What might cinema be? Now that we have amazing digital tools and distribution a filmmaker can produce feature-length dramas akin to all the other mainstream works. For free! By yourself! Most people are using this to create genre movies - here we discuss the other options. What if you are an auteur director? Who creates unique works that aim to expand the cinematic language/s and audience/s. This podcast is for you then. And for me - because I have not been able to find what I am looking for in this. There are some excellent film podcasts and vodcasts - mainstream and independent - but I have not yet found what I hope this to be... a discussion of all the opportunities cinema offers now.
Another go at the Unboxing genre! Includes a bunch of other ideas for podcasts too :)
29 Sept 2026
09_Barberism
A thought experiment - how does filming capture the personal experience of going to the barbers? Featuring biophotonics and the support of the word "filmer"
9 Apr 2026
08_Emile DJ knows more about audience, AI & creative production than me
Old filmer talks to young DJ - AI, creativity, audience, genre. I learnt a lot about how film relates to music in the digital world we live in. Great to hear someone engaged and curious - concerned but with answers too.
27 Feb 2026
07_Fu%@ing
There is a funding gap between the Arts Council of England and the British Film Institute. This podcast deep dives and tumbles beyond the headlines - what is actually available for indie movie makers? And without this being resolved how does a British movie culture develop? The Arts Council refuses to engage with filmmakers as creative artists - passing the buck to the BFI which is actually skills training for the mainstream industry, which successfully generates £12.6bn for the economy.. The BFI is not about funding creativity in movie-making in the way ACE supports the arts. So where can indie movie directors go?
10 Feb 2026
Every Movie is a Horror Movie when you're making it
Facing the errors in my practice... editing is long days facing this horror... which is rather too strong a word ha! Anyway - discussions around Sound, Framing, Focus, Performance, Cognitive Eye Movements, Camera Movement, Music and Editing. many podcasts seem to ignore the harsh personal realities of the filmmaking process so I wanted to be honest and open. Unfortunately when I first recorded this... I had not set up the audio properly! So this is the second version - less emotional, more considered.
afilmbymalwilliamson@gmail.com (mailto:afilmbymalwilliamson@gmail.com) for a FREE digital copy of my Snellen Eye Chart for your own printing :)
23 Jan 2026
Why do I look for laurels - a Core/Periphery theory of film festivals
Looking for laurels? It ain't your fault. The far-reaching theories about cultural producers - by Pierre Bourdieu - have been applied to Hollywood. For me this has a lot to say about the function and purpose of film festivals!
Cattani, G., Ferriani, S. and Allison, P.D. (2014) ‘Insiders, outsiders, and the struggle for consecration in cultural fields’, American Sociological Review, 79(2), pp. 258–281. doi:10.1177/0003122414520960
Cattani, G. and Ferriani, S. (2008) ‘A core/periphery perspective on individual creative performance: Social Networks and cinematic achievements in the Hollywood film industry’, Organization Science, 19(6), pp. 824–844. doi:10.1287/orsc.1070.0350.
Bourdieu, P. (1993) The field of cultural production: Essays on art and literature. Cambridge: Columbia University Press.
8 Dec 2025
Dan Vendigo - new wave, old values
Today we chat with Dan Vendigo - aspiring and busy, ambitious & realistic, procrastination & innovation. An older filmmaker compares notes with the new wave. What do young filmmakers expect from their kit and their industry?
5 Dec 2025
The Casting Link
A new approach to structuring cinema - throw off the shackles of literature!
From the I Ching to AI to paleolithic cameras... a journey around the experimental approaches of an indie film director
REFERENCES:
Jung, C. G. (1972) Four archetypes: mother, rebirth, spirit, trickster. Translated by R. F. C. Hull. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Propp, V.Y. (2012) The Russian Folktale [Translated by Sibelan Forrester]. Detroit: Wayne State University Press.
The Cambridge History of Twentieth-Century English Literature , pp. 335 - 358 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CHOL9780521820776.021 (https://doi.org/10.1017/CHOL9780521820776.021)
Landow, G.P. (ed.) (1994) Hyper/Text/Theory. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Espen J. Aarseth, ‘Non-Linearity and Literary Theory’ chapter in “Hyper/Text/Theory” (1994) Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press
Wilhelm, R., 1967. The I ching, or Book of changes. Translated by C. F. Baynes. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Matthews, C. (2001). Celtic Wisdom Sticks: Ancient Ogam Symbols Offer Guidance for Today
Phil Svitek (2022). The ‘But, Therefore’ Style of Writing (from the Creators of South Park). [online] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0rFXshKLa4 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0rFXshKLa4) [Accessed 4 Dec. 2025].
www.youtube.com (http://www.youtube.com). (n.d.). Vimeo 19599227 Cent Mille Milliards de Poèmes. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NhFoSFNQMQ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NhFoSFNQMQ) [Accessed 11 Mar. 2024].
Gatton, Matt. Paleo-Camera. 2005. https://www.paleo-camera.com/ (https://www.paleo-camera.com/)
Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1981). Metaphors we live by. University of Chicago Press.
Email afilmbymalwilliamson@gmail.com (mailto:afilmbymalwilliamson@gmail.com) for a PDF of the slideshow "I Ching to Sept 12th"
4 Dec 2025
Good is Good Enough
A long-standing aphorism this - with particular resonance and meaning for filmmakers. How doe we compare this to "attention to detail"?
19 Nov 2025
Box Opening - Sony FX3
So this is what started the podcast - because I could not find a podcast - among all the excellent info there is out there - that talks about what the FX3 means to me as a filmmaker. What difference will this kit make to how I feel about my work?
16 Nov 2025
Welcome to the Experimental Movie Director podcast
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