Sounds like the sort of catchphrase or motivational slogan that is just odd enough to appear in a Guy Maddin film, doesn’t it? “Inch on, Maddin! Inch on!”

The wonderful Hayley Inch was our guest this month, talking about her one true passion: Guy Maddin. Actually, being a true film buff after our own hearts, Hayley has many cinematic passions, but her love of Maddin is unparalleled. Whether you know Maddin’s work or have never heard of him before, you’ve really got to hear Hayley waxing lyrical about what makes him so great.

This episode also marks the return of the mini-Hyphenate segment, where we take a filmmaker who may not have made enough movies to qualify for the main stage (we have a loose five-or-more rule in place), and discuss them in the mid-section of the show. This month we’ve gone with Jacques Tati who made five features, one telemovie, and a bunch of shorts. Okay, so we’re stretching the rules a little to include him, but given Madman Entertainment just released a beautiful restored edition of his works, it felt like the perfect time.

There’s rarely a rhyme or reason to the pairing of mini-Hyphenate with the guest’s pick, but as we discussed their works, a connection emerged: both Tati and Maddin continued the tradition of silent films in very different ways. There aren’t many filmmakers who so forcefully use the pre-sound era as inspiration the way these two have, albeit in completely different ways.

We say this every month, but this really is a great episode. We talk Gone Girl, Force Majeure, Obvious Child and Whiplash, delve into Tati, and explore Maddin all in one hour. Plus, one of us actually leaves the room at one point! Who leaves and why? You’ll only find out the answer by listening to this month’s show.

You see a lot of familiar faces at film festivals. This is, the films aside, one of the best things about them. Especially when one of the familiar faces belongs to the Melbourne International Film Festival’s Membership Coordinator Hayley Inch. Running into Hayley at MIFF is always wonderful: whether you passionately agree or disagree on the quality of the film you just saw, it’s always a joy to chat with her. So of course we had to ask her onto the show.

In addition to working for MIFF, Hayley is the Shorts Manager at the Human Rights Arts and Film Festival. She was Broadsheet’s resident film writer from 2012 to 2014, and runs her own film criticism site at the brilliantly-named Herzog’s Chicken.

Hayley has chosen to speak about the works of Canadian auteur Guy Maddin. If you’ve never seen any Maddin before, you are in for a treat. It’s safe to say nobody else in the world makes films the way Guy Maddin does, and when we publish our forthcoming Cheat Sheet, those currently unfamiliar with him will see why.

But that’s not all!

Long-term listeners will remember that in 2012 we introduced the “mini-Hyphenate” segment. Due to the fact that we introduced a rule saying the Filmmakers of the Month must have made more than five films, we realised this would exclude a whole lot of notable directors. No one could, for instance, choose Charles Laughton, whose only directed film was the Robert Mitchum classic The Night of the Hunter. Therefore, we introduced a semi-regular segment in which, in addition to the Filmmaker of the Month, we discuss the works of a director who has (a) made five films or fewer, and (b) has a finite filmography.

To date, we’ve spoken about the films of Sarah Watt, Jean Vigo, Elaine May, Fabián Bielinsky, Adrienne Shelly, Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker and Alice Guy-Blaché.

We had to rest the segment for much of this year, largely due to the epic workload involved in watching the films of Robert Altman simultaneous to the films of Luc Besson, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Harold Ramis and Jim Jarmusch. So when Hayley picked Maddin – a director with numerous credits, but only about ten feature films – we thought this would be a good month to introduce another mini-Hyphenate.

And so, in our next episode, we shall also be talking about the films of comic filmmaker Jacques Tati!

We’re bending our own rules a little (and not for the first time): although Tati made five features, he also made numerous significant short films, and one feature-length film, Parade, that was produced for television. So he’s slipping through on a technicality. But when Madman Entertainment released the epic Jacques Tati box set this year, we couldn’t resist exploring the works of this fascinating comedian-filmmaker-performer.

If you want to play along at home, our Cheat Sheet will be released in a couple of weeks, ensuring you can become an instant expert in only one evening. The episode featuring Jacques Tati, Guy Maddin and special guest Hayley Inch will be released on the morning of October 31 AEST via iTunes, Stitcher Smart Radio and our website.