Bond on Cinema

Filmmaker Carol Polakoff's Feature Film SPEAK SUNLIGHT: Leaving a Part of One's Self in Another While Seeking Forgiveness of Past Wrongs

Ladies and gentlemen, Carol Polakoff’s SPEAK SULIGHT is a beautiful story that you must see. After 30 years in exile, a couple return to their homeland. Manolo and Maruja work as butler and cook/nanny at the Jolis diplomatic residence in Paris. 
Alanito,15, considers the kitchen his spiritual home, where he can laugh, misbehave, get a shot of port or a puff of a cigarette from Maruja. She adores and spoils him while his parents entertain scores of guests, paying him little attention. 
Maruja receives life-altering news that leads to a return to Spain after 30 years. In the blink of an eye, they are on a train to Pamplona. It’s the time of De Gaulle, Franco, and the Beatles. Secrets are uncovered, courage summoned, and at the end of the summer everyone is changed.
SPEAK SUNLIGHT is type of film that cinema needs right now. Stories of family, with past stories to uncover that have shaped the characters present and that will shape their future.
Everything about this film is beautiful. The story, the acting, the dialogue and even the cinematography and coloring as it all works together in a synergistic dance of real life, love and loss. Again, it is a must see picture.
Writer/director Carol Polakoff. After working as a photojournalist in Jerusalem, Carol pursued graduate studies at the London International Film School.
Her multi-award-winning documentary CUBA: In the Shadow of Doubt won the Golden Hugo at the Chicago Film Festival. Her television work has been nominated for numerous Emmys and has received two Director's Guild Awards.
Her documentary, In Our Lifetime, was honored by the Israeli Government and the Palestinian Authority and she was invited to act as a U.N. observer in the first Palestinian Elections in 1996. She produced the Israeli feature The Death of My Father and Cinema, Too, which was in Official Competition at Cannes in 2020. Carol was also a producer on the Academy Award-nominated Tell it like a Woman.
Her newest feature film, the wonderful SPEAK SUNLIGHT, set majorly Pamplona in 1965, follows the life of American writer Alan Jolis as he awakes to a vivid sensual world and grows up emotionally.
#filmmaking #speaksunlight #spanishfilm #spain #paris #france #growingup #adolescence #filmmaker #filmdirector #filmproduction #storytelling #legacy #family #forgiveness

Oscar-Shortlisted Short THE LAST RANGER with Director Cindy Lee: Interview/Film Breakdown - Can We Save The Rhino?

Ladies and gentlemen, The Last Ranger is an incredibly compelling, heart stopping and heart breaking short film. It teaches us many things about life. We have been called to steward, amplify and enjoy creation on Earth. We’ve been the keepers of the gate since the days of Adam and Eve, but we’ve left the gate open to poachers.
THE LAST RANGER is a multi-award winning film and Oscar-qualified for good reason. The most important element of this film is that it reaches to the very depths of our soul and shows you again, how precious life is, animal and human.
Film director Cindy Lee. She started out as a copywriter, and after winning almost every award for copy writing, she moved on to directing commercials which she believes has given her an eye for detail and craft when it comes her other love - long form.
In between her successful commercial directing career, Cindy wrote a short screenplay 'HORN' about the horrors of rhino poaching that won at the New York Picture Start Film Festival. She directed three episodes of Showmax's critically acclaimed first original drama, 'The Girl From St. Agnes'. She has just received her second SAFTA nomination for best director in a Drama for her first solo series, 'Desert Rose’.
Cindy's first short film THE LAST RANGER which has won numerous awards from many film festivals around the world and has been Oscar Shortlisted for the 97th Academy Awards.
THE LAST RANGER is the second film in the anthology called, When The World Stopped. THE LAST RANGER IS ABOUT a young girl named Litha who is introduced to the magic of a game reserve by the last remaining ranger, they are ambushed by poachers. In the ensuing battle to save the rhinos, Litha discovers a terrible secret.
#oscars #oscarshortlist #academyawards #shortfilm #shortfilms #rhinocerous #gamereserves #poaching #poachers #endangeredspeciea #filmmaking #film #cinema #filmdirector #filmmakers #bondoncinema  #southafrica #africa

Oscar-Shortlisted Short THE MASTERPIECE Interview: Capitalism Creates a Dilemma for a Wealthy Couple and a Couple of Scrap Dealers

Ladies and gentlemen, Alex Lora’s Oscar-shortlisted short film THE MASTERPIECE, is about Leo and Diana, a rich couple, bring a broken TV to a recycle point. They meet Salif and his son, two scrap dealers. Diana asks them to come to their house to get more objects. Once there, Leo looks at them collecting objects with mistrust, until they see the scrap dealers have something they want.
There are so many layers to this short film and you have to truly watch it with a cinematic eye. Every element of this film is part of the story.
The story captures your attention instantly. The characters stand alone separate from one other. They have different attitudes, different ideas, and where one couple is living the dream, the father and son are being reminded they aren’t in the wealthy class can only look at being at that level of wealth as if it is some sort of dream.
The cinematography is precise and places each of the characters in position of power, economic status, weakness, and vulnerability. In many cases, there is a winner and a loser.
THE MASTERPIECE is brilliant filmmaking. I love films that challenge me as I don’t just look at them at face value. There are stories within the making of a film. There are little things like objects or words or the mannerisms of the characters.
Spanish filmmaker Alex Lora. He won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize in 2024 with his incredible short film THE MASTERPIECE, which has recently been Oscar Shortlisted.
He is recipient of seven New York Emmys, winner of two Gaudi Awards, twice Goya Nominee and Student Academy Awards nominee.
Alex has screened three times at Sundance Film Festival as Official Selection. Listed as one of the top 10 promising Spanish directors to watch for in Variety's Cannes Edition.
#sundancefilmfestival #oscars #academyawards #themasterpiece #art #paintings #capitalism #inequality #prejudice #filmmaking #filmmaker #filmdirector #filmproduction #spain #spanish #cinema #cinematography #soundmixing #bondoncinema

INTO THE BLOO Film Documentary with Director Austin Nunes & Performing Artist David Brumfield as Lagoona Bloo

Ladies and gentlemen, Into The Bloo is a music documentary short film that captures drag musician; Lagoona Bloo (David Brumfield) as they prepare for a show and tell us their story of loss and triumph in the intimate confines of their dressing room.
A wonderful documentary short that is sure to make waves and fans through the film festival circuit in 2025.
Film director Austin Nunes and recording artist and performer David Brumfield known as Lagoona Bloo.
Austin Nunes is a filmmaker who discovered his voice through storytelling. After honing his skills in film competitions, he attended Hofstra University, where he mastered filmmaking, editing, and cinematography while gaining experience in the fashion industry.
Austin has built a celebrated career collaborating with publications like Out Magazine and The Advocate. He is known for his award-winning bubly campaign featuring Aquaria and his work with RuPaul’s Drag Race stars.
And we have the actual star from Austin’s short film documentary INTO THE BLOO, David Brumfield/Lagoona Bloo is with us today.
A standout pop act redefining the intersection of pop and drag. Known for her catchy hooks and soaring three-octave range, she first made waves in 2021 with her debut single, "Greedy With My Love," and EP AQUA. Since then, her music—including hits like "Sticky Sweet" and her Venga-boys cover with Alaska—has garnered over 2 million Spotify streams and spots on editorial playlists like OBSESSED and GLOW.
Lagoona has performed on tour and stage like Irving Plaza and NBC's The Voice with Jessie J. Currently, she stars as Tuna Turner in the Off-Broadway hit Drag: The Musical, a role she originated in 2022 and reprises in the studio cast recording.
#dragqueen #documentary #broadway #performingartist #thevoice #film #cinema #truestory #lifestory #identity #recordingartist #filmmaker #filmmaking #cinephile #cinematography 

SEW TORN: Interview/Film Breakdown with Director Freddy MacDonald - A seamstress who gets tangled in her own thread after stealing a briefcase from a drug deal gone bad.

Writer/director Freddy Macdonald. He is a Student Academy Award winner, and the youngest Directing Fellow ever accepted to the AFI Conservatory.
His critically acclaimed feature film debut, SEW TORN, premiered at SXSW and headlined Locarno on the Piazza Grande. SEW TORN was acquired by Searchlight Pictures.
It received an Oscar-qualifying theatrical release nationwide alongside READY OR NOT. Freddy's AFI thesis film, SHEDDING ANGELS, won a Student Academy Award and was shortlisted for a student BAFTA.
His feature film, SEW TORN is about a seamstress who gets tangled in her own thread after stealing a briefcase from a drug deal gone bad. In an escalating game of cat and mouse, her different choices lead to drastically different outcomes along the way.
Ladies and gentlemen, SEW TORN is about a seamstress who gets tangled in her own thread after stealing a briefcase from a drug deal gone bad. In an escalating game of cat and mouse, her different choices lead to drastically different outcomes along the way.
I loved this film, because of the creativity of the script and to see it all play out on screen. This film brings the story to life with motion, minimal dialogue, which you will not notice as you will be enthralled in the storyline and watching out how each of Barbara’s choices play out.
With Switzerland as the backdrop, it plays well together with the skill and beauty of sewing and in this film, every thread comes together and comes full circle from beginning to end.
Once you see this film, you’ll be like me and anticipate the making of the sequel of SEW TORN. So it’s time to grab more needle and thread and make it happen.
#seamstress #featurefilm #filmreview #filmbreakdown #thread #filmmaker #filmmaking #filmdirector #switzerland 

Creator Todd Komarnicki Discusses His New Mini-Series EARTH ABIDES on MGM+

Todd Komarnicki is a prolific writer, producer and director of film and television as well as an acclaimed novelist.
He is back today to talk about a new streaming mini-series EARTH ABIDES. After months of isolation, the main character Isherwood Williams, learns that most of the world has fallen to a mysterious illness. Yet despite his instincts to further isolate, he leads the charge to develop a new civilization. This isn’t science fiction, this films brings the reality of seeing a new world.
If you are not familiar with Todd Komarnicki’s work, let’s recap as his screenplays include Sully directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Tom Hanks and was a 2016 AFI Top Ten Film. The Professor and the Madman, starring Mel Gibson and Sean Penn. He has also written Perfect Stranger starring Bruce Willis and Halle Berry.
And he co-produced the Christmas blockbuster Elf, starring Will Ferrell and directed by Jon Favreau, which has become a yearly Christmas movie favorite.
Ladies and gentlemen, EARTH ABIDES is a very powerful 6 episode mini-series. It’s about survival, rebirth and hopefully restoring society better than before.
We have ask ourselves, if everyone on Earth died and only a few people were left to start over, what laws apply and which laws don’t. Very complex, but EARTH ABIDES in some ways gives us some answers and even more questions.
#MGM #MGMplus #miniseries #tvseries #earthabides #earth #planetearth #climatechange #survival #newcreation #humanrace #adventure #rebirth

Actress Meredith Thomas Talks Life, Television, Film & New Christmas TV Specials

My guest today is actress Meredith Thomas who spent her early childhood in Alaska, in one of the northernmost settlements in North America where her parents taught Inuit grade school students through the Bureau of Natives Affairs.
Meredith's first professional acting role as Tessie in "Annie" came while still in elementary school. She continued to act in summer stock productions in the northeast throughout her youth, but soon headed west securing a role in her first big-budget feature film, "Pleasantville" as a teenager. She hasn't stopped working in film and television since.
Meredith Thomas 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 Movies.
With chops for both comedy and drama, you'll find her easily transitioning between thrillers to Christmas holiday movies.
Meredith Thomas is back this holiday season with two new rom-com movies, including the Netflix release THE MERRY GENTLEMEN and the Lifetime movie MAKE OR BAKE CHRISTMAS opposite Vivica A. Fox. She continues to spread even more holiday cheer with several returning Christmas titles available on Peacock, Great American Family, and Amazon Prime.
#lifetimenetwork #hallmarknetwork #hallmarkmovies #lifetimemovies #merediththomas #vivicaafox #Christmasmovies #hallmarkchristmas #lifetimechristmas #netflix #netflixmovies #thriller #suspensethriller #peacockplus 

What Happens When Michael Jackson's Music Inspires a Family Drama?

Ladies and gentlemen, the feature film, I’LL BE THERE is about a blended family. The film focuses on Grace, who never had an easy time explaining to her friends about her family.
After the opening scene of Grace and her brothers and sisters as children, the film then finds her more than a decade later, she has built a new life for herself in Los Angeles and cemented her place as the outsider of the family. But her new life is upended when she learns that her older brother AJ has cancer and her now estranged family comes to town to support him.
The film is set during the days after Michael Jackson's death in the Los Angeles hospital that is next door to the L.A. Coroner's Office, where the King of Pop was autopsied. As we unravel the family's traumatic past, the pivotal role AJ played as Grace's protector, and the chasm that now exists between them as adults, Grace comes to terms with the ghosts of her past and her former role as the family's "Golden Child."
Michael Jackson played an important role in the siblings' childhoods and the irony of the timing isn't lost on Grace. As she tries to reconcile her complicated relationships with her siblings, she's also saying goodbye to the icon who was the soundtrack to that chapter of her life.
I loved this film as many people can relate to the dysfunction of a blended family and in this case do they blend at all? But regardless of the ups and downs with siblings, there is an underlying love that never goes away. And for some, it can take decades for that love to rise to the top.
Director/producer Andrew Shea, an award-winning filmmaker who has enjoyed success in film, television and theatre.
In 2019, his film, Buzz, produced in association with Endeavor Content and Peter Berg’s Film 45, premiered on HBO. His films have screened at several of the most prestigious and selective film festivals in the world: the Cannes Film Festival Critics Week, the Sundance Film Festival, the Tribeca Film Festival, DOC NYC, International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), and SXSW.
Andrew is a professor in the Department of Radio-Television-Film at the University of Texas at Austin. He is a member of the Directors Guild of America, the Writers Guild of America and the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.
#featurefilm #blendedfamily #familydrama #illbethere #filmdirector #filmmaker #filmmaking #cinema #cinematographer #moviereview #filmreview #family #stepsiblings #michaeljackson

TIME FOR CHANGE DOCUMENTARY with Director Daniel Borunda - The Unbiased Look at the George Floyd Tragedy

Ladies and gentlemen, TIME FOR CHANGE is a 2-hour landmark documentary that was filmed after the death of George Floyd and chronicles the tragic event of his death and the subsequent worldwide social impact. This unbiased and compelling documentary is replete with hard-hitting interviews, as well as a historical retrospective regarding the roots of racism in America and practical steps we need to take as a nation to bring peace and lasting change.
Change only happens if we want it too and it can start with each one of us in our own communities.
Founder and executive producer of the Borunda Media Group, Daniel Borunda.
He has followed his childhood passion through his film and television production education and was selected into UCLA’s coveted Masters of Fine Arts program and earned the highest grade possible for his documentary short-film “Hollenbeck Hero”.
He sold his first screenplay to Columbia Pictures, “Welcome Home” and went on to write three more screenplays and co-produced two mini-series for television, “Count of Monte Cristo” and “William the Conqueror”. 
In addition to writing and producing a couple of independent films, in 2018, Daniel launched an innovative, news series “America Unscripted”. The hard-hitting television series covers both national and global news and also deals with the issues that are dividing our nation and presents solutions.
#georgefloyd #policebrutality #defundthepolice #blacklivesmatter #malcolmX #martinlutherking #backtheblue #policepolicies #unbiasednews #filmdocumentary #filmmaking #filmmaker #filmdirector #socialimpact 

1910 Manchurian Plague Outbreak Creates a New Protective Medical Discovery in this Oscar-Qualified Short FilmL Interview/Film Discussion

Ladies and gentlemen, Robin Wang’s short film NEITHER DONKEY NOR HORSE is one of the best films I have seen this year. It has the feel and look of a multi-million dollar feature film.
The story is so intriguing and from the first frame to the last one, your attention is focused on the story brought to life on screen by an all-star stellar cast. With the likes of Chris Pang from Rich Crazy Asians, to Jim Lau, Michael Monasterio, Albert Kuo to name a few.
NEITHER DONKEY NOR HORSE takes us through the 1910 Manchurian Plague, which was the world’s first major outbreak of pneumonic plague, eventually claiming more than 60,000 lives.
director/producer Robin Wang. His expansive filmography has been honored with a Student Academy Award, three DGA Awards Grand Prize, and two College Television Awards.
As a director and producer, Robin has brought his works to over a hundred international film festivals worldwide.
From 2023 to 2024, Robin helmed numerous higher-budget genre films and period pieces as the director. Notably, he co-directed the feature film Jack & Lou: A Gangster Love Story, starring Linda Hamilton from the Terminator Franchise. The film is set in 1920s Al Capone’s Chicago, with select scenes filmed on the Warner Brothers Studio Lot.
He is especially known for directing the historical biopic short film, Neither Donkey Nor Horse, based on the life of the first Nobel Prize-nominated Chinese scientist, Dr. Wu Lien-teh.
The film, sponsored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, premiered at the 51st Telluride Film Festival, won the Student Academy Awards, and the DGA Student Film Awards Grand Prize. The film is currently long-listed for Best Live Action Short Film at the 97th Academy Awards.
#N95 #oscars #academyawards #manchurianplague #manchurian #DrWu #warnerbrothers #terminator #telluride #cinema #cinematography #filmmaker #filmmaking #filmdirector #screenwriter #medicine #traditionalmedicine #pnuemonic