https://independent-magazine.org/2005/07/01/qa-bai-ling/
Obsessed with Independent Film Since 1976
Obsessed with Independent Film Since 1976
I am somewhat embarrassed to say that I did not know exactly why I was to meet the actress Bai Ling at Playboy Enterprise headquarters to conduct our interview for this issue. Although somewhat less embarrassed to say that neither did I know she was in the final Star Wars installment, which opened in May… Read more »
There was one good thing about Malcolm Lee’s 1999 studio film The Best Man: Terrence Howard. I wrote a review of the film for Africana.com (now Blackvoices.com) in which I said just that. I got lots of emails from angry black men because I likened the film to an R&B video (and I’d say it… Read more »
Rebecca Carroll: Where are we with public television? What do people—both those who are watching and not watching—need to know about public television now that’s different from 10 years ago? Tamara E. Robinson: Perhaps the most important thing to underscore is something often taken for granted: Public television is free of charge, and available to… Read more »
Los Angeles-based artist, photographer, and conceptual filmmaker Sharon Lockhart makes films as minimal as they are pensive. There’s a predilection for long takes, little edits, and a fixed, straight-ahead framing within which actions transpire. Repetitions and circularity permeate. Time is let to elapse. In Khalil, Shaun, A Woman Under the Influence (1994), Lockhart remade, with… Read more »
David Russell is the go-to man for all things short film. In 1996, he started Big Film Shorts, a distributor which specializes in the unsung short form. Eight years later, Russell and his company are getting ready to partner with Canadian short film channel Movieola to launch the first short film cable channel in the… Read more »
Stanley Crouch is one of America’s most eloquent and original social critics. In the last three decades, Crouch has published several books and his essays have appeared in numerous national publications including Harper’s and The New Republic. In 1993 he was awarded the MacArthur “genius grant” in recognition of his work. Crouch has tackled cinema… Read more »
I met Spike Lee for the first time in the fall of 1989 at the University of New Hampshire, where I’d recently transferred from, at an event in his honor hosted by the Black Student Union. Do the Right Thing had come out the summer before, and I was sufficiently amped up about asking him… Read more »
Since founding Open City Films in 1994, producers Joana Vicente and Jason Kliot have earned a reputation for making unique and popular films that would probably not have received financing elsewhere. Whether they sold the film to a studio—like Down to You (Miramax)—or produced a gritty independent—like Chuck and Buck through their subsidiary, Blow Up… Read more »
What is the Paul Robeson Fund for Independent Media? It is a fund that gives grants to video, film, and radio programs. How long has it been in existence? It’s been around since 1987. Originally it was called the Film Fund and in ’87 the name was changed. Was there a reason for that? Back… Read more »
What is the Sundance Institute Documentary Fund? It’s a fund to support documentaries in the US and internationally that deal with contemporary human rights issues, social justice, civil liberties, and freedom of expression. It used to be the Soros Documentary Fund. How long has the fund been with Sundance? It’s been here for two years…. Read more »