LARB's resident film critic Anna Schectman joins fellow cinephiles Medaya Ocher & Kate Wolf to talk about their favorite foreign films of 2016; focusing on Pedro Almodovar's change of pace, Julieta; Paul Veerhoeven's Elle starring the fiercely sublime Isabelle Huppert; and The Handmaiden, a genre-bending and visually stunning tale of Victorian Korea by Park Chan-Wook. Also, Tom Lutz recommends TC Boyle's The Terranauts (with its surprising Trump Administration tie-in); and praises DH Lawrence's Terra Incognita.

In part two of LARB in SF, we feature Laurie and Tom's dialogues with one of America's most celebrated authors, Ha Jin, as well as the only path breaking professor of ethnic studies who is also a legendary bandleader, Dr. Loco (aka Jose Cuellar). Ha Jin reflects on literature, cross-cultural insight, and the very real threat of Donald Trump to democracy. Dr Loco reveals the joyous traditions of, and multicultural influences on, Chicano music; and tells tales of his former band mate, a young Tom Lutz. Also, both Laurie and Tom express their appreciation of Lena Dunham's memoir Not That Kind of Girl. The show closes with a reading of Thomas Lux's A Little Tooth.

This week's Podcast features interviews from LARB's recent live event in San Francisco. Co-hosts Tom Lutz and Laurie Winer speak with Rabih Alameddine about his new book The Angel of History, structures of narrative outside the American mainstream, and the state of poetry in light of Bob Dylan's Nobel Prize; and then Jade Chang talks about her novel The Wangs vs The World, the changing shape of the immigrant tale, and her desire to struggle as a stand-up comic. Then Taschen's Dian Hanson returns to recommend the spectacular erotic photography of China's Ren Hang (soon to be published by Taschen); and we re-listen to CP Cavafy's classic poem Waiting for the Barbarians, pending the arrival of Donald Trump.

Director Jack Pettibone and Producer Shane Slattery-Quintanilla join LARB's Gustavo Turner to discuss their exceptional new documentary The Seventh Fire. Six years in the making, the film takes an unflinching look at the lives of gang members on an Ojibwe Reservation in Minnesota; and discovers men of profound intelligence, acutely aware of the tragic history of their people. Then Dian Hanson, legendary editor of Taschen's sexy books series, drops by to tell the story of trail-blazing gay pornographer, Bob Mizer; and celebrate the publication of The Bob Mizer AMG 1000 Model Directory.