“Rice is culture”—the spiritual spine of a new restaurant in Harlem—is one of the many big ideas chef and award-winning cookbook author JJ Johnson tackles in this spirited episode. We also go over how the media covers African-American food and the economics of running restaurants in New York City, and he relives a recent trip he took to Puerto Rico. Also on the show, writer Maggie Hoffman talks about her new book, Batch Cocktails. Just in time for all of those backyard parties.

62: JJ Johnson

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<p><strong>Chase Joynt</strong> is a non-fiction filmmaker and writer whose latest film, <a href="https://www.thefilmcollaborative.org/films/stateoffirsts" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><i>State of Firsts</i></a>, about Rep. Sarah McBride, is playing in theaters across the US from June 26. His documentary features <i>The Nest</i> (with Julietta Singh) and <i>State </i><i>o</i><i>f Firsts</i> both premiered in 2025, at Hot Docs and Tribeca, respectively. His documentary feature <i>Framing Agnes</i> was named a Best Movie of the Year by <em>The New Yorker</em> after premiering at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won the NEXT Innovator Award and the NEXT Audience Award. The film has played more than 100 festivals internationally and is distributed by Kino Lorber. With Aisling Chin-Yee, Chase co-directed <i>No Ordinary Man</i>, which was presented at Cannes Docs, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, and was hailed by <em>The New Yorker</em> as “a genre unto itself” and <em>Indiewire</em> as “the future of trans cinema.” For the CW, Chase directed episodes of <i>Two Sentence Horror Stories</i> which are now streaming on Netflix; his episode <em>Elliot</em> from Season 2 won a Telly Award for directing. He is the co-author of three non-fiction books, including the Lambda Literary Award Finalist <i>You Only Live Twice</i> with Mike Hoolboom and <i>Boys Don’t Cry</i> with Morgan M Page. His latest book, <i>Vantage Points,</i> was shortlisted for the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust of Canada Prize for Nonfiction and named a Best Book of the Year by CBC Books, <i>The Walrus</i> and <i>Autostraddle</i>. (Photo by Amos Mac.)</p>


Chase Joynt

Film

A Trans Lens, a Cinema of Defiance

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<p><strong>Curls Ultra</strong> is an underground post groovy rock band and activist network based in America. The band is known for their exhilarating live shows which feature <strong>Boredoms</strong>-esque noise jams, <strong>Can</strong>-inspired kosmiche grooves, and tender ballads depicting the degradation of the American psyche. They have performed at Pitchfork Music Festival, toured across multiple countries and opened for or collaborated with <strong>Tame Impala</strong>, <strong>Ariel Pink</strong>, <strong>Frank Hurricane</strong>, <strong>Sunburned Hand Of The Man</strong>, <strong>Wild Pink</strong>, <strong>Salesforce Child</strong>, and most recently <strong>Tim Heidecker</strong>’s <strong>Dekkar</strong>.</p>
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Curls Ultra

Music

Mood Board: Curls Ultra’s <i>American Blood</i>

<p class="western" align="left"><strong>Ash Mayfair</strong>&#8216;s new feature, <a href="https://www.filmmovementplus.com/videos/skin-of-youth-trailer" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><i>Skin of Youth</i></a>, an all-consuming love story between a transgender singer and a dog-cage fighter set in 1990s Saigon, Vietnam, is out now on Film Movement Plus from June 26. She was born in Vietnam and educated in the UK and the US. Ash received a BA from Oxford University for English Literature, trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London for theatre directing and received an MFA in filmmaking at NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Her first feature, <em>The Third Wife</em>, was released by Film Movement in 2019 and is now available through leading digital platforms and Film Movement Plus. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it won the NETPAC Jury Award, and also won awards at the San Sebastian, Milano, Chicago, Minsk, Kolkata and Cairo film festivals.</p>


Ash Mayfair

Transgender / Transcendence

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Mike Campbell

62: JJ Johnson

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