Jay Cheel’s career in non-fiction filmmaking has focused mostly on character-based portraits of quirky, passionate obsessives, realized in a highly cinematic style. His debut feature Beauty Day premiered at the Museum of Modern Art in New York as part of their Canadian Front Programming Series. The film was also an official selection at the Hot Docs International Film Festival and was nominated for a Genie Award in 2012. His second feature How to Build a Time Machine premiered at Hot Docs and went on to screen at AFI Docs, the Rotterdam International Film Festival, and DOC NYC. His latest is Cursed Films, a five-part documentary series produced for AMC Networks and Shudder. The show focuses on the legends surrounding some of Hollywood’s most troubled horror film productions and has gone on to become the highest-rated documentary series on the platform.
 
Topics Discussed In This Episode:

• Jay’s short film Twisted
• Him being exposed to horror films at a young age
• Recognizing the importance of a director in a film production at a young age
• What piqued Jay’s original interest in entering film as a career
• His podcast Film Junk, which holds a Guinness World Records for the longest-running film podcast
• His short film Beauty Day
• Creating deep interpersonal connections with crew members on a film set
• The need for control as it relates to artistic pursuits
• How Jay’s perspective of curses has changed while working on the Cursed Films project
• How the film, The Exorcist, negatively impacted the cultural lexicon by reinforcing the existence of the devil
• Predatory capitalism
• Personal tragedies that happened for Jay while filming Cursed Films
• The importance of providing context in a documentary project
• The Manson murders
• The murders and tragedies that have occurred in Benedict Canyon in LA
• Ethical decisions they had to make regarding what scenes to show in Cannibal Holocaust
• Naive actors getting involved in Cannibal Holocaust, and Carl Gabriel Yorke signing on without reading the script

People / Artists Mentioned:

1. John Carpenter (Filmmaker)
2. Lidia Yuknavitch (Writer)
3. Gary Oldman (Actor)
4. Robert Deniro (Actor)
5. Tim Burton (Director)
6. Bill Pullman (Actor)
7. Steve Rash (Director)
8. Judy Garland (Actor)
9. Lorna Luft (Actor)
10. Roman Polanski (Director)
11. Dianne Lake (Writer / Former Manson Family Member)
12. Julian Wasser (Photographer)
13. Ruggero Deodato (Director)
14. Andrei Tarkovsky (Director)

Cursed Films Episodes Mentioned:

1. Twilight Zone: The Movie
2. The Exorcist
3. The Wizard of Oz (S2 E1)
4. Rosemary’s Baby (S2 E2)
5. Stalker (S2 E3)
6. The Serpent and the Rainbow (S2 E4)
7. Cannibal Holocaust (S2 E5)

TV Shows + Films Mentioned:

1. The Day After (1983)
2. The Thing (1982)
3. Big Trouble in Little China (1986)
4. They Live (1988)
5. Prince of Darkness (1987)
6. Be Kind Rewind (2008)
7. American Movie (1999)
8. Ed Wood (1994)
9. Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1977)
10. Weekend (1967)
11. Andrei Rublev (1966)

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Mia Bergeron's Bio

Mia Bergeron is a classically trained oil painter that uses modern techniques and concepts to create layered imaginative works. Imagery in her work often oscillates between the fictitious and the observed in equal parts.

Rooted in her upbringing in New York City with continuous exposure to modern art, her paintings also reveal her choice to study classical painting in Florence, Italy under Charles H. Cecil in her twenties. Heavily influenced by historical artists such as Diego Velázquez, Titian, Anthony van Dyck, and John Singer Sargent, her paintings are also shaped by contemporary artists such as Alex Kanevsky, Ann Gale, and Adrian Ghenie.

For Mia, the process of making paintings is similar to meditation. Each painting is the listening and contemplating of the surrounding world. The minutes at the easel are similar to focusing on the breath- there are times when the scrutiny is welcomed and quiet, and other times when the mind is loud and unintelligible. It is this dynamic contrast that is at the center of Mia’s paintings. This dualistic nature of life is what pushes and inspires her work.  

Mia has been published numerous times in international magazines. Her painting “Tranquil Ghosts” was the cover image for the January 2022 Issue of American Art Collector Magazine.  She continues to teach throughout the United States and Europe. She and her husband, artist John McLeod, lives in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

John McLeod's Bio

• How Mia and John originally met
• Their experiences living in Chattanooga, Tennessee
• Their newest duo show “Totems and Vessels” @ Robert Lange Studios in Charleston, South Carolina
• Mia and John describing each of their processes
• Cultivating a solid relationship
• Creating a work/life balance in their lives
• How John sees the confluence between all of his vast interests and hobbies
• Finding a meditation practice through physical activities
• The joy that comes from having multiple creative outlets
• The anxiety of constant self-improvement
• Meditative qualities and subject matter within Mia’s work
• Understanding the technical aspects of a painting in order to express more personal ideas

Books Mentioned:

• “The Year of Magical Thinking” by Joan Didion

artistdecoded.com
miabergeron.com
johnmcleodart.com
robertlangestudios.com/shows/totems-and-vessels