February 18, 2022

In this episode, I speak with film director Scott Calonico and archival researcher and producer Sandy Weeding. During our conversation, we chat about our first meeting at the Ji.hlava Documentary Film Festival, Sandy’s experiences of Berlin before the wall came down, unique German archives, and their latest documentary short, Catwoman vs. the White House. The film which will screen on The New Yorker website for Black History Month celebrates a little-known moment in history when Eartha Kitt confronts Lyndon Baynes and Lady Bird Johnson with their performative initiatives for Black folks in the inner city and the problems of the Vietnam War. Soon after this encounter Earth Kitt was unofficially blacklisted in the U.S. She was fortunately embraced by Europe and the people of Franc specifically, so this week’s song is her rendition of the classic, “C’est si Bon.” Our conversation was recorded in February 2022.

Photo Credit: Scott Calonico

Image Description: Scott, a bald white man, is pictured from the torso. He wears a white t-shirt, a blue and white patterned shirt, and a black jacket with an upturned color. He holds a pair of black glasses in his hand as they rest against his chin. He looks to the left.

Photo Credit: Sandy Wieding

Sandy is pictured from the torso up. Her brownish, blonde hair is pulled back and is shoulder length. She wears a grey sweater, a dark multicolored, striped shirt, red lipstick, and mental square-shaped earrings. She looks to the right.

Photo Credit: National Archives

Image Description: Eartha Kitt stands in front of Lyndon B. Johnson in front of a podium and a large painting. Seated at the tables looking at them are several white women, their backs turned to the camera.

About Scott

Scott Calonico’s films have been shown internationally at festivals such as Sundance, Tribeca, Edinburgh, and Rotterdam and, oddly enough, inside an abandoned World War II bunker in Italy. His work has also been featured on websites like Comedy Central, Vanity Fair, The Atlantic Monthly, Ch4, Boing Boing, Dangerous Minds, OUT magazine, Retronaut, Timeline, and VICE.

In 2014, his short, The Silly Bastard Next to the Bed, received the Audience Award for Best Short Doc at the Full Frame Film Festival and toured around the globe. That same year, Scott also served as producer and animator on the award-winning feature film, No No: A Dockumentary. In 2015, he was awarded a documentary commission from the Scottish Documentary Institute as well as premiering a short on Vanity Fair. He is working with co-director Jeffrey Radice on his first feature-length documentary, Betrayal, a cold war spy thriller. Betrayal was selected for the prestigious Archidoc program for 2016 run by the French national film school La Femis, as well as production funding from the UK organization Creative Skillset and Creative Scotland. In 2018, he premiered his film The Escape Agents at the 22nd annual Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival.

In 2019, his short documentary Everything You Wanted to Know About Sudden Birth* (*but were afraid to ask) premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, screened around the world, and was awarded a Special Jury Prize at the 2019 Seattle International Film Festival. In the Corona year of 2020, his documentary short Betrayal premiered online at the Tribeca Film Festival and was acquired by the New Yorker as part of their Summer Docs series.

He holds a BSc in Radio/TV/Film from the University of Texas and an MA from City University, London in International Journalism.

About Sandy

Sandy Weidig is the mother of two daughters and a documentary archival researcher based in the suburbs of Berlin. Born and raised in East Berlin, she was nine when the Berlin Wall came down. From an early age, she demonstrated a keen interest in books and stories which lead to her love for storytelling. After leaving her job as an early education teacher, she began working with Scott Calonico, her partner in life. The two bonded over their shared love for history and archival treasure-hunting. Sandy is an experienced voice-over actress and translator. She also does stand-up comedy and is developing a podcast about the experiences of East Germans and East Berliners.