Episode 472
with Lindy West, Kirsten Johnson, and Leyla McCalla
Host Luke Burbank and announcer Elena Passarello talk movies this week, including some countlessly watched favorites; New York Times opinion writer and bestselling author Lindy West unpacks why she's known as the official hater of Love, Actually; filmmaker Kirsten Johnson comes to terms with the life, death, and legacy of her father through her Netflix documentary Dick Johnson is Dead; and folk singer Leyla McCalla brings the musicality of Langston Hughes' poetry to life with "Song for a Dark Girl" from her recently re-released album Vari-Colored Songs.
Lindy West
Author
Lindy West is a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times and the bestselling author of The Witches Are Coming and Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman. The latter was adapted for television as Hulu’s comedy TV series Shrill, for which West is a writer and executive producer. She is the co-founder of the reproductive rights destigmatization campaign #ShoutYourAbortion, and her work has been featured in This American Life, The Guardian, Cosmopolitan, GQ, Vulture, Jezebel, and elsewhere. West’s latest book, Shit, Actually: The Definitive, 100% Objective Guide to Modern Cinema, is at once a love letter and a break-up note--to the films that have shaped and ruined us. Website • Twitter
Kirsten Johnson
Filmmaker
Kirsten Johnson is a documentary filmmaker and cinematographer. She was a cinematographer for the film Citizenfour, about Edward Snowden and the NSA spying scandal, and she both directed and produced the acclaimed 2016 film Cameraperson, an autobiographical collage of footage from her decades of experience as a documentary cinematographer. Since 2016, Johnson has been a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). Her latest film, Dick Johnson is Dead, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2020 and earned an award for innovative nonfiction storytelling. Website • Watch
Leyla McCalla
Singer
Leyla McCalla is a classical and folk musician deeply influenced by traditional Creole, Cajun, and Haitian music, as well as by American jazz and folk. Originally known as a cellist for the Grammy Award-winning string band the Carolina Chocolate Drops, McCalla’s debut solo album, Vari-Colored Songs: A Tribute to Langston Hughes, was named 2013’s Album of the Year by the London Sunday Times and Songlines for its haunting mixture of music and message. Since then, she has released the solo albums A Day For The Hunter, A Day For The Prey (2016) and The Capitalist Blues (2019), in addition to collaborating with Rhiannon Giddons, Amythyst Kiah, and Allison Russell on the project Songs of Our Native Daughters. McCalla’s current project is the multidisciplinary performance Breaking the Thermometer to Hide the Fever, which combines Haitian music, storytelling, dance, video projections, and audio recordings to explore the legacy of Radio Haiti-Inter, Haiti’s first privately owned Creole-speaking radio station. Website • Twitter • Spotify