Chris Wilcha — Flipside (EP.218)

Chris Wilcha is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and commercial director.

His latest film, Flipside, which is co-executive produced by Jim and presented in association with Infinite Films (among others), opens in select US theaters tomorrow (May 31st, 2024).

An ode to creative failure, abandoned projects, and rekindled passion, Flipside premiered at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival to rave reviews. Here’s the full description:

“When filmmaker Chris Wilcha revisits the record store he worked at as a teenager in New Jersey, he finds the once-thriving bastion of music and weirdness from his youth slowly falling apart and out of touch with the times. FLIPSIDE documents his tragicomic attempt to revive the store while revisiting other documentary projects he has abandoned over the years. In the process, Wilcha captures This American Life icon Ira Glass in the midst of a creative rebirth, discovers the origin story of David Bowie’s ode to a local New Jersey cable television hero, and uncovers the unlikely connection between jazz photographer Herman Leonard and TV writer David Milch. This disparate collection of stories coheres into something strange and expansive—a moving meditation on music, work, and the sacrifices and satisfaction of trying to live a creative life.”

Important Links:

• Flipside; a film by Chris Wilcha
• 32 Sounds; a film by Sam Green

Show Notes:

• An Ode to Abandoned Projects
• How Flipside Got Made
• When Filmmaking Gets Personal
• Taking the Big Swings
• Bringing the Film to Life in the Editing Room
• "Life can only be understood backwards, but we must live it forwards”
• Meeting Uncle Floyd
• Working With Judd Apatow & the Coen Brothers; Balancing Art & Commerce
• Stylistic Choices & Following Your Obsession
• How Jim Got Into Music
• The Changing Landscape of Documentary Filmmaking
• How the Creative Industries Compare to Wall Street
• Chris’ Favourite Unmade Documentaries
• Chris as Emperor of the World
• MORE!