Send us a text In today's episode, I interview Luke Salewski about his film "The Lights Above," a genre crossing short film set in Los Angeles in the early day of 1942. The film was selected as a finalist for the 2024 Student Academy Awards. Listen to hear about how Luke and his team creatively sourced their period furniture, a last minute casting …

Send us a text In today's episode, I interview Tomás Orrego about his film "Fever," an experimental short film that was selected as a semifinalist for the 2024 Student Academy Awards. Listen to hear about the bold design choices employed in the film, how the film evolved based on budget and time constraints, and how music and sound play a part in t…

Send us a text In today's episode, I interview Robin Wang about his film "Neither Donkey Nor Horse," a blending of historical fiction with science fiction. The film was selected as a finalist for the 2024 Student Academy Awards. Listen to hear about how the story of Dr. Wu helped Robin become unstuck during Covid lockdown, parallels between 1910 an…

Send us a text In today's episode, I interview Lu Lu about her film "Invocation," a story of dealing with life's changes based on her own personal experiences. The film was selected as a semifinalist for the 2024 Student Academy Awards. Listen to hear about the inspiration for the film rooted in her own experience, the importance of the Miao people…

Send us a text In today's episode, I interview director Dur Jamjoom about her film "Kum-Kum," a story of loss and grief built from her own personal experiences. The film was featured at the Tribeca Film Festival back in June. Listen to hear about the inspiration for the film, how her grandmother helped influence an important part of the film, and t…

Send us a text In today's episode, I interview director Wendi Tang about her film "Fishtank," a surreal story about a woman struggling to remain sober, but for some reason she can't stop vomiting goldfish. The film will be showing this August at the Flickers Rhode Island International Film Festival and the HollyShorts Film Festival. Listen to hear …

Send us a text In today's episode, I interview director Rebecca King and actress/producer Nina Yndis about their film "Elsa" about a tense love triangle between a Norwegian civilian woman, her adoring neighbor and a German soldier during World War II. The film will be showing this August at the Flickers Rhode Island International Film Festival. Lis…

Send us a text As I gear up for a series of interviews with filmmakers featured at the 2024 HollyShorts Film Festival, I'm kicking off this coverage by bringing you a few interviews that I did with some of this year's filmmakers that I already spoke with previously on the podcast. If you like these excerpts, check out the full episodes below: Nazri…

Send us a text In today's episode, I interview director Dana Koops about her upcoming short film “La Bibliothèque” an intimate look at a young woman dealing with grief. The film has its world premiere at ComicCon this July 28th as part of the San Diego International Children's Film Festival. Listen to hear about how Dana's inspiration for the film,…

Send us a text In today's episode, I interview director Antonina Kerguelén Román about her short film “¡salsa!” a look at the world of music through the experience of someone who cannot hear. The film will be shown at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York this June. Listen to hear about how Antonina explored experiencing music as a physical sensati…

Send us a text In today's episode, I interview director Courtney Dixon about her short documentary "Depression is a Beast," a frank look at how horror films can help people cope with anxiety and depression. The film was inspired by a New York Times article and will be shown at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York this June. Listen to hear about ho…

Send us a text In today's episode, I interview the writer/director pair of Julia Aks and Steve Pinder about their short film "Jane Austen's Period Drama," a hilarious comedy about well, periods, set in England two centuries ago. The film played at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in February and will be shown at the Tribeca Film Festiv…

Send us a text In today's episode, I interview director Nick Russell and writer Nick Musgrove, about their short film "Favourites," about parents who are forced to make an impossible choice. The film has been showing at festivals including Australia's Flickerfest and the San Diego International Film Festival and will be shown at the Tribeca Film Fe…

Send us a text In today's interview, I speak with Andrew Stanley Kiste, a campus life director and life long lover of all things Disney. He has written articles and books including Walt Disney and the 1964-1965 New York World’s Fair, and three volumes of A Historical Tour of Walt Disney World. He joins me today to talk about his new book, The Early…

Send us a text In today's episode, I am joined by Kyle, the winner of the 2024 Oscar prediction contest on The Oscar Project. We talk about a little of everything including what we liked from the 96th Academy Awards, other movies from 2023 we enjoyed, and things we're looking forward to in 2024. Books mentioned in this episode include: Caste: The O…

Send us a text Today I am discussing the 1928 film Sadie Thompson. The film tells the story of Sadie Thompson, a woman of questionable moral character, and Mr. Davidson, the devout missionary who makes it his mission to reform her while they are both forced to stay on a remote Pacific island. Listen now to hear about the troubles the film faced in …

Send us a text In today's interview, I speak with Lisa Stein Haven, a Professor of English at Ohio University and expert in all things Charlie Chaplin. She has written extensively on the actor and director and hosted the first international Charlie Chaplin conference ever held on American soil in 2010, the 100th anniversary of Charlie's first trip …

Send us a text As I announced in my spring preview episode earlier this week, today I am discussing the 1928 film The Crowd. The film focuses on the story of John and Mary Sims as they build a family together and face life's challenges in early 1900s New York City. Listen now to hear about the creative people behind the film, and as always, my own …

Send us a text On today's episode, I give a quick preview of some of the things I'm working on for the podcast in the coming weeks a months. Be sure to subscribe to the show in your podcast player and follow The Oscar Project for all the updates. Facebook-facebook.com/TheOscarProject Instagram-@the_oscar_project X (Twitter)-@jytreberg Substack-theo…

Send us a text With the 96th Academy Awards in the book, I am joined today by Luis Mendez to discuss all the happenings at the Oscars on Sunday night. Check out Luis at The Mendez Report and follow him on Instagram, Twitter, Threads, and Letterboxd.

Send us a text It's time for me to break down who I think will win at the Oscars this weekend. In this episode I go over all 23 categories, letting you know who I think will win the Oscar and who I think should win. They don't always match, so listen in to win your Oscar prediction pool!

Send us a text In today's episode, I interview Vincent René-lortie, the director of "Invincible", an ode to the memory of Marc-Antoine Bernier and the tale of a young man yearning for his freedom. The film is nominated for Best Live Action Short Film at the 96th Academy® Awards after winning Best Live Action Short Film at Chicago Children’s Film Fe…

Send us a text In today's episode, I interview Nazrin Choudhury, the director of "Red, White and Blue", the story of a single mother in Arkansas who must cross state lines in search of an abortion. After winning the Grand Jury Award for Best Live Action Short at the Edmonton International Film Festival, the film is nominated for Best Live Action Sh…

Send us a text In today's interview, I speak with Ryan Britt, a fiction and non-fiction author who has written for Inverse, Esquire, The New York Times, and StarTrek.com, among others. His first two books were Luke Skywalker Can’t Read and Other Geeky Truths and PHASERS ON STUN! How the Making and Remaking of Star Trek Changed the World. He joins m…

Send us a text In this week's episode, I interview Misan Harriman, the director of "The After", a powerful and affecting story that follows a man who has to reconnect with himself and society after witnessing a devastating random attack. After its world premier at the Oscar®-qualifying HollyShorts Film Festival, where it won Best Live Action Short,…

Send us a text In this week's episode, I interview Jean Chapiro, recipient of the Bronze Medal in the Documentary category at the 2023 Student Academy Awards. She was recognized for her film "Till We Find Them" which looks at the families of missing persons in Mexico as they look for their loved ones. Listen to hear Jean discuss what drew her to do…

Send us a text As we near the end of January, I'm looking back at 2023. I interviewed 10 amazing authors about their books and spoke with six filmmakers as well. There was so much new content on The Oscar Project Podcast, it was hard to pick the best bits, but here are some of my favorite parts of the interviews from 2023. Be sure to pick up the bo…

Send us a text The nominees for the 96th Academy Awards were announced early this morning. The nominees come from 53 films across 23 categories and cover all sorts of films from dramas to comedies, blockbusters to indie darlings. There will be plenty more to come from The Oscar Project in the next month and a half, but for today, let’s just get str…

Send us a text In today's interview, I speak with Katie Gee Salisbury, a writer and photographer whose work has appeared in the New York Times, Vanity Fair, The Believer, and the Asian American Writers’ Workshop. She also writes the newsletter Half-Caste Woman. She has spoken about her work at the Museum of Chinese in America, Barnard College, New …

Send us a text Happy New Year! It's my first interview author of 2024, and today I speak with Saul Austerlitz, a freelance writer whose work has been published in the New York Times, Esquire, Vanity Fair, and Rolling Stone. He is an adjunct professor of writing and comedy history at New York University, and the author of Generation Friends, Just a …

Send us a text In my third and final part of the Thanksgiving special, I interview four of the five creators of the animated short film "Boom," which won the Gold Medal in animation at the 2023 Student Academy Awards. Listen to hear the team discuss the process for developing the story, what they enjoyed about visiting Los Angeles, and some of the …

Send us a text In the my second of the three part Thanksgiving special, I interview Iain Forbes, recent recipient of the Silver Medal in the Narrative category at the 2023 Student Academy Awards. He was recognized for his film "Revisited" which explores how a family reacts when the father they thought was dead for 20 years suddenly returns to their…

Send us a text In the first of a three part Thanksgiving special, I interview Giorgio Ghiotto, recent recipient of the Gold Medal in the Documentary category at the 2023 Student Academy Awards. He was recognized for his film "Wings of Dust" which shines a spotlight on the activism of Vidal Merma, an independent journalist in Peru. Listen to hear Gi…

Send us a text In this author interview, I speak with Nate Patrin, a freelance writer based in St. Paul, Minnesota. He has covered nearly every imaginable genre of music for outlets including Bandcamp, Stereogum, Pitchfork, The Vinyl Factory, and Red Bull Music Academy. His first book Bring That Beat Back: How Sampling Built Hip-Hop was published i…

Send us a text In this author interview, I speak with Ian Nathan for the second time on the podcast He joins me today to talk about his book, David Lynch: A Retrospective. Listen to hear the importance of Lynch's first film Eraserhead to his career, what exactly a Lynchian film is, and why Lynch is a mystery even to himself. Books mentioned in this…

Send us a text In this author interview, I speak with Andrew DeGraff, a freelance illustrator and artist living and working in Maine. He graduated from Pratt Institute’s Communications Design program and returned to teach there from 2009 to 2014. His gallery work has been shown in cities around the world including New York, Philadelphia, San Franci…

Send us a text In this author interview, I speak with Nat Segaloff is a writer, broadcaster, teacher, film historian, and raconteur with a varied background in motion picture publicity, journalism, producing, and covering up other people's mistakes. Having begun his career during the exciting transition between the old studios and the film generati…

Send us a text Regular episodes of The Oscar Project are back and this week I'm discussing the 1928 film The Racket. This story is adapted from a play of the same name and was considered one of the most important cop/gangster films of the time when it was released. Listen now to learn about the threats made against the creators and as always, my ow…

Send us a text In this author interview, I speak with Brad Weismann, an award-winning writer and journalist who has also worked as a stand-up comic and improv actor. He’s contributed to publications and websites worldwide such as Senses of Cinema, Film International, Backstage, Movie Habit, Colorado Daily and Boulder Magazine. His first book, Lost …

Send us a text In this author interview, I speak with Koren Shadmi, the author of Bionic, Rise of the Dungeon Master, Gary Gygax and the Creation of D&D, and The Twilight Man: Rod Serling and the Birth of Television. He joins me today to talk about his graphic novel, Lugosi: The Rise & Fall of Hollywood’s Dracula. Listen to hear about how Lugosi's …

Send us a text In this author interview, I speak with Ian Nathan, the author of Stephen King at The Movies, Ridley Scott: A Retrospective and James Cameron: A Retrospective, and biographies of The Coen Brothers, Quentin Tarantino, and Wes Anderson. He is the former editor and executive editor of Empire, the world's biggest movie magazine, and a reg…

Send us a text In this author interview, I speak with Kristen Lopez, the film editor at The Wrap whose articles have appeared at Variety, MTV, TCM, and Roger Ebert. She joins me today to talk about her latest book, But Have You Read the Book?, a look at fantastic books that have been made into films over the last 100 years. Listen to hear about how…

Send us a text In this author interview, I speak with Suzanne Ferriss whose first book about Sofia Coppola The Cinema of Sofia Coppola: Fashion, Culture, Celebrity was published in February 2021 and she edited The Bloomsbury Handbook to Sofia Coppola, which was published in early 2023. She joins me today to talk about her latest book, Lost in Trans…

Send us a text In my second author interview, I speak with guests Charlotte Booth and Brian Billington. Charlotte Booth is a professional writer of history books (including The History of the Undead, and How to Survive in Ancient Egypt), and was also an extra in a Bollywood movie. Brian Billington is an IT professional, amateur photographer, and a …

Send us a text It's a first for The Oscar Project, an interview with an author who writes about movies. Today's guest is Mia Mask, a professor at Vassar College where she teaches African American cinema, Documentary History, and seminars on topics including horror film and auteurs like Spike Lee, Charles Burnett and Ava DuVernay. She also teaches f…

Send us a text My analysis of the 1927 film The Patent Leather Kid, starring Richard Barthelmess and Molly O’Day.By Jonathan Ytreberg

Send us a text My analysis of the 1927 film Speedy, starring Harold Lloyd.By Jonathan Ytreberg

Send us a text My analysis of this film is pieced together from various sources. A Ship Comes In tells the story of an immigrant family trying to fit into American society in the run up to WWI.By Jonathan Ytreberg

Send us a text An in depth look at the first feature length film featuring synchronized speech and sound. It was seen as groundbreaking at the time, has been studied for nearly the last century, and maintains a firm place in film history.By Jonathan Ytreberg

Send us a text A brief overview of the 53 films nominated for Academy Awards in 2020.By Jonathan Ytreberg