“ Movie Talk with Mike White”

In this episode I discuss with Mike White his movie podcast The Projection Booth, the movies he loves, his approach to interviews and podcasting and all matters of cinephilia."

"Movie Talk with Mike White”

From Mitch’s notebook on the episode:

“I first discovered Mike White through his wonderful cinema podcast, The Projection Booth. There are two reasons I love it, and I am speaking as a cinephile, I hasten to say.

One is that he has really long form explorations of single films, thus treating the films as artistic texts to be taken seriously, in terms of analysis. There is no cute thumbs up.thumbs down brevity.

Secondly, he does this from the perspective of a regular guy/gal.

That is, he exhibits the joy and love for cinema of people who are not necessarily academic experts while at the same time delving deep into film as an art. Thus, he achieves a balance rarely found in discussions of this kind.

Also I really appreciate his civility. He always talks with guests in the most gracious and respectful manner, never lording it over anybody or indulging in overwrought pretensions.

Listening to his podcast gave me inspiration for my own podcast, actually even though our sensibilities are different in certain respects. his relation with discussion gave me one model for how to behave on a podcast. And, last but not least, I like the way he themes his show, centered around a single film.

This goes back to turning attention to the text itself which is also one of my guiding principles on my show.

I learned a lot on this episode.

We discussed the zine culture of the 90s, his background in the American Midwest, and much more.

He was every bit the gracious conversationalist I knew he would be. "

Mike White’s Bio:

Often mistaken for the ginger screenwriter/actor of the same name, Mike White began publishing the film fanzine Cashiers du Cinemart in 1994 and has been a contributor to publications such as Cinema-Scope, Paracinema , Detroit's Metro Times, and Detour-Mag.com.

He's served on juries at the Slamdance , Cinekink , MicroCineFest , Blue Water, and Kansas City film festivals. Additionally, he's been featured in the documentaries David Goodis: To a Pulp and The People Vs. George Lucas. In 2010, BearManor Media published Impossibly Funky: A Cashiers du Cinemart Collection.

Mike’s wonderful podcast link is here: http://www.projectionboothpodcast.com