Speaking of the Arts

The Negro Motorist Green Book was last published in 1966, but in the last 5 years the book has inspired a movie, a documentary and a funny, poignant, time-traveling play by Kansas City playwright, Michelle Tyrene Johnson. 'The Green Book Wine Club Train Trip' opens this week at Talking Horse Productions, and actor Carla Tigue and THP's Artistic Director, Adam Brietzke, drop by to talk about this first production in Talking Horse's 'Year of the Woman' season. In Act Two, True False film programmer Jeanelle Augustin, Music Director Martin Kamu, and Art Installation Director Duncan Bindbeutel give their predictions for the must-see films/musicians and artworks at the upcoming documentary film fest (March 5-8).

February brings with it a raft of openings. The sugar-sweet, pinkalicious musical comedy 'Legally Blonde' opens at Columbia Entertainment Company on February 13th, and this week Diana chats to its Director and Choreographer, Marvin Byas IV. In the Second Act of the show, Dr. Julia Gaines, Director of the University of Missouri's School of Music, waxes lyrical about their brand new Sinquefield Music Center and how one man's response to 9/11 led to the school's new $24 million facility. Plus Diana ends the show with her usual round-up of arts events coming up in mid-Missouri over the next 7 days.

Each February the University of Missouri holds its annual Visual Arts and Design Showcase (VADS) to celebrate the creative expression of undergraduates working across a range of artistic disciplines - photography, theatre set design, floral art, textile and apparel design, painting, sculpture, digital storytelling, architectural studies and more. As part of the two-week event the university flies in a keynote speaker who is a leader in their field and a visionary thinker in the arts. On this week's show Diana chats by Skype with the #MIZVAD20 keynote speaker, Dr. Craig Wilkins, architect, educator, and author who has spent two decades exploring how hip hop culture can be incorporated into architectural thinking. In the Second Act of the show Assistant Professor of Film Studies and Digital Storytelling, Christian Rozier, stops by the studio along with three of this years VADS showcase students, Jessica Tifase, Tyree Taylor, and Alex Sapaugh to talk about the event and the works that will be on display over the next two weeks.

There are not many people in the world who not only speak 6 languages fluently, but also can converse flawlessly in over 50 dialects, and can teach, say a Bosnian to pronounce words correctly in Yiddish, or an Indian to sound convincingly Arabic, but the one person who is capable of such linguistic feats is Paula Carter Cavanaugh Vanlandingham. Paula is a dialect coach to actors the world over, and returns to Speaking of the Arts this week to talk about recent projects and teaching a Latina actor to speak such great Scottish that even Peter Capaldi thought she was a Scot. And in the Second Act of the show Diana catches up with Capital City Productions founder, Rob Crouse, to find out what happened when their theatre home of 12 years was suddenly taken away from them - and the happy new beginning that is their next home.

Arts entrepreneurship links both Acts of this week's Speaking of the Arts. How do you turn your art into an income? Diana's First Act guests this week are all film-makers and are involved with the upcoming COMO Shorts Film Showcase: Matt Schacht, who is one of the showcase's founders, and film-makers Chase Thompson and Elizabeth Germann whose work will be featured. In the Second Act author/chef/arts entrepreneur, Nina Mukerjee Furstenau, drops in to talk about her book 'Biting Through the Skin: An Indian Kitchen in America's Heartland', her next book provisionally titled 'Green Chilis and Other Imposters' and helping Bengali artisan women weavers find a global audience through her new project artaweavers.com.

This year is the 20th anniversary for TRYPS Children's Theatre and on the first new Speaking of the Arts show of 2020, TRYPS founder and artistic director, Jill Womack, chats to Diana Moxon about working with Charles Nelson Reilly, teaching empathy through theatre and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. And in the Second Act of the show, Maples Repertory Theatre artistic director, Todd Davison, stops in to chat about their 2020 season and how he got his start in theatre by having his own puppet company - as a 4th grader.

Speaking of the Arts meets Open Mike Radio on this 2-hour year end review of music and the arts with Diana Moxon and Mike Hagen. Faced with the impossible task of choosing just a handful of interview clips and live Open Mike Radio music recordings from the past year, this is but a tiny collection of their faves. From Speaking of the Arts we revisit Diana's interviews with actor/singer Symonne Sparks, Greenhouse Theatre Project's Elizabeth Braaten-Palmieri and Jenny Hipscher, the Eurovision Song Contest, authors Crystal Wilkinson & Joanna Luloff, and MU Theatre costume designer, Marc Vital. And from Mike's in-studio concerts he chooses Justin Hickerson, Violence of the Violets, the Sweaters, Austin Jones and the Bootheel Boys, Bartholomew Bean, the January Lanterns, Blake Gardner and the Farmers and Dave Dearnley.

With another fabulous year of the arts coming to a close, Diana Moxon sits down with some of the non-profit arts directors who made 2019 such a stellar year: Director and Co-owner of the Roots n Blues festival, Tracy Lane; Executive Director of the Columbia Art League, Kelsey Hammond; Director of the Unbound Book Festival and Owner of Skylark Bookshop, Alex George; Ragtag Cinema Director, Barbie Banks; and Missouri Symphony Orchestra Development Director and actor/director/improvista, Monica Palmer. Plus there's the new single from Audra Sergel, 'This Life', and a composition by Viet Cuong from the 2018 Mizzou International Composers Festival, released this summer, called 'Electric Aroma (A Most Disagreeable Noise).

Thriller writer Allen Eskens latest novel, 'Nothing More Dangerous' is a coming-of-age mystery, a suspense-filled page turner, which explores the darkness of small town secrets, blood loyalties and what happens to those who don't tow the line. In Act One of this week's show, Diana Moxon, chats to Allen about his book and how he became a novelist. And in Act Two, artist Greg Edmondson, stops by the Speaking of the Arts studio to talk about his four a half year artist residency in Belle, Missouri and the 5 bodies of work that he produced as a result of his time on the banks of the Gasconade River, some of which can be seen on display in the Larson Gallery at Columbia College.

The delectable Monica Palmer sits in for Diana Moxon on this week's Speaking of the Arts. Monica's First Act guests this week are actors Ed Hanson and Sarah Jost, who drop by to chat about Talking Horse Productions' 'An Antique Carol' - a one-act operetta written by founder of the Missouri Symphony Orchestra, Hugo Vianello. In the Second Act, Chuck Bay and Melissa Bohon-Webel stop in along with two of the Booneslick Chordbusters to talk about their Home for the Holidays Concert and to deliver some festive cheer with a short a cappella recital.

In the First Act of this week's show, Diana Moxon chats to gallery curator and director, Hannah Reeves, about the upcoming Masters Exhibit at the Sager Braudis Gallery and the difficulty of gaining respect as a female abstract expressionist painter in the New York avant garde art scene in the 1940's and 50's. And in Act Two, Columbia songbirds Audra Sergel, Rochara Knight and Meredith Musgrove Shaw drop by to talk about the upcoming Cabaret for a Cause evening on December 9th, and sing a couple of numbers from the show.

The history of the British in India in the mid-19th century is a shameful tale of colonial abuses, the theft of kingdoms, and mass murder. It's a true story that author Jocelyn Cullity revisits in her new work of meticulously researched historic fiction, 'The Envy of Paradise', a sequel to her book 'Amah and the Silk Winged Pigeons'. In Act One of this week's show, Diana talks to Jocelyn about this period of history and how you write about people who have been largely erased from the history books. In Act Two, Sager Braudis gallery director and curator, Hannah Reeves, stops in to talk about the 6th annual Masters Exhibit, which opens at Sager Braudis on December 6th, and what it must have been like working as a female abstract expressionist painter in the 1940's and 50's.

You find a room that has been closed up for over 30 years, in which time has stopped and the belongings of whomever lived there are the only clue you have as to who that person was and what their private life was like. This, is 'The Room Project', a new immersive art installation created by Greenhouse Theatre Project's Elizabeth Braaten-Palmieri and Duncan Bindbeutel. Listen in to find out a little more about Elizabeth's inspiration for 'The Room Project' and her love of antiques and history. In the show's Second Act, Diana talks art festivals with Melynda Lotven, one of the organizers of the annual Fall into Art festival, along with two of the artists in this year's festival, Jeffrey Ferguson and Sonya Nicholson.

In 1947, around the same time that fiber arts pioneer Anni Albers was inspiring a new generation of textile artists, a group of avid weavers in Columbia, MO formed the Columbia Weavers Guild. 72 years later, they are still going strong. In Act One of this week's show Diana talks to basket weaver Ann McGinity and fiber artist, Paula McFarling, about the Guild's history, its programs and their 30th annual holiday exhibition and sale. In Act Two of the show, Diana finds out more about the 5th annual Starting Gate New Play Festival with Talking Horse Productions' Artistic Director, Adam Brietzke, one of the festival's play directors, John Bolton, along with playwright, Kyle Beckedahl.

Contemporary classical musicians, The Tesla Quartet's newly released album, Joy and Desolation, features a work composed by University of Missouri's Carolina Heredia, and on this week's show Ross Snyder and Edwin Kaplan of the Tesla Quartet along with Carolina Heredia stop by the Speaking of the Arts studio. In the Second Act of the show, it's joy and desolation of a different kind, when director Joy Powell chats to Diana Moxon about the new production of 'The Wiz: the Super Soul Musical', which plays at the University of Missouri's Rhynsburger Theatre. And if you've ever wondered why Dorothy wears silver slippers in The Wiz, rather the red ones made famous by Judy Garland, all is revealed.

On this week's Speaking of the Arts, Diana Moxon and fine artisan miniatures creator Bradley Meinke shrink the world down to 1/12th scale and talk about the world of miniatures in recognition of National Dollhouse and Miniatures Month. And in the Second Act of the show Associate Professor of Voice from Stephens College, Pamela Ellsworth-Smith, along with performer and future alum, Julia Vuolo, chat to Diana about what The Great American Songbook offers to the contemporary performer and audience, and what audiences can expect from this weekend's production of songs from the era.

How do you take one of the most challenging and powerhouse songs on the contemporary stage and make it your own? Dreamgirls opens at Columbia Entertainment Company on October 24th and this week Diana Moxon chats with its director, David Hall, and actors Olivia Henderson and ShaMarea Houston, who'll be performing as Effie White in the show and singing the huge song made famous by Jennifer Holliday and Jennifer Hudson, 'And I Am Telling You I Am Not Going'. In Act Two of this week's show, Diana talks to Columbia Art League Executive Director, Kelsey Hammond, and Central Bank of Boone County's Vice President of Marketing, Mary Wilkerson, about the 60th annual Boone County Art Show and how it all got started on a rainy Saturday morning back in 1960.

Climate Change Theatre Action events are taking place all over the world for the next few months, including at the University of Missouri's Studio 4 theatre from Wednesday 16th-Sunday 20th October. Show host, Diana Moxon, checks in with theatre department chair, Dr. Heather Carver, and playwright Andy Black, to find out more about how they hope their climate change theatre evening will spur people to action. In the show's Second Act, artists Tracy Eichhorn, Janet Flett and Vicki Eultgen stop by to talk about the second annual Boone Plein Air painting event, which takes place October 18th-20th, and the challenges of painting outdoors when the light is constantly changing.

This week on Speaking of the Arts Diana Moxon talks with actors Rochara Knight and Meg Phillips Crespy, along with director Blake Willoughby, about the Hollywood movie production code, the legacy of African-American actors in the 1930's, and their new production of the Lynn Nottage play 'By the Way, Meet Vera Stark', opening at Talking Horse Theatre on October 11th. In the second act of the show, painter Amy Meyer and ceramic artist Norleen Nosri, chat to Diana about their new art exhibits -- 'Transitions and Thresholds' and 'Of Service: Memories', now on display at the Columbia College Galleries -- and the influence each of their fathers had on their work.

This week show host Diana Moxon chats the acting life with professional actors Joshua Clifton Powell and Carl Herzog and Carl debuts his talking to kittens skill (adorable). In the second half of the show international soprano, gospel and jazz singer, Dr. Jolie Rocke Brown along with bass-baritone Marques Jerrell Ruff, and Odyssey Chamber Music Series Artistic Director, Dr. Ayako Tsuruta, come in talk about the evolution of the African American Spiritual, voice care and staying true to your dream.

As a new production of the global hit musical, Mamma Mia, opens at Stephens College in Columbia, show host Diana Moxon chats to the Dean of the Performing Art School, Dr. Gail Humphries Mardirosian and actors Natalie Irlmeier (Sophie) and Jeffrey Keller (Sky) about hitting the high notes, singing while keeping your balance on a revolving bed, and the joys of working with a director who performed in Mamma Mia on Broadway. And in the second act of the show, the Missouri Symphony Orchestra's new Executive Director, Trent Rash, and Development Director, Monica Palmer, talk about their plans for the symphony, how to make classical music cool, and the legacy of Maestro Hugo Vianello. As usual Diana rounds out the show with a rundown of some of the arts events coming up in and around Columbia over the next 7 days.

Nearly 60% of all new clothing produced ends up being burned or buried within one year of being on high street retailers' shelves, one of the many shocking statistics from the $2.5 trillion fashion industry. At the University of Missouri's School of Textile and Apparel Management, a three-year exhibit is exploring the industry's intersection with the natural world and encouraging students to design garments which reflect a thoughtful statement about environmental conservation. On this week's show Diana Moxon chats to students Chance Zacheis and Jenny Wu along with Professor Jean Parsons and Collection Manager, Nicole Johnston about the new Flora and Fashion show at Mizzou and their hopes for the industry. And in the second segment of the show Diana chats with journalist Jessica Bruder, author of this year's Daniel Boone Regional Library's One Read book 'Nomadland Surviving America in the 21st Century' about her time researching and traveling with America's new subculture of nomadic Americans.

In the late 1950's abstract expressionist painter, Mark Rothko, was commissioned to create a series of paintings for the swanky, new Four Seasons restaurant in New York's Seagram's building - an episode in the painter's life that screenwriter John Logan turned into a play called 'Red'. Actors Aaron Krawitz and Adam Brietzke join Diana to talk about the play which is running for two weeks at Talking Horse Theatre. And for the second act of the show, Diana talks to Daniel Boone Regional Library's Lauren Williams about this year's One Read book 'Nomadland Surviving America in the 21st Century' by journalist Jessica Bruder.

The world loves troubled literary characters and on this week's show, Diana Moxon, chats Hedda Gabler - Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen's complex, tortured and oft malevolent character - to Greenhouse Theatre Project's founder and actor Elizabeth Braaten-Palmieri, director Matt Trucano and actor Julia Valen and what audiences can expect from their upcoming production. Diana's second guest this week is Rural Noir novelist, Laura McHugh, whose latest book, 'The Wolf Wants In' hit bookstores at the beginning of August. Laura talks about growing up deep in the Ozarks and how it provided a rich vein of dark stories and characters for her novels.

On this week's Speaking of the Arts, host Diana Moxon, talks to the Dean of Stephens College Performing Arts, Dr. Gail Humphries Mardirosian about their upcoming season and the importance of encouraging women into theatre production and direction, and in the second half of the show, the man with the golden voice, bass-baritone singer Marques Jerrell Ruff, drops in to talk about his crown jewel influencers, vocal care, and which of the Emmy-Grammy-Oscar-Tony awards he plans on winning first.

This week Diana Moxon chats to director Christopher Gould and actors Nora Dietzel and Stephen Easterling about the fast-paced Neil Simon farce, 'Rumors', opening next week at Maplewood Barn - plus, bonus: Nora and Stephen act out a scene! And later in the show Access Arts' Shawna Johnson and ceramic artist Marisa Collado talk about the difference between a potter and a ceramic artist, the advantages of being in an artist residency program, and their new art show at the Montminy Gallery.

On this week's show, Diana Moxon talks to singer Symonne Sparks about musical theatre, her incredible vocal range and what it feels like to sing the National Anthem in front of 50,000 football fans. And in the second half of the show, director Melissa Alpers-Springer and actor Laura Liebhart stop by to talk about their new production of the Mark St. Germain romantic comedy, "Dancing Lessons", now showing at Talking Horse theatre, which explores how a person with Asperger's syndrome navigates a dancing lesson with a dancer in a leg brace.

On this week's Speaking of the Arts Diana talks art, non-profit management, and dynamic grandmothers with the Columbia Art League's new Executive Director, Kelsey Hammond, and then Dr. Joan Stack stops by to talk about the river-inspired new Center for Missouri Studies, which opens on Saturday 10th August, and what you put in a 5,400 square foot gallery when you have over 12,000 works to choose from.

This week Diana Moxon talks to composers inti figgis-vizueta and Nicole Murphy about their music, machete-wielding grandmothers, giving space to performers and audiences, and their time at the Mizzou International Composers Festival. The segment includes two short clips of music: the second movement of 'Stolen' composed by Nicole Murphy (https://soundcloud.com/elm-city-records/stolen-movement-2), and 'whose name do you make thunder the room?' by inti figgis-vizueta (https://soundcloud.com/inti-logan-figgis-vizueta/whose-name-do-you-make-thunder-the-room). In the second half of the show, actor Richard E Harris joins Diana in the studio to talk about his musical and acting career, touring with Johnnie Taylor in 1980's, producing for The Whispers and his legendary grandmother, Mrs Opal Lee.

This week show host Diana Moxon talks new music with University of Missouri's Dr. Jacob Gotlib, member of the university's composition department and Managing Director of the upcoming Mizzou International Composer's Festival. In the second half of the show, Diana chats with author Jocelyn Cullity about her book 'Amah and the Silk-Winged Pigeons', set in northern India in 1857 during the infamous Siege of Lucknow, a brutal and shameful event in the history of Anglo-Indian relations and an event to which both Diana and Jocelyn have strong family ties.

This week Diana talks short-form improv to Adam Brietzke, Gregory Brown and Audrey Abeyta members of The Ponies, a new short-form improv troupe which will be appearing monthly at Talking Horse theatre, and later in the show Curator Hannah Reeves drops by the studio to talk about the new Small Works show on display at Sager Braudis Gallery throughout July, as well as about her own work and her fascination with Victorian postmortem photography.

This week, show host Diana Moxon spends the entire show with Sarah Dresser, Manager of Columbia's Office of Cultural Affairs to talk about how arts funding works from the national down to the local level, plus they look at some of the results from the recent Arts and Economic Prosperity Survey in Columbia and look ahead to the annual Celebration of the Arts party coming up on August 29th.

On this week's show Diana talks to author Jill Orr about her new book, 'The Ugly Truth', the third instalment in the Riley Ellison mystery series, and in the second half of the show author Kira Harris chats to Diana about her new fantasy fiction book, 'Equillian's Key', the first book in what will be a 7-book series about the world of Equillian.

This week host Diana Moxon talks 'Small Art Big Stories' with gallery curator Kate Gray and artists Marilyn Cummins and Bradley Meinke, two of the seventeen artists in the new exhibit at the Montminy Gallery at the Boone History and Culture Center, and in the second half of the show director, Matt Salzberg, stops by to talk about MU Theatre Department's production of the children's comedy 'Corduroy'

On this week's Speaking of the Arts, show host Diana Moxon, talks hair do's and hair don'ts with the director, Enola White, and cast members Liz Marlow (Tracy Turnblad) and Jon Crader (Edna Turnblad) from Columbia Entertainment Company's production of the musical 'Hairspray' which opens on June 13th. Plus in the second half of the show Diana explores the dramatic Anna Ziegler play 'Boy' and looks at the real-life background to this moving and profound play with its Talking Horse Productions director Rachel Bauer, dramaturg Kaylin Jones and the actor who plays Adam, Jack Fulkerson.

This week Speaking of the Arts host Diana Moxon goes behind the scenes of the weekend's Art in the Park festival with the Columbia Art League's Operations Manager, Louise Sarver and Board Member, Anastasia Pottinger, and in the second half of the show she chats to three of the artists invited to participate in the 61st annual Art in the Park: ceramic artist Yukari Kashihara, painter Cara Van Leuven and fiber artist, Christin Gilchrist from Two Belmont Sisters.

On this week's show, Diana gets to indulge her love of Abba with Monica Palmer and Rob Crouse from Capital City Productions where 'Mamma Mia' opens on June 6. In the second half of the show Parker Ross and Laura Avery chat about Maplewood Barn's Production of 'Romeo and Juliet' and Stephens College's Trent Rash talks about the Summer Theatre Institute's five upcoming shows.

This week Diana chats to Amy Wilder about life since she left the Columbia Daily Tribune, her new role at the Lyceum Theatre in Arrow Rock and the shows coming up this summer season. Then the show jets off to the Eurovision Song Contest and Diana gives us a tour of the history of the song contest, chats with Eurovision's Executive Supervisor, Jon Ola Sand, and we take a look at some of the hot contenders for this year's top spot.

Diana Moxon chats to Talking Horse Productions Exec Dir, Rochara Knight, and Artistic Dir, Adam Brietzke, about the company's 2020 season and commitment to works by women, and then goes behind the scenes with University of Missouri Costumer Designer, Marc Vital II.

Show host Diana Moxon chats to actor/playwright/director Elizabeth Braaten-Palmieri and actor Jenny Hipscher about 'Being Here' - a brand new Greenhouse Theatre Project play, written by Elizabeth, which opens on May 8th at The Industry, and which explores mental health and the importance of community as a healing influence. And in the second segment, Diana welcomes artists Hannah Reeves, Jeffrey Leder and Brenda Stumpf to the show to talk about the May exhibit at the Sager Braudis Gallery, and about the lasting influence of some of The Black Mountain College artists on their work.

On this week's Speaking of the Arts, show host Diana Moxon goes behind the scene on two musical productions playing in Columbia. Actors Ed Hanson and Mark Baumgartner talk about Maplewood Barn's production of 'Floyd Collins - A Bluegrass Musical' in which they play Lee Collins and Floyd Collins respectively, and in the second part of the show Broadway actor/dancer/director/choreographer, Carol Schuberg, and Stephens College Professor, Trent Rash, talk about their new production of Pippin which opens at Stephens College Playhouse theatre on May 3rd.

On this week's show Diana talks to Unbound Book Festival director Alex George about how to map out a festival featuring 56 writers and multiple venues, and then talks to attending authors Crystal Wilkinson and Joanna Luloff about their books, 'The Birds of Opulence' and 'Remind Me Again What Happened'

Director Marji Peters and actor Dane Johnson join Diana in the Speaking of the Arts studio to talk about their new production of the musical Daddy Long Legs. In the second half of the show Diana chats with Dr. Kevin Brown from the University of Missouri's theatre department about his new virtual reality adaptation of Alice in Wonderland, called A.L.I.C.E and also about his research into the ethnography of karaoke.

Jane Martin's madcap comedy, 'Anton in Show Business' is being staged by the Stephens College Warehouse Theatre and Diana chats to Artistic Directors, Winona Wiley and Brooke Grno, along with the play's Director, Lauren Douglas, about their production, the plays meta-layers, and the satire that it uses to expose some ugly truths in the world of theatre. In the second segment of the show, Sager Braudis Gallery's Curator and Art Historian, Hannah Reeves, joins Diana in the studio to talk about Black Mountain College and how its expansive influence not only created some of the most renowned art makers and creative forces of the mid-20th century but also became the creative ancestry for many contemporary artists.

Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, and especially it's opening number of O Fortuna, is probably one of the best known works of classical music of the 20th century and it's coming back to the Missouri Theatre on April 5th and 6th thanks to the Missouri Contemporary Ballet and the Choral Arts Alliance of Missouri. Diana finds out more about the production and how difficult it is for the singers to keep their eyes on the music and not on the ballet dancers! In the second half of the show Puerto Rican concert saxophonist José Antonio Zayas Cabán talks about his fundraiser for Puerto Rico on April 15th and how his ensemble {trés} and hoping to make a difference to lives around his native island.

On this week's show Diana talks to MU Theatre Department's Taylor Sklenar and Blake Willoughby about the annual Mizzou New Play Series coming up in early April, and in the second part of the show she finds out more about the biannual Plowman Chamber Music Competition and Festival with the Festival's Artistic Director, Ayako Tsuruta and Dr Wei-Yi Yang, Associate Professor of Piano at Yale and one of the festival's three judges. And as usual she ends the show with a round up of the arts events coming up over the next seven days.

On this week's show, Quin Gresham and Diana discuss the traveling production, Artrageous, which lands at the Arrow Rock theatre for one night and about the Lyceum's upcoming season of shows. In the second segment, Mid-Missouri Traditional Dancers Master Caller, Jim Thaxter, talks about their Spring Breakdown event coming up at the end of March as well as some history of contra and square dance calling.

Jabberwocky Theatre and the Mizzou African Graduate and Professional Student Association get together once a year to create the CoMo Africa Fest and Diana finds out more about it, and in the second half of the show documentary film-maker Andrew Sherburne from FilmScene Iowa, and Patrick Kinney from FilmStreams in Omaha join Diana in the studio to talk about the True/False film festival and the role of independent cinemas.