Carsten Knox: Informing The Nation

I have previously mentioned my freelance journalist pal Carsten Knox (who, in addition to being a journalist is also a charter member of the HGPA).

Well, today Carsten spent some time on the CBC Radio program Freestyle educating the nation (or at least the CBC‘s national audience) about a couple of “indie” films that have just come to DVD. That’s right, for 8 minutes today Canada listened to Carsten talk about Junebug and Hustle & Flow.

I actually forgot to listen to the CBC this afternoon when Carsten was on (because my brain is slowly turning to Swiss cheese), but fortunately Canada has many time zones (but not as many as the former Soviet Union!), so I was able to listen to the Whitehorse CBC feed tonight and still catch his piece. In fact, I was able to make a decent quality recording of the Whitehorse stream, which I have compressed down into an MP3 for those of you who are interested in hearing Carsten’s mellifluous expounding. Just click the icon at the bottom of this post.

I do recommend spending a few minutes listening, by the way. Carsten describes, and quickly critiques, the films while managing to come across as passionate about film without being nerdy, knowledgeable without being pretentious, and sounds relaxed and comfortable on the radio. (It’s not surprising that he sounds comfortable on the radio, since he has a weekly show on CKDU, The Love & Hate Movie Show. A little Googling makes it look like there’s a slightly-behind-the-times podcast feed for the show, so that should be lots more Carsten MP3 goodness for those of you who are interested.)

If you enjoy listening to Carsten’s take on these films, there’s lots of his film writing archived at The Coast. Just enter “Carsten Knox” in the search box at the right at their site and you’ll get references to lots of pieces Carsten has done.

For instance, here’s an excerpt from his latest piece, which brings me the news that Kate Beckinsale is in Halifax for the next month:

The dark, cold months of January and February are traditionally slow ones for the Canadian movie business. There may be the odd series that shoots right through to March, but it’s rare that an American production will shoot anywhere in Canada right now. Filmmakers would rather not come up here when it’s cold, especially if they are used to the warm Santa Ana winds that blow out of the California desert through the winter months.

That makes what’s happening now in Halifax all the more unusual. Shooting in town right now is the miniseries October 1970, about the FLQ, which went to camera before the holidays. Also up and running is a movie of the week, Sybil, a remake of the Sally Field schizophrenia drama. Having these two shows shooting at this time is a treat for Halifax crews, but the real surprise is an American independent film that started filming on Monday. It’s called Snow Angels, and is directed by David Gordon Green.

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Carsten on Freestyle