“[Don Herztfeldt] sounds like Bill looks like he feels.”

Animation is the bastard stepchild of cinema: often and mistakenly referred to as a genre, dismissed as kid's fare, and rarely celebrated in the way that live action is. Which is strange, given that animation is, in a sense, pure cinema. Everything you see has been created to be seen. There are no happy accidents, no unanticipated fireworks or weird-looking extras wandering through frame; it is all made.

When guest Tom Clift stepped in at the last minute (again, huge thanks to him), his choice of filmmaker seemed, if we're being completely honest, pleasingly slight. With a dozen short films to his name, Don Hertzfeldt's filmoraphy was clearly one that could be easily tackled with only a week's notice.

The logistical practicalities soon fell away as joy took over. It became clear that Hertzfeldt's films were some of the most imaginative and unusual and deeply funny films we'd seen in a long time. If you want to know what makes them that way, then you either need to watch them, or listen to this month's show. But preferably both.

Before we get to Hertzfeldt, however, we take some time to chat about the key films from this month: Jocelyn Moorhouse's dark comedy The Dressmaker, Todd Haynes's period romance Carol, Steven Spielberg's espionage thriller Bridge of Spies, and Paul Thomas Anderson's music documentary Junun.

We also take a look at the new forms of streaming and distribution. With Don Hertzfeldt self-distributing his films, and Junun released exclusively to online cinema website Mubi, we examine some of the challenges facing filmmakers who are creating content for these new media, and whether it's too early for audiences to be able to clearly curate their viewing habits in this new frontier.

That's a lot for one hour, right? Damn straight it is.

So download or stream us from this website, listen via Stitcher Smart Radio, or subscribe via iTunes. And tell your friends.

Further reading:

• The Washington Post piece about 1950s nostalgia that Sophie mentions in the reviews segment can be read here.
• Sophie's book on Sally Potter, A Politics of Love, can be ordered via her website.
• Three videos below! The first is a seven minute outtake from Paul Thomas Anderson’s Junun, the second is a clip of Don Hertzfeldt at work, and the third is the opening sequence he animated for The Simpsons.

Outro music: “Old Sir Symon the King”, composer unknown, from I Am So Proud of You (2008)

Not many people know that the greatest natural threat to the podcast is the volcano.

We'll explain.

Some of you may have read our previous announcement for this month's episode (which has now been taken down), revealing our next guest/filmmaker combo to be Rebecca Harkins-Cross talking Rainer Werner Fassbinder.

What neither we nor Rebecca could have predicted would be a whole bunch of volcanic ash from East Java’s Mt Raung grounding planes in Bali and stranding anyone who wanted to fly out. Rebecca included.

This has left her without the weeks of prep time she'd hoped to have before recording her episode, not to mention the weeks’ worth of actual work that has backed up in her absence. So Bec had no choice but to  pull out of this month’s show, a decision we completely understood. (As an aside, this is the first time we’ve had a late cancellation since we started Hyphenates five-and-a-half years ago, which is pretty good when you think about it.) Fear not: both Bec and Fassbinder will be back on the show very soon!

So which guest has gallantly agreed to step into the breach with just over a week before the recording?

It's Melbourne arts journalist Tom Clift!

Tom is the co-founder and festivals editor of Movie Mezzanine, the reviewer of new release films for ABC radio's Overnights, and is a regular contributor to Concrete Playground, FilmInk, Film School Rejects and RogerEbert.com.

We've been chatting to Tom about guesting on the show for a very long time, and although we'd always hoped to give him much more notice than he's getting now, we are both delighted to finally have him on, and grateful for his willingness to jump in at the last minute.

So which filmmaker will Tom be talking to us about?

It's independent animator and award-winning director Don Hertzfeldt!

If you've never heard of Herzfeldt, his 2000 animated short Rejected was nominated for an Oscar, he has won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize for Short Film twice (the only filmmaker to have done so), and the Austin Chronicle described his films as being among “the most influential and intellectually chewy examples of animation ever created”.

Not a bad resume for a director who hasn't hit 40 yet.

In addition to his many short films, Herzfeldt has only made one feature film so far - 2012's It's Such a Beautiful Day - which would normally put him out of the running given our five drink minimum, but we were swayed by a few factors: Herzfeldt is a truly exciting auteur, Tom is very keen to discuss his work, and, let's be honest, we only have a week to prep for this one. We like to think of it as the stars aligning in such a way to ensure that everybody wins.

But here's the question: how has Hertzfeldt, in such a short period of time, already been hailed as the future of animation? And what is it about his work that so appeals to Tom? Tune in to Hell Is For Hyphenates on November 30 to find out!