Tune into our podcast series to explore social justice films and the people behind them.
RADICAL FILMS is the Social Justice Film Institute podcast featuring alumni and friends of the Social Justice Film Festival discussing all things related to social justice storytelling. The Social Justice Film podcast was created to explore and share stories about the intersection of social justice and film.
RADICAL FILMS PODCASTS hosted by John Trafton - johntrafton.com
Assistant Professor, Media Arts & Culture, Occidental College
CURRENT EPISODES - Listen here on Apple | Listen here on Spotify
Click on photos to listen.
Firebreak - with producer Kenzie Bruce - 2026 Social Justice Film Festival - Opening Night Featured Film
Kenzie Bruce joins Radical Films to discuss Firebreak—a powerful look at wildfire, labor, and survival in an era of environmental collapse. We dive into the ethics of representation, the lived realities behind the lens, and what it means to document history as it unfolds in real time.
Maria Fernandez
Maricela Santana-Walle
The Price of Plenty - with Maria Fernandez and Maricela Santana-Walle - 2026 Social Justice Film Festival - Special Event Featured Film
A powerful conversation on land, labor, and legacy. Join us as filmmakers and activists Maria Fernandez and Maricela Santana-Walle unpack The Price of Plenty, a documentary that brings the hidden costs of agricultural abundance into sharp focus. From environmental injustice to community resilience, this episode asks what it really means to live with the consequences of “plenty.”
A Little Bit Different - with Brett Hochmuth
What happens when people from completely different worlds are brought together on the same river? Brett Hochmuth joins us to discuss A Little Bit Different, a documentary about connection, transformation, and what emerges when we step outside our everyday lives.
Micha Espinosa
Sara Matchett
Lamentation at the Liesbeek - with Micha Espinosa and Sara Matchett
A conversation with Micha Espinosa and Sara Matchett on Lamentation at the Liesbeek, a film that traces how colonial histories linger in landscape, memory, and everyday life along Cape Town’s riverbanks. We explore how the film turns terrain into testimony, where sound, image, and absence reveal a past that refuses to stay buried.