The massive investments made in Hollywood today demand tight controls on the style and flavor of mainstream cinema, which effectively dictate - and provide - exactly what the public wants to see...or else. The more adept Hollywood becomes at giving the public what it wants, the less any given studio is able to say anything new or truly innovative. As a result, one must often look to alternative outlets in order to find a movie intended primarily as art. Inside the United States, this means looking to independent films and film companies; outside of the United States, it means filtering an enormous mass of movies and moviemakers in order to find those few who are able to make movie magic with limited resources. By looking at these films, and at the people who created them, we can obtain a clearer sense of what movies really are at heart, and what they may still want to become.In this revealing set, Mario Falsetto presents extended interviews with 10 of the most prominent independent film directors working in America today. Liza Bear gives prominent international filmmakers the opportunity to address essential issues surrounding creativity and production in a number of different geographical settings and contexts.

About the Author

MARIO FALSETTO has taught film studies at Concordia University in Montreal for over 20 years. He is the author of Stanley Kubrick: A Narrative and Stylistic Analysis (2001). LIZA BEAR is a contributing editor to Bomb Magazine, and is a freelance writer for the New York Times, the Boston Globe, Newsday, and other publications.

Reviews

"This is an extremely valuable book of interviews. Mario Falsetto's enthusiasm for his subject is always apparent. What he brings to these probing conversations is his thorough research on the films, his modestly phrased but pointed questions, and his generosity to the filmmakers."-Bart Testa, University of Toronto