The Forte Podcast

For the Season 1 finale, we paired two filmmakers who’ve never met but have much in common – Héctor Tapia Aguilar and Veronica Stickelman. Héctor and Veronica discuss their similarities and differences as filmmakers with Mexican roots, art as a method for social change, and share some sharp advice for aspiring filmmakers.

Héctor is a Mexican-born Director and Cinematographer who works in both Philadelphia and Mexico City. Héctor’s work spans narrative and documentary film – and he is the Director of Photography of Bad Things Happen in Philadelphia, directed by previous Forte guest, Kyra Knox.

Veronica is a Mexican-American producer and director, who splits her time between LA and Philadelphia. She has spent the last 13 years focused on documentaries and docuseries, and most recently, produced the Emmy award-winning, 6-part CNN series, Lincoln: Divided We Stand.

Thanks for listening to Season 1 of Forte. Follow us on Instagram @fortepod for bonus content from this season and stay tuned for Season 2.

The Forte Podcast is a production of Maestro Filmworks, based in Philadelphia.

Special thanks to this season’s guests and to our devoted team that brought this show to life.

The Forte Podcast Team
Executive Producer: Kris Mendoza
Producers and Directors: Chisom Chieke, Mike Kaiser, and Maria Vattimo
Post Production Supervisor: Lexi Morrison
Editors: Maria Cantu, Haru Mosley-Conyer, Izzy Ngov, and Stephen Yia
Audio Recordist: Alex Yaker
Technical Director: Rylee Meyer
Associate Producer: Austin Dean
Production Assistants: Izzy Ngov, Vince Rebbecchi
Art Director: Kate Feher
Director of Photography: Ray Ermel
Camera Operators: Cindy Pham, Justin Tran
Logo and Graphic Designer: Emily Delp Poppa
Animator: Austin Dean

In this episode we sit down with Director & Producer Kyra Knox along with Colorist Sam Meneses.

Kyra and Sam look back on the making of the feature-length documentary "Bad Things Happen in Philadelphia".

During their conversation they discuss tackling imposter syndrome, the importance of tending to your mental health as a filmmaker, and how their identities inform their work.

In this episode, we sit down with Executive Producer and Director, Tim Harris, along with Producer, Lorna Miller. Together, they reflect on the making of their feature-length documentary film, "Kenyatta: Do Not Wait Your Turn".

During their conversation, they dive into the importance of representation on set, reflect on the challenges and successes of producing a documentary, and share their experiences of balancing parenthood while working in production.

As the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes continue we wanted to learn more about what it's been like from two people on the ground in LA.

Both Chandra Thomas and Natasha Chandel are multi-hyphenates – writers, actors, producers, and more. Since May, they've been leading and organizing demonstrations with their fellow writers and actors.

From organizing a massive picket with the South Asian Writers Committee to attending daily pickets outside of the Warner Bros. lot their goal remains the same: to reshape the way writers and actors are compensated in an industry now dominated by streaming platforms.

Chandra and Natasha also dive into their experiences as creatives and how they carved their way into the industry as both first gens and women of color, the importance of taking up space on set and in a writer’s room, and what it takes to develop a script that stands out from the pile.

Other topics include leaning into age and experience, the importance of building community, and staying persistent along the journey.

On this episode, Director Oanh-Nhi Nguyen and DP Eurica Yu, sit down to recount their experience working together on the documentary, Taking Root: Southeast Asian Stories of Resettlement in Philadelphia. The four-part series tells the true stories of Southeast Asians who resettled in Philadelphia after being displaced by the Wars in Southeast Asia. Their stories – which span from the 1970s to present day – reveal the impact of structural violence and demonstrate the power of resisting and rebuilding in America.

Oanh-Nhi and Eurica talk about how they involved community members throughout the filmmaking process, built a diverse crew behind the scenes, navigated the archival process, and the moment they found out Taking Root was selected for the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival.

The Forte Podcast is a production of Maestro Filmworks. Maestro was proud to partner with Oanh-Nhi and VietLead during post-production of Taking Root.

Learn more about our guests, VietLead, and Taking Root:

Oanh-Nhi Nguyen
instagram.com/oanhnhi.nguyen
www.oanhnhinguyen.com

Eurica Yu
instagram.com/euricayu
www.euricayu.com

Taking Root
instagram.com/takingrootdocumentary

VietLead
instagram.com/VietLead
www.vietlead.org