Richmond Film Network

EXILE, EXPERIMENT & EPIPHANY

From Russian Opposition to Occult Horror: A Filmmaker's Exile Story

Vitaly Flipgraf’s journey sounds more like a movie than real life! Forced into exile after working as a documentary film editor for the Russian liberal opposition, he lands in LA, but not before shooting his short film, Dry Stone, in Istanbul.

In this intense conversation, host Lisa Giles sits down with director Vitaly Flip...

ZEAL, ZEN & THE ZONE

What happens when a dishwasher at Outback Steakhouse turns his daydreams into a rock anthem? On this episode of the Richmond Film Network Podcast, host Lisa Giles talks with actor, writer, and musician David Patrick Wittle, whose new short film “Stacy’s a Sell Out” blurs the line between music video and narrative cinema.

Wittle shares how a long-forgotten 2016 song evolved into a full-fledged short film direc...

SECRETS, SCHEMES & SORORITIES

What if Greek life were less about mixers and more about trials? In Emily Draper’s short film "Sorority Court," the stakes are high—expulsion for stealing a hair straightener. On this episode of the RFN Podcast, Draper joins guest host Zakiya Roberts to unpack how she turned her William & Mary experience into a sharp, funny, and unsettlingly true portrait of sorority life, where ca...

DEATH, DEALS & DENIAL

What happens when a man facing death tries to bargain his way out of it—and the Angel of Death just won’t play along? In this episode of the Richmond Film Network podcast, host Lisa Giles sits down with London-based filmmaker Savas Alpaltun and actor Aso Sherabayani to discuss their darkly funny short film “The Visitor,” screening at RFN IndieFest on November 15.

The pair reveal how they shot the entire film...

THE SPARKS, THE SCORE & THE SCENE

What happens when everything that can go wrong on set does—and the director decides to make a movie about it? In this episode, Richmond filmmaker Julian Banks returns to the RFN Podcast to discuss “The Scene,” his sharp, meta short film about the egos, mishaps, and manic beauty of independent filmmaking. Shot with a last-minute crew of student filmmakers, “The Scene” turns production chaos into ...

INTERSECTION, INTRIGUE & INFORMANTS

Charlie Lyons: From the Courtroom to the Camera

What happens when a criminal defense attorney turns his caseload into cinema? Writer-director Charlie Lyons channels decades of courtroom experience into "Confidential Informant," a tense, intimate story of power, addiction, and moral compromise that began as a stage play and evolved into a striking black-and-white short film.

In this...

MUSE, MISCHIEF & MATINEE

Four Strangers, One Day, One Play: Inside The Matinee

What happens when four actors who’ve never met are challenged to write, rehearse, and perform a play in just six hours—while cameras roll?

In this episode of the Richmond Film Network Podcast, guest host Alina McMahon talks with filmmakers Blake Kaiser and Benny Flora, and the show’s charismatic host Kavalier Blu, whose on-screen alter ego blurs th...

SILENCE, SOLITUDE & SIENA

While studying abroad, Kenneth Nguyen captured love’s lingering echo—what happens after the final goodbye. His film "To Whom I Let Go" turns absence into presence and silence into confession.

With no crew, one actor, and a city that became his co-star, he turned heartbreak and memory into poetry on film.

"To Whom I Let Go" makes its world premiere at RFN Indie Fest on Nove...

INSPIRATION, IMAGINATION & INDIE

What if your biggest creative breakthrough comes before you’ve even graduated high school?

In this episode of the Richmond Film Network podcast, guest host Alina McMahon interviews emerging young filmmaker Julian Hershman, a senior at Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School who wrote, directed, shot, edited—and starred in—his short film “Fly Away.” Julian shares how the film explores creativity...

SOLITUDE, STRENGTH & SURREALISM

What if healing meant walking into the woods… and never coming back the same?

In our latest Richmond Film Network Podcast episode, filmmaker D.K. Lawhorn reveals the story behind "Elsbeth" — a surreal, cathartic journey of a woman reclaiming her power. Fueled by lingering Blue Ridge beauty, whispered trauma, and the unexpected community of a coven in the trees, "Elsbeth" explor...

What happens when a filmmaker turns a climbing rope into a camera lens and discovers a story bigger than the sport itself?

Filmmaker Mario Stanley sits down with guest host Zakiya Roberts to share the journey behind his acclaimed documentary Climb Malawi. With a background in climbing instruction and community building, Mario’s real breakthrough came when he reframed climbing as more than an athletic pursuit — as an art form, a meta...

What if Scarlett O’Hara wasn’t a narcissist at all, but a war-traumatized survivor? Or if Michael Corleone wasn’t a cold-blooded sociopath, but the product of intergenerational trauma?

In this Richmond Film Network podcast episode, therapist, author, and cinephile Laura Giles, LCSW brings her 20+ years of clinical experience into the world of film with her new show Mental Health in the Movies. From The Godfather to Gone with the Win...

B-ROLL, BUDGETS & BAEWhat happens when a Virginia filmmaker skips the short-film “training wheels” and goes straight into directing her own feature? RFN Podcast guest host Zakiya Roberts sits down with writer/director/producer Cephra Stuart whose debut film San Francisco Bae reimagines the coming-of-age rom-com through the lens of a Black woman and an Asian man—two groups often overlooked or misrepresented on screen. Stuart ope...

ACTION, ADRENALINE & AMBITION

How James Couche Turned Micro-Budget Filmmaking Into a Cross-Media Universe

On the latest RFN Podcast, guest host MK Martey sits down with filmmaker and game designer James Couche, whose career began with stop-motion Ninja Turtle movies and evolved into Lost Phoenix—a $10,000 action feature shot across Richmond during the pandemic. Couche shares how reverse-engineering Hong Kong thrillers and Sam Rai...

HAMBURGERS, HUSTLE & HOMAGE

He turned a cheeseburger with no cheese into a six-award sweep—and now “Hamburger” is headed to Portugal.
In this episode of the Richmond Film Network Podcast, host Lisa Giles sits down with Michael Thibodeau, creative director and co-founder of The Sunroom, to unpack how his team’s short film "Hamburger" dominated the 2025 Richmond 48 Hour Film Project. Thibodeau shares how a personal qu...

SCREAMS, SCORES & SCRIPTYS

In this episode of the Richmond Film Network podcast, host Lisa Giles talks with filmmaker and VCU professor Vivian Owen, whose rapid rise in Richmond’s indie film scene began during COVID and led to producing Saturnalia, a period horror feature scored by Suspiria composer Claudio Simonetti. Owen shares how networking at a 48-Hour Horror Film event opened doors, how face-to-face meetings at the Can...

HUMOR, HUSTLES & HOOKUPS

What happens when a womanizer swipes right on the wrong woman? In Clarence Williams IV’s “Bite Me,” the consequences are bloody — and deeply human.

In this lively RFN Podcast interview, filmmaker Clarence Williams IV talks about his short comedic horror film "Bite Me," screening at RFN Indie Fest on August 9. Though wrapped in vampire fangs and dating-app hijinks, Williams insists the story is ultimately ...

WIT, WHISPERS & WRITER'S BLOCK

When Your Characters Talk Back: Inside the Creative Spiral of “End of Story”

In "End of Story," filmmaker Adam Mackie turns a writer’s worst fear—writer’s block—into a darkly comedic mind game where characters refuse to stay on the page. In this episode of the Richmond Film Network podcast, Mackie opens up to host Lisa Giles about the very real creative paralysis that inspired the film...

GRIT, GROWTH & GUS

Motivated by the rising success of his theater peers—most notably longtime friend Robert Eggers—Raymond transitioned from the stage to the screen on sheer instinct and ambition. Encouraged to just “grab a camera and go to the woods,” he leaned on his deep experience with actors and storytelling, despite zero film training. His first shoot began at 5 a.m. in a borrowed restaurant, racing the clock before th...