THE FILMMAKER

Josh CloseMovie Podcast Weekly Co-Host Joshua Ligairi is a film snob of the highest order, always ready with an obscure indie recommendation, a pretentious art film, or a claw-your-eyes-out-boring classic. If you’ve ever been watching a movie and wondered who the costume designer or even craft services person was on the film crew, Josh is your movie review dream come true.

Born in Hawaii of Fijian descent, Josh was raised throughout the western United States and spent several years in Europe. Active in Utah’s film community since high school, he participated in the Sundance Filmmakers Lab, the LDS Film Festival, and interned on several film productions from the tender age of 15.

Years later, Josh served as a department head over a dozen feature films from 2002 to 2009 and, as an avid name-dropper, he will never hesitate to tell you long-winded stories, with no real arc or conclusion, featuring the myriad of B-list actors he’s worked with from Billy Baldwin to Macaulay Culkin.

Soon, serving the has-been elite was no longer enough and Josh set his sights on directing documentaries, which is show biz industry code for: he’s broke. Josh’s non-fiction work has landed at major film festivals like the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival, on major television networks like National Geographic Channel, won him numerous awards (including a Distinguished Alumni Award for Journalism from Utah Valley University) and earned him, literally, hundreds of dollars.

Nowadays, Josh spends much of his free time developing and watching non-fiction television. He is a Survivor super fan and will readily fist fight anyone who says it sucks. He is currently in various stages of production on several documentary projects including Skeleton Picnic and Salamander (both shooting piece meal in Utah) and Near the Bear and Plan 241 (both going strong in Alaska).

Josh has been a co-host on several movie-themed podcasts including The Documentary Blog Podcast, Horror Metropolis, Drive-In of the Damned, Land of the Creeps, Horror Movie Podcast, and Movie Podcast Weekly. Josh is also currently the Producer / Host of Movie Stream Cast and is prepping new episodes of The Documentary Podcast and Midnight Double Feature for future release.

3 thoughts on “THE FILMMAKER

  1. I don’t know how you can call Macaulay Culkin a B-list actor. Just a few years ago he had the starring role in a movie about a little chap defending his home from violent criminals using. I think it was the remake of Straw Dogs.

    • I honestly can’t tell if you are joking, David. Must be that dry British wit. For the record, I absolutely love Macaulay Culkin, as an actor (as well as his brothers Kieran and Rory), and he was extremely kind and generous, as a person, during our very limited personal interactions. I’d be luck to ever work with him or someone of his talent. BUT, if you description of Mac’s career isn’t the definition of B-List, it could only be mistaken for C or D-List.

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