Author Interview: Sara Vaux
Due out before the end of the year from Eerdman’s Press is The Ethical Vision of Clint Eastwood, a major new book on the iconic actor/director with a strong emphasis on his recent work. The book’s...
View ArticleFilmmaker Interview: Jonathan Hourigan, pt. 1
From January 21st through February 29th the Gene Siskel Film Center will hold a complete retrospective of the films of my favorite director of all time, the French master Robert Bresson. In...
View ArticleFilmmaker Interview: Jonathan Hourigan, pt. 2
This is the second part of my interview with filmmaker and teacher Jonathan Hourigan who worked as an assistant on Robert Bresson’s L’argent. Part one was published earlier this week. MGS: How has...
View ArticleFilmmaker Interview: Matt Glasson and Bowls MacLean
This month will see the Chicago premiere of Love Stalker, a terrific micro-budget indie comedy from Columbia College alums Matt “Mugs” Glasson and Brian “Bowls” MacLean. Love Stalker explores the dark...
View ArticleFilm Festival Director Interview: Clayton Monical
After receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Digital Media Production from the Illinois Institute of Art, Clayton Monical co-founded the Peace On Earth Film Festival, whose unique mission statement is to...
View ArticleLet’s Talk About Poetic Realism
Adrian Nambo, a former student of mine from Harold Washington College, asked to interview me on the topic of Poetic Realism for a paper he recently wrote for another class. Because our interview nicely...
View ArticleA Razor Blade in a Dildo: An Interview with Julian Grant
Julian Grant is the Chicago-based writer/director of F*ckload of Scotch Tape, an impressive, no-budget neo-noir/musical that will receive its world premiere at the Chicago International Film Festival...
View ArticleFilmmaker Interview: Adel Yaraghi
Adel Yaraghi is an Iranian writer/director whose uncommonly assured debut feature, Meeting Leila, received its North American premiere last night at the Chicago International Film Festival. The title...
View ArticleFilmmaker Interview: Jan Troell
Last week I had the great privilege of interviewing the Swedish director Jan Troell when he came to the Chicago International Film Festival for the U.S. premiere of his new movie The Last Sentence....
View ArticlePersonal Video Consultant Interview: Miguel Martinez
Miguel Martinez just ended a tenure of eight-plus years in the legendary Rentals Department of Facets Multimedia in Chicago. He and his girlfriend are moving to Seattle to pursue their film/media...
View ArticleFilmmaker Interview: Fernando Lavanderos
One of the highlights of this year’s Chicago Latino Film Festival is the Chilean movie Things the Way They Are (Las Cosas Como Son), the auspicious fiction feature debut of writer/director Fernando...
View ArticleArias with Your Mouth Full: Legendary Lew Interviews Michael Smith on Manoel...
“Legendary” Lew Ojeda recently interviewed me in advance of the screening of Manoel de Oliveira’s The Cannibals that I’ll be presenting at Facets Multimedia this Saturday at midnight. This interview...
View ArticleFilmmaker Interview: Bill Duke
Dark Girls is a new documentary that uses interviews (notably the powerful testimony of many different African-American women) to confront the controversial issue of “colorism” — the notion that...
View ArticleFilm Producer Interview: Erica Mann Ramis
Over the summer I had the great pleasure of hosting a very special guest in my Intro to Film class at Oakton Community College: Erica Mann Ramis. The occasion was the screening of a terrific 2012...
View ArticleMy Coffee with Frikki
On my recent visit to Reykjavik, Fridrik Thor Fridriksson, arguably the greatest of all Icelandic directors, was gracious enough to meet me for an interview over coffee. For an hour we discussed the...
View ArticleFilmmaker Interview: Eric England
One of the most pleasant surprises for me at this year’s Chicago International Film Festival was attending the U.S. premiere of the independent “body horror” entry Contracted by prolific 25-year-old...
View ArticleFilmmaker Interview: Fridrik Thor Fridriksson
Writer/director Fridrik Thor Fridriksson is almost single-handedly responsible for Iceland’s impressive movie boom of the 1990s and early 2000s. His breakthrough feature Children of Nature, about an...
View ArticleFilmmaker Interview: Mariano Barroso
Mariano Barroso may be the best Spanish filmmaker you’ve never heard of. He cast Javier Bardem in his first leading role (in the 1996 crime film Ecstasy) and his formidable 2013 drama All the Women,...
View ArticleFilmmaker Interview: Aron Gaudet and Gita Pullapilly
One of the most impressive independent American films of recent years is Beneath the Harvest Sky, the debut fiction feature of husband/wife team Aron Gaudet and Gita Pullapilly. This touching...
View ArticleAuthor Interview: Laurence Knapp
In the past six years that I’ve taught film studies at the college level, I’ve been lucky to count some renowned scholars and authors among my colleagues. One of my fellow professors at Oakton...
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