Making Media Now

On this episode, host Michael Azevedo chats with award-winning documentary filmmaker Lisa Olivieri about her film, "Recovery City," a raw exploration of what it means to be in recovery as seen through the eyes of four women whose lives share a common thread: addiction.

 

Set in the working class city of Worcester MA, the film is a real and honest portrait of resilience, grit and camaraderie presenting women who use their lived experience to lift up those still struggling while refusing to give up hope.

 

"Recovery City" will screen on March 28 at GBH Studios in Boston as part of the Vinfen Film Festival. 

 

Making Media Now is sponsored by Filmmakers Collaborative, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting media makers from across the creative spectrum. From providing fiscal sponsorship to presenting an array of informative and educational programs, Filmmakers Collaborative supports creatives at every step in their journey.

 

About the host: www.writevoicecreative.com and https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-azevedo/

 

Sound Engineer: A.J. Kierstead

Joining host Michael Azevedo on this episode is Angela Lynn Tucker, the director of an inspiring and informative new documentary called "The Inquisitor," which tells the story of the life and career of Barbara Jordan.

 

As a young girl growing up in Houston’s Fifth Ward, Barbara Jordan was taught to defy expectations. She understood that to succeed, she would need to forge her own path.

 

With relentless determination and unyielding tenacity, Barbara Jordan made history as Texas’s first Black state senator and in 1972 the first Southern Black woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. 

 

At a time when the idea of a Black woman holding power seemed inconceivable, Barbara Jordan created a roadmap for change.

 

"The Inquisitor" chronicles the life of Congresswoman Barbara Jordan, whose electrifying voice and moral clarity during President Richard Nixon’s impeachment captivated the nation. Earning her the moniker “The Inquisitor.”

 

The film will premiere on 2/23 on PBS as part of the Independent Lens series.

 

Making Media Now is sponsored by Filmmakers Collaborative, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting media makers from across the creative spectrum. From providing fiscal sponsorship to presenting an array of informative and educational programs, Filmmakers Collaborative supports creatives at every step in their journey.

About the host: www.writevoicecreative.com and https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-azevedo/

 

Sound Engineer: A.J. Kierstead

Joining host Michael Azevedo on this episode is Miles Spencer, the co-founder of an innovative AI start-up called Reflekta. A few weeks back, Mile’s team reached out to me to say that they’ve enjoyed the conversations I've had with various types of storytellers…and how they especially liked how our conversations revealed the stories within the stories.

 

Miles has helped create over 1,100 jobs while founding, financing, building and exiting three digital media companies. Before doing that he spent time in venture capital, hosted a precursor to Shark Tank called MoneyHunt on PBS , led over 1,500 people across 14 miles of open sea on kayak, and trekked 1,100 miles through the deserts of Saudi Arabia , Jordan and Syria. He also published a novel called  A Line in the Sand that ended up being an Amazon bestseller in the Middle East.

We had an engaging conversation about his early inspirations, his professional path, and the philosophical considerations around ethical AI.

Making Media Now is sponsored by Filmmakers Collaborative, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting media makers from across the creative spectrum. From providing fiscal sponsorship to presenting an array of informative and educational programs, Filmmakers Collaborative supports creatives at every step in their journey.

About the host: www.writevoicecreative.com and https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-azevedo/

 

Sound Engineer: A.J. Kierstead

Host Michael Azevedo is joined on this episode by first-time director Vivien Hillgrove and producer Deann Borshay Liem to discuss a truly engaging and poignant personal documentary called “Vivien’s Wild Ride,” which will premiere on PBS on January 26. 

 

Vivien Hillgrove has been a film and sound editor all her adult life. 

 

She's worked with many filmmaking greats including: Francis Ford Coppola, Phillip Kaufman, Milos Forman, and Walter Murch, along with a who’s who of celebrated documentary filmmakers. 

 

When Vivien’s eyesight starts to deteriorate, the shame and loneliness she felt in 1964, when she was forced to relinquish her baby as a teenage unwed mother, at at time when there were few choices for women, was a loss that resonated throughout her life.

 

Now she faces a new feeling of isolation and loss. Recalling her resilience as a young woman, Vivien summons it anew and reinvents herself as a person with a new way of being and seeing, an artist with a disability.

 

Making Media Now is sponsored by Filmmakers Collaborative, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting media makers from across the creative spectrum. From providing fiscal sponsorship to presenting an array of informative and educational programs, Filmmakers Collaborative supports creatives at every step in their journey.

About the host: www.writevoicecreative.com and https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-azevedo/

 

Sound Engineer: A.J. Kierstead

Host Michael Azevedo is joined on this episode by Laura Varela and Andrew Gonzales, the producer and producer/director of "American Sons," a new documentary that follows a brotherhood of Marines a decade after their deployment to Afghanistan, as they struggle to overcome the trauma of combat and the loss of many of their comrades.

 

The film will premiere on PBS on January 12 and will stream simultaneously with broadcast and be available on all station-branded PBS platforms

 

The story of their time in Afghanistan is told through the video diary of Corporal JV Villarreal, who was killed in action by an IED. JV had kept the video diary for his family back home in Texas and his family generously shared it with the filmmakers.

 

This personal, powerful footage provides a haunting window into what these young Marines experienced together. Now, a decade after JV’s death, his brotherhood of Marines continues to get together, helping each other cope with lingering trauma and strengthening the unbreakable bonds formed in war.

 

A poignant exploration of grief and resilience, “American Sons” honors the service of these young men and spotlights the need for mental health support for veterans.

 

Making Media Now is sponsored by Filmmakers Collaborative, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting media makers from across the creative spectrum. From providing fiscal sponsorship to presenting an array of informative and educational programs, Filmmakers Collaborative supports creatives at every step in their journey.

About the host: www.writevoicecreative.com and https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-azevedo/

 

Sound Engineer: A.J. Kierstead

Host Michael Azevedo is joined on this episode by Ben Loeterman, the writer and director of Bombshell, a new documentary that Explores How The U.S. government manipulated the narrative around the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

 

Ben’s film will premiere on PBS as part of the American Experience series on January 6 and will be available on the PBS app and the American Experience website thereafter. 

 

Through propaganda, censorship and the co-opting of the press, the government presented a benevolent picture of atomic power, minimizing the horrific human toll of the bombings. 

 

The U.S. media became pivotal in promoting — and then piercing — the official narrative.

 

While President Truman publicly declared that “it has never been the habit of the scientists of this country or this government to withhold from the world scientific knowledge,” that is precisely what General Groves, leader of the Manhattan Project, insisted upon.

 

Bombshell sheds light on the efforts of courageous journalists to inform the world about the human costs of nuclear weapons, despite government censorship. 

 

Making Media Now is sponsored by Filmmakers Collaborative, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting media makers from across the creative spectrum. From providing fiscal sponsorship to presenting an array of informative and educational programs, Filmmakers Collaborative supports creatives at every step in their journey.

About the host: www.writevoicecreative.com and https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-azevedo/

 

Sound Engineer: A.J. Kierstead

On this episode host Michael Azevedo welcomes back Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Joshua Seftel to discuss his latest documentary, "All the Empty Rooms," which is currently available on Netflix and has been short-listed for the 2025 Oscars in the category of best documentary short.

 

Across America, bedrooms sit untouched — walls still covered in posters, clothes folded neatly in drawers — silent memorials to children lost to gun violence.

 

"All the Empty Rooms" is a 33-minute documentary that follows CBS News correspondent Steve Hartman on a seven-year journey visiting families who have lost a child, photographing each child’s room as it was on their last day. These “sacred spaces frozen in time” form an intimate portrait of grief, love, and the enduring need for empathy.

Making Media Now is sponsored by Filmmakers Collaborative, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting media makers from across the creative spectrum. From providing fiscal sponsorship to presenting an array of informative and educational programs, Filmmakers Collaborative supports creatives at every step in their journey.

About the host: www.writevoicecreative.com and https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-azevedo/

 

Sound Engineer: A.J. Kierstead

Joining host Michael Azevedo on this episode is first-time filmmaker Nivi Jaswal-Wirtjes, the director & executive producer of a powerful and thought-provoking new documentary called “Third Degree Burnout”

 

Narrated by renowned meteorologist John Morales, "Third Degree Burnout" uncovers the hidden connections between personal burnout and the climate crisis, revealing them as symptoms of a larger socio-economic metacrisis.

With world-class animation, engaging interviews with over 20 experts, and playful humor woven into thought-provoking skits, the film breaks down complex ideas into something accessible, relatable, and impactful.

From the history of our food systems to the ripple effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the intersections of healthcare, politics, and society, this documentary offers a fresh lens on the systemic forces shaping burnout.

In 2020, Nivi lost her father to COVID-19 while she was in the process of struggling through her own burnout after 15 years in high-pressure global marketing and strategy roles across consumer packaged goods, life sciences, and media.

That dual reckoning — grief and exhaustion — became the catalyst for her life’s new direction: uncovering the connections between personal well-being, food systems, and planetary health, all of which a explored in "Third Degree Burnout."

Making Media Now is sponsored by Filmmakers Collaborative, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting media makers from across the creative spectrum. From providing fiscal sponsorship to presenting an array of informative and educational programs, Filmmakers Collaborative supports creatives at every step in their journey.

About the host: www.writevoicecreative.com and https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-azevedo/

 

Sound Engineer: A.J. Kierstead

On this episode, host Michael Azevedo joined by long-time friend of the podcast Tim O’Donnell of Pixela Films and by first-time guest Mary Dague to discuss the just-completed film, "The Last Yztari."

 

This innovative and moving film tells the story of how after using her body as a shield to protect her unit from an IED in Iraq, Mary Dague is left medically retired, missing both arms from the elbow down. 

 

Many years after returning home, she finds a new place in online gaming communities as she adapts her controllers to work with her feet. 

 

When her active-military husband readies to deploy again Mary is faced with the trauma of the past and the worry for her partner's yet to be diagnosed PTSD. 

 

The film explores the liminal space between trauma and healing, and this world and a fantasy space where old wounds might present themselves as future insights or abilities. 

 

The film weaves observational documentary with an original generative AI system built from Mary's own fantasy novel. The novel itself a secret only revealed to the filmmakers and her husband after seven years of writing.

 

Making Media Now is sponsored by Filmmakers Collaborative, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting media makers from across the creative spectrum. From providing fiscal sponsorship to presenting an array of informative and educational programs, Filmmakers Collaborative supports creatives at every step in their journey.

About the host: www.writevoicecreative.com and https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-azevedo/

 

Sound Engineer: A.J. Kierstead

Director Daniel Masciari who joins host Michael Azevedo to discuss "Stationed at Home," his debut feature film. 

 

Set on a clear and frigid Christmas Eve in 1998, in a small, forgotten city, "Stationed at Home" tells the tale of a solitary taxi driver on the graveyard shift breathlessly awaiting the sight of the International Space Station. As the hours count down, a parade of offbeat misfits derail his plans, propelling the story to its exhilarating climax.

 

Daniel Masciari grew up outside of Boston in a neighborhood of new arrivals to America from all over the world—a community that nurtured his imagination and fueled his sense of humor.

 

Fascinated by film’s unique ability to tell stories earnestly and intimately, Daniel began shooting and directing his friends at age eleven using a camera his parents had given him.

 

By twenty-two, Variety selected him as one of 110 students who “represent the future of film, media and entertainment.” By twenty-four, he had already edited his first feature film, which was profiled in Filmmaker Magazine.

 

Making Media Now is sponsored by Filmmakers Collaborative, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting media makers from across the creative spectrum. From providing fiscal sponsorship to presenting an array of informative and educational programs, Filmmakers Collaborative supports creatives at every step in their journey.

About the host: www.writevoicecreative.com and https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-azevedo/

 

Sound Engineer: A.J. Kierstead