Bond on Cinema

Writer/Director Natalia Garcia Agraz gives us the incredible backstory of her short film PASSARINHO

My guest today is filmmaker Natalia Agraz, who trained photographer as well as a director and screenwriter. She directed the short film El último Romántico in 2019, which was nominated for the 2019 Student Academy Awards and Ariel Awards. The film screened at over 60 international festivals, including the Tribeca Film Festival, the Los Angeles Film Festival, and the Morelia International Film Festival. 
As a screenwriter, she has worked on feature films and series for Netflix, Amazon, and HBO, including Mentidas: La serie, which broke records in 2025 as the most-watched Amazon Prime series in Mexico.   She recently directed the short film PASSARINHO, which has been part of the official selections at Tribeca, Guadalajara, and others, and has won awards at the Chicago International Film Festival, FSF Munich, and Palm Springs ShortFest.
And now is an official selection at the HollyShorts Film Festival.  Passarinho was also nominated for the 2025 Student BAFTA Awards and the Ariel Awards.  Let’s welcome filmmaker Natalia Agraz and her newest short film PASSARINHO to the show.
Ladies and gentlemen, Olivia and Laura, two 13-year-old girls, have a plan to get the autograph of Passarinho, a Brazilian soccer legend. However, before they can put the plan into action, Olivia gets her first period. The acting is authentic as you feel and see every emotion in every shot.
The cinematography is wonderful as it has the look and feel of real film. The colorization of the short film is impressive and I can’t wait to see how far PASSARINHO will go this film festival season.
#shortfilm #filmmaker #filmmaking #filmdirector #menstrualcycle #menstruation #soccer #futbol #mexico #cinephile #cinema #cinematography #filmproduction #studientfilm 

Arthur Von Wiesenberger's Delightful ANIMALZONE Series: Highlighting Animals and Pets from Around the World

Arthur von Wiesenberger, an award-winning Executive Producer and Host of AnimalZone, the nationally syndicated television series that celebrates the powerful bond between humans and animals.
Since its debut in 2018, AnimalZone has spotlighted hundreds of rescue stories, nonprofit sanctuaries, and wildlife initiatives across the globe, earning honors from the Ponza Film Awards, Accolade Global Film Competition, and The Telly Awards.
Animal Zone is to provide a platform for animal shelters, welfare experts, and volunteers to share their stories, struggles and successes. Through our show, we hope to inspire more people to take action and make a difference in the lives of animals in need.
#pets #animals #dogs #cats #birds #tvseries #tvshow #filmmaker #film #filmmaking #filmdirector #animalrescue

Filmmaker Ruairi Bradley Discusses his short film WE BEG TO DIFFER: The Community of Diffing

In the underground world of diffing, a community finds solace in their passion, as they navigate personal struggles and challenges both on and off the road.
Ladies and gentlemen, in the underground world of diffing, a community finds solace in their passion, as they navigate personal struggles and challenges both on and off the road.
This film isn’t about cars doing donuts in the streets or in a closed off area. This film is really about mental health. 
There are areas like Ireland for example where the suicide rate is higher than other parts of the world. Young people today are looking for constructive outlets to unleash their passion for the things they like, to blow off steam and to focus on something besides the problems they may or may not be facing. 
The short film WE BEG TO DIFFER opens the conversation even more about mental health and what can be done to lower suicide rates in young people.
#drifting #diffing #automotive #carculture #ireland #irish #film #shortfilm #filmmaker #filmmaking #filmdirecting #passion #mentalhealth #community #youngpeople

Actress Meredith Thomas Talks New Role in ALIWOOD & the State of Hollywood Today

Meredith Thomas, who’s acting career began with a role “Pleasantville” as a teenager. She hasn't stopped working in film and television since.
Meredith is known as the quirky blonde beauty with girl-next-door charm and wit, it's no wonder she has become a television movie favorite. She is second only to Vivica A. Fox in the number of Lifetime Television Movie appearances.
Ladies and gentlemen, "Aliwood," is a groundbreaking short-form series featuring Iranian-American actor and writer Ali Zahiri. 
The series, which aims to break the mold of Middle Eastern storytelling, has been a remarkable journey for all involved. 
"Aliwood" brings together a talented cast, Meredith Thomas, who shares her delightful experience working alongside Ali Zahiri.
Despite the challenges indie short-form series face in competing against network giants, Meredith is proud of the bold choice to champion an independently produced project.
#hollywood #actress #filmmaker #filmproducer #aliwood #miniseries #shortfilm #shortfilms #acting #actor #cinema #filmmaking #filmdirector

Hamid Castro's Independent Film LAKE GEORGE Shows Brilliant Elements of Tarantino and Scorsese - The Interview

My guest today is a self-taught, first-generation Colombian-Iranian filmmaker Hamid Castro. He was an NYU business graduate and former celebrity trainer in Manhattan.
Hamid made a bold transition into filmmaking driven by raw determination and a love for storytelling. He wrote, directed, produced, and starred in his debut feature film, LAKE GEORGE, a raw and gritty, psychological thriller inspired by true events.
Hamid Castro fully self-financed the film with over $2 million of his own money and launched it independently, including a sold-out red carpet premiere at AMC Lincoln Square. His work reflects a deep connection to New York culture, real-life intensity, and a fearless independent filmmaking spirit.
Ladies and gentlemen, Hamid Castro’s feature film LAKE GEORGE is fast-moving, raw, gritty, tension-filled crime drama. Four years after a heist gone wrong, two childhood friends, Rio and Psych, are thrust into a high-stakes journey.
When Psych discovers his imprisoned father is being held for ransom with only 24 hours to pay $100,000, the pair embarks on a desperate mission to secure the funds. With the clock ticking and tensions rising, the two friends must navigate a series of wild and harrowing events, testing their loyalty, resilience, and the limits of their morality. As the story crescendos to a shocking finale, Lake George explores themes of friendship, sacrifice, and the blurred lines between right and wrong in a world driven by desperation. Hamid gives no secrets away in this film.
Each scene is a surprise and the audience has no clue where and how it will end. This is one of the very few films I have ever seen where you never figure out the why and how until it is revealed at the very end. In today’s world of moviemaking, even the most famous directors in the world don’t make us wait, so much praise to Hamid Casto for his instincts and raw determination to tell the story his way.
The cinematography is raw, dark, gritty, and the use of shadows and the colorization of the film plays a huge role in guiding the audience’s emotion from beginning to end. 
#featurefilm #filmreview #filminterview #interview #film #filmmaking #filmmaking #filmdirector #actor #screenplay #newyorkcity #friendship #betrayal #cinema #bondoncinema #cinematography 

Producer Steve Taylor Talks SKETCH: The NEW Live-Action 3d Animated Feature Film

My guest today is both a Grammy nominated recording artist and a Billboard Music Video Award winning filmmaker.
He began a career as a recording artist that has spanned decades and garnered him two Grammy nominations for "Meltdown" and "Squint." 
In the process, he made history as the only artist to twice win Billboard Music Video Awards for self-directed music videos. 
Steve also fronted the MCA-signed alternative rock band Chagall Guevara, who were first introduced on the soundtrack to the movie "Pump Up The Volume." 
Among his many credits as a music video director, his best-known for Sixpence None The Richer's "Kiss Me." 
His filmmaker resume as a writer/director includes "The Second Chance" for Sony, and "Blue Like Jazz," based on Donald Miller's New York Times bestselling memoir, which premiered at the South By Southwest Film Festival and won the 2013 Wilbur Award for Best Feature Film, joining past winners "Schindler's List," "Dead Man Walking," and "The Help." He's the producer of two upcoming feature films: "Sun Moon" for Sony Affirm; and SKETCH starring two-time Emmy winner Tony Hale of "Arrested Development" and "Veep" fame. SKETCH, the live-action 3D animated feature film is our topic of discussion today. 
Ladies and gentlemen, when a 10-year-old girl’s sketchbook takes a dip in a mysterious forest pond, her comically imaginative drawings spring to life, and they’re not exactly friendly. As these scribbled monsters wreak havoc, it’s up to her family to come together, face the madness, and somehow save the day. 
Everyone who sees SKETCH is going to be like me and beg for a sequel. Wreaking havoc with humor is the type of films we need in our lives. 
For many of us, SKETCH brings back the days of The Goonies and Stand By Me. You’ll pick up a bit of Stranger Things, but SKETCH not only puts a smile on your face, it paints it on your face. 
The mixture of live action and 3D animation is of the highest quality. The cast with Tony Hale, D’Arcy Carden and the band of Bianca Belle, Kue Lawrence and Kalon Cox are the perfect trio to help us relive our imaginations when we were children. 
Come on, how many of you dreamed of your drawings and doodles would come to life. And if they did what would you do? 
SKETCH also covers single widowed fatherhood in a way that is authentic, moving and heartfelt. It’ll help all of us dads to be better fathers and being their for our kids, regardless how old they are. 
SKETCH gets a 5 star Reel of Approval from Bond on Cinema and thank you Steve for sharing this film with me today. 
Ladies and gentlemen, you can catch all of the Bond on Cinema interviews at BondonCinema dot com. Check out our Prime Show, our YouTube Channel and you can listen to us on your way to work on Spotify, iTunes, Audible and more. 
Thank you for watching and you’ll either see me at the movies or on the red carpet.
#animation #3danimation #animated #liveaction #film #featurefilm #angelstudios #familyadventure #monsters #doodles #filmmaking #filmmaking #filmproducer #billboardmusic #filmdirector 

Actress Ashton Solecki's Lead Role in ROSWELL DELIRIUM to Season Regular on ELKHORN

My guest today is actress Ashton Solecki is a rising force in film and television, known for her grounded intensity and magnetic screen presence. 
Originally from Montana, Ashton took an unconventional path to the screen—trading a background in neuroscience and product management to pursue a creative life both in front of and behind the camera. 
Her roles showcase both emotional depth and fearless range, and is quickly emerging as a talent to watch.
Her breakout performance in the feature film ROSWELL DELIRIUM—now streaming on Apple TV—earned her multiple acting awards and contributed to the film’s sweeping success, with over 100 awards at festivals worldwide. 
Ashton currently stars as the mysterious villainess and a series regular at the heart of ELKHORN, a cable western drama now renewed for its second season on the Inspiration Channel, premiering in October 2025. 
Her recent film THE DARKNESS RETURNS set buzz to Cannes Film Festival this year, and is set for the film festival circuit this fall. 
#film #cinema #tvseries #elkhorn #roswell #roswelldelirum #actress #actor #actorlife #audition #auditioning #bondoncinema #cannes #cannesfilmfestival #area51 

Virginia Root's short DEAD WEIGHT: Surviving the End of the World Comes with an Unexpected Guest

My guest today is writer/director Virginia Root. 
In 2024, she won the George R.R. Martin Screenwriting Competition with her sci-fi pilot Deserters, received a grant from the non-profit New Mexico Writers, and became a Stowe Story Lab fellow in the New Mexico New Voices program. 
Virginia’s original pilot scripts, The Sisters Morrigan and Deserters, were second-round finalists at the Austin Film Festival in 2021 and 2023, respectively.
Virginia is a Telly Award-winning commercial director; the spot she wrote and directed for the New Mexico Summer Food Program was awarded a Silver Telly in 2025.
Her short film, DEAD WEIGHT, premieres at Dances with Films: this month in LA. And DEAD WEIGHT is our topic for discussion today and what a topic it is. 
Ladies and gentlemen, Grace (ALEXANDRA RENZO), a solo female backpacker, unwittingly survives an apocalyptic event while in the wilderness. She resolves to live out the rest of her days in peace until she encounters Aaron (GRIFFIN NEWMAN), a fellow survivor with a very different take on the end of the world.
DEAD WEIGHT is one of those few films in which it places the audience in the shoes of the characters. Yes, you will be thinking from the start, “What Would I Do?” - And that’s a great question to ask yourself. 
I hope the world doesn’t end with a nuclear blast or a plaque without a cure, but you should view DEAD WEIGHT with a positive mindset and even a bit of inspiration to toughen up. Learn how to stand on your own two feet. 
I know I view film much differently than my fellow critics, but films bring different outlooks and messages for the audience to ponder and DEAD WEIGHT does that. 
Virginia Root has brought us a bit of learning experience, but it also opens up more conversations about life and death, and what would you do to survive. 
Be on the lookout for DEAD WEIGHT on the film festival circuit and make sure you are seated in the theater to watch this film. Believe me, it’ll leave a lasting impression on you, just as it did me. 
#shortfilm #shortfilms #film #cinema #endoftheworld #apocalypse #survival #thriller #suspensethriller #cinematography #storytelling #filmmaking #filmmaker #filmdirector  

Actress Arielle Bodenhausen Goes from Dancer to Actor in Hollywood

Actress and dancer Arielle Bodenhausen's Hollywood journey began through the art of dance. Originally from the Midwest, her passion for movement inspired a bold move to California, where she transitioned from dancer to actor.
Arielle began her acting career in a series of short films, which ultimately led to her breakout role as Wendy, a lead character in the feature film Roswell Delirium. She can also be seen in the latest season of Physical on Apple TV, and starred as Daniela in Disappearing Boy in 2024.
When she's not in front of the camera, Arielle continues to channel her creativity behind the scenes—producing and choreographing for TV, film, and music videos.
ROSWELL DELIRIUM is being relaunched and you can watch it now on Apple TV+ and Prime Video. ROSWELL DELIRIUM is based in the 1980s. The US is hit by a wave of nuclear attacks, and after the fallout those who remain pretend like everything is normal even though they are all experiencing radiation poisoning.
A young girl named Mayday tries to make contact on a series of ham radios with her father who is in space on a shuttle mission. Instead of making contact she receives a inter-galactic distress call from space that leads her on a journey to Spacerock, the land where Area 51 once was. For the rest of the story, watch the film.
#actor #actress #actorlife #acting #audition #selftapes #selftapeaudition #film #featurefilm #shortfilm #dancer #dance #choreographer #cinema #cinephile #roswell #area51 #roswelldelirium

Director Deborah Correa & Writer Ron Yungul discuss their new feature film THE WAR BETWEEN

THE WAR BETWEEN  is set in the Arizona Territory during the early days of the Civil War, THE WAR BETWEEN is a survival Western, that follows a Union soldier with no memory, a paroled Confederate private, and an exiled Chiricahua Apache as they navigate the unforgiving desert and confront the beliefs that divide them.
Many of you know that I love period films and heavily character-driven films and with THE WAR BETWEEN, we get both. 
Watching two men with opposing views, backgrounds is a tug-o-war happening in real time on screen. As each scene moves by, there are little subtle secrets that you have to find or they will be revealed to you later. This is the beauty of Ron Yungul’s storytelling and Deborah Correa’s directing. 
You can’t beat the backdrop of the beauty of the desert, a wide open space that becomes very small when we are solely focused on two characters who don’t like each, but deep down they need each other. 
Add the Chiricahua Apache Indian and you see the element of wisdom show up in flesh and blood. Amazing what one can learn from a passing stranger. 
When THE WAR BETWEEN becomes available to the public, you need to see it. Again, you can’t beat great storytelling and as I always say, we need more character-driven films and THE WAR BETWEEN checks off all the boxes.
#western #westernfilm #civilwarfilm #unionsoldier #confederatesoldier #apacheindians #film #cinema #bondoncinema #featurefilm #newfilm #filmfestival #filmmaking #screenwriter #filmmaker #filmdirector #filmproducer