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Jason Reitman is one of the most promising young film directors today. The 31-year old son of “Ghost Busters” helmer Ivan Reitman, Jason has steered two very different ships to success in “Juno” and “Thank You For Smoking”. Raised in LA, Reitman listens to KCRW as we do so we were all ears when he shared his love of music in a recent radio interview and played tunes that have influenced him over years, especially during the making of the two aforementioned films. 

Who would've known that Steve Winwood's "I'm A Man" was a driving force during the making of "Thank You For Smoking". While that tune didn't make the film soundtrack, the attitude of the lyrics permeated the film in more subtle ways. Makes one wonder what the film Juno would've been like if the main character was cast as a punk music fan instead of a lo-fi band lover?

Given his age, Jason Reitman should be creating great films for years to come. And anyone who lists RJD2 in their playlist is a friend of ours. Tune into KCRW to hear how intrinsic music is to Reitman's creative process and how he uses radio as his record store to discover songs that influence his film projects.

Jason Reitman's Playlist:
1. Steve Winwood - "I'm a Man"

Album: The Best of Steve Winwood (Island)

2. Yo La Tengo - "You Can Have it All"

Album: Juno B-Sides: Almost Adopted Songs (Rhino)

3. Moldy Peaches - "Anyone Else But You" 

Album: Juno - Music From The Motion Picture (Rhino)

4. Noel Zancanella - "Lovely"

Album: Stereo: A Fantasy for Electromagnetic Tape (Sonom Records)

5. Penguin Cafe Orchestra - "Telephone Rubber Band"

Album: Penguin Cafe Orchestra (Astralwerks)

6. RJD2 - "Good Times Roll pt. 1 [Explicit]"

Album: The Horror (Def Jux)

Starting June 19 the LA Times will kick off its massive ten-day LA Film Festival up and down the streets of Westwood. We say massive because, let’s be honest, 108 features, 40 shorts, and 60 music videos is not your grandpa’s double feature. Not sure when, where, and what to go to? That's why we're here.  Here's a few choice selects.
 
If you’re an American, you like metal, and you love the underdog. The head-banging Documentary film “Anvil: The Story of Anvil” will satiate both cravings. Determined to make it since the age of 14, Canadian musicians Steve “lips” Kudlow and Robb Reiner have been producing their own brand of speed metal since the early 70s. Giving up on the dream was never an option, and they caught it all on tape.

If music videos are your bag, then be sure not to miss both Eclectic Mix 1 and 2. These feature length reels will consist of back-to-back music videos to some of the hottest tracks all year. Try Peaches, Aesop Rock, Felix Da Housecat, Chemical Brothers, Bloc Party, Simian Mobile Disco, Feist, Animal Collective, Kanye West, Kid Sister, Moby, MGMT and much more.

How well do you know Scandinavian music? If Royksopp, The Knife, Jose Gonzales, and Sigur Ros are on repeat in your iPod, you’ll want to check out “Declare Independence: Spotlight On Scandinavia”. This feature will include music videos straight from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. When was the last time you saw these bangers in surround sound on a thirty-foot screen?

Click here for tickets and schedule.

The Visitor is this year’s little film that could. It's based on a true story in which two very unlikely paths cross in the megalopolis that is NYC.  A middle aged and bored Walter Vale (Richard Jenkins/Six Feet Under) comes home one day to find two new residents in his apartment: Tarek (Haaz Sleiman), a Syrian man, and Zainab (Danai Gurira), his Senegalese girlfriend. Learning that they're victims of a real estate scam, he befriends them and allows them to stay.

Moved by this, Tarek, a drummer, insists on teaching Walter to play the African drum. The instrument captures Walter's spirit and so begins a friendship between the two men. The differences in culture, age and temperament disappear.

In what can only be described as a dark twist, Tarek is pulled up by the NYPD on the Metro after returning with Walter from a lunchtime drum circle practice. Tarek is arrested as an undocumented citizen and held for deportation. As the situation moves from bad to worse Walter departs his sedentiary existence and enters the brutal world of immigration deportation policy and detention centers.

What's interesting in this film, apart from the inside look at immigration policy and it's systemic deployment after 9/11, is the film's sophisticated and special use of music. As the central characters get to know each other through playing music, both of the characters undertake a transformation. Music is used as a method to communicate and as a way to cross language and emotional barriers. The score to the film is created by Polish born Jan A.P. Kaczmarek and lends the film a soft and gentle side to the harsh realities undergoing Tarek. But the director Tom McCarthy (Station Agent/The Wire) doesn't stop there, in using “Je'Nwi Teni” (Don't Gag Me) by Fela Kuti as their drum practice song and as the only song in the film, the director is more than judicious with his use of music and therefore makes its use all the more powerful. Somehow the use of this song reminds us of why we all share the same planet.

Here's a guy who puts his money where his mouth is. We're going to write more on Adam Freeland and his Marine Parade empire very soon, including the forthcoming Evil 9 album and Adam's own eagerly anticipated new LP. But then we saw this video and knew we had to get this track out. Amnesty commissioned Mr. Freeland for their powerful tailor-made for the movies campaign. Currently being run as a preview in UK movie theaters, it's unlikely you'll see it in a US theater. In a world where music is being used more and more to market products - it looks like using music to market a message is catching on.

Adam recently played Coachella in a cape so its only fitting his latest endeavor is so heroic. Here's an exclusive download of the track he wrote for the campaign courtesy of Mr. Freeland.

Exclusive Download: Adam Freeland - Burn the Clock

The wait is over. This weekend sees the Los Angeles premiere of graffiti documentary, Bomb It.   Anyone who considers themselves a hip-hop head or a street culture aficionado will need to see this. Running from June 6th-12th (click full interview link for all screening details), Bomb It is a study on graffiti and urban artwork, taking us from early cave paintings to its explosion in the late 70s and early 80s on the streets and subway cars of New York, eventually landing in galleries and influencing all aspects of pop culture.

Using interviews with artists around the world and footage of the artists in action, director Jon Reiss uses the film to take on the question of "what is public space and how should it be used to benefit the public?" Reiss shot Bomb It on five continents and immortalized some graffiti legends including Taki 183 (who's credited with being one of the first taggers in NYC), Stay High 149, T-Kid and Cope (NY), Cornbread (Philly), Revok (Seventh Letter crew), Mear One, and the prolific Shepard Fairey.

CLICK HERE for full story and interview with the film's music supervisor David Garcia.