Spike Lee’s first decade; John and Bob the Mailman; HANG YOUR DOG IN THE WIND (movie about making movies); the real Fargo—Brainerd, MN; and the Gruesome Twosome: an encounter with John Waters and Herschell Gordon Lewis.
Richard Linklater and Eric Bogosian at the New York Film Festival with their film SUBURBIA; Linklater’s first film, IT’S IMPOSSIBLE TO LEARN TO PLOW BY READING BOOKS; and a trip to North Reading, MA—Duct Town.
Kevin Smith and John co-host from New Jersey; a visit with CRUMB director Terry Zwigoff at home; the found video DIRECTION MAN; Chris Smith and MAKING NORTHWESTERN with Mark Borchardt.
Bob the Mailman in L.A.; insights from filmmakers at the Cold Spring Film Workshop; Marina Zenovich explores the January film alternatives in Park City, UT, home of the Sun-, Slam-, and Slumdance Festivals.
Brian Flemming and Keythe Farley take a weekend “blockbuster” screenwriting course and make a film; Mary Harron and Katherine Dieckmann, both nine months pregnant, discuss their altered state with Guinevere Turner.
John Lurie on his new series, FISHING WITH JOHN the musical ISLE OF LESBOS; Cyberhostage: two filmmaking cyberterrorists try to get our attention; The Hamster Factor: Terry Gilliams's first market research screening for TWELVE MONKEYS.
SWINGBLADE: SLING BLADE meets SWINGERS; Pierson travels to Orlando FL, the home of the Florida Film Festival and proposes an “indieworld” theme park; a visit with a self distributing filmmaker from Vermont; filmmaker Errol Morris, accompanied by his bulldog, talks about films, life and art from his Vermont front porch
Mr. Pink and Barton Fink: Steve Buscemi and John Turturro on a stoop in Brooklyn; Irwin Young shows us how things work at his venerable film lab DuArt; Taranteenties: PH O'Brien and Doug Stone scope out the Andover Youth Services Homegrown Film Festival introducing us to the next generation.
Cinemoids: a portrait of the film obsessed family at Long Island's Cinema Arts Centre; Donnie Bosnia: the life story of two adventurers in eastern Europe; Sisters in Cinema: special preview of Yvonne Welbon's feature documentary on black women in film, with Julie Dash and Darnell Martin.
Sunflower City: Lawrence, KS, the home of the family owned Sunflower Cable system, and CARNIVAL OF SOULS; HANDS ON A HARD BODY: an excerpt from Robb Bindler's incredible documentary; The Blair Witch Project: a three-crew documentary team disappears deep in the woods of Maryland.
Sam Saldivar no-budget sci-fi thriller THE GIANT KILLER; one minute films loops with Gustav Deutsch at Windsor, ON’s Kinnotek Cinema; looking for the mysterious “Lady In Red” at Slamdance '97; revisiting the Blair Witch—a look at the footage found in the muddy duffel bag.
SPLIT SCREEN hits the road! Making a film vs. running the NYC Marathon; visiting IFFCON to talk indie film financing; John Wayne's Hairpiece and other cinema treasures at the Smithsonian Institution in D.C.; filmmakers Doug Stone and P.H. O'Brien and Dan “Grizzly Adams” Haggerty go looking for the America of EASY RIDER.
“The Illusion and Reality” episode: Dan Myrick visits musician/filmmaker Billy Yeager in a Purple Haze in Hollywood, FL; movie VHS bootleggers in NYC; building a grizzly bear proof suit—Doug Stone and PH O'Brien visit Canadian director Peter Lynch; War of the Words—an infamous Orson Welles commercial recording.
Self-distributing a documentary about talking to elementary school kids about gay issues; Filming in Charleston, SC, from Civil War pictures to slavery era epics; a visit with director Carl Franklin (ONE FALSE MOVE); Jacob Young’s ongoing project about broken down cars on the side of the road in the Deep South.
'Reason to Believe” booking a film on college campuses with secret agent: Tedd Stuart; a visit with Bart Weiss, director of the Dallas Video Festival; surveillance video turned into experimental films; THE TIN DRUM— Tim DePaepe investigates how this Academy Award winning film was banned in Oklahoma City, OK.
Student activists and local film illuminati protest the shutting down of the UT Union Film program; a profile of the inimitable character actor Lawrence Tierney; shooting Super 8 films at the Austin Cinemaker Co-op; “Documation” - Bob Sabiston and Tommy Pallotta discuss their hybrid of animation and documentary.
The RV crew hangs with Barry Tubb, an ex rodeo rider, Hollywood actor in Synder, TX; meet “Big” Joe La Creta: actor, wrestler, and sandwich master in Wilmington, MA; is there a “Real” Dude? Producer's rep Jeff Dowd claims there is. Marina Zenovich talks to the Coen Brothers and the cast.
A visit with Bruce Ricker, director of THE LAST OF THE BLUE DEVILS, a 1979 film about a reunion of some of the town’s jazz musicians; shooting a film, performing in a band, and hosting a film festival – in Spain; meet some of the real-life counterparts of Martin Scorsese’s film, CASINO; find out what the Pequot Tribal Nation in Mashantucket, CT does with their gambling profits.
The Aspen Shortsfest; SELECTIVE SERVICE SYSTEM, a brilliant short, made when the draft was mandatory and anti-war protests were in full force; follow four ebullient NYC teens, who just happen to be working actresses and indie film stars on the rise; meet Todd Thaler, one of independent film's busiest casting directors.
A visit with Russ Leatherman, Mr. Moviefone himself; meet Al Milgrom the Minneapolis “czar of cinema”; witness Dan Cleveland and his heavy metal band Dark Horse on their ascent up their basement stairs; “Cosmic Society” Amy Elliot and Lizzie Dornius introduce you to a company whose business is filming what can't be seen by the human eye.
Matt Damon and Ed Norton head to the World Series of Poker; self-taught stuntman crashing cars from a junkyard; Cronenberg’s CRASH acted by stuffed animals; a screening of RED RIVER for cows at the Fairlee Drive-In & Motel in Vermont.
Haynes and his longtime producer Christine Vachon cuddle up in Cannes; NEA public funding at the local level; an unusual outdoor screening on a hillside; a film festival sponsored by Dockers™.
The Sweet Sunshine animal Talent Agency; RAT WOMEN: an excerpt from filmmaker Minkie Spiro’s short; what happens to the puppies and dogs left too long at the pound; a visit to Wall Street to try to raise some indie cash.
Adam & Jo’s stuffed animal take on THE ENGLISH PATIENT; a rare visit with brilliant and phobic director Lars von Trier; Amy Elliott and Lizzy Donius visit volcanologists in Hawaii who film lava; Northwestern Airlines indie movie channel.
A home tour and talk with Crispin Glover about his film WHAT IS IT?; Adam & Joe’s toy take on SHINE; mob character actor, Frank Vincent; Marina Zenovich checks out the trailer editing for the TOUCH OF EVIL reissue.
Movie Saves Town: an indie effort revitalizes Holland, MI; Doug Stone visits Tony Bui, director of THREE SEASONS, and his Vietnamese cast; Homicide is Good: the indie film landscape in Baltimore; SE7EN: suspense, murder, stuffed animals!
Making Films, Selling Shoes: director Steven Proto enlists the help of Billy Wilder; How'd You Do That?, on working with a deaf actress; Brian Flemming and Keythe Farley ride along with LA's most famous nonworking actor; an encounter with Seymore Butts: Filmmaker.
George Kuchar, beloved innovator, underground filmmaker, and San Francisco film teacher; KIDS: promiscuous stuffed animals in NYC; 15 budding auteurs in Austin produce one feature together; Indie Dogs with Marina Zenovich; Artmark—activism, film, and videotape.
Manitoba Tonight: Guy Maddin; How'd You Do That: Archival FX; 'MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE Meets IRONSIDE”: Muscular Dystrophy poster-girl now turned indie action flick director Jenni Gold; Tanya Hamilton looks at several decades of Jamaican film culture.
Regional filmmaker par excellence, Jacob Young, in his own backyard. Meet an Elvis-channeling schizophrenic tap dancer, a cross-planting evangelical, a cranky chemical plant owner, and a pedophile Swami. Directed by Amy Elliot: we proudly present the filmmaker who to us embodies the true spirit of independent film.
Citizen Jesse: T. J. and Beth Larson show us a local indie film starring Jesse Ventura; 16 mm educational film collector Skip Elsheimer from North Carolina; Doug Stone and P. H. O’Brien chronicle a meeting with Manhattan public-access peeping tom and creep Ugly George and feminist documentarian Maggie Hadleigh-West.
Remember “Paul Is Dead”? David John Oates insists that reverse speech is the key to the truth; Producing Schlock: Tim Steffen talks to producer Sam Sherman who, with Al Adamson, made drive-in classics like SATAN’S SADISTS; From Porn Houses to Art Houses: Mike LaHaie and Howard Gertler explore NYC’s Times Square theaters.
Big Miss Moviola: Miranda July, filmmaker, performance artist, and creator of an inspired distribution concept called Big Miss Moviola; Director David Schmoeller lives to tell the tale of working with Klaus Kinski; A Fangoria Weekend of Horror with Keith Bearden, Doug Stone and P. H. O’Brien.
Young Turkeys: see what it takes to bring that big bird to a table near you; Hair Today, Film Tomorrow: Mike LaHaie visits the world-renowned Ann Arbor Film Festival; Amy Elliott and Elizabeth Donius bring us the secrets of stunt and film swordsmanship from theatrical combat organization Ring of Steel.
Bolexbrothers is an animation studio in Bristol, England, who’ve created a series of indescribably amazing films; Bill Judkins meets SYRACUSE NEW TIMES film critic Bill DeLapp; Seth Sells: the man who brought us the Pam Anderson and Tommy Lee sex tape; “Hamster,” a wonderful, hilarious romp inspired by a new camera.
Meet Al Kaplon, umpire turned filmmaker on the set of an X-FILES baseball episode; lady fetish wrestler Deena Zarra shows off some moves and discusses wrestling, and beating, Andy Kaufman; did you know THE SIMPSONS was animated in Seoul, Korea? Come along as Doug Stone and PH O’Brien pay the animators a visit.
A visit with Japanese actor Haruo Nakajima, better known as the original Godzilla; T. J. and Beth Larson take a look at the filmmaking juggernaut that is Billy Graham Ministries; Maggie Hadleigh-West’s profile on Karen Riposo and her multiracial children’s performing arts program featuring Jacob D’Eustachio.
Hanging out with a hard-core unit of Civil War reenactors down South; the story behind the cult masterpiece LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE FABULOUS STAINS; “How to Read a Movie Poster,” the hidden truth revealed!
Meet Robert Cartagena, a.k.a. Red Leader, for a look at the serious business of waiting in line for the new STAR WARS; experts weigh in on the realism of FBI procedures in the movies; bull rider Barry Tubb heads out west to the Taos Talking Pictures Fest where first prize is a $5,000 land grant.
Brian Flemming, Keythe Farley, and his wife Ann go for the gold at Tinsletown, an interactive dinner experience in Orange County; visit Palm Springs Follies, a true vaudevillian revue; free form radio station WFMU in Jersey City, NJ, reveals their vault of buried treasure, not only on vinyl but also on celluloid.
Join Chris, Julian Schnabel, and Cha Cha for shopping and noshing; the strange story of director Richard Stanley—fired from his film of THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU, he returned disguised as a dog-man extra; PXL 2000, the cheap kids’ camera, is now a collectible; Brian Flemming takes a look at today’s pixel visionaries.
Filmmaker Cop: Eugene Hernandez and Jonny Leahan meet one of the NYPD’s finest, Bill Lappe a cop who makes films; a minicam journey with plumbing-drain surgeon Blaine Teal; Mike LaHaie and John Lee visit filmmaker Ross McElwee: “We were hoping that together we could learn something about making films by yourself.”
Waiting for Marty: Scorsese accepts an award at the Wexner Center in Ohio; catching up with Michael Imperioli and John Ventimiglia during a break from THE SOPRANOS; CASABLANCA: New and Improved: Brian Flemming and marketing wizard Keythe Farley market test CASABLANCA.
Inside the Eye of SCORPIO RISING: Jon Ausbrooks and Lee Daniel make a mind-blowing, information-packed homage to the master Kenneth Anger; Hangin’ With HOW’S YOUR NEWS?: P. H. O’Brien and Doug Stone paid a visit to Camp Jabberwocky to meet with the correspondents and the man behind the team, filmmaker Arthur Bradford.
If you’ve got a building to implode, call Controlled Demolition: Amy Elliott takes us there; Cinemaniac: Stephen Kijak profiles Jack Angstreich, a true film buff, who saw 1,000 films in eight months; Fight School: which comes first, the acting or the action? P. H. O’Brien finds the answer in his own backyard.
“Manitoba Tonight” with the brilliant filmmaker Atom Egoyan; “Jesus Video Project”: In 1998, Dr. Bob Cosby sent out 1.8 million copies of a video called “Jesus” to every resident in Alabama; Amy Elliott drives deep into the delta to explore authentic moving images of the Deep South’s historical past.
Meet the feuding fields where FIELD OF DREAMS was shot; Janet Pierson profiles the Moth, the lively monthly gathering for storytelling; “Ocularis”: Randi Barros and Kerry Reardon take us to Williamsburg, Brooklyn, where the residents understand that independence is also important in showing work, not just making it.
Over the years, Kevin Smith brought the funny to Split Screen on multiple occasions. His final appearance was this extended one-hour interview at the height of the dramatic controversy surrounding his foul-mouthed, faith-based fourth feature DOGMA, after CLERKS, MALLRATS and CHASING AMY.
Donal Lardner Ward and John Pierson visit the Meridian Theatre in Fiji, the most remote movie theater in the world, with a few movies in tow; in 1923, a set from a desert-bound Cecil B. DeMille shoot was intentionally buried and presumed lost forever—until now.
Hanging out with Richard Linklater and Tommy Pallotta while making the uniquely animated feature WAKING LIFE; The Alloy Orchestra at the Maui Film Festival; “Multiplex 1—The Projectionist”: Welcome to the Museum Place Cinemas, where movies are $1 at all times.
“Multiplex II—The Manager”: welcome back to the Museum Place Cinemas; woodworking with William H. Macy in New York City; “Bikers R People 2”: Amy Elliott turns the camera on biker-chick documentarian Barbara Bustillos-Cogswell; behind the curtain of a documentary about a migrant worker’s wedding, LA BODA.
“Video on Vinyl: Then and Now”: P. H. O’Brien and Doug Stone go from NYC to London in search of the legacy of the mysterious inventor John Logie Baird; “Focus Group From Hell”: movie market research as conducted by the hilarious team of Keythe Farley and Brian Flemming.
In this installment of Projections, a series of interviews about filmmaking in New York, John speaks one-on-one with director Wes Anderson.
Woody, Leone, Bertolucci, Schlesinger, Lester and 007. David Picker enabled them all, and many more, as production head in United Artists’ golden era. In this installment of PROJECTIONS a series of interviews about filmmaking in New York, John speaks one on one with his top choice for All Star auteur executive.
Quintessential NY producer Christine Vachon has been on the cutting edge with her company Killer Films for over 25 years, supporting numerous breakout first timers and her mainstay Todd Haynes. This edition of Projections was shot not long after BOYS DON’T CRY won Hilary Swank an Oscar.
In this installment of Projections, a series of interviews about filmmaking in New York, John speaks one-on-one with Harmony Korine.
Celebrating Jonas Mekas, a true underground hero who tirelessly championed experimental filmmakers and their “essential cinema” for half a century. A man of many hats, he directed, wrote about and showcased avant garde films, eventually giving them a home at Anthology Film Archives, playing a key role in the 1960s.
Of all Projections interviews, Walter Bernstein’s tales are the stuff of a grand movie adventure. From WW2 hero/correspondent to Hollywood Blacklist in five years, both his script for THE FRONT and memoir INSIDE OUT illuminate that era, while FAIL SAFE captures the nail-biting fear of nuclear annihilation.
If these Projections interviews focus on New York filmmaking, why is David O. Russell sitting poolside in LA? After a quintessential indie debut, SPANKING THE MONKEY, and a bigger Miramax follow-up, FLIRTING WITH DISASTER, he’d just made a provocative third feature THREE KINGS for a Hollywood studio. Which way would he go?
In a two-year span early in his storied career, Buck Henry cocreated GET SMART and wrote THE GRADUATE, instantly showing the range of his genius. In the final PROJECTIONS, Buck’s observations on the independent model (TO DIE FOR) and cultural appropriation are prescient. Fashionistas should avert their eyes.
Origin story of odd-couple producers Ted Hope and James Schamus, who nurtured many key directors, especially Ang Lee, whose blockbuster CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON opened the week this interview aired. Yet their company Good Machine made squat. Undaunted, Schamus went on to run Focus for a decade and Hope heads film at Amazon Studios.
On May 10, 2017, we teamed up with the Film Society of Lincoln Center to celebrate John Pierson’s landmark series with a live conversation featuring Pierson and filmmakers Richard Linklater, Kevin Smith, Miranda July, Chris Smith, Don Ward, and Dan Myrick.