Supporting Characters
Supporting Characters

Supporting Characters

Bill Ackerman

Overview
Episodes

Details

Host Bill Ackerman talks to writers, bloggers, podcasters, fanzine publishers, programmers, preservationists and more about their creative endeavors and today's film culture.

Recent Episodes

Episode 72: Skip Elsheimer
DEC 16, 2025
Episode 72: Skip Elsheimer
Bill speaks with archivist and A/V Geeks founder Skip Elsheimer about his many creative endeavors, from publishing fanzines like Preparation X and performing with the Wifflefist musical collective to preserving and sharing thousands of 16mm educational and ephemeral films. Topics include ZOOM, George Lucas, FELICIA, sponsored nutritional films, Rolf Forsberg, stock footage, CYPHER IN THE SNOW, how a lunchbox helped get Fassbinder movies into Best Buy and the unlikely thing that connects Adolph Hitler, sperm and Mahatma Gandhi. Visit the A/V Geeks website: https://avgeeks.com/ Subscribe to the A/V Geeks YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@avgeeks Visit 16mm Filmography: https://16mmfilmography.org/ Watch Felicia (1965) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDG4-uZ7d9c Watch Pride On Parade (1979) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ijotrWPYR8&t=602s Watch Do You Smell Smoke https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nE2jn5iSp5w Watch Stalked https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brLINTAYM8E The Late Great Planet Earth https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCCD9FAA18C5794FE Watch Inside/Out: Bully (1973): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBwml5Mrdhk Watch AV Geeks 16mm Lunch 5-30-2025 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOMVv_5prgU&t=1s Watch Cypher In The Snow https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8gilSEOteE Listen to "Cypher In The Snow" episode of Kier-La Janisse's The Song From The Heart Beats The Devil Every Time podcast: https://asongfromtheheart.podbean.com/e/episode-2-cipher-in-the-snow/
play-circle icon
122 MIN
Episode 71: Josh Hurtado
DEC 1, 2025
Episode 71: Josh Hurtado
Bill talks to film critic and Potentate Films founder Josh Hurtado about his many pursuits, from writing for Screen Anarchy and contributing Blu-Ray special features to consulting for film festivals and teaming up with Dylan Marchetti's Variance Films on a wildly successful theatrical re-release of S.S. Rajamouli's RRR. Topics include: Masala films, SANTA SANGRE, Indie Meme, Psychobilly, the distribution of Indian cinema in North America, the recent reemergence of key John Woo and Russ Meyer movies, skinheads, John Waters and vegan warnings on Letterboxd. Read Josh Hurtado at Screen Anarchy: https://screenanarchy.com/globalvoices/j-hurtado/ Read Simon Abrams' article "How the Indian Action Spectacular 'RRR' Became a Smash in America" for The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/03/movies/rrr-ss-rajamouli.html Follow Potentate Film on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/potentatefilms Watch Josh introduce S.S. Rajamouli's EEGA at Weird Wednesday: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCB83chhKLE Visit the Indie Meme site: https://www.indiememe.org/ Buy HUKKLE from Dekanalog: https://vinegarsyndrome.com/products/hukkle Buy BLOODSTONE from Arrow Video: https://diabolikdvd.com/product/bloodstone-arrow-us-blu-ray/ Buy DOBERMAN from Fractured Visions:https://diabolikdvd.com/product/doberman-fractured-visions-blu-ray-region-b-preorder/ https://www.orbitdvd.com/products/dobermann-limited-edition-booklet-region-b Buy the Second Sight 4K/Blu-Ray (Region B) Limited Edition of RE-ANIMATOR:https://diabolikdvd.com/product/uk-le-re-animator-limited-second-sight-4k-uhd-all-region-blu-ray-region-b-preorder/ Listen to Josh talk about PURANA MANDIR on Unsung Horrors: https://www.spreaker.com/episode/purana-mandir-1984-w-josh-hurtado--57853238
play-circle icon
153 MIN
Episode 70: Willow Catelyn Maclay
NOV 24, 2025
Episode 70: Willow Catelyn Maclay
Bill speaks with film critic and author Willow Catelyn Maclay about her various endeavors in film culture, from writing freelance criticism and creating the Curtsies and Hand Grenades website to contributing to special features to Blu-Rays from labels like Mondo Macabro, Arrow Video and American Genre Film Archive and co-authoring the book CORPSES, FOOLS AND MONSTERS: THE HISTORY AND FUTURE OF TRANSNESS IN CINEMA with Caden Mark Gardner. Topics include: BLADE RUNNER, Simran Hans' Girls Gotta Eat fanzine, Letterboxd, BOYS DON'T CRY, Elizabeth Purchell, the "Body Talk" series, constructive feedback from editors, COME BACK TO THE 5 & DIME, JIMMY DEAN, JIMMY DEAN and the Lou Reed/Metallica "Lulu" album. Read Curtsies and Hand Grenades: http://curtsiesandhandgrenades.com/ Buy CORPSES, FOOLS AND MONSTERS: THE HISTORY AND FUTURE OF TRANSNESS IN CINEMA: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/725695/corpses-fools-and-monsters-by-willow-maclay/ Buy the EVA MAN double feature - Limited Red Case Edition from Mondo Macabro: https://mondomacabro.bigcartel.com/product/eva-man-double-feature-limited-red-case-edition Read Willow Catelyn Maclay on the music videos of Kate Bush: https://musings.oscilloscope.net/post/174602794486/moving-on-the-cinema-of-kate-bush-by-willow Read Willow Catelyn Maclay and Caden Mark Gardner's Body Talk series: http://curtsiesandhandgrenades.blogspot.com/search/label/Body%20Talk Read Willow Catelyn Maclay's 2014 essay "Under the Skin's Transgender Allegory": http://curtsiesandhandgrenades.blogspot.com/2018/03/under-skins-transgender-allegory.html Read and follow Willow Catelyn Maclay on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/willowcatelynmaclay Watch Willow Catelyn Maclay on Turner Classic Movies: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DRKhKh_Dm6s/ Read Caden Mark Gardner's essay "From the Margins: What the Archives Show Us About Trans Cinema and Audiences" for The Criterion Collection: https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/7254-from-the-margins-what-the-archives-show-us-about-trans-cinema-and-audiences
play-circle icon
130 MIN
Episode 69: Erica Shultz
NOV 14, 2025
play-circle icon
143 MIN
Episode 68: Imogen Sara Smith
AUG 29, 2022
Episode 68: Imogen Sara Smith
Bill speaks to author and film historian Imogen Sara Smith about her various endeavors, from writing books like BUSTER KEATON: THE PERSISTENCE OF COMEDY and IN LONELY PLACES: FILM NOIR BEYOND THE CITY to contributing audio commentaries, booklet essays and on-camera interviews to home video releases from The Criterion Collection, Kino Lorber, Eureka!, Imprint, Flicker Alley, Arrow and Indicator. Topics include: John Bengtson's SILENT ECHOES, Eddie Muller, writing techniques, The Criterion Channel, Courtney Stephens' TERRA FEMME, her Phantom Light column for Film Comment, THE WELL, film lists/ranking and stumbling upon old W.C. Fields locations. Read Sinners' Holiday: An Ode to Pre-Code"https://brightlightsfilm.com/sinners-holiday-an-ode-to-pre-code/#.Ylfx8i2ZOqA Read Imogen Sara Smith on SWING TIME:https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/6424-swing-time-heaven-can-t-wait Read Ghost Town: Nights on Bunker Hill:https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/7734-ghost-town-nights-on-bunker-hill Buy the Kino Lorber 4K UHD for KILLER'S KISS:https://www.kinolorber.com/product/killers-kiss-4kuhd-blu-ray Read Imogen Sara Smith on the Criterion Current site:https://www.criterion.com/current/author/572-imogen-sara-smith Register for Imogen Sara Smith's online course, French Cinema: The Language of Light 1895-1960 https://www.mainemedia.edu/workshops/item/french-film-history-online/ Register for Imogen Sara Smith's online course, French Cinema: Breaking Rules & Boundaries 1960-2022 https://www.mainemedia.edu/workshops/item/french-cinema-breaking-rules-boundaries-1960-2022-online/ Pre-order El vampiro negro (The Black Vampire):https://www.flickeralley.com/classic-movies-2/#!/El-vampiro-negro-The-Black-Vampire/p/478619443/category=0 Buy The Guilty / High Tide from Flicker Alley:https://www.flickeralley.com/classic-movies-2/#!/The-Guilty-High-Tide/p/442246038 Visit the Film Noir Foundation site: http://www.filmnoirfoundation.org
play-circle icon
101 MIN