Director Cindy Meehl joins Sounds of Film to discuss her latest documentary Jimmy & The Demons, an intimate and visually rich portrait of celebrated artist James Grashow. Known for her deeply human storytelling style, Meehl brings audiences inside both the creative process and emotional world of her subject, capturing a once-in-a-lifetime artistic journey with honesty, warmth, and insight.
Jimmy & The Demons follows Grashow as he embarks on the most ambitious project of his life at nearly 80 years old—a monumental sculpture that becomes a meditation on art, mortality, and meaning. As he devotes years to completing what may be his final masterpiece, the film blends humor, wonder, and emotional depth, offering a powerful look at the sacrifices and joys of a life dedicated to creativity and the search for purpose.
Cindy Meehl is an award-winning director and executive producer and the founder of Cedar Creek Productions. Her debut feature documentary Buck premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2011, where it won the U.S. Documentary Audience Award and was shortlisted for an Academy Award. She followed that success with The Dog Doc (2019), which premiered at the Tribeca Festival and was released in 2020. In addition to her directorial work, Meehl has served as an executive producer on a range of acclaimed documentaries including Natchez (2025), Fashion Reimagined (2022), Rewind (2019), The River and the Wall (2019), For the Birds (2018), Trapped (2016), Unbranded (2015), and Dogs on the Inside (2014). Her latest film, Jimmy & The Demons, premiered at Tribeca in 2025 and has received multiple festival awards.
Sounds of Film with Tom Needham is one of the nation’s longest-running film, music, and ideas-themed radio shows, airing for over 30 years on WUSB in New York. The program features in-depth conversations with leading voices in film, music, and culture. Past guests have included Alexander Payne, Alec Baldwin, Laurie Anderson, Bob Geldof, Billy Joel, Pam Grier, Rob Reiner, Julie Andrews, Jordan Peele, Dionne Warwick, Michael Moore, William H. Macy, Cicely Tyson, Chazz Palminteri, Peter Fonda, and Rev. Jesse Jackson, among many others.
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