not get to moderate.
If you want to follow Gavin’s feature film on Instagram, he’s @downtownmovie
(https://www.instagram.com/downtownmovie/)

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What are the 4Qs? (1) Three favorite films. (2) An underrated film. (3) An overrated film. (4) A lesser-known film people should seek out.

Lindsay Harbert directed the wonderful short film “Talia,” co-producing with lead actor Amy Shaughnessy.

The film was an official selection at Film Invasion – Los Angeles in 2024, taking home the Programmers Prize for Exceptional Filmmaking.

As always, Lindsay and I had a terrific chat that was posted before the 4Qs that I hope you listened to before this one!

IG @taliashortfilm
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It’s hard to believe but today is the Discover Indie Film Podcast’s 500th Episode!  The time has certainly flown and I marvel, looking back, on how many amazing and inspiring filmmakers I’ve been able to chat with since the very first episode in 2017.

Many guests over the years have asked if I’d ever be willing to turn the mic around and allow someone to interview me. I decided this milestone was as good a moment as any to give in. I asked Discover Indie Film’s producer Karina to surprise me with a someoe who I’ve already talked to be my interviewer… I honestly had no idea who was going to interview me until I opened my front door!

I want to thank everyone who listens and every single guest for making these 500 episodes possible!

If you want to follow me on social media, I do my best to avoid all of them except… BlueSky.   Click here to follow me on BlueSky!

Finally, a quick photo credit to Chris Hall, an award-winning director and producer who loves photography and asked me to sit for some portraits. I was delighted to use this photo he took of me with my very first podcast mic!
Chris Hall on Instagram

Christopher J. Hall Photography

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Happy Monday, Everyone!

We have a great interview for you today. But you’re going to have to wait until Friday for this filmmaker’s follow-up 4Qs because Wednesday is the 500TH episode of Discover Indie Film and we have a very special episode, or at least I hope so. I’ve been convinced by many of you over the years to flip the mic and allow a previous guest interview me. In fact, I don’t even know WHO will be showing up on my doorstep to interview me (it’s been arranged by my producer) so we’ll truly see how that goes!

But back to today!

Lindsay Harbert directed the wonderful short film “Talia,” co-producing with lead actor Amy Shaughnessy.

The film was an official selection at Film Invasion – Los Angeles in 2024, taking home the Programmers Prize for Exceptional Filmmaking.

Lindsay was not able to attend the festival, which means that I was extra-enthusiastic about recording this podcast because she could not take part in the festival Q&A for “Talia.”

Lindsay did not disappoint! She is a very talented writer and director, and an equally fun person to talk to

IG @taliafilm

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What are the 4Qs? (1) Three favorite films. (2) An underrated film. (3) An overrated film. (4) A lesser-known film people should seek out.

In 2024, Adam Linkenhelt’s film “The Unreliables” was at FILA 2024, earning Adam and his co- writer Jen Robyn Jacobs the Filmmakers Award for Outstanding Screenplay – Drama. Not only that, in 2016, Adam’s film “Passports” was at FILA AND Adam directed two films OTHER that were submitted to FILA’s sister-festival, Sherman Oaks Film Festival, also in 2024. And to top it off Adam is now the festival runner of Anchorage Film Festival in Alaska. So if you didn’t listen to Wednesday’s interview with Adam, I highly recommend you do! I was definitely excited to chat with Adam and that includes finding out what his 4Q picks would be!

@AdamLinkenhelt
anchoragefilmfestival.org
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Discover Indie Film

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The INDIE Channel

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Source: Discover Film