Festive Foreign Film Fans
Bob and Mark are regular American guys exploring different countries and cultures through the holiday experience of Christmas. They enjoy festive movies, music, food, and customs. Each episode features the two visiting a new international location. It's like a global Christmas party!
Episodes
41 episodes
Season 2, Episode 11 - Wajib (Palestinian Territory)
For this episode, we travel to the Middle East and the region which today is known as the Palestinian Territory. In the same way that Festive Fans covered Russia and Ukraine last December, we wanted to visit another area in need of hope during ...
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44:47
Season 2, Episode 10 - Des hommes et des dieux "Of Gods and Men" (Algeria)
During this week of Thanksgiving, we are grateful to learn so much this episode, really, especially for a holiday week. We are spending our Black Friday just basking in these hard truths. After a vain search for a Colonial Christmas...
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Season 2
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Episode 10
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45:49
Season 2, Episode 9 - To tango ton Hristougennon "The Christmas Tango" (Greece)
Greece is the word, is the word that you heardIn honor of our good friend Liz Schuh, the Festive Fans visit the homeland and the cradle of Western civilization this episode. We head to the Greek islands, past Athens and th...
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Season 2
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Episode 9
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46:22
Season 2, Episode 8 - Gone Shopping (Singapore)
The Festive Fans are getting steamy this episode, but not in the way you might think. Unless you mean a penis panic. The boys are off to the balmy island state of Singapore where the Christmas celebrations are full of warm memories,...
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Season 2
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Episode 8
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39:55
Season 2, Episode 7 - Kapa (Slovenia)
Slovenia is such an unexpected delight for the Festive Fans. This episode’s movie is full of pleasant surprises – two young and engaging leads; a stunning, baroque cityscape; and an honest and moving story – it has everything any podcaste...
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Season 2
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Episode 7
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43:53
Season 2, Episode 6 - Ça Twiste à Poponguine (Senegal)
This episode is a wistful look back to an earlier time in the welcoming country of Senegal, known as the “Gateway to Africa”. We visit this westernmost point on the continent to view the 1994 film Ça Twiste à Poponguine. Th...
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40:04
Season 2, Episode 5 - Memory Box (Lebanon)
If you want to enjoy a true Middle Eastern Christmas, one with diverse religions and languages, but also filled with historic, cultural, culinary and artistic delights, join the Fans as we head on a festive jaunt to amazing Lebanon. This ...
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Season 2
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Episode 5
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40:40
Season 2, Episode 4 - Tudo Bem No Natal Que Vem (Brazil)
How do you want to spend Christmas? If you like to celebrate in a warm and colorful locale with incredible natural beauty, lush beaches, and a stunning rainforest, grab a holiday speedo or thong, because you are going to love this episode...
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Season 2
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Episode 4
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42:13
Season 2, Episode 3 - Himmelfall (Norway)
Put on your Gjermundbu helmet, grab your tunic and don’t forget the woolen underwear. We are off the coolest country in Europe to explore their Christmas traditions during our dog days of summer. We are talking Norway, on the outskirts of Europ...
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Season 2
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Episode 3
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41:27
Season 2, Episode 2: The December Boys (Australia)
G’day Mate! We’re so stoked. The Festive Fans are firing the barbie today for holiday tucker -- heaps of prawns and snags. We’re putting on some cozies and thongs (well, Mark’s in a budgie smuggler) to enjoy our visit to Stray...
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Season 2
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Episode 2
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41:12
Season 2, Episode 1 - Let There Be Light (Slovakia)
So it's Season 2. We are older and wiser. Or, with all the traditional food and drink from last season, maybe just older and wider. We have a much broader view now and we are keeping our chins up ... all of them. To kick...
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Season 2
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Episode 1
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43:27
Episode 26: It's Our Anniversary Show! (Part 2)
This episode is our longest and most special. It is Part 2 of our anniversary show. We welcome our first guest, author and podcaster Alonso Duralde; we pick our favorite global holiday songs and movies; and, most importantly, we enj...
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Season 1
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Episode 26
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1:16:25
Episode 25 - It's Our Anniversary! (Part 1)
One Year! Wow, it seems like just last June we were in the street markets of Ancient Baghdad on a flying carpet with Aladin. Or, trying to escape from the top of a burning tower in South Korea. These films offered us a cinemat...
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Season 1
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Episode 25
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40:47
Episode 24: Rak haeng Siam or "The Love of Siam" (Thailand)
OK, Festive Fans, pour yourselves a Mai Thai and get ready for the last episode of our first season! We are heading east – Far East – to Thailand, a captivating land of beaches, palaces, ruins, and temples. It’s the perfect ending f...
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Season 1
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Episode 24
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39:38
Episode 23: Alles is Liefde (Netherlands)
The boys are going Dutch this episode and exploring Christmas in the land of tulips, windmills, and hole-y dykes. Grab your wooden shoes, we are heading to the Netherlands for St. Nicholas Day! We also examine a surprisingly dated ...
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Season 1
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Episode 23
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42:09
Episode 22: Skenbart (Sweden)
In today’s episode, we enjoy Skenbart or “IIlusive Tracks” a black and white Swedish film set in 1945. It is a comedy, thriller, drama and love story, all wrapped up in one, along with those common elements you expect in a Christmas fi...
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Season 1
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Episode 22
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39:55
Episode 21: Retfærdighedens Ryttere (Denmark)
The boys head north again to another Scandinavian country to fully embrace the land of Vikings, pastries, and Mads Mikkelsen. It’s Denmark! Yes, our own Hannibal Lecter stars in a revenge drama that has all of the elements you...
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Season 1
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Episode 21
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42:08
Episode 20: Kisses (Ireland)
We are still in our post-St. Patrick’s Day reverie so the Festive Fans decide to head off to enjoy the Emerald Isle. Mark is excited to celebrate the locale of his favorite film The Quiet Man and the home to three of his great-gr...
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Season 1
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Episode 20
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41:52
Episode 19: Le Nocha Magica (Argentina)
Don’t cry for us Argentina, you have delivered on a very meaty holiday. And we are not just talking about the ox tongue and tuna sauce at the Asado. Our first tour stop in South America really delivers its fireworks -- both on and ...
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Season 1
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Episode 19
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45:11
Episode 18: A Naija Christmas (Nigeria)
This reminds us of when we reviewed a film from Turkey in November, now February is Black History month in the States and we just happen to be covering our first film on the African continent. Today we travel to Lagos, Nigeria for an ente...
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Season 1
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Episode 18
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47:59
Episode 17: Una famiglia perfetta (Italy)
We’re gonna show you a movie you can’t refuse. The boys are off to Italia -- Bob’s ancestral homeland – for a magnifica celebration of amore, famiglia, and Natale. And don’t worry, it’s not personal, it’s business. We review t...
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Season 1
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Episode 17
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47:04
Episode 16: Starry, Starry Night (Taiwan)
Vincent Van Gogh’s classic painting “Starry Night” has, through the years, inspired poets, musicians, and now another gem -- this episode’s holiday film from Taiwan. Mark describes it as the “best film we have reviewed” so far. &nbs...
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42:14
Episode 15: Echo (Iceland) … and Happy New Year!
It’s a new episode, a new year, and an exciting new country for the Festive Fans! For the start of 2024, we travel to Iceland -- a country with dramatic landscapes full of giant glaciers and fiery volcanos. Such extreme contrasts al...
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Season 1
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Episode 15
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49:51
Episode 14: Schedryk (Ukraine) and Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas to all of our Festive Fans! The boys celebrate Christmas today by considering the uplifting Ukrainian song and the movie Carol of the Bells or “Schedryk”. The story takes place in the years preceding and during World...
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Season 1
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Episode 14
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47:03
Episode 13: Serebryanye Konki (Russia)
The Festive Fans embark on their plan to spread Peace on Earth and Good Will to Men this episode as they journey to Mother Russia. It’s a sincere effort to try to find some Christmas spirit in the former Soviet nation. We watch a mo...
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Season 1
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Episode 13
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45:58