AIVF: And What it Meant to Me
I first became aware of AIVF when Martha Gever was editor of The Independent. I marveled at this national organization…
Making Films
Movies on the Move
The original idea was to drive filmmaker Ben Blaine into the countryside and abandon him, but since Ben can’t drive…
One-Two Punch
I thought that making Monster’s Ball was rough. I vowed upon wrapping that film that I would never make another….
On the Margins of the Multiplex
In 1973, a young, cinema-loving bohemian couple fled the high rents of Manhattan for the more affordable suburbs of Huntington,…
Q&A – James Schamus
Writer, producer, and film executive James Schamus has had about as brilliant a career in independent film as they come,…
Hell or High Water
In 1998, I joined the production team of Julie Gustafson’s Desire, a documentary about teenage girls from three diverse New…
Moving Images
Morgan Spurlock’s Super Size Me (2004) was an unqualified hit. The documentary, which followed Spurlock as he ate nothing but…
State of Fear
The Last Shot The mobs were ferocious and loud. They were beating policemen, looting government buildings, and smashing the cameras…
Q&A: Linda Goldstein Knowlton and Linda Hawkins Costigan
For most people in America, “Sesame Street” warrants no introduction. The long-running PBS program and landmark, nonprofit children’s educational organization,…