EXCLUSIVE: The American Cinematheque is launching its own podcast, hosted and exec produced by the arts nonprofit’s Artistic Director Grant Moninger, which will premiere April 2.
The American Cinematheque Podcast will be a weekly interview series celebrating American Cinematheque’s year-round film festival programming by inviting filmmakers to program the “film festival of their lives” through the lens of their most memorable moviegoing experiences.
Blending an interview format with a game-show element, the show asks each guest to revisit the theaters, screenings and cinematic moments that shaped their love of movies. From movie palaces to art houses and from multiplexes to microcinemas, guests recount stories of sneaking into a life-changing screening, the theater they frequented as a kid, or the moment they felt the collective energy of an audience erupt in laughter or gasp in unison. The first two episodes, featuring Edgar Wright and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You‘s Mary Bronstein, will be released together on the 2nd. Check out a trailer by clicking above.
Both video and audio versions of the podcast will be released weekly on Thursdays, on YouTube and all major podcast platforms. An interactive version will also be available on the show’s website. Other guests slated to appear include Franklin Leonard, Larry Karaszewski, Karyn Kusama, Walter Murch, Samy Burch, Noah Segan, BenDavid Grabinski, Patton Oswalt, Danny DeVito, Tatiana Maslany, and Sean Fennessey, with more to be announced.
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“This show celebrates the ‘going’ in ‘going to the movies,’” Moninger told Deadline. “The theatrical experience creates deep personal memories that are forever tied to the films we saw and who we were and who we were with at the time we watched them. It might have been a wild adventure with friends, a first date, a tender moment with family, or a solo trip to a matinee to see an unknown film that left a lasting impression long after you left the seats. I am incredibly excited to speak with filmmakers and special guests while they share these memories and program the film festival of their lives.”
In addition to Artistic Director of the American Cinematheque, Moninger is known as the creator and co-founder of the Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair festival, co-founder of Beyond Fest at the American Cinematheque, as well as the creator of festivals and programs like Friend of the Fest, Sunday Print Edition, Transcendental Appointments and Ultra Cinematheque 70. During his time at the American Cinematheque, he has overseen and guided the organization’s rebrand and resurgence to an unprecedented 1,600+ screenings per year as well as its expansion into global film programming.
Moninger became known for curating off-the-wall cinema series such as A Tribute to Cocaine: Hollywood’s Greatest Stunt Horse, Coma-Con: A Celebration of Commas, Written by A.I. – A Tribute to Screenwriter A.I. Bezzerides, Hello, I’m Troy McClure, Film By The Foot, and Auteurs Go-Go Groovy! New Old Hollywood during his previous stint as American Cinematheque’s Director of Programming.
The American Cinematheque Podcast is executive produced by Moninger alongside producer Victoria Alejandro and video producer Mike Cuenca.