Send us a text Welcome to Flash Back Friday! This week we're taking you back to Sundance 2020 with our Honorary Bitch John Wildman of FilmsGoneWild.com , when we sat down with writer/director Danny Madden and stars Shirley Chen and Will Madden of the film Beast Beast . This is a coming of age story that follows three high school kids in the age of technology and social media. There are surprising twists and a roller coaster of emotions. And unfortunately, today, the crisis at hand is more releva...
May 07, 2021•13 min•Ep. 562
Send us a text It was an absolute joy talking with filmmaker/writer Alanna Brown about her independent film Trees of Peace that just debuted in April at the Santa Barbara Film Festival. Alanna spent 10 years writing, developing, raising funds, then finally shooting this indie movie about the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Alanna is also one of the writers of the upcoming Blindspotting tv series coming out this summer on Starz. Obviously we're excited about her work on one of our favorite films turned tv...
May 05, 2021•32 min•Ep. 561
Send us a text We had to come back with another Basic Bitch episode because there's just too much going on. From the new QAnon documentary (not ideal for watching right before bed) to vaccine side effects (spoiler alert: it's not that bad). We mourn the loss of too many greats that recently passed, and have a surprising new suggestion for when to watch Moonstruck - one of the best films of all time. And then we really show our age as we reminisce about mixtapes and The Babysitter's Club . And wh...
May 04, 2021•43 min•Ep. 560
Send us a text Welcome to Flash Back Friday! With 500+ episodes, we're excited to revisit some of our favorites with our new listeners (and maybe new to our regular listeners). This week we're celebrating Coded Bias , an important documentary that we covered for Sundance 2020 which is available right now on Netflix! Thanks to the work of MIT researcher Joy Buolamwini , we have further evidence that artificial intelligence programs (that are used in advertising, hiring, policing, etc) are as oppr...
Apr 30, 2021•15 min
Send us a text Hey ya'll! It's been a while since our last basic bitch, so we're bringing you all the behind the scenes antics from our coverage of the SFFilm Festival (ie: watching the wrong film and not realizing it until a minute before the interview), and our thoughts on the Independent Spirit Awards (go, Melissa Villasenor!), and Oscars (really should've ended after Regina King's opening walk). And then Ange talks about being the final member of the Bitch Talk team to turn 40 (we are offici...
Apr 28, 2021•49 min•Ep. 559
Send us a text Writing With Fire is a documentary that follows three journalists from Khabar Lahariya , India's only newspaper run entirely by Dalit women. We chat with directors Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Gosh about how they chose the film's main subjects, the difficulties and often dangers of following them as they cover the stories that no one else is telling, and what they've learned along the way. And we wouldn't be Bitch Talk if we didn't discuss what it was like to be a man watching these w...
Apr 26, 2021•18 min•Ep. 558
Send us a text Seyran Ates is a bisexual human rights activist, lawyer, and female imam who is fighting the patriarchy and changing the face of Islam toward a more just and equal world. Sounds easy, right? We sit down with director/writer Nefise Ozkal Lorentzen about why she felt compelled to share this story, some interesting challenges she had along the way, what a sexual revolution really means, and our ability to create change. Seyran Ates: Sex, Revolution and Islam is a powerful documentary...
Apr 23, 2021•14 min•Ep. 557
Send us a text In 2018 Mexico had a presidential election and saw a new type of candidate in Maria de Jesus Patricio Martinez aka Marichuy who was appointed by the National Indigenous Council to run for office. Their approach was not singular, it was community driven and headed by a woman who was a doctor and a long time activist. In this interview, we speak with director Luciana Kaplan who captured this inspired story called The Spokeswoman . The film not only focuses on the candidate but the a...
Apr 21, 2021•21 min•Ep. 556
Send us a text Anyone out there remember the Whole Earth Catalog ? We did too but didn't know who produced it. His name is Stewart Brand and not only did he create, along with his first wife Lois Jennings, this counterculture magazine that started in 1968 and ran sporadically until 1998, he's credited in helping to be a co-founder of the environmental movement, as well as being one of the first adapters of computer technology as we know it (he was in the garage with Jobs and The Woz folks!), cam...
Apr 19, 2021•16 min•Ep. 555
Send us a text Coming in all the way from Nairobi, we welcome actors Wakio Mzenge and Mercy Mutisya on the show to talk about the film Tales of the Accidental City streaming during this years SFFIlm Festival ! We spoke with Wakio and Mercy about how this film was made during their Covid lockdown in Nairobi, how it was adapted from a play to a short film, and how thankful we are to have them on our podcast (YESSSSS, we got a little teary eyed again on our show. SORRY!) Grab your headphones and th...
Apr 16, 2021•20 min•Ep. 554
Send us a text To say we loved Don't Go Tellin' Your Momma is an understatement. East coast hip-hop artist Topaz Jones has updated the Black ABC's , fifty years after its inception. And the result is this beautiful film that feels like you're watching both a music video and the most engaging history lesson ever. We get into the beginning of their creative friendship, how they came up with the concept of this film, how they landed their incredible special guests, and our mutual love for sour belt...
Apr 14, 2021•20 min•Ep. 553
Send us a text We're well underway (virtually!) covering this years SFFilm Festival ! Our first interview is with Nigerian-British born photographer Renee Osubu who's short film, Dear Philadelphia started out as a photo project 6 years ago. The short, which is filmed mostly in black and white, follows the story of three fathers in Philly who are transforming their communities through their passions while also holding their families close. It's the stories we need right now about black joy and bl...
Apr 12, 2021•18 min•Ep. 552
Send us a text We loved reliving our high school awkward years with Hillary and Anna Elizabeth Shakespeare , the sisters behind the film, Soundtrack to Sixteen . We get into the differences between growing up British vs American, coming to terms with your childhood bullies, choosing the uncertainty of a career in the arts, and the process of creating an impactful soundtrack. We hope you enjoy this interview, support this film, but above all else- burn all the pictures of yourself in high school....
Apr 07, 2021•19 min•Ep. 551
Send us a text We are honored to have Academy Award nominated composer Emile Mosseri on the show! We first heard Emile's music chops as the composer of the score for the film The Last Black Man in San Francisco and that score touched our hearts in a way we've never experienced . PERIODT. So when we heard that Emile scored the film Minari , we had to see if he'd be on the show. So let's get into it and talk about a film composers process, how Emile got involved with the film Minari, playing in ba...
Apr 05, 2021•22 min•Ep. 550
Send us a text The first time we met director Azazel Jacobs was for his film, The Lovers , in 2017, and we bonded over our mutual love for dogs! We were excited to reconnect for his most recent film, French Exit, starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Lucas Hedges . We get into his process for building an incredible cast, working with cats, creating imaginary worlds, psychics and souls, and why making a film is a great excuse to travel to France. Azazel has created a world where the characters are just ...
Apr 02, 2021•22 min•Ep. 549
Send us a text We just came off of (virtually) attending our first South by Southwest Festival , so we're talking all things film, music, comedy, and more! Including attending conferences with the likes of George W. Bush , and two of our favorite past guests, Rafael Casal and Daveed Diggs (we can't wait for the spin-off TV series based on their film, Blindspotting )! We give you some behind the scenes info on our interviews, and the monkey football of being press. Some topics include being one d...
Mar 31, 2021•47 min•Ep. 548
Send us a text This is our witch on witch episode featuring the Canadian musician Witch Prophet and Elle Callahan who is the writer/director of the film Witch Hunt . It was so much fun for us to get into some witchy chat in two separate interviews during the SXSW festival with women who are creating art in their own genres! With Witch Prophet, we talk music, Canada, and how her partner supports her music career. With Elle, we chat about her history with witches, filmmaking and writing, casting W...
Mar 30, 2021•36 min•Ep. 547
Send us a text If you thought you knew about our country's troubling past, think again. Thankfully, Jeffery Robinson has come to our rescue, to fill in the major gaps (we're talking Grand Canyon sized gaps) in America's history of racism. The SXSW documentary Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America , is probably the most important film that we, as Americans, can watch in this moment. And this conversation with co-directors Emily Kunstler and Sarah Kunstler , and the film's subject/writer, J...
Mar 26, 2021•30 min•Ep. 546
Send us a text We had a lot of fun chatting with co-director of the SXSW documentary Luchadoras (and our new best friend) Paola Calvo . The documentary follows four badass lady wrestlers who live in what is known as one of the most dangerous cities in the world, Ciudad Juarez , Mexico . As if the work they do isn't hard enough, just existing as a woman in this town is a threat to their lives. We discuss feminism, borders, and the importance of comradery between the women of Lucha Libre . And to ...
Mar 26, 2021•12 min•Ep. 545
Send us a text Does anyone out there remember the name Reality Winner ? We had a fuzzy recollection of this 24-hour news cycle name that we heard early in 45's presidency but had forgotten because of the 24-hour news cycle we all lived through the past four years. Director Sonia Kennebeck has done a deep dive into this story following Reality as well as her families struggle with a government who punishes its citizens for whistleblowing even if it's in the countries best interest. Take a listen ...
Mar 25, 2021•17 min•Ep. 544
Send us a text Today we're getting into the SXSW film Soy Cubana , a documentary that follows the Vocal Vidas , a musical group from Cuba as they attempt to travel to Los Angeles to perform in a summer concert series. We're joined by co-directors Jeremy Ung ar and Ivaylo Getov and producer Robin Miller Ungar, who explain how they got connected with the Vocal Vidas, and why they had to turn this short story into a feature length documentary. We get into the ability of music to unite, why the docu...
Mar 24, 2021•18 min•Ep. 543
Send us a text When we decided to have director Martin Edralin on the show to talk about his film Islands , we didn't know how the movie was going to effect us. Martin wrote and directed a film that perfectly describes the experience of a Filipino family outside of their homeland. It tackles the real challenges around the caretaking of one parent after the other passes away, processing (or not processing) death, socializing as an adult, loneliness, and of course Elvis impersonators in our famili...
Mar 23, 2021•17 min•Ep. 542
Send us a text It's day one of the SXSW film festival for us and we're covering a couple of our favorite short films from the fest - PUSS and Learning Tagalog with Kayla . Both have a lot in common - they feature cats, they were written and filmed during the pandemic, and each film covers topics we've often talked about while living through 2020. Each film has its quirks which is why we love them. So let's get into our conversations with the filmmakers talking about all of the quarantine things ...
Mar 19, 2021•33 min•Ep. 541
Send us a text Your bitches got some time on the calendar to Basic Bitch. That's right, between film festival coverage, we got to sneak some time in to talk about our undying love for the film Nomadland , the recently announced 2021 Academy Award nominations , our Covid vaccine stories, Ange's powerpoint presentation on how the Catholic church fucked up her life, and so much more. Listen in and help spread the word of Bitch Talk. In this time of xenophobia and Asian hate crimes, having you help ...
Mar 17, 2021•51 min•Ep. 540
Send us a text Thanks to our friends at FilmsGoneWild.com , we're at the San Luis Obispo Film Festival with Spencer Wilkinson , the director of the documentary Alice Street . The film centers around a mural created by the Community Rejuvenation Project to be located on an iconic corner of Alice street in Oakland, Ca. But the film encompasses so much more! We get into gentrification, the cultural melting pot of Oakland, immigration, and creating productive solutions to development and growth in m...
Mar 16, 2021•18 min•Ep. 539
Send us a text Welcome to Flash Back Friday! With 500+ episodes, we're excited to revisit some of our favorites with our new listeners (and maybe new to our regular listeners). In honor of the success of Steven Yeun 's most recent film, Minari , we wanted to flash back to our interview with him from November of 2018. Not only was this interview recorded in studio (remember when we used to see each other face to face?!?), but he also enjoyed a glass of whiskey with us! We talk about his film Burn...
Mar 12, 2021•35 min
Send us a text Yeah, this Basic Bitch is pretty much all about the Oprah / Meghan Markle / Harry interview. All three of us bitches watched the Oprah interview, and then a couple of us followed that interview up with the Oprah/CBS Morning conversation the next day. So many enlightening moments came from the interview for all of us including the overarching conversation around mental health, partnership, and knowing when to ask for help. Obviously there are so many other topics to talk about and ...
Mar 10, 2021•39 min•Ep. 538
Send us a text Our last Slamdance Film Festival interview is with director Alberto Gerosa from his film Dea . We had an excellent time speaking with Alberto about his film which dives into the world of domestic help in Hong Kong. His approach was unique as he immersed himself with the workers and then the script evolved out of a 9 month acting improv laboratory with the group of Indonesian domestic workers, who have also been victims of domestic violence while working in Hong Kong. They shared t...
Mar 08, 2021•31 min•Ep. 537
Send us a text We had so much fun chatting about the Slamdance documentary Workhorse Queen with director Angela Washko and the film's star, Mrs. Kasha Davis . The film follows Mrs. Kasha Davis' journey (both on the stage and off) as a "International Celebrity Housewife from the suburbs", and how her her run on RuPaul's Drag Race changed the course of her career in ways she never expected. We get into the difficulties of being a performer on stage yet being your true self for the documentary, the...
Mar 05, 2021•25 min•Ep. 536
Send us a text We couldn't stop smiling and laughing with comedian and writer Rekha Shankar who had an episodic called Hustle that was a part of this years Slamdance Film Festival. Hustle features two women of color, working their crappy day jobs in New York City and suffering with their big bosses. The hook of the show is that while they're living their everyday lives, they get to use their gaming "superpowers" - think getting points for using your standards badge when having to work with chall...
Mar 03, 2021•29 min•Ep. 535
