The latest episode of Indie Beat has docked and is ready for your ears.
This episode’s guest is Nadin Mai, a student-turned-distributor for Slow Cinema. Years ago she started a blog titled The Art of Slow Cinema, which was initially used for her doctoral thesis on Lav Diaz. The website grew, evolving into essays for other films of the same ilk, and her focus switched to spotlight films that had little love outside of the festival circuit (if that).
Because of this void in distribution, Nadin stepped up to the plate and started her own streaming service, tao films. The website was launched early 2017 and initially focused on a small, rotating program of films — you could stream one or buy a package of every available title for a discounted price — accompanied by interviews with each director and an assessment of the work by Nadin herself. Now, the expiration date has been removed and each season simply brings a new batch of films to the collection.
As a fan of the often undervalued niche genre, if you will, I admire what Nadin is doing and decided to have her on the podcast. If you’re a fan of slow cinema (or if you need to be convinced of its greatness), then, as they say, “smash that play button”! We talked about Nadin’s love for all things slow, her weariness of horror films, Lav Diaz, and the future of tao films.