The Viewfinder Podcast with Chris Hadley

Veteran director Tessa Blake (CBS' Matlock, 9-1-1, A Million Little Things, The Rookie, Bull, Fox's upcoming Baywatch reboot) talks about her powerful feature film If I Tell You, the story of a young boy (played by Etienne Kellici) attempting to make sense of a horrific crime, and trying to deal with how it impacts his already struggling family.

Find out more about If I Tell You on its official web site:

This week, The Viewfinder Podcast continues its focus on the 2026 Baton Rouge Underground Film Festival as we explore two totally different but nonetheless spectacular Louisiana-made movies. 

First is the critically acclaimed, very funny and very raunchy musical comedy/thriller Peeping Todd, which won the festival's Best Louisiana Feature award and is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV and Google Play. 

Peeping Todd is directed by Josh Munds (who wrote its wacky original songs) and stars Chris Alan Evans (who also co-wrote the film’s screenplay with Munds) in the title role of a lovestruck stalker who zealously plots and plans to win the heart of his beautiful but romantically frustrated neighbor Claire (played by Mabel Thomas) no matter the danger, the humiliation, the pain - be it physical or emotional or both - or even the legal consequences. 

Next comes the eerie short sci-fi satire Hivemind Deluxe, written and directed by Evans, which takes a haunting yet highly thought-provoking look at a young woman - Rae, played by Maddie Nichols - fighting to resist the manipulative power of an unearthly force that gives her the chance to live an all too perfect life, only for that opportunity to come at the devastating expense of her individual freedom. 

Both films also feature the outstanding original music of composer Bence Farkas, who in addition to orchestrating the unforgettable and zany tunes heard in Peeping Todd, created an equally strong dramatic score for the film that plays to its most comedic and most suspenseful qualities. 

Meanwhile for Hivemind Deluxe, Farkas took on a more psychological approach built around the movie's futuristic atmospherics, the terror and trauma of an alien abduction experience, and the high cost of blindly believing the unbelievable in a universe where, due to politicians, media influencers and messianic cult leaders, the truth is no longer something that's undisputed.

Written and directed by Trevor Poole, the emotional dramedy Dead Air puts a would-be standup comic - Joey, played by Wesley Boone - in a crisis that’s no laughing matter: having to pay tribute to his best friend while under enormous pressure to not be funny.

Struggling to be respectful yet desperately craving to crack a joke or two about his fallen buddy in front of his grieving family and friends, Joey tries to honor their wishes, but will he find the right words to honor the pal he’s lost, and will he do both with his dignity and his sense of humor intact?

Dead Air recently played at the Baton Rouge Underground Film Festival, and on this week’s show I’m proud to welcome three members of the amazing team that helped bring Dead Air to life: Poole, Boone (who also co-produced and edited the movie), and the film’s colorist and lighting tech, Tre Wilson. 

Watch The Viewfinder Podcast on YouTube:

On this week's show, we're joined by Miguel Angel Ferrer, the writer/director of the critically acclaimed, award-winning drama THE SHADOW OF THE SUN.

Selected by Ferrer's home country Venezuela as its official entry for Best International Feature Film for the 2024 Oscars, its story follows two brothers - one, an ex-singer now struggling to pay the bills (Leo, played by Carlos Manuel Gonzalez); the other, his deaf younger sibling (Alex, played by newcomer Anyelo Lopez) whose songwriting talent may hold the key to a better life for both of them, but only if they work together to achieve it.

THE SHADOW OF THE SUN is now streaming on various platforms including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV and YouTube Movies.

On this week's all-new episode of The Viewfinder Podcast, we're joined by another member of the brilliant ensemble cast of AMC's THE VAMPIRE LESTAT and INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE: actor Gopal Divan, who portrays the mysterious scientist/physician Dr. Fareed Bhansali.

Shot entirely on 16mm film, the evocative documentary UNSEEN OLYMPIAD takes an emotional look at the journeys of young athletes from around the world as years of preparation and struggle lead to moments where victory and defeat are measured not just by effort but also by heart.

Directed by Casey Shaw, who first joined us last year to talk about his remarkable analog-shot character drama ALMOST FORGOT HOW TO SWIM, UNSEEN OLYMPIAD was filmed in 2023 at the Winter and Summer World University Games, and earlier this year it played during the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina as part of the event’s Cultural Olympiad.

The film will next screen at the upcoming Baton Rouge Underground Film Festival on Saturday, August 29th at the Manship Theatre in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It’ll be shown back-to-back alongside fellow documentary THE SIGHT UNSEEN, beginning at 11 AM Central Time.

To purchase a pass or an individual ticket for the festival, visit The Manship Theatre's web site:

This week's Viewfinder Podcast brings you a conversation with the brilliant, lovely and talented actor/writer/filmmaker Azizi Donnelly (LADIES IN BLACK, BABYLON).

This week, The Viewfinder Podcast brings you a chat with the writer/director of charming Canadian indie romantic comedy MIDDLE LIFE, Pavan Moondi.

For more info on MIDDLE LIFE, visit its web site:

This week, acclaimed actor Justin Kirk joins The Viewfinder Podcast to talk about his latest role as a key figure in author Anne Rice’s expansive Interview With The Vampire universe—the beguiling and persuasive body thief Raglan James in AMC’s THE VAMPIRE LESTAT.

The show stars Sam Reid as the ancient blood-sucker turned rock star Lestat de Lioncourt, Jacob Anderson as his betrayed ex-lover Louis De Pointe Du Lac,Jennifer Ehle as his beloved mother/twisted love interest Gabriela; and Eric Bogosian as Daniel Molloy, the veteran reporter who tries to get Lestat’s side of his tumultuous story—even if it’s not as simple as three chords and the truth.

Justin and I talk about his portrayal of Raglan James, as well as some of his other major career highlights—like his legendary performances on shows like WEEDS, SUCCESSION, and HBO’s Emmy-winning miniseries ANGELS IN AMERICA—and much more now on this week’s show.

Show logo designed by Matison Leblanc

Announcer: Erik Woods

Follow The Viewfinder Podcast on X @ViewfinderPod

This week, we bring you a conversation with actor, writer and filmmaker Jake Matthews (CIA, THE LAST THING HE TOLD ME, WISDOM OF THE CROWD) about his experiences on screen and behind the camera, his creative projects outside the world of prime-time network procedurals, and the many challenges that come with being an actor in an always competitive business.

Follow Jake on Instagram @astronautjakematthews

Show logo designed by Matison Leblanc

Angel Studios’ time-spanning action/adventure series THE WAYFINDERS is the journey of a group of modern-day kids transported to a medieval kingdom, where they face both culture shock and challenges as they try to save their mystical home from evil and to return to the place they left behind.

Emmy-winning composer Jim Dooley joins me now to discuss his remarkable and exciting score for the popular series, which has recently been renewed for a second season.

Show logo designed by Matison Leblanc

On this week's show, I'm joined by Emmy winning composer Jeff Russo, who explores the chilling orchestral soundscapes of his music for FX's ALIEN: EARTH, his latest partnership with longtime creative collaborator and fellow musician, showrunner Noah Hawley (FARGO, LEGION), and the first-ever TV adaptation of the popular film franchise, ALIEN: EARTH is a series that - like its theatrical predecessors - puts a crew of intergalactic soldiers against monsters both otherworldly and human. As the famous tag line for the first ALIEN movie proclaimed, “in space, no one can hear you scream”. Yet with ALIEN: EARTH's score both honoring the eerie but unforgettable musical standards set by past franchise composers as Jerry Goldsmith, James Horner and Elliot Goldenthal and - like the TV series - establishing itself as an innovative and uniquely original masterpiece of suspense, space has never sounded scarier or more exhilarating.

Here now, my interview with Jeff about ALIEN: EARTH. Please be advised: there are a few spoilers for those who haven't seen the show.

Show logo designed by Matison Leblanc

Today’s show focuses on a unique event taking place this Saturday, May 30th at 1 PM Eastern/10 AM Pacific on Zoom: a table read, held by production outfit Noon Miracle, for the full-length screenplay of screenwriter Levi Alexander’s coming-of-age drama MIRIAM, released last year as an award-winning short film and starring newcomer Pearl Scarlett Gold as an Orthodox Jewish girl about to experience her life-defining bat mitzvah.

Yet when her growing love for skateboarding takes precedence over her Hebrew studies, Miriam’s parents - father Adam (played by Justin Kirk) and mother Lisa (played in the film by Amy Davidson and in this Saturday’s table read by Azizi Donnelly) must come to grips not only with their beliefs but also their daughter’s personal evolution.

Tickets to attend the virtual table read are available to purchase on Noon Miracle’s web site under the events tab, and that link will be made available in the notes for this week’s show.

Now I’m honored to welcome Pearl, co-star Roman Adolfo (who plays Miriam’s friend and fellow skateboarder Chris), Levi and Noon Miracle co-founder, actress, writer and filmmaker Jane Sibbett to talk about this extraordinary event and screenplay on the Viewfinder Podcast.

To purchase tickets to this Saturday's Zoom table read of MIRIAM, visit Noon Miracle's web site:

When your past dictates everything about your present, and when the past resonates through the life and memories of someone who made you into the person you are now, does the future portend opportunity or pain? Or maybe both?

Those questions are explored provocatively in the the compelling short film drama STUCK, as an Arab-American woman and activist (Dana, played by Dana Omar) is heavily burdened by the legacy of her revolutionary father, Saleh (played by Waseem Alzer), and by her desire to speak her truth - and that of the Palestinian people - before a world afflicted by ethnic hatred and violence. 

STUCK will premiere next Tuesday, April 14th in Chicago as part of the 25th annual Chicago Palestine Film Festival. The screening will take place at 8:30 PM at the Gene Siskel Film Center, and will be shown along with fellow short subject A SHORT FILM ABOUT A CHAIR prior to the feature film ONCE UPON A TIME IN GAZA.

STUCK is directed by acclaimed actor/writer/director Usman Ally, who last joined us to talk about his directorial debut EMIGRE/AMERICANA, and who now returns to our show to discuss this important film alongside Dana and Waseem. 

Find out more about STUCK on its official Instagram page:

In our Viewfinder this week is the award-winning short film Émigré/Americana, a story of an immigrant’s search for acceptance, respect and freedom in a country where those goals are rapidly becoming difficult if not entirely impossible to attain: the United States of America.

Written and directed by acclaimed actor Usman Ally, the film stars Omar Maskati as Saad, a Pakistani artist facing not only the overwhelmingly difficult process of becoming a legal U.S. citizen but also the horrific hatred and hostility experienced by immigrants across the country.

Up against the clock with little time to spare, Saad works with a federal immigration agent - Allan, played by Justin Kirk - to help him secure his asylum. As soon as he finds his needed paperwork for the procedure, however, Saad is brutally attacked at a subway station by a gang of anti-Muslim bigots, with onlookers filming the violence on their phones and no one intervening to break up the onslaught until a white activist named Mimi (played by Britt Baron) comes to Saad’s rescue, befriending him, healing him and readying him for his final push for citizenship.

As Saad welcomes Mimi’s assistance, his best friend Pooja (played by Mouzam Makkar) deals with her own struggles with life in America while also doubting Mimi and her intentions for Saad, and wondering if she sees him as a person worthy of her care and concern, or as just a powerless victim being taken advantage of by a so-called “white savior”.

With his dream of becoming an American within his reach, Saad fights not just for the chance to make a new beginning in the States, but also for something just as meaningful: the chance to belong.

Émigré/Americana is presently seeking funding on GoFundMe to help the short film become a full-length feature. Check out their campaign here:

Multi-hyphenate actor/writer/producer Todd Montesi joins The Viewfinder Podcast to talk about the surreal but innovative web series comedy PN AND FRIENDS, now in its final season.

Check out all episodes of the show on YouTube:

We ring in another year of great conversations with some of the world's most talented and most entertaining artists on this week's Viewfinder Podcast, and our first guest of 2026 is Chandler Dean, writer, comic and emcee of the outrageous argumentative stand-up comedy series Abolish Everything!, beginning its second season on January 29th exclusively on streaming service Nebula. 

On each episode, a hilarious group of stand-up performers and witty satirists advocate in front of a live audience for the absolute abolishment of what they consider to be life's most aggravating annoyances and irritating inconveniences: everything from porn, speaker phones and sports betting to dentists, couples, hot doctors, and even graduate school graduation ceremonies!

Challenging them and their incredible positions on those topics is a formidable panel of humorists (a.k.a. “the political establishment”), who fervently champion the status quo and question what they feel are the bizarre beliefs of the abolitionists. 

Kicking off every show is the unflappable Dean, delivering uproarious opening arguments for getting rid of his own pet peeves before serving as the enthusiastic ringmaster of this one-of-a-kind, critically acclaimed comedic showcase where being prepared is just as important as being funny.

Watch the show on subscription service Nebula:

While popular streaming platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu deliver countless choices for viewers, only a small percentage of the content on those services is made in Louisiana, and often such content portrays Louisiana and its people in an unbelievably stereotypical light. 

Working to dispel those stereotypes through authentic programming made by and for the Gulf South is a new streaming hub called the Indie South Network, a digital service whose diverse and growing library of entertainment exhibits some of the region's best independently produced movies and series, providing both an unrivaled showcase and an unequaled social ecosystem for the visionary filmmakers, actors and musicians that work and play in one of America's busiest and most fertile creative grounds.

Check out Indie South and its impressive content on its official website:

This week, our lens is focused on another amazing short film that was part of this year's lineup at the inaugural Baton Rouge Underground Film Festival: writer/director Cory St. Ewart’s frightening supernatural thriller Evangeline, a story that re-imagines the beloved character from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's classic 1847 poem as a rebellious youngster - played by newcomer Renee Reed - who yearns to flee from the daily abuse inflicted on her by her cruel father (portrayed by Hick Cheramie) after she frequently runs away to the Louisiana swamps that surround their rustic home. 

In those swamps lives one of the most fabled and most feared creatures believed to have ever roamed Cajun country: the gruesome and devilish werewolf known as the Rougarou. Summoned by the siren song of Evangeline, and hungering for his next prey, the Rougarou comes face to face with his innocent human counterpart, becoming both the key to Evangeline's future and the ultimate threat to her father's existence. 

Follow The Viewfinder Podcast on X @ViewfinderPod

Director Ritesh Gupta’s new movie The Red Mask is not just an entertainingly scary indie slasher but it's also a tribute to the classic chillers - like Halloween, Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street - that spooked and thrilled generations of horror lovers and filmmakers.

It's also an authentic representation of queer relationships, and an incredibly timely commentary on how toxic fandom and the “culture wars” in America have done immeasurable damage to present-day society. 

The Red Mask is about a struggling queer scribe - Allina, played by Helena Howard - whose next assignment is to rejuvenate a revered but dormant scream franchise in the fictional Red Mask series.

Overwhelmed by obscenely high expectations and high pressure from the studio, and repeatedly bullied and threatened by hateful fans online, Allina finds a change of scenery when she and her partner Deetz (played by Inanna Sarkis) retreat to a supposedly peaceful but very distant rental cabin. 

Unfortunately for both of them, two unexpected guests in Red Mask devotees Ryan (played by Jake Abell) and Claire (played by Kelli Garner) and a world of unimaginable evil turns their weekend of brainstorming and intimacy into a Hollywood nightmare that increasingly becomes all too real.

Ritesh Gupta joins me to tell the full story of how The Red Mask came to life on this week's Viewfinder Podcast.

Check out the trailer for The Red Mask here:

Part two of our review of the 2025 Louisiana Film Prize features two back-to-back interviews with the acting winners from this year’s event: from writer/director Alexander Jeffery’s The Old Man at The Bar, Best Actress honoree Abby Tozer, and Best Actor honoree from Girl Dad, Ty Hudson, who’s joined by wife/filmmaking partner Rachael Hudson. Ty wrote the movie and Rachael directed it. 

In The Old Man at The Bar, Abby plays a temperamental French waiter who along with her irritating co-worker (played by Noah Silver) becomes charmed by a kind yet mysterious senior citizen (played by Stan Brown from Jeffery’s 2015 Film Prize Best Picture winner The Bespoke Tailoring of Mister Bellamy) with a taste for rare wine and a bittersweet story all his own.

Ty Hudson won the 2025 Film Prize award for Best Actor for his emotional and touching performance in the father-daughter time travel drama Girl Dad as a man, Anthony, who experiences the happiness and troubles of parenthood on one special day with Emily, a daughter he’ll never meet - but one who teaches him that a father’s love endures in spite of both devastating loss and the unstoppable passage of time itself.

Girl Dad, and Ty’s performance in the film, is a tribute to both fatherhood and to the beautiful memory of the child that Ty and wife Rachael tragically lost themselves.

For more information on the Louisiana Film Prize and Prize Fest, visit:

This past October, the city of Shreveport, Louisiana again became Prize Port as the Louisiana Film Prize showcased another remarkable lineup of short films shot and produced in the Pelican State. This week and next week’s shows are dedicated to the 2025 edition of Film Prize, and you’ll hear exclusive interviews with this year’s honorees for its Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Actress awards. 

On today’s show, I’m joined by three members of the brilliant team behind Grand Prize-winning film Last Minute: writer/director Michael Cusumano, co-star/executive producer Charity Schubert and movie co-star Blayne Weaver. Set in 1989, the comedy stars Schubert as Jackie, a single mom whose procrastinating son Jason (played by Espyn Doughty in his movie debut) waits until - you guessed it - the last minute to work on a school project due the next day. 

Racing against the clock, and without easy access to any materials that can help them get it done faster, Jackie and Jason must depend on the generosity and knowledge of her neighbors - Georgia, a science expert (played by Moriah L. Hicks), her brother//rich source of useless trivia Brian (played by Donnovan Roe) - and on a more bittersweet note, Jackie’s ex-boyfriend Ken (played by Weaver). As night turns into morning, the exhausted mother/son pair discover the importance of teamwork - and the value of time.

Last Minute won the $50,000 grand prize at the 2025 Prize Fest, and in this interview, Michael, Charity and Blayne recall their unforgettable memories of not just their film’s victory but also the invaluable experience of Prize Fest itself - from meeting audiences and fellow artists to enjoying their work win over movie fans at a festival that’s celebrated the works and talents of some of  Louisiana’s best filmmakers and actors.

Find out more about Film Prize and PrizeFest at:

On this edition of the show I’m honored to be joined by two of the brilliant talents behind the spooky audio drama The Demonic Detective: its creator, Jason Brasier, and co-star Jonathan W. Robbins. The eight episode first season of the series is now streaming on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and various other platforms. 

Set in New Salem - or an alternate universe of Salem, Massachusetts in the 1940’s - and combining hard-boiled detective drama with supernatural chills in a retro old-time radio style, The Demonic Detective features Robbins as Jack Faust, a downtrodden detective who is, as Brasier describes him, “a detective who’s seen more than he'd like to and who drowns his sorrows in bourbon.”

His next case becomes a battle for both justice and his own survival when a childhood pal-turned nun - Madame Zola, played by Jillian Clare - seeks his assistance. Unfortunately for Jack, his soul and body will take on a ghoulish perversion when an evil spirit - Lilith, played by Shelley Waggener - consumes the normally grizzled detective.

Doomed to co-exist with that demon by a wicked group of witches dubbed The Coven, and with his reputation destroyed after a brutal split from his former partner, Detective Emmanuel Lawson (played by A Martinez), an emotionally wounded and demonically possessed Jack investigates a world of voodoo, corruption and curses in a town that may never overcome its own historical misfortune as the place where witches died and suspicion lived.

Completing the show’s incredible cast are Vanessa Leinani as the powerful coven leader Morogon Allistair, Jenique English as the high voodoo priestess Lady Boleyn, Chris English as her loyal assistant/protege Ezekiel Pendragon, Ryan Smith as the tortured ex-cop Giles Corey (among many other voices he performs on the show), and Ed Robinson as the crusading witch hunter Archibald Huxley. 

Find out more about The Demonic Detective on the show's web site:

Next week is Halloween, and fitting with the spooky nature of this show these past few weeks I now turn your attention to another chiller that's in the spotlight on this pre-All Hallow's Eve edition of the Viewfinder Podcast: writer/director Chris Maes’ suspenseful, scary and sometimes silly horror/thriller mash-up, Air Shift. 

The movie stars Ashlee Lawhorn as Lisa Richmond, a lonely, struggling overnight DJ at a failing community radio station managed by her overbearing jerk of a boss, Dwight Abbottson (played by Alex Diehl).

Lisa’s enthusiasm for indie rock and her love of radio keeps her going on the air while her romantic and job problems escalate off of it, but one night, she suddenly detours from spinning records to venting about her troubles, earning the attention of a new and ultimately dangerous listener in handsome John Bowen (played by Patrick Andrew Jones). 

Little does Lisa know that John is also a suspected serial killer, and when he sweet-talks his way into the station and onto the airwaves, he suddenly holds Lisa and her otherwise free-wheeling show hostage.

As the night progresses, Lisa tries to escape from her captor, but she and John discover that they are both targeted by a flesh-hungry, manic group of formerly normal nuclear waste excavators-turned zombies! Oh...did I mention that the station they’re trapped in was also built on top of an underground nuclear storage facility?

Even as Lisa and John fight for their own survival, sleazy record promoter Lonnie Rappalopoulis (played by Donald Imm, who also worked as one of the film’s art directors) unexpectedly demands a live on-air concert for his young pop star client, Sophie Severeid (played by Margarita Gamarnik).

Will her dulcet tones be enough to keep the zombies at bay? Will John’s reign of terror end with his well-deserved arrest? Will Lisa’s fortunes improve? Most of all…will these trapped characters survive the night?

I’m honored to welcome Chris Maes and Ashlee Lawhorn to talk about this incredible film on this week’s Viewfinder Podcast.

Buy or rent Air Shift on Amazon Prime:

Written and directed by Zandashé Brown, and co-starring Idella Johnson, Rhonda Johnson Dents, and Lance Nichols, the haunting and spiritually evocative supernatural thriller Benediction turns a desperate and grieving woman's search for emotional healing at a Black Baptist church service into an incredibly surreal experience that tests both her faith and her willingness to take her life in a challenging direction that she never imagined before.

Johnson plays the troubled visitor, Rosalee, while Nichols plays the church's charismatic pastor and Dents portrays the mysterious churchgoer who lures Rosalee into an extraordinary opportunity to release her agony for good.

Originally produced in 2022, and developed two years earlier at the Tribeca Chanel Women's Filmmaker Program, Benediction was shown this past August at the first-ever Baton Rouge Underground Film Festival, and on this week's show I'm honored to welcome Zandashé to talk about how this remarkable movie was created.

Find out more about Zandashé Brown and her films at her official web site:

On the last show, you heard my conversation with Casey Shaw, the writer/director of Almost Forgot How To Swim, which was recently shown at the first annual Baton Rouge Underground Film Festival as part of a block of Louisiana short films. 

Now, I'm honored to be joined by the star of that movie, multi-talented actor and musician Jahmiu Yakubu, who plays an emotionally struggling but successful rapper trying to get himself and his career on the right track following a painful breakup. It's a role based on similar events in Yakubu’s own life, which makes his performance in the movie all the more authentic. 

Almost Forgot How To Swim is not just the name of Shaw and Yakubu’s short film, but it's also the name of Yakubu’s album, with songs from that album heard throughout its movie counterpart. 

Yakubu and I discuss that interesting connection, as well as his preparation for playing his true-to-life character and his partnership with Casey Shaw on the film, here on The Viewfinder Podcast.

My series of conversations with some of the outstanding Louisiana-based filmmakers  whose shorts were recently seen at the inaugural Baton Rouge Underground Film Festival continues on this week's Viewfinder Podcast. My guest on the show is Casey Shaw, the writer/director of a fascinating and reflective character drama called Almost Forgot How To Swim. 

The movie, shot on 35mm analog film in Atlanta and produced by Casey's New Orleans-based studio Shawscope, stars actor/singer/songwriter Jahmiu Yakubu as a man trying to not only recover from the heartache of a failed romantic relationship, but also to rediscover his creativity and his purpose in a world that demands everything of him.

Almost Forgot How To Swim is also the name of an album written and performed by Yakubu, and some of his songs from that album are heard in Almost Forgot How To Swim, the movie. 

On our next show you'll hear more from Yakubu about his role in it, and how his own attempts to move on from a breakup influenced the character he plays and the experience he has in the film. 

Now, though, Casey Shaw joins me to discuss how this unique project jumped from script to screen, and how his production company is making celluloid cool in a digital world here on the Viewfinder Podcast.

For more information on Shawscope, visit the studio's web site:

Held for the first time this past August, the Baton Rouge Underground Film Festival presented an eclectic and entertaining selection of shorts and feature films made in the unmistakable indie spirit, with a significant number of them produced by and starring Louisiana-based talent.

For the next few weeks on this podcast, you'll hear from several of those extraordinary filmmakers and actors who brought the Pelican State to the big screen while telling unforgettable stories in the process.

My first guest in this special series is writer/director and Morgan City native Matison LeBlanc, whose compelling historical thriller Ada and The Doc takes a look at a nearly forgotten scandal that enthralled her hometown in 1927: the controversial murder trial of housewife Ada LeBeouf and her alleged accomplice Dr. Thomas Dreher, who allegedly helped Ada kill her abusive husband, Jim, while also being suspected of having an affair with her.

The trial concluded with a hastily decided yet historic verdict, albeit one rendered without a shred of physical evidence: Ada would be the first Louisiana woman sentenced to death for murder, while Dr. Dreher would also be executed for the same crime. 

Decades after the trial, LeBlanc prepared a full-length screenplay based on the extraordinary story of both Ada and Dr. Dreher as part of a class filmmaking project at the Georgia-based Savannah College of Art and Design.

Returning to Morgan City, LeBlanc and a team of actors and artists filmed a proof-of-concept short version of the screenplay, which premiered to high praise at this year's Cannes Film Festival and was recently seen at the inaugural Baton Rouge Underground Film Festival. 

As LeBlanc seeks funding to shoot Ada and The Doc in its complete form, the short subject will next be seen twice this coming weekend - Saturday, September 20th and Sunday, September 21st - in a special “double feature” program. 

The Saturday screening and post-film Q and A session will be held at the Teche Theatre for The Performing Arts in Franklin, Louisiana from 7-8:30 PM, while the Sunday showing will take place at the Manship Theatre in Baton Rouge from 4-5:30 PM alongside other great Louisiana short films as part of the “Her Lens: Louisiana Women In Film” event.

Ticket and location information for both screenings is available on Ada and The Doc’s social media pages, which you can find in the notes for this week's podcast. 

Ada and The Doc will also be shown at the Oscar-qualifying New Orleans Film Festival next month.

UPDATE: Ada and The Doc's screening at the New Orleans Film Festival will take place on Sunday, October 26th at 5:15 PM at the Prytania Theatre in Uptown New Orleans.

For more info on the film, visit its official web site:

The last time I had writer/director Creighton Hobbs join me on this show, he discussed his riveting drama Binded By Tragedy - a film about an ex-con’s desperate fight to escape from his dangerous criminal past.

Now with his latest feature, the chilling thriller A Way Out, he looks at a crisis that continues to threaten lives and marriages - domestic violence - in the story of a brave woman who’s determined to flee from her abusive and emotionally broken husband.  Alexis Baca plays the tormented wife, Megan, while Christian Fiorella portrays her menacing spouse John.

Also part of the film’s cast is Brent Peek (a.k.a. Alabama and Mississippi professional wrestler “Brym Stone” and the stunt coordinator for A Way Out). Brent plays John’s boss Liam, whose concerns for Megan’s safety increase as John’s rage towards the woman he supposedly loves reaches a calamitous zenith.

Rounding out the cast is Sandy Hoffman as Megan’s equally worried friend Sarah, who, like Liam, offers her not just an opportunity to free herself from John’s wrath but to begin a new, loving and happier life - a life without fear.

A Way Out will premiere soon on various streaming platforms, and it’s my honor to welcome Creighton, Christian and Brent to the show to discuss this important and potentially life-saving film. 

For updates on A Way Out, visit the film’s Facebook page:

This week, The Viewfinder Podcast welcomes writer/director Mike Nicholas, whose romantic comedy short film SEX DATE recently won both Best Film and a cash prize of $50,000 at the 2024 Louisiana Film Prize in Shreveport.

Follow The Viewfinder Podcast on X: @ViewfinderPod

Composer Elena Maro's unsettling avant-garde/jazz hybrid soundtrack for director Ferguson Sauvé-Rogan's 1950's-set drama Carriage Return powerfully surrounds the on-screen conflict between a lazy, writer's block-afflicted playwright Lane Williams (played by Jeremy Parr) and his outraged ex-writing partner Charlie Marlow (played by Carlos Sanchez), who accuses his former collaborator of stealing his creative ideas and using them for his most recent theatrical success in an angry confrontation that challenges the emotions - and the futures - of both men. 

As unpredictable as the film's storyline is, Maro's score for it is even more so, and its fusion of brass section and saxophone with non-big band jazz percussion and experimental sounds - including those that mimic the typewriter itself - brilliantly and hauntingly accompanies a movie where neither its characters nor the unusual situation they're stuck in are what they seem to be. 

Directed by Ferguson and written and produced by his brother Daniel - who also played bass guitar on Maro's score - Carriage Return premiered this past July at the LA Shorts International Film Festival in Los Angeles, and Maro's music from the movie is now streaming on various platforms.

(By the way, the movie is named after the “carriage return” key on a typewriter that allows you to go back to the far end of a page and begin typing new words.)

Find out more about CARRIAGE RETURN on its official web site:

Peer pressure. Bullying. Family troubles. The need to overachieve. Depressed and overwhelmed by these problems, many teenagers try to solve them not through therapy and medication but through illicit narcotics, alcohol, criminal recklessness, self-harm and, sadly, suicide. However, numerous organizations, parents, teen survivors of suicide attempts and mental health experts are combating the suicide crisis. 

So too are amazing filmmakers like our guest on this week’s Viewfinder Podcast, Ashley Rae Harper. Her award-winning short film RED, which she wrote, produced and directed, portrays the ordeal of an embattled adolescent - Billie, played by Chloe Hulgan - who’s hospitalized after her distraught mother and father find that she’s tried to end her life. While in treatment, Billie learns not just about the value of living but also about the value of seeking help for her problems - no matter how impossible they may be to solve.

RED is available to stream on Harper’s YouTube channel, and you can find the link to it in the notes for this week’s show. Before you watch it, though, please remember that it may be too triggering for certain audiences, and if you or someone you love is at risk of suicide, please call or text the 9-8-8 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline immediately at 9-8-8. That’s 9-8-8. They can help save your life and the lives of those you care about.

I’m honored to welcome Ashley Rae Harper to the Viewfinder Podcast to discuss this important project and how it will help both teens and their families.

Follow Ashley Rae Harper on Instagram:

Currently seeking funds for its production on IndieGoGo, the chilling horror film SHADOWS OF THE NIGHT is in the viewfinder on this week's show. Our guests: director/co-writer/co-producer Todd Braley, co-star/co-producer and indie horror film legend Debra Lamb, and co-writer/co-producer Itai Guberman.

For more information on how you can contribute to the film's IndieGoGo campaign, visit:

Today I'm honored to welcome actor and filmmaker Anike Tourse - the writer, director and co-star of AMERICA'S FAMILY, a new movie that probes America's harsh immigration policy and its impact on the country's undocumented immigrant community through the struggles and resilience of the Diaz family: a family whose lives are suddenly altered when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities arrest mother Marisol (played by Tourse) and deport one of her three sons, Koke (played by Ricardo Cisneros). 

Fearing deportation himself, Marisol’s husband and the family’s patriarch, Jorge (played by Mauricio Mendoza), turns to a local synagogue for shelter.

As Marisol, Jorge and Koke contemplate their futures, the Diazes’ second oldest son, lawyer Emiliano (played by Emmanuel Lopez Alonso) confronts both a cruel legal system and overwhelming bureaucracy as he fights to bring his mother, father and oldest brother home.

Once Koke is sent back to Mexico, the stage is soon set for his emotional reunion with his grandmother/Marisol’s mother (played by Dionicia Alvarado Hernandez).

Meanwhile the Diazes’ youngest sibling, Valentina (played by Jailine Arias) reaches out to the social media world for support and guidance as she and her family encounter the greatest crisis they've had to endure: one that proves both their emotional strength and their love for each other. 

America’s Family is now available to stream on various digital and on-demand platforms, and is also available on DVD. For more information on the film, including ways you can share it with your community and use it to campaign for immigrants' rights, visit its official web site at:

This week, I’m honored to welcome Sarah Beim, the creator of the new LGBTQ dystopian thriller cataclysm.begins.

Directed by Katherine Filiseta, the series is set in a world where a faceless but oppressive religious government called The Conclave mandates personal conformity and all but outlaws disagreement with its rule, the series - which is currently raising funds for its proof-of-concept pilot episode on Seed&Spark - co-stars Aria Martinez and Amiere A. Bell as queer teenage siblings Catalina and Xavien Maevery. 

After the death of their wealthy politician father, Catalina and Xavien are now tended to by his longtime colleague Helena Knightengale (played by Ami Sheth), a de facto parental figure to the siblings, and given her ties to the Conclave, a possible threat to their lives after a recording of a supposedly private quarrel between Catalina and Xavien regarding their civil rights is suddenly exposed.

Affected by both their sexuality and social class, Catalina, Xavien, Catalina’s friend Lennon (played by Bug Johnson), Xavien’s boyfriend Noah Archwell (played by Sam Vukic) confront the daily repression of their freedoms and their loves while attempting to survive an anti-government uprising that could liberate them if it succeeds - or make their suffering worse if it fails. 

Find out more about cataclysm.begins here:

Directed by Matthew Mishory, the emotional and picturesque documentary film Fioretta is both about a father and son’s incredible search for their family’s ancestry and about how that quest links both the generationally different men - and their heritage - in extraordinary ways. 

Mishory's cameras accompany avid genealogist and acclaimed lawyer Randol Schoenberg, who in 2004 represented Austrian refugee Maria Altmann as she sued her homeland's government for ownership of 5 beloved Gustav Klimt paintings that the Nazis robbed from her family before World War II. That case was dramatized in the 2015 film Woman in Gold, with Ryan Reynolds playing Schoenberg and Helen Mirren in the role of Altmann. 

Following Randy is his 18-year-old son Joey, a studying chef who prior to journeying with his father has little knowledge of or interest in investigating his family's 500 years-long history.

Their biggest objective: to learn about and discover the final resting place of their oldest relative, Fioretta - the wife of Rabbi Elijah Menachem Halfon, who in the 16th century was one of several rabbis consulted about the divorce between Henry VIII and his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. 

Both descendants of famed classical composer Arnold Schoenberg, Randy and Joey discover some of the most revealing facts about their family's past plus incredible physical evidence of their ancestors’ existence in several centuries-old artifacts during the present-day Schoenbergs’ visits to museums, cemeteries and other landmarks throughout Austria, the Czech Republic and Italy. 

Assisted by a knowledgeable and caring collection of local historians and family members, Randy and Joey learn not just about who they are and how their family's heritage has defined them but they also gain something equally valuable: a greater connection to themselves and their roots.

I'm honored to welcome Matthew and Randy to discuss Fioretta now on this week's Viewfinder Podcast. 

Find out more about Fioretta here:

Joining me on this week’s show are three of the brilliant minds behind the acclaimed fantasy web series REN: THE GIRL WITH THE MARK - co-creators Kate Madison and Christopher Dane, and showrunner Neil Oseman. 

The internationally popular series’ first season, which debuted in 2016 and has racked up as many fans as it has awards, is now approaching its second season with more adventures, more action, and a new actor (Oriana Charles) in the title role of an ordinary villager whose sudden scarring by an ancient spirit transforms her into both a powerful warrior and an enemy to her community.

In season 1, Sophie Skelton (who’s now starring in another hit fantasy series, OUTLANDER), played Ren, while Dane co-starred as Ren’s mentor Karn. Season 2 of REN will premiere sometime next year, and scripts for its third season are already being prepped.

Now on the Viewfinder Podcast, I’m honored to welcome Kate, Chris and Neil to discuss how the second season of this extraordinary project - produced and shot on a low budget like its first season but possessing amazingly high quality - was re-birthed after several years of dormancy.

Watch REN on YouTube:

For the third straight year, The Viewfinder Podcast is thrilled to bring you a recap of the annual Louisiana Film Prize. Held each October in Shreveport, and with a brilliant series of short films and filmmakers competing for the event's grand prize of $25,000, the 2023 edition of Film Prize again showcased the excellence and talent of the Pelican State's independent film community. 

In this year's top 5 films is CAUGHT ON TAPE, directed and co-written by Chris Alan Evans and Prize Fest veteran Alexander Jeffery, and co-starring Finnegan Collins as Finn, a teenager who constantly stumbles every time he tries to verbally express his feelings for his would-be girlfriend (played by Carolanne Adams). 

With his friends advising him that watching X-rated movies will boost his confidence, Finn discovers a well-hidden porno tape at the home of his dad (played by Evans). Though mesmerized at first, Finn ultimately learns that unlike the fake and way-too-mature sexual foreplay he watches on TV, there’s nothing that compares to real romance and human companionship. 

See more amazing indie short films, including several past Film Prize entrants such as PEEPING TODD and Jeffery's 2015 Prize-winning THE BESPOKE TAILORING OF MR. BELLAMY, on Crafty: