Explore every episode of the podcast SOUNDPROOF

In his "Essays" from 1580, Michel de Montaigne says "the essayist tries too figure out what he or she thinks about something based on personal experience."

I’m in love with a genre of filmmaking — the self-inscribed film, when filmmakers use the camera/pen to write their personal story cinematically.

In his Oscar awards acceptance speech, Ke Huy Quan said “To all of you out there,” pointing at the directly at the viewer, “please keep your dreams alive.”

LA Alfonso discusses film festival theory, Hot Docs 2023, cinematic notebooks and talks to filmmaker Max Mueller about his film "Entities with Knowledge."

A sudden detour into nonsense can cause someone to laugh; the getting of “laughs” is the motor that drives the nonsense in some early animations.

The word manifesto came from the Latin manu festus—“struck by hand,” it came from the tradition of proclamations, or edicts — a “change-writing” genre.

David Holzman's Diary (1967) pioneered the genre of the autobiographical documentary which inspired filmmakers to turn their camera on their own lives.

The Watermelon Woman by Cheryl Dunye looked at the concept of the archive, film scholar says it captures the politics, drama and spirit of the Archive.

Often labelled as subjective or objective, there is nonetheless a long tradition of reenactments in documentary films. Could there ever be objective truth in documentaries?

LA Alfonso adapts Martin Scorsese’s "I Said Marvel Movies Aren’t Cinema. Let Me Explain" into a soliloquy, is cinema dying? Thomas Flight weighs in, and David Lynch

George Lucas and Steven Spielberg may have started a big movement while sitting on a beach in Hawaii in the late 1970s while bulding a sandcastle together.

Swiss/Canadian filmmaker and video artist Peter Mettler, known for the film Picture of Light (1994) and many others, in an interview with Paul Spinrad [1], told him that his interest in live video mixing (VJing) grew naturally from the associative and improvisational […]

If we feel movies so much, how much of the film's effect is due to music? That's one question I want to explore in a new radio series produced live weekly.

Thomas Vaccaro is a circus coach, a circus performer, an artist, a husband, a father, a friend, and a mess... Find out how "circus saved his life."

Lester Alfonso unearths a recording of artist Michael Poulton answering some big questions about art and life as an #artist and it triggers a cascade of emotions.

While researching a film on the theme "Never Stop Learning," Lester Alfonso ends up meeting Dr. Carlyle Smith who may be able to see the future through his #dreams.

Filmmaker Peter Blow's current top film pick on the Criterion Channel is Night of the Hunter. He noticed an unexpected connection between the authors. #nightofthehunter

This is art according to musician Harry Manx in his own words and music. #harrymanx

Lester Alfonso searches his 500 Words Before Second Breakfast for Bowie. Plus, My Bowie Breakup, The Rock and Roll Terminator, and more. #davidbowie

Birthmark, Part Three #birthmark Richard Gere, Tina Turner, Billy Corgan - what do they all have in common? Lester Alfonso shares his talks with filmmaker Angel Hamilton and circus artist Victoria Wood who is a proud owner of three birthmarks.

Birthmark, Part Two #scriptclub Lester Alfonso takes a draft of his Birthmark radio play to Mysterious Entity's Script Club and a discussion ensues.

Birthmark, Part One #realasian Lester Alfonso recounts his experiences at Reel Asian Film Festival's "So You Think You Can Pitch?" competition 2014.