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Hello, the great C. Derick Varn interviewed me and @tonyjballas.bsky.social about our podcast @coldwarcinema.com. (unfortunately, @ptklein.com wasn't able to make it this time.) History, Propaganda, and Left-Wing Film Analysis. www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKhP...

The @coldwarcinema.com podcast is a consistently good listen & this episode’s no exception. Been interested in Robert Kramer’s films & their almost complete erasure from contemporary cinema ever since l touched on him in my book REVOLUTION IN 35mm. This new book on him sounds fascinating.

This conversation was incredibly enlightening, and I think listeners will get a lot out of it. Check it out! coldwarcinema.com/site/bonus-r...

New bonus episode is live! @jasonachristian.bsky.social interviews Whitney Strub about his new book, Films That Explode Like Grenades: Robert Kramer and the Search for a Radical Cinema, just published by University of Chicago Press. Check it out! coldwarcinema.com/bonus-robert...

+ My 282nd #ScholarSunday thread of public scholarly writing & work, podcast episodes, new & forthcoming books from the past week. Add more below, share as widely as possible, & enjoy, all! 🗃️ + blackwhiteandread.com/scholarsunda...

Be the life of the party. Invite folks over to watch Dr. Strangelove, then show them Fail Safe instead. Get's 'em every time. youtu.be/MIb9VTOa5NU?...

I need to watch this version at some point, even though I’m a massive fan of the 1978 film.

While lying here unable to sleep ‘Fail Safe’ is great for also depicting the ‘Big Board’ at HQ NORAD in Colorado Springs (or it could be SAC in Omaha. The entire philosophy behind pulling in all the available information and centralising decision making is exposed in this film.

We’re back on @coldwarcinema.com looking at Sidney Lumet’s eerily salient, troubling prescient, and deeply bleak masterpiece Fail Safe. It’s a dark vision of a world on edge, run by men so in awe of their ingenuity and technology that they cannot fathom that warmongering makes us all less safe. 🎧:

@gvaughnjoy.bsky.social wrote about a great Lumet film this week as well! blackwhiteandread.com/unlimited-re...

Absolutely brilliant film, and I also have a new account to follow on my favourite type of movie. No spoilers, if you haven’t seen this please do so. There is a remake, but watch the original. Henry Fonda plays the president, Larry Hagman his translator and Walter Matthau as a defence expert.

New episode, and I think you guys are gonna like it. We get into Lumet’s film career, the discourse around nuclear paranoia and machine-based warfare, and US imperial hubris, among other themes. Check it out! coldwarcinema.com/s2-ep-14-fai...

New episode is live! We discuss Sidney Lumet's 1964 film FAIL SAFE, a powerful (and bold) independent Hollywood production that paints a horrific picture of a potential nuclear war. LINK: coldwarcinema.com/s2-ep-14-fai...

I have no idea why, but @coldwarcinema.com is number 3 in film history in Hong Kong on Apple’s chart. Thank you to the good people of Hong Kong! You will be happy to know that I watched a Ringo Lam film just last night.

A little more to say on this here, and even more on the next episode of @coldwarcinema.com.

I said something similar to this, though briefer, in our latest @coldwarcinema.com episode, which will be out soon. Fantastically well put, @jasonhickel.bsky.social

So much of Ford’s work is about national reconciliation or unification, but The Searchers is a moment where he grasps the darkest parts of the America and wonders if it’s ever possible to reconcile the irreconcilable. We spoke on @coldwarcinema.com about this skeleton key for understanding America:

People are going to want to tune into this new episode of @coldwarcinema.com with our friend and comrade Taylor R. Genovese. It’s a very good discussion, and I learned a lot! coldwarcinema.com/s2-ep-13-iva...

I had a fantastic time talking with comrades @jasonachristian.bsky.social, @tonyjballas.bsky.social, and @ptklein.com about one of my favorite films! Check it out and follow @coldwarcinema.com!

In the ep, I mention the aesthetic bookending shots from Ivan's Childhood (Tarkovsky's first film) and The Sacrifice (his last). Here's a side-by-side (or, I guess, top-to-bottom) that shows how precise of a filmmaker he was. www.instagram.com/reel/DXxJyjL...

New episode is live! We invited our friend and comrade Taylor R. Genovese to help us discuss Andrei Tarkovsky’s debut feature film Ivan's Childhood (1962), Tarkovsky’s aesthetic vision, the concept of “toska,” the Great Patriotic War, and more! Link below: coldwarcinema.com/s2-ep-13-iva...

I speak more about this over on the @coldwarcinema.com episode on this film. If America is so good at keeping us down, maybe the best we can hope for is a material existence in the afterlife. coldwarcinema.com/s2-ep-6-pick...

New episode of @coldwarcinema.com drops this weekend, so stay tuned! Here’s a hint ⬇️

Heads up, @coldwarcinema.com listeners! @tonyjballas.bsky.social and I will be joining C. Derick Varn on his YouTube channel The Varn Vlog to discuss our podcast, Cold War history, propaganda, nuclear anxiety and more. The episode drops on July 7. Tune in! www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKhP...

After a life-changing visit to Cuba this week, I got inspired to write an essay about the documentary filmmaker Santiago Álvarez, the brutal US embargo, and the Cuban people's revolutionary resilience. I hope people enjoy it! notesonradicalcinema.substack.com/p/movie-watc...

“But the best of Cuban cinema is complex and nuanced, not the one-dimensional didacticism imagined by detractors, and the creators always prioritize aesthetic concerns…” A terrific read from @coldwarcinema.com’s @jasonachristian.bsky.social on his recent visit to Cuba.

Today is Victory Day, a celebration of the victory of the Soviet Union over Nazi Germany (in 1945), ending the Great Patriotic War. (We call the war WWII in the US). Check out our episode of @coldwarcinema.com on Ballad of a Soldier, a film set during the war. coldwarcinema.com/s2-ep-9-ball...

Vernon, Greenfield #30 📻🎶 THIS WEEK FEATURES: the usual freeform mix of music from me, DJ TY ➕ The Poet's Seat w/ Michael Earl Craig ➕ Film Rec of the Week w/ @jasonachristian.bsky.social www.mixcloud.com/vernongreenf...

Our radical cinema educational project, Resistance Cinema, was covered by a local magazine here in Atlanta. voyageatl.com/interview/co...

Oh man, just learned that the great cinema illustrator Tony Stella has died. Tony once created a portrait of Nick Nolte to accompany a piece I wrote for @brightwalldarkroom.com on Paul Schrader’s Affliction. RIP. www.brightwalldarkroom.com/2019/11/22/t...

ICYMI: our episode with the literary critic Ryan Ruby on New German Cinema, doomed adventurism, David Bowie's Berlin, Fassbinder, Kluge, the decline of the European left, and more! coldwarcinema.com/bonus-new-ge...

New episode just dropped 👇

New bonus episode of @coldwarcinema.com is live! We had the critic Ryan Ruby on to discuss New German Cinema, the Red Army Faction, and the cultural history of post-war Berlin. This is an excellent discussion. I learned a lot, and I think you will too. Link below: coldwarcinema.com/bonus-new-ge...

It was truly a pleasure to discuss Jean Renoir's GRAND ILLUSION with @cinemaroni.bsky.social on her podcast Seeing Faces in the Movies. Link below: seeingfacesinmovies.com/episodes/gra...

I started a newsletter called Notes on Radical Cinema and wrote a brief introduction. I plan to write short, irregular dispatches on what I'm viewing and reading. I'd love some subscribers, and please spread the word! notesonradicalcinema.substack.com?r=47j0o&utm_...

Huge, huge thanks to everyone who listens to @jasonachristian.bsky.social, @tonyjballas.bsky.social, and I over on @coldwarcinema.com every few weeks. It’s so rewarding to share these movies and to have conversations about how and why movies and history matter.

Hello! I would like to express my gratitude to the listeners of @coldwarcinema.com. Our podcast is currently the 40th most downloaded film history pod on Apple in the United States, and 72nd in the UK. Lots of great episodes on deck, so stay tuned! rephonic.com/charts/apple... coldwarcinema.com

Fantastic company to be in! Thanks for the shout out, @historyonfilm.bsky.social!

Essential listening

The latest @coldwarcinema.com podcast is fascinating listening to anyone interested in aspects of materiality and Cold War film history. @alicelovejoy.bsky.social provides upon layer of observations about everything from the extractive industries in the former Congo to evolution of fabric making.

Presenting a talk this weekend called "Radical Education and Revolutionary Praxis through Cinema" with Ankita Rathour (my wife) at the 2026 South Asian Literary Association Conference. Excited!

Thank you to @jasonachristian.bsky.social and @ptklein.com @coldwarcinema.com for a wonderful conversation!

This was a really great interview, and I learned so much. I think listeners will get a lot out of this conversation and Alice Lovejoy's book that prompted it. Check it out! coldwarcinema.com/bonus-interv...

New episode is live! We invited the film historian Alice Lovejoy (@alicelovejoy.bsky.social) to discuss her new book, Tales of Militant Chemistry: The Film Factory in a Century of War, and the political economy of film production and its connection to imperialism. coldwarcinema.com/bonus-interv...

In Tales of Militant Chemistry: The Film Factory in a Century of War, @alicelovejoy.bsky.social exposes the chemical connections between movie magic and the materials of war. Over on @coldwarcinema.com, we ‘re chatting with Alice about her book and the dark side of the dream factory:

EMILE DE ANTONIO'S COLD WAR COUNTERCULTURE 📽️ Coming to the Criterion Channel in April! bit.ly/4sT3sNR

Anti-imperialism should be the foundation of your politics. If it isn't, you need to study more.

I really enjoyed this.