Sheriff of Mars: the Long-Lost Musician Who Inspired Townes Van Zandt
Release Date: 01/11/2020
Beehives, Greek Wisdom, & Invisible Hands: Pursuing Emergent Optimism with Byron Reese Part I
NICKSAV Film & Music SHOW
Byron Reese is a futurist and an optimist. His new book We Are Agora: How Humanity Functions as a Single Superorganism That Shapes Our World and Our Future is named after the Ancient Greek marketplace and suggests that we might be part of a bigger entity that shapes our ends. Does the book have the insights we need to revitalize a sense of optimism even amidst dystopian times though?
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Begin Again, Gattaca, Jerry Maguire and a course-correction quest
NICKSAV Film & Music SHOW
Hello again. The podcast has been on hiatus for a bit. I'm bringing it back in video form at least for a limited season. In this episode, I will discuss why I stopped doing the show, what brought me back, and where I hope to head in context of the films Gattaca, Begin Again, and Jerry Maguire. If you're trying to find your way or just trying to stay the course, perhaps this is for you. Podcast page: Videos I've made for captivating couples, bands, and companies:
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Regarding the Bluebird and Taylor Swift
NICKSAV Film & Music SHOW
In this episode I expand on some ideas that came up in my discussion with Brian A. Loschiavo about his documentary about the Bluebird Cafe, a now iconic music in Nashville. After I did the interview, certain subsequent news stories involving Taylor Swift came out, and they did affect my take on the film. Since Taylor Swift was prominently featured in the Bluebird documentary and discussed in my interview with Brian, I decided to do a supplemental commentary track to expand on my thoughts about her and how she affected my interpretation of the documentary. # Sponsors for this Episode nsavides...
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Bluebird, a Music Doc on the Storied Nashville Venue, with Director Brian Loschiavo
NICKSAV Film & Music SHOW
Brian A. Loschiavo, the director-producer-editor of the Bluebird documentary, was first exposed to The Bluebird Cafe through the show Nashville, a series for which he developed supplemental digital content. The now iconic country-music venue that has been instrumental to the careers of so many musicians including Faith Hill, Garth Brooks, and Taylor Swift made enough of an impression on Brian that he set out to create a documentary about the place and the community of singer-songwriters it has nurtured over the years. Bluebird premiered at SXSW 2019 but had a stronger reception at Nashville...
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Sheriff of Mars: the Long-Lost Musician Who Inspired Townes Van Zandt
NICKSAV Film & Music SHOW
Premiering at Nashville Film Festival 2019, The Sheriff of Mars is a music documentary that tells the story of Daniel Antopolsky, a country and folk musician who was friends with Townes Van Zandt and who, the film suggests, helped to inspire Townes' now iconic outlaw country song "Pancho and Lefty." Wanting to escape the dark influence of the 1970s outlaw country music scene, Daniel retreated to France where he was discovered by Jason Ressler, the director of Sheriff of Mars. Jason was so captivated by Daniel's music that he became his manager, helping him release his first album at the age of...
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Will the Robots Save Us: Byron Reese on AI
NICKSAV Film & Music SHOW
Byron Reese is an acclaimed author, speaker, and entrepreneur. He's spoken at TEDx Austin and SXSW and has been featured in Bloomberg Businessweek, Wired, and The Washington Post. Byron is also the publisher of GigaOm and hosts the Voices in AI podcast. Byron's latest book, The Fourth Age: Smart Robots, Conscious Computers, and the Future of Humanity, is one of the most thought-provoking books I've read this year, so I brought him on the show to discuss it. I think pessimism is the thing that will get us all killed." - Byron Reese Some of the things we discuss include How artificial...
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When a Comedy Documentary Turns Tragic
NICKSAV Film & Music SHOW
What's Eating Ralphie May won Best of the Fest at Nashville Film Festival and Documentary of the Year at Los Angeles Documentary Film Festival. The film was initially intended to be a weight-loss documentary that followed beloved comedian Ralphie May and his family, but it turned into a raw and intimate portrait of a family dealing with addiction during the last years of Ralphie’s troubled life. At Nashville Film Festival I had the chance to interview comedian and wife of Ralphie, Lahna Turner, and director Cat Rhinehart. Some of the things we discuss include What to do when shooting...
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Two Notable Shorts from Nashville Film Festival
NICKSAV Film & Music SHOW
My podcast coverage of Nashville Film Festival continues in this short-films episode where I interview the directors for two different short films that got my attention at the festival. One has more of a documentary feel while the other one is a more stylized film with elaborate production design, so I paired the two interviews to explore how shorts can come together and the creative possibilities they can offer. The first interview is with Amanda Young, one of the directors behind Every Two Minutes, a compilation of stories relating to human trafficking. The short was done through StoryGive,...
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How to Make an Award-Winning Film with a Two Person Crew: The Planters
NICKSAV Film & Music SHOW
Hannah Leder has a variety of acting credits including Deep Impact, Pay it Forward, and Judd Apatow’s Love series. She also has a recurring role on Apple TV+'s The Morning Show. On this podcast episode I interview Hannah about her work on The Planters, a quirky, character-driven comedy that won Best of the Fest, Best Cinematography, and Best Song at Nashville Film Festival. Along with Alexandra Kotcheff, Hannah co-wrote, co-directed, co-starred, and co-shot the film. The Planters ended up taking 127 days to shoot, and Hannah and Alexandra were the only crew members on set. Some of the things...
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Nashville Film Festival 2019 Recap: Part III - My Top 5 Picks
NICKSAV Film & Music SHOW
This is Part III of my podcast recap of Nashville Film Festival 2019. In it, I share my top five films from Nashville Film Festival and why I picked them. It's a more personal take, so I also share some related things that came up when trying to put together the list. Sponsor for this Episode nsavides productions – I make friendly, engaging videos for earnest people. We got to explore all kinds of places in Houston while making this music video I directed for the chamber-rock band Mystery Loves Company. Not long after the video was released, the band got an opportunity to perform at a...
info_outlinePremiering at Nashville Film Festival 2019, The Sheriff of Mars is a music documentary that tells the story of Daniel Antopolsky, a country and folk musician who was friends with Townes Van Zandt and who, the film suggests, helped to inspire Townes' now iconic outlaw country song "Pancho and Lefty." Wanting to escape the dark influence of the 1970s outlaw country music scene, Daniel retreated to France where he was discovered by Jason Ressler, the director of Sheriff of Mars.
Jason was so captivated by Daniel's music that he became his manager, helping him release his first album at the age of 65. More albums followed as did press from the BBC, Rolling Stone, and other renowned publications. Under Jason's guidance, Daniel began getting booked to perform at prominent music events, including SXSW and the Black Deer Festival in the UK.
Not content to merely be Daniel's manager, Jason also put together a music documentary to raise awareness of Daniel and his music. The Sheriff of Mars is what resulted, an affirming, on-screen demonstration of how it's never too late to start a music career or to revitalize once-abandoned dreams.
If the vision is there, you need collaboration to make it happen, but if you compromise the vision—if you have a good vision—it's not going to turn out well."
- Jason Ressler
Jason is the first manager-director I've met, so I invited him on the show to get his take on finding success in film and music. Some of the things we discuss include
- How he got a BBC profile for Daniel
- How to persevere when beset by failure
- Collaborating with music producers and engineers to create an album that’s right for an artist
- The interview he did with James Brown before he died and the impression that left
If you listen all the way to the end, you'll get to hear Daniel's song "Fish Bait Blues," which is also featured in the film.
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nsavides productions
I make friendly, engaging videos for earnest people. Some of my videos are here.
I want to get better at connecting with others, so I'm putting together a couple of videos as an experiment. In the one below, I explore the New Orleans Art Museum, its surrounding sculpture garden, and a few places nearby. I also address some of the underlying issues that get in the way of connection, at least for me, and I try to do so with playfulness and honesty.
Connection Experiment: New Orleans
Say hello: [email protected]
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Learn from and get inspired by Hans Zimmer, the composer on Gladiator, Interstellar, The Lion King, and more.
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Related Episode
In the interview, Jason mentioned being impressed by what Hannah Leder and her co-director were able to put together with a limited budget. On this episode, I interview Hannah about how she and her co-director pulled off a compelling film with just a two-person crew.
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Related Things
- Sheriff of Mars
- Daniel's music on Spotify
- More of my podcast coverage of Nashville Film Festival
- My take on Frank Capra, for old time's sake
- Shortcut for the podcast: nicksav.show
Additional music for the show provided by Rob Costlow.
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Shows Mentioned
- Black Panther
- Gardians of the Galaxy
- Grey Gardens
- The Lion King
- Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
- The Planters
- Salesman
- Searching for Sugar Man
- The Sheriff of Mars
- Sid Bernstein Presents...
- Wonder Woman
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Musicians Mentioned
- The Beatles
- Bob Dylan
- Daniel Antopolsky
- Drake
- Emmylou Harris
- James Brown
- Jessye Norman
- Justin Townes Earle
- Mississippi John Hurt
- Ray Charles
- Steve Earle
- Taylor Swift
- Townes Van Zandt
- Willie Nelson
Book Mentioned
- A Confederacy of Dunces
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