EP047 – Life Is One Big Circle @ the AFS party at SXSW

04.02.2026 - Season: 1 Episode 47

This is one packed parking lot full of filmmakers! Why? Because it’s SXSW—and time once again for Austin Film Society’s annual party. And we’re throwing you right into the thick of it, to connect with both visiting and local doc-makers making the scene, We kick it all off with the cutest damn Willie Nelson cameo you can imagine… no not the nonagenarian multi-hyphenate hero, but a baby goat named for the GOAT. Follow that with a controversial AI take from our old pal Bart Weiss, and this hometown shindig is off to a typically “weird” Austin start.

Inside the party, we link up with Bianca Giaever and Ora de Kornfeld, the directors behind STALIN BOYS—a comedy doc about middle school boys in Marathon, TX who are deeply, unapologetically obsessed with Joseph Stalin. Their short took two awards at the fest and is heating up the circuit on its way to NY Times Op-Docs. We connect with Dallas drone-ster Monika Watkins, an alum of the AFS Doc Intensive. She has a lot to say about overcoming grief through vulnerability and making art—with updates on her animated short DABNEY, and intro’ing a new project: LOVE MO’. We finally meet Bradley Jackson, whose narrative feature STAGES is premiering here with Austin musician David Ramirez in the lead. Then our intrepid co-producer Dayton Thompson makes his on-camera debut and bumps into Bev Chukwu, who drops the line of the night—”Life is one big circle.”

Quick shots of Sarah-Ann Mockbee, Amy Bench, Chelsea Hernandez, and a dog named Buster—plus conversations with Jonathan Green, Riley Engemoen, and Samuel Diaz Fernandez round out the episode. And we close out with Sarah Kuck who offers insight into the Austin Doc Makers Club and kicking off a new chapter with the Video Consortium (so much to discuss here and a signal that we need to book Sarah for her own episode). Goats, drones, dictators, and community. SXSW at AFS… one big circle it is.

Discussion Links

Timestamps

00:00 Introduction – It’s South by Southwest time 01:00 The lady with the baby goat named Willie Nelson 02:30 Bart Weiss on AI film festivals and writing a book about the festival circuit 06:00 Entering the AFS parking lot party 08:00 Meeting Bianca and Ora, directors of STALIN BOYS 11:00 Marathon, Texas: the smallest school you’ve never seen 14:00 Comedy docs and middle school obsessions with dictators 19:00 Ora’s other film THE GRANDFATHER PUZZLE 21:00 Jonathan Green on SOCIAL ANIMALS, DICK WEED, and Bryan Storkel 26:00 Bryan Storkel’s Hulk Hogan Netflix doc 28:00 Monika Watkins on drones, DABNEY, and AI as a creative tool 34:00 Keith and Ben on the AI delineation: tools vs. generative 35:00 Monika on losing her mom and the Love Mo series 38:00 Drone photo session with the crew 42:00 Bradley Jackson – STAGES premieres at SXSW with David Ramirez 46:00 Bradley on why South by Southwest hits different 48:00 Bradley is moving back to Austin 49:00 Samuel on A FRAGILE VESSEL – heat, love, and sci-fi horror 51:00 Party B-roll, Chelsea, and Buster the dog 53:00 Riley on FORCE FIELD OF LOVE – South Austin’s dancing legends 55:00 Dayton’s on-camera debut 57:00 Bev Chukwu on THELMA SAVE MY LIFE – “Life is one big circle” 59:00 Sarah Kuck on Austin Doc Makers Club and Video Consortium 01:04:00 Closing thoughts and Dayton appreciation 01:07:00 Rambler sponsor read and next episode tease

Margaret.

All right.

It's that time of year ago.

Easy for you to say.

It.

Is that time of year again, Ben.

What time of year is that, Keith?

It's the beautiful springtime, blue sky.

Way too many people in our town.

Free tacos kind of south by southwest kind of time.

I would object with the way too many part.

I am very excited.

They're, I mean, driving sucks, but a lot of our friends are here.

Well, the, a lot of these people just live here.

Well, I think we're gonna talk to a fair amount of people.

What time of year is it?

It's South by Southwest who are here in town.

Because they don't live here.

'cause they're here to show movies.

They love it.

Oh hey.

How go?

Oh, excuse me.

There is a lady with baby goat.

I don't know this lady and I want to know this baby goat.

Whoa.

Willie Nelson.

Of course.

Willie Nelson.

The baby goat.

Look at you just rolling around a party with a goat.

Yeah.

You know you got to, this is very south by.

Yeah.

Here, we gotta talk to you here.

Who are you and who is this goat?

We have a rescue ranch in Seguin Side Ranch.

And this is one of our rescuers.

And you can't be alone.

He's been in the hotel room, so, oh.

So here, introduce yourself to our audience here.

I am, Jack Steven, an actor, write scripts and I rescue animals.

Amazing.

And this is a good calling card.

You're like, you remember me?

I'm the lady with the goat.

Yeah, lady with the goat.

Lady with a plan.

Can you have Willie Nelson say something for us?

Um, I don't know.

I mean, he's pretty chill.

I'll show you some teeth.

Whiskey river.

Take my mind.

Yeah, there you go.

Thank you boo.

Can we just cut that in there?

Maybe.

No, mamas don't let your babies grow up to be cowboy goat.

I feel like you should walk away 'cause it's only gonna get worse at this point.

Uh, so great to meet you.

It was so great to see you.

Yes.

I'm sorry that it was so short, but thank you for introducing us to Willie Nelson.

Yeah, I'll be right now and okay, we'll see you soon.

We'll do a proper catch up.

She it hard it woman.

Ugh.

It's not gonna get any better than those folks.

Hey, it's the time of year again.

It's south by Southwest.

There's goats, there's tacos, there's parking problems, there's

filmmakers everywhere you look.

There's dad jokes, uh, galore on this, uh, edition of the Austin Film Society.

To be fair, those are kid jokes.

Oh boy.

Ding ding, ding, ding.

Hey, it wouldn't be at this party without this guy.

Hey, look what he brought with him on your left.

You're listening to Doc Walks with Ben and Keith.

This time last year you were talking about iPhone filmmaking and lost my phone

and now here Dayton.

Let's get the mic here.

Hi, how are you everybody, this is Bart.

We, this is Bart Dallas, legendary filmmaker who made a festival coordinator.

Hey, uh, mentored to many people, made a hell of an

appearance on our show last year.

It was fucking awesome.

Talking all about the importance of new media, how to make movies in a new way.

Yes.

And that landed really hard to the point that we're now filming

with these little cameras.

Cameras after talking to you.

That's right.

Well thank you.

Well, thank you sir. Um, and now, and then you just walked up

with one of your very own Yes.

Right there.

And what are you doing with your look?

I would say that's great minds think alike bar.

The quality of this image is like, blows your wind.

It's pretty crazy.

Nobody thinks that it's gonna look this good.

Yeah.

She's a 4K.

Yeah.

4K log.

Right.

I actually am doing a new project with.

These cameras, old men.

And just, you can move the camera and you can design things in different ways.

Yeah.

Okay.

But here's what I'm doing now.

Tell me, I got two things that I'm working on that are really fascinating.

One is I'm writing a book about film festivals.

So if you have anything you want to tell me about film festivals Okay.

Like what you hate and what you don't like.

And uh, so that's those, those things when I hate and when I don't, like, I feel like

you could do, you could do both actually.

You could probably do three or four, honestly.

Uh, yeah.

But like, let me know, uh, if you, I looking for good quotes.

I mean, the idea of the book is like, most people just don't do research.

You don't have a strategy and then they spend a lot of

money and they're pissed off.

That's right.

Okay.

Yep.

Well, so what's the second thing?

Second thing is gonna cause a lot of people to hate me.

Ooh, uhoh.

Lean in closer.

Ben.

I'm gonna do an AI film festival.

Oh.

I won't, I won't hate.

I won't hate you.

And opening night I'll have a, uh, ethic.

Panel.

Okay.

And I will invite anybody who hates me to come up and say it to my face.

Wow.

Good for you.

So what's the idea behind it that, uh, are you, that there

is good work being made in ai?

Yeah.

Not by Darren Aronofsky, but that 1776 series.

So the point is, and you know, when I started my festival in

1987, people thought like video, you can have good work in that.

So we spent our career saying, no, there's good work in this space.

And to the point that you called it the Dallas Video Fest.

Yeah.

So this to me is like reaching back into that and saying, there's good things here.

It's here, it's not going away.

So why not?

Like find the things that are good and useful and celebrate those.

And that's what we got.

Bart.

I love it.

We could talk to you all day.

I'm sorry.

We, and, and all these days we will and we will, we want to book you for a full hour.

So next time you're here in Austin.

Let's do that please.

Alright, come.

I'll come back to Arlington.

I'm gonna grab you up in Arlington.

We'll go walk campus.

Oh, I love it.

Even better.

Where's a good place to get a sandwich up There?

There is it.

Go to Dallas.

There we go.

We good to Jimmy's You heard it here first.

Awesome Park.

Great to see you.

Nice.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Have fun.

You like that?

I like it hot.

Yeah.

Thank you guys.

Good to see you.

Bart.

Meet you.

Is Bart we, we haven't even gotten into the party yet.

And the party has come to us.

Party is at the back of the minivan as it so often is in Ben's life.

Well, I guess if you open up the back door, they will come.

Is that a thing?

Uh, that's, that feels like a heading room floor sort of, uh, idea.

Yeah, that sounds a little gross.

You're right.

Oh, look at this.

Look at this trailer full of lime scooters.

The limes here South by Southwest.

We were here last year, but without the cameras.

So just go back into your ear ball memories and remember

what it was like last year.

It'll be like that, but even better.

Because you'll get to see our smiling faces.

The smiling faces of our friends here who are all beautifully dressed,

brightly colored, excited to be out and about at South by Southwest.

Let's close this van up.

Walk down to that sign that says, event.

Enter here and let's enter this event.

Check in and get to it.

Let's do it.

Bum bum.

Bu over my shoulder.

There's Heather Courtney, our friend from Sundance, our friend from Real Life.

There's Tracy Frazier.

She was here last year.

She was a cameo in the Courtney Cook episode.

And, uh, up ahead we have the check-in tents.

We have an A-Frame.

We've got people adjusting their hair before they go in,

taking pictures of the sign.

Make it look good.

This is the Austin Film Society Annual South by Southwest Parking Lot Party.

And there's a line of people to get in already.

Talk to him.

It's my friend Andrew.

Alright man.

Looks like you brought the family.

How you doing Andrew?

I'm doing pretty good.

Alright.

Hello.

Hi guys.

Hey.

Should we skip the line?

I think so.

I don't think anybody's gonna try to kick us out.

And if they do.

It'll be on camera.

Okay.

That's right.

Oh, look at that.

Hello.

Hi.

This is a natural on-camera meeting.

Hi.

So nice it, nice to meet you on peace.

Hello, Bianca.

Bianca.

Hi, I'm Ben.

Nice to meet you.

Aura?

Yeah.

Oh, cool.

Or Cornel.

Oh, awesome.

Here you wanna take the mic?

Oh, thank meet.

Of course.

Boom.

Wait.

This is, these are filmmakers that have been so excited to meet.

We've been communicating.

Via text.

Oh, sometimes phone.

These are the friends of Courtney.

You're Every form of communication we get in a lot of different ways.

Sky, skywriting.

I don't even remember how we got connected.

How do we get connected on the first day?

Hillary?

No, I introduced you to Hillary.

Yeah, we have no clue.

That looks like a delicious Popsicle.

What are we talking about there?

How can I, Ooh, so you people maybe wondering.

Wow.

Who we're talking to and what we're talking about.

I'm wondering, Bianca, I'm wondering Aura, the directors and

filmmakers behind Stalin boys.

Ah, yeah.

Okay.

This is a film.

I'm super excited.

I have not had a chance to see it.

I really wanna see it tomorrow.

I can't come tomorrow.

We're leaving town tomorrow.

First thing.

Uh, where are you going?

New Mexico.

Okay.

Yeah, it's not playing.

No.

Um, unless you send me a link and then, then you can, we can world

premier it in TAUs in my ski comment.

That's a desperate, um, yeah.

Attempt at getting a link.

Tell us about, uh, solo Boys.

Well, it's a short film, short documentary comedy, about four middle

school boys who live in Marathon, Texas.

Very small town on the border, who are obsessed with Joseph Stalin.

Whoa.

And decide to put on a play about him and bring it to the

state competition in Austin.

Do you see this face I'm making, I love comedy docs.

That's like my, my niche too.

Uh, it's a small genre.

It is a very small genre.

It's very specific.

Uh, I'm a little concerned though about loving Stalin.

Yeah.

That doesn't sound like something we should necessarily celebrate.

They're obsessed with it.

Okay.

We're fascinated by him.

Okay.

What does that say?

Say more about that.

Like how, like how does that manifest?

Let's move, let's walk.

There's a lot of party and let's make ourselves off into that quarter.

So we're away from this truck and away from the music.

Oh.

And then we'll get a little bit of motion through the party.

We'll follow you guys.

Oh.

And, um, let, this is live's go live up over there.

Is that okay?

Uh, no, we're not live streaming.

Uh, but this will be edited out here.

It, um, Hey, a train.

You gotta show the people the train.

Ooh, look at that.

So, okay.

Stalin boys set Marathon, Texas.

That is a town of like 400 people.

Yeah.

300. 300. There you go.

Uh, and that's outside of Marfa, correct?

It's on the way to Marfa.

Yeah.

It's the famous for the Gage Hotel.

The Gage Hotel.

Of course.

James Evans photography is based there.

Yes.

Okay.

My wife Sarah lived there briefly.

Okay.

So how did you guys find out about this story?

Like how did you, how did you end up coming from New York to Far West

Texas to tell this unique story?

Our friend Crawford was living in Brooklyn and she was recruited at a gas station

to come teach in Marathon, and 10 days later they moved from Brooklyn to Marathon

and started teaching at the school.

Wow.

So we came to do a filmmaking workshop with her students.

She's an old friend of ours and she was like, yeah, it's the craziest thing.

They're obsessed with Stalin.

There's nothing I can do.

And we were like, alright, we'll get our cameras and be right back.

That's wild.

Wow.

Well, to step back, so you guys live in New York and you are

documentary filmmakers there.

So we met in New York.

That's where all three of us meant Ms. Hunt, the teacher,

the Protect, one of the.

Characters.

Yeah.

And Bianca and I all, oh, this is Crawford Hunt.

Yeah.

She was you with her?

Yes.

She was our intern at the Bear for many years.

Yeah.

She's in, she's in Austin.

Yeah.

Local.

Yes.

Whoa, crazy.

Yeah.

Okay.

You gotta come see it now that you I, yes.

Okay.

Amazing.

Well, tell her I say hello.

Yeah.

Well, she's about to give birth, that's why she's not here.

Oh.

Otherwise she would be here with us.

But her due date was the same day as the film screening in South by, um, okay.

So you guys are in New York.

You met there.

You're Well, so Ora lives in Mexico City and I live in Boston of all places.

Oh, okay.

Yeah, we met in New York.

Oh.

And we spent a lot of our lives in New York.

Yeah.

Interesting.

Where we found our boys as filmmakers.

Okay.

And, uh, I'll be moving back there soon.

So anyone knows a rent stabilized apartment, please contact me.

Interesting.

All right.

And so then how do two, I mean, you guys talk about how you get to Marathon,

but like how do you put that together living so far away, needing to be

there on the ground to make the short?

Well, we actually, we road trip to Ghost.

C Crawford to have the American experience.

So three days there and then we left.

And then as soon as we got home, Bianca called me and was like,

should we do a talk about the play?

And we were kind of like, yeah, I think so.

But the state competition was one week from that day, so we had to

then get on flights, come right back, which is pretty hard to get there.

Like you have to go to a desert airport and then take, it's not close to anything.

A five hour.

Yeah, a couple hour bus.

So anyways, so we got our gear and came right back.

And then we really had like seven days to build relationships with the kids.

Five days.

Really?

Until we had each other.

Oh yeah.

Five days and And how old are these kids?

Middle school, middle 12 to 14.

So it's not just the kids, it's the parents, obviously.

Yeah.

And you like, wow.

So what was that like approaching them?

Like we're filmmakers from New York and here to focus on your children?

Well, luckily the teachers had a strong relationship, but the parents Okay, sure.

And they could vouch for us.

Yeah.

And it was also like ma uh, in Marathon History Fair is a very

big deal and it's a very important like, extracurricular for them.

So like having a film being made about that tradition, I

think people were excited about.

Cool.

Okay.

It's one of the few extracurriculars that still exists at the school.

'cause they don't have enough student.

It's a, it's one of the smallest schools in Texas.

It's 11 students in the middle school.

Oh wow.

So there's not enough students.

They don't have a, that's a huge school.

Like they have a ton of classrooms and lots of infrastructure

because it used to be much bigger.

Yeah.

Wow.

But now there's not enough kids for any sports team.

Kids wanna play different sports.

Okay.

So they do track and field.

Right.

But history Fair is really like one of the main extracurriculars at school.

Gotcha.

Okay.

Um, well and you mentioned, or, or sorry, I don't wanna step on you, but you

mentioned the Comedy Doc, so I'm curious about like how did you approach it?

Comedically or, I had been wanting to make a comedy doc for a long time.

I think.

'cause both, I mean, 'cause we're hilarious.

So life is absurd and.

Um, yes.

Documentary film festivals got often be very serious places.

Yes.

The world, it's very intense.

But we wanted to make, kids are so fun, you know?

Yeah.

And so surprising.

Yes.

And so we really wanted to be able to capture that uhhuh and it

is a serious topic and they take the competition very seriously.

But there's so many funny moments along the way, and I think anyone

who's ever done a group project Right.

Can really relate.

Um, because even if you're an adult trying to get a podcast done or whatever, there's

always gonna be these same dynamics.

Yes.

That seem to perpetuate where like, one person's taking it too seriously,

another person's goofing off, you know, and there's these tension that would

be key in this snowflake that emerged.

What surprised you while you were making the film?

I mean, it seems like this is a pretty different world than the world,

you know, which is the theme song to the TV show A different world.

What surprised you when you got to marathon and what did you learn

while you were making the duck?

We, I think we went into it not understanding.

How obsessed are these kids really?

Like is this a real obsession or is this a bit of a bit?

And I think in our first interview with Malachi, it became clear that he

really was like, just like completely consumed by this historical figure.

He was dreaming about him nightly and we wanted to understand why.

And it became clear that it's because he sees a lot of parallels between this

dictator's life, his personal home life, his relationship with his parents, and

like the way he sees himself in the world.

'cause he was going through a lot at school as any like kind

of middle sport is, there's a lot of depth behind this fascination.

Yeah.

Like, like Keith has been very excited to talk to you guys and we haven't really

talked about this, but in the description of these kids are fascinated with Stalin.

To me that's being like, these kids are fascinated by Hitler or something.

Yeah.

That doesn't feel very funny.

And so I'm wondering like how you guys thought of that.

And I'm sure it is funny and I have no reason to think it isn't, but like.

That, just, just so you know, that's kind of how it landed when

I heard it and was like, whoa.

What, what do you mean?

That's funny.

And I'm jumping before I let you answer that.

What I'm excited when I hear a thing like that is that contrast, right?

You're saying this thing that you don't expect at all, right?

Uh, any middle school boy to even know who Stalin is, let

alone be obsessed with them.

Right.

And then you take it as like four Mexican American kids or kids that

are growing a Mexican American culture in Far West Texas, which is such a

unique, special and strange place.

And to say, how does this thing over here, which means so much Yeah.

Apply to these people over here and, and, and what's that tension

and what's that friction uhhuh.

And it's just gotta be interesting for sure.

Oh yeah.

Off the, off the jump.

I didn't know it was comedic.

But anyway, that's, I want, I wanna hear your answer to Ben's question, but I also

wanted to clarify like, to me, like that's part of the reason I'm so excited about

this is like it's got one of those setup.

That you just, you don't know what you're gonna get when you, when

you put those two things together.

Yeah.

You don't know what it means.

I think people don't give kids enough credit.

They can handle a lot.

And they're very interested in why do bad things happen and how do they happen.

Mm-hmm.

And I had forgotten what it was like to be learning about these

things for the very first time.

I think middle school is a really interesting age.

Yeah.

Where you're learning about the world's cores for the first time and Right.

Every day your teachers are like, and then this hap you're in history class.

Like, and then this terrible thing happened and this terrible thing happened.

And you're like, what?

Like communism.

You see them learning about communism for the very first time

and they're like, that's gonna good.

Yeah.

They're like, this sounds like a great idea.

Like, how did this go so wrong?

Yeah.

And so to be able to be with kids in the moment where they're learning

about it for the very first time and piecing together, it is fascinating.

How did you establish that, uh, that relationship with the

kids and how do you identify.

Like who was going to kind of rise to the occasion for your camera?

Who were you gonna have to lean in a little bit and just like

establishing a rapport of trust.

Yeah.

With middle school kids.

Middle school boys.

First thing we did when we got there is we all went out to the

desert in there stalling outfits and we were just like, fuck it up.

Like, just like create chaos as we're like throwing things, we're like running

around, we're like saluting each other.

So we just did like a really fun, dreamy sequence, which

appears in the film three times.

Where did it premiere?

Uh, big Sky.

Oh, how was that?

Oh, cool.

It was great.

I've never been, I've been to Missoula, but I've never been to

that film and it's great being at a festival of all documentaries.

It's really special.

There's a lot of bru stones, a lot of wild of bloodstone, blood stones

everywhere as far as I can see.

That's funny.

And a lot of like really wonderful people.

Yeah, yeah.

Who are all like making the same type of work, which is really nice.

Nice.

Yeah.

So where else do you have, uh, planned and how will people eventually get to see

this film outside the festival circuit?

Yeah.

So, um, it's playing in Vermont at Green Mountain Film Festival tomorrow.

Yeah, my today.

Right now.

Is it?

Today?

Yeah.

And then it's playing at DC Docs.

DC Docs Mountain Film and Telluride.

It's Aspen Shorts, maybe relevant for this audience.

Thin Line Festival in Dallas on March 21st or from now.

Alright.

And then it'll be on the New York Times ocs.

Cool.

Probably end of summer.

STO Boys is gonna have a nice festival run.

We're hoping to be at DC Docs.

We'll see.

Great.

If that works out.

Mm-hmm.

Um, and Aurora has another film there.

She has two films.

Oh, I do.

Yes.

I love making short film.

My grandfather's about to be a hundred and he'll never talk about the past.

All he wants to do is jinx up puzzles.

So I travel to the castle he grew up in in Hungary to photograph

it, turn it into a puzzle and see if it will by doing it together.

I know that's a fun idea.

A silence that has to find a relationship.

It's also a comedy.

A dark Holocaust comedy.

Dark Holocaust comedy in a puzzle.

Of silence, uh, what is it called?

The grandfather puzzle.

It's been so great meeting you guys.

Yes, thanks for the time.

We appreciate it.

Yeah, she glad we were connected by mystery person.

Yeah.

One of these days we'll figure it out.

We'll have to backtrack.

You were applying for some grant, but Yeah.

Humane sex didn't get it.

I thought it was through Courtney Cook.

That's how we got, you know, Courtney Cook.

Was it?

That is a hundred percent how it was.

Oh, you've been saying that multiple times.

Yeah.

Right.

You did Students of the world?

No, that's Courtney Spence.

Oh.

But I know Courtney Spence very well.

I was a student of the world.

I was a student of the World Advisor.

Students of the world are all south office crawling the world left and right.

Uh, that's wild.

I think they went out of, I think they went to funk a long time ago, right?

Yeah.

A long time ago.

But I still have lots of friends from Where did you, where did you go to school?

University of North Carolina.

Yeah.

Nice.

Is it not Andrew Grayville?

No.

I don't think that is.

We'll figure it out.

Well say please say hi to Crawford for me.

We went.

Yeah.

That's wild.

Small.

I'll take a picture.

You guys got the selfie sticks?

We'll still we'll do two, but I have to be on that side.

Okay.

For the arm reach.

All right, we're all in the middle.

Uh, looks great.

Okay.

Awesome.

Cool.

Thank you so much.

Great to meet you.

Look at these two.

Oh, hello ladies.

Hello.

Oh, hello.

I smell like the beach 'cause I just, I Hi.

Oh, you do smell.

Meanwhile, doesn podcast is not in Smellovision.

Uh, but if it was, geez, you do smell like the beach.

Beach smells like the beach.

It smells like the beach.

I mean, it's a party at a FS and it's sunny and you just sun screened up.

Is that I did.

I'm standing here with Amy bitch.

Oh, Amy, Ben, we've been trying to convince Amy to join the podcast.

Hi guys.

Episode with us.

We wanna do a full hour with you.

Oh wow.

Full hour.

That's a yes.

So.

Hey guys, I want you to meet.

This is my good friend Jerry Deleon.

Hey, how's it going?

Can somebody take this for me so then I can shake your hand?

Hey, how's it going?

What's your name?

Ben Steiner Meet.

Nice to meet you.

Yeah, I wanna shake your hand.

Hi, what's your name?

Jonathan.

Good to meet you man.

Jonathan Green.

He is a three time south by Southwest alum.

Congrat Wows.

Congrats.

He's made three documentaries that played here and one I was only a producer on.

So it doesn't Just a producer who's your scout too.

And he's a Kansas City resident.

Hey.

No way.

And I know Kansas.

I was born in Wichita.

Uh, went to ku.

My mom lives in, uh, I went to KU for one minute.

Really?

Yeah.

Okay.

Probably one semester I was there.

I graduated 2001.

Okay.

Yeah.

And it was actually just back two weekends ago.

Uh, I'm on the advisory board of the film school, and so it was

back in Lawrence, like Awesome.

Talking to students and all that stuff, so, yeah.

That's awesome.

So you live in Kansas City?

I do.

I was in LA for like.

18 years.

Okay.

And then during COVID, the wife was like, uh, you're running

your, your company on Zoom calls.

Yeah.

Why do we still need to be in la?

And I was like, um, I don't know.

Okay.

We'll go back home.

Yes.

So, and we have kids and my parents are getting older.

All the things.

Yeah.

It just made sense.

And so weird.

And Kansas City's awesome.

It's, it's one of those places like I would live there.

Yeah.

You know, like I, although I come to Austin and I'm like,

Austin is so freaking cool.

Yeah.

Well, especially right now, lots of people come here and it's, you know,

drinking margaritas in South by, so in the spring it feels pretty great,

but then you come here in August and it's a different situation.

So.

Well, tell me about the movie you're here with.

You got, uh, I'm not, I'm basically here to support my friend.

Okay.

Directed a film called, uh, I got Bombed at Harvey's, which

is uh Oh yeah, I've heard that.

Yeah.

But, uh, a thousand pounds of Dynamite Bomb that was ushered into a casino

in Tahoe in the early eighties.

For a ransom and so, and he had like a lot of the original people that were

involved and the FBI and all this stuff.

And so it's a past tense.

True crime.

Kind of fun.

Yeah.

Heist heisty type thing.

But it has like a real, and this is a feature doc?

Feature doc that your friend made Yep.

But you weren't involved with Okay.

I was not involved.

Gotcha.

Okay.

All my, all my films have been previous years, so I had one

in 2018 was my first time.

And then, uh, I had one in 2024.

Gotcha.

Both those I direct.

And what was, what were those two?

What are the, the first one was called Social Animals, and it

was, uh, about three kids, three teenagers in their Instagram accounts.

Okay.

Um, that was distributed by Netflix.

Cool.

Oh, congrat.

Yeah.

I actually, I haven't seen it, but that crossed my radar for sure.

Yeah.

And then the following one was a true crime thing that I, that Brian

produced, the one that I'm here for.

Um, is this Brian Stor?

It is.

Oh, I know Brian.

Yeah.

Oh, amazing.

Okay, cool.

So that project, uh, that was two years ago, 2024.

That was called Dick Weed.

Oh yes.

Okay.

That was yours?

That was mine.

Oh, amazing.

Okay.

So I did see that one.

Yeah.

I really liked it.

That's great.

A wild kind of crazy TRO crime.

Yeah, it's gone.

Wrong story.

Yes.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So, oh, that's awesome.

So how did you, so Brian Kel is a producer in la, very prolific.

He's from Oklahoma, so he and I crossed paths because of that.

Okay.

Um, and I've known him for a long time, like, you know,

pre PE Outlaw and all that.

Oh yeah.

So I was a producer on Pez Outlaw, uh, exec producer.

Oh, cool.

Does Outlaw.

Okay.

So I came for that as well.

Awesome.

Okay.

And so how did you guys connect?

I had seen Legend Cook in Island, which also.

It came out in 2018, which was the year my first doc came out.

Yeah.

And I had another project that was kind of in that tone of like quirky, like true

crime, but not like serial killer kind of stuff, which I'm not interested in.

Yeah.

But like more like every man true crime that's like a lot of hijinks and so forth.

Yeah.

Like somebody way out of their death committed crimes.

Yes.

And so I had a project which is still maybe, who knows ever gonna see the

light of day, but I was like, um, when we had a mutual friend and I was

like, Hey, I want you to introduce me to Brian Stor because it's like

exactly the tone of Cocaine Island.

Yeah.

And so anyways, we had a meeting and he liked the project and so he came on.

As a producer to that, and we've done the whole pitch around town thing and Awesome.

Then we just got thick as Thieves and became involved in other,

each other's projects and stuff.

Like, he's got his, um, he's got his Hulk Hogan Netflix doc

series coming out next month.

Oh, oh, amazing.

I didn't even know about that.

He's like, he spent like the last six months, uh, before Hulk passed,

um, filming with him intermittently and, and telling the story, so it was

already a project and then obviously Hulk passed and so they ramped up to get

through post a little quicker and Wow.

It's coming up.

Cool.

Yeah.

Next, I think it's whole Hulk True American or something like that.

Okay.

I can't remember, but it looks good.

I mean, Brian's a great filmmaker, right?

Real American.

Right.

Real American.

That's his theme song.

That would make more sense then.

Yes, that would make more sense.

Yeah.

We're talking about Brian Stor, uh, our Mutual buddy.

Gotcha.

Yeah.

Nice.

Jonathan, you've been to South by three times as a, as a

filmmaker, producer, and director.

You're here today as a, an observer, as a supporter.

Uh, what does South By Southwest mean nationally to filmmakers

who aren't from Austin?

I take it for granted 'cause I've had the good fortune of premiering here.

Like, oh yeah, this is actually a really big deal in terms of being

like one of the, one of the kind of blue chip festivals in North America.

I mean, it's opened up so many doors for me, so I can only skip my experience.

But I think people know that though.

I mean, I think people in the US know that.

That maybe haven't been, yeah.

Is there something unique about it that feels different from other festivals?

You know, every festival's got its personality.

It feels more community.

It's less like, oh, I'm in New York doing this big festival.

I don't know.

It feels accessible and approachable in a way that I think, yeah, sometimes the film

industry like feels so other and yeah, and just feels like, oh, we're all part of the

same thing, doing the same stru struggling at the same hill together, you know?

Yeah.

Even just like this event just being about Austin filmmakers, I mean,

not every town this size obviously has this robust of a community.

It's right.

That's pretty awesome.

Yeah.

That's great, man.

All right, man, it's great to meet you.

I'm gonna hang out.

We're gonna hang out a rapport with Jerry.

Awesome.

I want, I wanna sneak up on Monika Watkins here because Cool.

Pleasure.

Great to talk to you, man.

Yeah.

This is Monika Watkins, and she is one of my favorite.

Awesome.

I'm gonna film you filming me, and she's like, she just walks up, she's gonna

film us filming her, and what she's filming us with is this drone up here.

So you've been posting nonstop on Instagram.

These incredible, there are these incredible shots that

you're getting with this guy.

Hey, bring it down a little bit.

Let me get a, we get a look at you.

He's so funny.

This is awesome.

Yes, I'm obsessed with it.

You want it lower?

Is that what he.

Let's take a look at what is this, one of those drones that follows you So

you can like train it on you basically?

Yes, it can, but I, I tend to do it all manual, which feels a little

safer to me, but yeah, I love it.

I'm so, Monika is an alum of the a FS Dock Intensive.

That's how we met several years ago.

And she is a Dallas filmmaker?

That's correct.

She is a producer, a director, a shooter, and she's a drone op.

She's showing all the, you have these incredible drone videos and what I

love about them is they're different.

They center you and they center your relationship to

the environment around you.

I don't know what the project is and I don't know if you know what it is.

I can't tell.

Yeah.

Uh, tell us and our world, what is going on with Monika and what

is going on with this drone and also it's just so that to you.

Thank you.

It's good to see you too, brother Keith was kind enough to be a mentor to me for

the doc intensive and I learned a ton.

And it was kind of revolved around Dabney, which is a short animated film that I am

in process on finishing hopefully soon.

Nice.

With ai, that's been a, a real blessing, so I am, I'm excited

to see and release that.

The story I think is really powerful and, and timely.

Um, but the drone Love, I, my background is in photography, so I started off like

visual storytelling is just my jam, and that kind of evolved into filmmaking,

which has now evolved into drone photography and filming, and I'm obsessed.

Being able to see from a different perspective is just.

Oh, I love that.

That's so cool.

And the god's eye view, right?

It kind of, yeah.

And it just allows you to like, like you mentioned, like put people,

whatever I'm filming, it's not always me, but putting people in the

environment in a really beautiful way.

You know, with sometimes we do this with Gimbals where it's like

this smooth, steady cam shot.

I am getting older and I don't like lugging around a big 4.6 k black

magic on my shoulder all of the time.

So now I can get really beautiful 4K footage this way.

Wow.

People love it.

Kids love it.

Yeah.

It's just, yeah, it's the best.

You know what I'm particularly fascinated in is what you said about ai.

Thank goodness for ai.

I want to hear more about that.

'cause I also want to be excited and not terrified.

So tell me, tell me what goodness weren't, you're working overtime to find

a silver lining here, is that right?

Yes.

Well, I, I will say that I am equally fascinated as I am frightened.

Yeah.

So I. Film students, and I wanted them to be really hip to technology.

Yeah.

I think it's really important for them, especially going into an industry

that is changing faster than ever, that they need to understand how

technology hopefully can benefit them.

Right.

I think it does democratize things in a certain way.

So in that way I'm hopeful.

I think that creatives have a real power to make it work for them.

Yeah.

However, there are environmental issues that we all must be aware of.

There are IP issues that we need to be aware of.

When you're uploading your footage or you're taking something from a

platform, who does it belong to?

Who is the creative?

So I think that as long as you learn, um, there are real opportunities for

us, and I think that the animated film that I'm working on called Dabney.

I have been for 10 years trying to get this documentary made.

Wow.

Um, and the animation component is the component that has held

me kind of in a stop start.

It's like a lot of like stop and go, which costs more money over

time because you have to get people recalibrated on the idea.

Sometimes it's new people that are coming in.

But now with ai, it is possible for me to locally on my computer, train the

images that I already have with Dabney and I, so I'm keeping the IP local.

It's not going up to nano banana or whatever platform.

Um, and that is a real value add.

And then also because the story centers an African American man, the

history of like minstrelsy and all of these things that use the black

image to be really disrespectful has always been super important.

Mm-hmm.

And because I'm doing this in an animated style, it's a cartoon kind of vibe.

I, it is really important that, that his honor and the dignity that I have

for DNE and that he has as a human being is it needs to be protected.

So as a creative, I think those things are exciting for us.

There is a way for us to use it, but we still have to be really creative,

really conscious, really smart.

Well said.

I love that.

And Keith doesn't like when I talk about this, but we, part of the

reason we can do this as efficiently as we can, we do a weekly show on

video Right on with, uh, three of us.

Okay.

Uh, is partly because we use an AI editing platform and we do do the editing, but

it, it basically what would take about a day of sinking and organizing Yes.

Social clip creation and all that stuff.

Yeah.

Is so expedited because of ai.

Yeah.

And so I am trying to use it as like community building a way to

celebrate this art form that we love.

Bring people together, give people a platform.

Yeah.

And then think of it more like that and like what we can do with it

versus what what it's gonna take away.

So, yeah.

Well, and I think there needs to be a real delineation.

It's not that I don't like when Ben talks about it, I just don't like

the implication that it's making creative choices for us when it's not.

Right.

It's there.

There are, what it's doing is two categories.

Yeah.

It's doing like assistant editor work of like organizing, basically

there's tools and resources from AI and then there's generative ai.

Yeah.

And I think.

Tools and resources aren't scraping other people's creative work.

Exactly.

Re-skinning it and calling it anew.

Exactly.

There's no, like the, the Pandora's box has been opened.

Right.

And, and so regulation is out the door right now.

It's a wild west scenario.

I wanna be on the edge of the frontier with anybody and understand

where I draw my personal lines.

I don't wanna be dictated by anybody else, but right now I still, I

still, my, my tummy tells me that pure scraping other people's work,

generative a AI that's replacing artists, animators and storytellers,

wholesale is not the business I wanna be.

It's a problem.

Yeah.

Yeah, for sure.

Completely.

Alright, so Monika, besides all that, yeah, you posted

something a few months ago now.

Okay.

And it was about your mom and it seemed very personal.

Yeah.

And it seemed very heartfelt.

Totally.

And it was a peak into your process and it's where I first started

seeing kind of these shots that you're getting these beautiful shots

where you're framing yourself up and you're walking through the world.

Yeah.

Can you tell us a little bit about that project?

Yeah.

So, uh, my mom transcended this life in 2024.

It was at the end of 2024.

It was not expected.

Um, I got to be with her at the end and it was, I don't know if, if anybody has

lost a parent, it just changes everything.

It changes how you see the world.

I have now lost both my parents and, um, there is something about me

being an artist and them both being artists that kind of called me to

do work that was really authentic, that was totally vulnerable.

I really don't like sharing personal information.

Um, but this has kind of broken me open and I feel now called

to, to talk more about this.

And I think with the world the way that it is, that being vulnerable

is a real courageous, necessary act.

And so that kind of came from that.

My mom was bold.

She was a pianist and a singer.

Mm-hmm.

And just an incredible artist.

And there was just so much about that experience that kind of like broke me

open that I felt like, you know, in that video I'm crying in public, which

was just like, now it's kind of par for the course and I'm okay with it.

And so I decided to start like a little series called Love Mo, which is

what I felt after losing my mom that I was just in need of loving that.

I think sometimes when we are traumatized by something, when we

are in grief, that we can feel lost and just kind of in this darkness.

And I, I think my way out, my healing journey has been about focusing

and centering things that I love.

I love.

Flying a drone.

I love learning.

And so video ended up like touching a lot of people.

A lot of people reached out to me and talked about their loss and so it's,

it just blessings upon blessings.

Oh, that's good for you for being vulnerable.

I love what you said, like kind of the antidote to all of us being on

our phones and in our own worlds is like being vulnerable, creating

community, putting ourselves out there.

Absolutely.

And I totally agree.

I love how you said that.

Can I ask for a quick CoLab with you?

Between you and doc walks, could I ask you to take your skills here with this device?

Yeah.

And fly this drone out over the crowd.

And could we cut?

So I, to

the legally, I can't fly over a crowd, but I can fly around.

Yeah.

So well, we'll take what you, we'll take what you can give us.

Totally.

Absolutely.

And if you choose to break laws in the process, that's people have it on camera.

Absolutely.

But let me do a quick thing with you guys.

I'd love to do like a Yeah.

I'm obsessed with these like photos that I can take.

So what we're gonna do guys, is we're just gonna look at the drone and whatever pose

you do, just hold it for the duration.

The drone's gonna move around because it's taking several different shots.

Oh, okay.

But um, if we move then it's gonna be morph us into like weirdness.

Okay.

So just whenever we Can we do one of those too?

Yeah, absolutely.

You got morph?

Absolutely.

Okay.

Yeah.

So the first one will smile.

Okay.

And then if we mess it up, then we'll use that as the morph and then we'll do, okay.

So here we go.

Nice smile straight to camera.

And it is going, hold it.

Hold it.

I love it.

We're out of view now, so you can relax.

Wow.

But it'll come back.

It'll come back.

So hold it.

Whatever you Okay.

Where it's, so is it doing like a panoramic shot?

Yes.

Oh wow.

It's so dope.

It's just a 180 though.

Okay.

It's back to us.

So whatever your pose was, it does struggle with the wind, so

hopefully it's gonna hang tight.

All I think we're out of it again.

We'll see how this goes.

Wow.

Okay.

Now we'll do one.

I'm so cool.

Totally.

I'm obsessed.

Okay.

So I'm gonna get a little closer to us.

Yeah.

Just in case this gets a little better.

This way.

We're gonna do the same thing.

Is this a er or this is another straight one.

This is gonna be, um, if you guys wanted, I'm gonna do a

heart over my head if I Oh yeah.

Just see if it'll hold.

So whatever you guys wanna do, play is on if you wanna do a book

and through it, but here we go.

I know it's, you have to have patience.

You really do.

So funny.

But it's, it's great.

It turns out really, really cool.

The sun is in a weird place for us, but that's okay.

Think it's clear.

So let's check it and we'll see how it turned out.

What are, oh, and that's it.

Okay.

Yeah, I think we did it.

So now we wanna do a proud.

Is there any place that you guys want to be?

No.

I, we don't even wanna be involved.

I just want you to grab a shot for us that we can make you set.

Absolutely.

And I wanna say thank you so much.

It's been wonderful.

Yes.

You know, I really enjoy the days that we spent together here.

Me too.

At the, I can't even, I can't even tell you how much it meant to me.

Um, I think about it often, and I am, I'm just moved by you and your

expertise and your willingness to share and encourage me on dab me, because

I think I was thinking of it in a way that was very kind of like limited, but

with animation, you can be out there.

That's right.

And you should be, because that's what that art form allows.

Like, if you're gonna use animation, like go crazy with it.

So you, you really, I appreciate that.

I was like, that's beautiful.

That's good advice.

I like that as well.

Definitely was.

Oh, was, well.

Yeah.

I, you know, you're a strong and, uh, and, and powerful voice in documentary film in

Dallas in the, the work that you've done.

Um.

Just keeps getting me more and more excited.

So I'm excited for Dabney to be finished.

I'm excited for Love Mode to continue.

Thank you.

It is a Wisdom Tradition, which is a docuseries I was just filming in

Tulsa for, and it is, I think in line with all the things that I've been

talking about, having elders like this intergenerational, like communication

is so useful right now when we're going through times that feel so unmooring to

talk to people that have been through harder times, if you can imagine

that and see what, how they got over.

So that's what Wisdom Traditions is.

It's a docuseries.

I'm talking to historians, I'm talking to artists, and I'm talking

to elders about Ways Forward.

Love it.

And I'm, I'm obsessed with it.

Yeah.

Awesome.

I'm obsessed with a lot My caught me this.

Okay, let me do a quick, um, let's do it.

All right, now I'll get these guys.

Great.

That fun?

That was so fun.

Thank you.

Um, let's cut.

Yeah, let's cut for a second.

Here's the.

Bradley.

Hi buddy.

Hey, buddy.

How you doing?

I'm good, man.

Good.

Am I on camera?

You are on camera.

Do you know Here, take this deal.

We don't know each other.

Do you know Keith Maitland?

Keith?

Oh, I have like heard, I've seen your, you made the movie about the Tower, right?

Yeah.

I love that movie.

Well, thanks very much.

And I've heard so many people talk about you, including this guy.

Well, your name is a constant refrain in the doc walks world, because I

know that we Yes, please tell him why, because 'cause it was such a bad episode.

No, no.

It was such a great episode.

Episode every fucking week I go, we have to put Bradley's episode out.

It's been so long.

Like this is ridiculous.

It's evergreen, though, like I Well, that's what he said.

Yes.

And honestly, that's kind of what happened is that we got a string of people who

were either at festivals or in release.

Yeah, dude.

And so it's like we're gonna, we're gonna sneak that one in.

That would've just been like a fun conversation we had without camera.

It's like we just like for a, well that's, that is the idea.

And we, it doesn't always come across that way, but that's the idea.

I don't know if I told you about this, but with Bradley, I was like,

yeah, we'll just go for a walk.

It'll be easy.

And he is like, yeah, meet me in my house.

Great.

And I didn't clarify that we should probably stay on a sidewalk.

And so we walk, it's la you know, we walk from his house and he's like this way.

And suddenly we're on this like very narrow, muddy trail and I'm like

trying to, and it just rained a bunch.

But that means it's beautiful.

It's like wearing, we got some great views.

I was wearing, was bright white shoes.

And so the whole time I'm like, oh, forgot about.

Oh, oh.

But, but we hike up and look out over all of your neighborhood.

It was beautiful.

Like it's a perfect observatory.

Yes.

On a cool day.

Yeah, it was awesome.

It was awesome.

What are you doing at the festival?

I have a movie called Stages that I co-wrote with Russell.

Yes.

With Russell?

Yes.

Yeah.

Oh, sorry.

With Russell.

Yeah.

With Stages It middle class musician.

Coming out of like semi-retirement for the first time.

He was in a very, he was in a very moderately successful band that like, you

know, in the mid two thousands they'll play like 3000 people in Nashville.

Right.

Then the band, you know, they get older, some of 'em start

having kids, they break up.

Yep.

And then this is this guy's first solo tour without the band.

And this is a narrative.

It's a narrative.

Okay.

And we cast a local Austin musician.

Oh, amazing.

Who, uh, named David Ramirez.

Yeah.

And he's.

So good.

Like you would not think he's not a professional actor.

Wow.

We filmed in live venues.

Oh, incredible.

Yeah.

And then he has this opening act played by this actress named Leslie Grace.

Okay.

It's very well known.

She was in the Lin Manuel Miranda movie in The Heights.

Oh yeah.

Okay.

Sure.

And they kind of formed this little duet a little bit.

Amazing.

It's really this beautiful little story about art and friendship

and, uh, Bradley, you didn't even talk about this on your walk.

Like, this is how prolific you are.

You were telling me all about another project you were doing

and I was, I can't even remember.

It was, I can tell you what it was.

It was the, uh, it was based on winning or like winning time, but with Jerry Jones.

Oh, right, right, right, right, right.

Which, I don't know, cowboys.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So you were like gonna have a call that afternoon about that one.

Yeah.

You didn't even mention that you were, nothing happened with that.

So that's, well, thanks for rubbing it in, Ben.

This is the life of a creative person.

This is exactly what happens.

Yeah.

I can't tell you how many docs I'm hoping to make.

And then.

Talk to me next and it's gone.

Yeah.

And it's not happening.

Yeah.

You gotta just learn how to juggle multiple Exactly.

To multiple balls at the same time.

So is this the world premiere?

Yeah.

We premiering Premier on, on, uh, Thursday night.

We have a screening in a couple hours.

Awesome.

We have a party at Don's Depot.

Oh, great.

I know.

Perfect place for it.

So excited.

That's So is he gonna, is he gonna perform?

He, yeah.

He and the actress are gonna perform.

Um, tell us like, you know, you are from here or at least went to school here.

Yeah.

Then you moved to Los Angeles.

Yeah.

Now you're coming back.

Yeah.

What is it that you love about South By that makes this festival different?

Special, the ultimate like Austin experience.

I don't know.

Like, I started going to South by when I was a junior in college, and

I like volunteered for Matt Dentler.

I had the best time.

Yeah.

Then senior year I had a short film in the Fest that was like, like

get doing drugs for the first time.

Just like, even just like a small short film, like a five minute

short, like playing of Fest.

I felt like.

I had made it, you know?

Yeah.

I felt like the ultimate big deal, like just like my student

film playing south by Yeah.

But I, but then like.

It ended and it was like, it was such a good experience, but it was kind of

just like, oh, Spielberg's not calling.

What's, what, what's, why the deal are deal people giving me

money to make my next project?

I thought this, what, what happened?

Uh, so it was a great like dip your toe in, but then you realize you

actually have to learn how to swim.

Right.

Kind of a vibe.

You realize just your toes just wet and now you gotta just sweatt.

And like, I think I went every year of my twenties.

Um, never had a film play, but I would just go and just like dream

about being here and then just, yeah.

It's such, it's the best, it's the best vibe you can get.

Yeah.

It's so much fun.

Tell us why you're moving back.

I'm moving back because, uh, I have two kids and I want to like, raise

them in Texas and I love Austin and I just like love the politics of

the place, but I love the politics.

I'm a huge, don't bring it down.

He is lifting us up.

Come on.

I, uh, no, I just like the fact that I'm like, I didn't really

know about this party, but I found out about like three hours ago.

I'm like, yeah, I'll show up.

Yeah.

I walk in and I know like 18 people immediately like.

That's Austin.

That's the Austin first scene.

Yes.

Like I haven't been able to walk two seconds without being like, oh, hey, hey,

I haven't seen like, like bar may, like I haven't seen Baron in like 15 years.

Yeah.

And that's great.

So I see him every day.

I'd see him every day.

Yeah, I know.

Yeah.

Trust me.

Anything you want to know, I'm just, I'm excited to be back.

We'll probably be back in May or June, so.

Awesome, man.

Yeah.

Well, we're so happy to have you back.

Yeah, man.

And thank you for coming over to say hi.

Of course.

This is awesome.

Yeah.

And we're, and I promise we'll put out your episode soon, so

don't Bradley Jackson episode coming very soon, doc Watch.

So could, you could hold it for another Yeah, I mean, like, I just, I just

like hanging out with you guys, so, oh.

Well look at that.

Let's hang out without cameras.

One of these days.

That feels weird.

I don't know.

That's maybe a little too much.

So thanks so much.

It's great to meet you.

Yeah, you too as well, man.

I look forward to, I'm such a fan of getting to know you and you, you

two have made two of my favorite docs over the last 15 years.

So like, okay, then you changed my mind.

Let's hang out somewhere.

Yeah.

You glad Get you everywhere the camera.

So talk congrats on stages.

Thank you.

And any time I hear of, of, uh.

Somebody who's started here and gone out into the world and then

brings a film back to south by Yeah.

Like it's a special Yeah.

It's a special feeling.

So I'm so excited.

When we found out, we got in, I literally was like on the phone with my realtor

about to put an offer in on this house.

Oh, amazing.

And was like, yeah, let's put an offer in.

Then I got a text from Russell being like, we're in South by,

and I was like, this is it.

This is the sign that I've been looking for.

It's time to come back.

I think you get a discount actually with, uh, if you show

your balance, if you buy a house.

Yeah.

That's Oh really?

Do discount.

Yeah.

It take like 10% off the road.

You get 1% more on your homestead extension.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Exactly.

I love it.

Alright.

Great to see you Bradley.

Thank you man.

Great to meet you, man.

That's for sure.

Awesome.

It may be too loud with the music behind this.

I'm not sure.

Okay.

But I'm gonna do my best.

Uh, ladies and gentlemen, Samwell, it's good to see you again, my friends.

Good to see you as well.

Um, I saw you have something premiering here at the festival.

Yeah.

Tell me about it.

It's called a fragile Vessel in, it's about, uh, Mexican family

in Rundberg north of Austin.

Just talking about what heat is, how do you define heat?

Extreme heat particularly.

Yeah.

Uh, and the idea behind it is that heat like love is something that we all talk

about, we all experience, but it's really abstract to actually talk about it.

So how can we even talk about climate change in the end of the world if we

don't understand this elemental thing that affects us all that is inside

us, outside of us, and that might be the death of us in our species.

And what is the form of this film?

Is it a doc?

It's a short doc scripted.

It's 16 minutes.

It's a, it is a, it is nonfiction, but it has, it's inspired

by sci-fi horror aesthetics.

And so come watch this bizarre, beautiful thing.

I'd love to see it.

Oh, we look at these pillars of the community.

Hello?

Oh no,

are y'all, what's up?

Helping out with the podcast and Keith and Bindu for the, um, I'd

love to get D in here, right?

Oh yeah.

We do need to get d And just to make sure we do have two, you're

seeing two audio feeds, right?

I am, yes.

Okay, great.

So let me hold onto that then since, okay.

Uh, we'll check out the barn.

Don, what's up Don?

What are you guys eating?

Uh, I just finished some tamales.

They were wonderful, both pork and chicken.

Highly recommend them.

Highly recommend.

Very good.

What could be,

who's this guy?

His name is Buster.

Buster.

Is he named after Buster from the bus development?

No.

Buster Baxter from, uh, Arthur Buster.

Baxter From Arthur.

He's the rabbit.

Okay.

He's like the white rabbit.

I didn't name him.

He came that way.

Okay.

Yeah.

Thanks Misha Buster.

Gonna be a star.

Well, of course he's standing next to you.

How you doing?

Chelsea Talkbox host tonight.

So good to see you.

Nice to see you.

Uh, what are you drinking?

American Smash.

Uh, we, uh, do a little podcast and we walk around and interview

people and, um, so just kind of supposed to be getting some party

B-roll and not talking to anybody.

But then I saw Buster, and then I saw Chelsea.

Alright, I'm gonna keep moving.

Oh, can I, can I get a shot of you using your a FS fan?

That is so, oh, thank you.

Look at that.

Oh, and I see a double a FS fan over here.

Oh, look at that.

That's awesome.

Thank you guys.

Thank you.

How you doing today?

I'm living it up.

What's your DJing philosophy for the party?

Uh, try to impress a bunch of film people.

Alright, you're working.

It's working.

Who's this?

Uh, this is a cover song that's just ending.

So next up I am playing some Santana.

How's it going, Dayton?

It's good.

We're going along out here.

It's a lot of fun.

A lot of folks.

Yeah.

Uh, we're gonna seek you in for a little interview in a minute.

We're just gonna walk around and get some party B roll.

Hello.

Let me, you, you could do it quick 'cause I do actually

have to run to the long time.

Yeah, that's where I'm going.

Ben's done business.

Hey Keith, this is, this is Riley.

Riley.

Here we go.

This is Keith Lin.

Hi Keith.

Nice to meet you.

And you know Dayton, you know our Oh yeah, yeah.

Dayton, our, uh, producer.

That's right.

Yeah.

That's amazing.

So ri you were just telling me We have a, uh, short documentary

at South by this year.

Uh, in the Texas Shorts program.

It's called Force Field of Love.

Okay.

Uh, here's a little picture of 'em.

Dan and Doris, they're legends.

South Austin Legends, dancers.

Uh, they go to Lubies, they go to the gun range, they go to movies.

We go to the retirement home with them and yeah, really,

it's just, it's a love story.

It's a portrait of them.

Amazing.

Living their best lives and love it.

Embracing aging, defying.

What society puts on you Interesting.

Uh, to live your best life.

How is this your first film at South by, uh, I worked on y Kona that underwater

San Marcus documentary like 10 years ago.

Oh yeah?

Yeah.

But this is the first film I directed at South by.

How did it feel when you found out you got in?

It was amazing.

Yeah.

We, we got, uh, we applied like two hours before the deadline.

We did the audio mix.

We got it barely done.

You know, it's a, it's a pipe dream to premiere at.

So by Southwest we've lived here our whole lives and yeah, it's a dream come true.

Awesome.

And what are you gonna do with the film after it premieres?

Like, are you guys gonna play other festivals?

Are you gonna put it online?

What, what's.

The plan for it.

Yeah.

We're gonna do a festival run and then hopefully, uh, we'd love to

release it with the New Yorker or maybe the New York Times.

We'll see.

Okay.

With distribution, but yeah.

Awesome.

All right, ocs, if you're, uh, if you're listening, we got a, we got a film

here for you to consider OCS listening.

I hope so.

Ocs, if you're out there.

Yes.

Be listening.

If you're listening, listen to Ri.

Hey Riley.

Alright, we wanna talk to, yes, let's do like, let's do a

serpentine through the crowd.

Okay.

Over Dayton's shoulder.

Oh, oh goodness.

Okay.

I want to intro Dayton and then Dayton.

I want you to walk through the crowd giving, giving the audience

your play by play what you're seeing, what you're feeling, what

you end up over there in the grass.

You get to know your, does that seem fair?

Sure.

Okay.

So this is a doc walks first.

Yeah.

The man behind the scenes.

You know him from the credits you've witnessed the fruits of his

labor and his excellent choice.

In shirts, ladies and gentlemen, meet the one, the only Dayton Thompson,

not a Snuffle cus, but actually the tall, bright-eyed, bushy-tailed

emerging filmmaker here in Austin.

But Ben and I are lucky enough to work with on Dock Walks.

Kayton, welcome to the show, who I wanna say, we officially met here about

10 yards that way last year, and we interviewed you for Dock Walks then, and

that was the first time you and I ever.

Talk to each other, I believe.

Yeah, it'd have been on the way up.

Yeah.

But I think you got cut outta the episode.

I did.

You did.

And then now cut to a year later, you producing.

I can still put outta the episode in a moment's notice.

Watch your meet p and qs.

That's right.

So be careful.

But here we are, a year later working together.

I love it.

Here we are.

So this, and that's like a good, uh, sort of microcosm of the Austin film scene.

I feel like we all are, are either collaborators already or about to be.

So with that in mind, walk us through the crowd here.

Yeah, dam, we're gonna, we're gonna follow your lead.

Well, tell us what you're seeing, what you're doing.

We got a nice, bright, sunny day in Texas.

Gone over with it.

We got some tamales over just right to my view here.

And then a lot of folks are congregated toward the drinks as it

often goes in south by a timeframe.

We'll make our way over here toward the entrance that elk.

You like a Waymo backed over this way?

We're making our way.

Hello?

Hello.

Gonna, hi, how are you?

Good, how are you doing?

Good to see you.

I hot.

Oh, thank you.

Yeah, you're good.

See you.

You guys are looking particularly fabulous here.

This crew rolling in.

Yeah.

Here.

Doing it Well, doing well.

Get, get them on the mic here.

Well, we're just talking and walking and a little bit about film.

Okay.

So I know you have been up to some projects.

Oh yeah.

Which Hass been the latest?

The latest?

Mm-hmm.

Oh, let's get full introduction.

Yeah.

And please introduce yourself too.

Oh, hi, I'm Bev Ku with the Austin Film Society.

Hey, Rebecca.

Hi Josh.

Okay.

Um, these are my people.

Uh, I'm also a filmmaker based in Austin, writer, director, and producer.

I guess in terms of the project I'm working on now, I'm working on a proof of

concept for a larger feature adaptation of a memoir, um, that I've been contracted to

write and direct for the last two years.

So we're making a proof of concept called Delma Save My Life, and we have created

a. Entirely new and random, uh, kids' program character to help kind of show

the process of postpartum depression.

Awesome.

So, wow, that's a good pitch.

You got that down.

Thank you.

Yeah, thank you.

And how do sometimes do this?

You, how do you know Dayton?

You guys said hello on the way in man Doc days.

No, it, we never dock days.

We met You sure.

It was Will Hearn's, um, the film festival free two B?

It was, uh, yeah, free to be.

Oh, free two B was where we first met.

Yeah.

I still remember.

So one of my, I don't think so.

It was, uh, one of my mentees from college put on a festival, like an arts festival.

Uh, and I think I met both, both of y all there with it.

Bev, you're a writer, you director.

Mm-hmm.

You also work at Austin Film Society?

Yeah, I work under the head of film at Austin Film Society.

Holly Harrick.

You guys should all know her.

Her documentary first.

They came from my college.

We were there last premier, last night.

Premier.

I was there last night too.

It was great.

Uh, what advice do you have for emerging filmmakers?

We hope people watch or listen to this podcast.

Uh, because they're looking to kind of launch, get a step ahead, kind

of get to the point that you're at.

Yeah.

At the point where Dayton's at, where you guys are, what can you share,

find the people who like, love you through all of like the hardest things.

I feel like if you can find like the honest in any story, it's gonna be good.

It's when you're not being true to yourself that the

story kind of off things.

But Yeah.

I mean, to quote our kids' program character, Thelma, um, her whole

ethos is that life is one big circle.

And if someone believes in you, even if it's yourself, all of that believing

and love will go back to the version of yourself that needed it the first place.

Wow.

So that's fantastic.

Light out big circle.

Life is one big circle.

Ooh.

That's the name of our episode.

There we go.

We always find a phrase from a guest way to go.

Wow.

See, you're just walking in the party and you're already crushing.

You'll get some to us.

Yes.

All right.

Great talking to you.

Thank you guys.

Have a great party.

All right, well there it goes.

Oh, well here's Sarah Cook.

There it is.

Hey, well look at that.

Here's Sarah Cook.

I just referred to you as Future Doc Walks guest, if you haven't heard yet

in this week's episode because you make a small cameo in Claudette's.

Hello episode.

This is Sarah Cook you.

Aaron, would you please hold them mic for us?

But I introduced Sarah Cook as Future Doc walks guest in the synopsis

of the Claudette Godfrey episode.

And then boom, the future is now.

And you walk right in.

You walk right into, because I've been wanting to talk to you.

Yeah.

I always, of course, I wanna talk to you about your personal

work and everything you're doing.

I wanna talk to you about the Austin Doc make's club that

you're one of the co-founders of.

Um, and I wanna talk to you about whatever video consortium is, because

that's something that I saw on Instagram and I don't know what it

is and, and I wanna know what it is.

Yeah.

What is it?

And also, wait, can I just say, hi, I'm, I'm Ben.

I don't think we've met before.

Nice to meet you.

Just coming in hot, just like immediately coming into an interview and I love it.

Yeah.

She walk into a party and somebody hand you a mic.

Hi, I am Sarah, friend of the pod.

Cool.

Is that what it is?

It could be.

You could.

I like that.

That, are you a pod couple casters.

Long time friend of the pod.

Long time Austinite.

I run Austin Doc Makers Club with Ivy Chew and then a handful

of Doc Makers Club members.

And I just started the video consortium club for Austin.

Video Consortium is an international network, uh, nonfiction storytellers.

So it kind of came about during COVID, uh, for journalists.

Okay.

And people who use mixed media to tell journalism news stories.

So it's a great way for documentary filmmakers to network with the world.

Oh, so Austin Doc Makers Club is intimate emotional support group

for local Austin doc makers.

We, we all need that.

Absolutely.

We need an emotional support system for sure.

You need to know like that other people are going through the same thing as you.

Yeah.

Where video consortium is a way to show the world what we do here.

We were first thinking about it.

We didn't know if it was gonna be a dual, like too much the same, but then.

No, we really need to be, uh, microing out.

We're here, come hang out with us.

We do the best, most awesome stuff and you should know about us.

There's gonna be panels, uh, students will be invited to come, but with, uh, yeah.

More of an education stance.

I wanna put a little bit of a pin in talking about this only because

I want the moniker of Future Doc walks guests to remain true.

'cause I wanna book you for a full hour Okay.

So that we can go do a walk.

Yeah.

We can find out.

Uh, the work that you're doing with the United Nations and your

personal work is something that we haven't had a chance to talk about.

Uh, I think the podcast audience would love to know what's going on.

And then the model that you're describing, these two models.

Yes.

The Austin Doc Makers Club.

I still haven't participated, but I get the emails and I love seeing

that there's a community of people who are truly supporting each other.

Uh, like Ben and I support each other.

And I was gonna say, he's my emotional support, like village age, white men

kind of way where we, uh, we give each other shit, Hey, we don't have

to throw in the age or the ethnicity.

I mean, I think's we can just say whether mention it or not, but this sounds

like it's that you've got two different community based models to talk about.

And that's what our podcast is about, is like highlighting the documentary

community, finding commonality, giving people a place to, uh, to

get answers or to ask questions.

Yeah.

And and you're doing that in a very real, uh, way.

Yeah.

And, and to celebrate the work that we love, you know, like that's like

in this time when we're all kind of.

You know, on our phones and sucked into our own worlds.

Like we wanted to give back to this thing that has given us so much and that we

love and to, so I like what you said about like, megaphoning out, like Yeah, yeah.

I, I got a image in my head of Courtney.

Here's a who, you know, like, you know, like it's, we're here, we're here.

Like, yeah.

You know, I think we have some of the best filmmakers in the

world here and it's like agreed.

So surprising and unique, but Austin continues to be, despite the financial

challenges, a good home for artists.

Absolutely.

And we need to make it that way.

And the way that we can do that is by creating our own new, unique systems.

And I know in my heart that we as a group are gonna be people that change the world.

To change how people interact with documentary films change how, uh, people

get films in their circle, in their way of seeing, um, what matters to them.

So I think it's coming, it's, it's something that we've been talking about

in Do Club for like two years now.

So yeah, we, lot of people have been very much running that, very

much been helping run that show.

Uh, it seems, I I wanna recall, was it both of y'all, you

and Ivy that had started it?

Yes, we started it.

Okay.

At South by Southwest in 2024.

Cool.

Yeah.

Well, again, we want to hear more all about this on a separate walk.

Yeah.

So it was two years ago, we were both lonely.

We were hanging out at you, up Charlie's, and we were like, what if just.

Got together with other lonely filmmakers and then two years later

that's, that's how great things start.

Yeah.

Awesome.

Well, it's hard to be lonely here at this party because everybody knows

everybody and there's free drinks and free tamales, so get in there.

But thank you for sobbing to say hi.

Yeah.

And have a great, some my favorite people.

Right.

On my way in, I just left the Omni where I was thinking, well be sure

to tell them hello for us filmmakers.

Uh, cool.

Thanks Sarah.

Have fun.

Thanks, Sarah.

Yeah.

And, and this is, we're getting to the end of the episode here.

Yeah.

We got, uh, we've got our pal Dayton here.

Dayton, what did you think of the party?

What did you think of your first appearance on camera?

It was brief, but you immediately opened up and brought Bev

and her crew into the fold.

How did, how did Doc walks treat you today?

You know, I was pretty lucky 'cause there's great people coming up

and making my job a lot easier, particularly my unexpected job.

So I'm really happy to do it and I'm really happy they can do it.

Better than any, any bid I had started out with.

Wait, what's the unexpected job part?

Being on camera?

Yeah, being on camera.

It's fun.

He had greatness thrust upon him.

You know, I thought I heard the, the BTS part and I was like, you know, I know,

I know where we're going with this.

And then I got in front of the camera, I was like, we're gonna figure out

where we're going with this and I'm gonna bring you along for it.

I fts and we still are Dayton.

We're figuring it out as we go.

You know, I wasn't gonna say it.

And I want our audience to know that you are a big part of us

figuring that out as we go.

And we couldn't do this without you.

So thank you very much for all that you do for us.

I'm say nice things about Dayton, how nice things about Dayton.

Dayton is the prime example of how community works.

Ben made a comment about this before, but Dayton came up and made

his presence known as an emerging filmmaker by asking questions, by

showing up and by offering to help.

And all three of those things are appreciated and necessary.

And so Dayton's been a part of this podcast since early fall.

I don't think this will be the last time we pull him from the back to the front,

but we'll always do it in a way that surprises and makes you uncomfortable.

That's the best way.

So buckle up Dayton.

That's right.

Um, thank you for joining us.

This party is replete with filmmakers that we didn't speak with.

There's people in there we could have talked to.

We haven't gotten around to.

Don Swenos is here.

Mike Tulley is here.

Chelsea Hernandez is in there.

Holly and Rebecca from the Austin Film Society.

Sharon Arta is in there somewhere.

I haven't even seen her, but we were hoping to talk to her.

Yeah.

Who else did you see in there, Ben?

Uh, we saw Bradford, uh, who edited on Joy Bubbles with Rachel when

we talked to her at Sundance.

Uh, and he was sitting next to Brad, who I know from going

through the a FS Doc intensive.

He's got a, he's got a narrative feature about Bigfoot starring Wow.

Frank Mosley coming together and he's also got a doc, uh, about, um,

conspiracy theories coming together.

So there's, you know, as usual, there's, this is a who's who of not only the

Austin film scene, but people visiting Austin, uh, premiering their films.

And this a treat to come here every year.

Thank you to the Austin Film Society.

Thank you to our friends at Rambler.

Oh, Rambl for sponsoring been so great this episode.

We thank you to Dayton.

Thank you to our guests, the people who jumped in front of the camera, the

Stalin boys, girls, uh, Ora and Bianca.

Thank you to Monika.

It's nice to meet Jonathan Green for me to finally meet Bradley Jackson.

Yep.

We, this was a great time and now I gotta go 'cause I've got my first baseball game

in the season and uh, I am, uh, need to go stretch so I don't pull something.

There you go.

I'm packing the head west to go snowboarding and Taos if there's snow.

Alright.

TBD let's leave it there.

All cue the music.

Dayton.

Ding ding.

This episode is sponsored by our good friends at Rambler Sparkling Water.

A tasty limestone mineral blend with the perfect level of tight,

crispy bubbles made in America and proudly supporting American Rivers.

Ramble on next time on Dock Walks.

Ben has one more South by Southwest episode to share.

This time with Director of Manhood, the Penis Injection movie

as described in the Claudette Godfrey episode, Daniel Lombroso.

You are not gonna wanna miss that one.

Doc Walks is created, produced, and edited by my friend Ben Stein, Bower of the Bear.

Hello, and my friend Keith Maitland of Go Valley.

Thanks for tuning in.