John Sayles

John Sayles and Gregory Nava (2024)

"In this conversation, recorded for the Criterion Collection in Los Angeles in 2023, filmmaker Gregory Nava talks with director John Sayles about the development and production of Lone Star and Sayle's career in independent cinema. ...

1982: Greatest Geek Year Ever! (2022)

A remarkable new epic documentary spotlighting the pop culture milestones of 1982 including notable motion pictures, TV, music and video games of that seminal year. ...

Algren (2021)

Algren will spotlight the hard-knock life and authentic creative legacy of one of the most underrated writers of the twentieth century, Nelson Algren. Algren's brutally honest portrayal of the American underclass and his hard-nosed lifestyle became his pat ...

Corona Film Club (2021)

Documentary about filmmaker and film lover Stig Björkman during the pandemic year of 2020 when he stay in touch with his friends over his laptop. ...

Texas Red (2021)

Part of the 12 Western feature films to be made in 12 months during 2020, this film tells the story of Texas Red, an African-American man who was hunted by hundreds through the Winter wilderness of Mississippi. ...

Time Warp Vol. 2: Horror and Sci-Fi (2020)

The greatest cult horror and science fiction films of all-time are studied in vivid detail in the second volume of Time Warp. Includes groundbreaking classics like "Night of the Living Dead," and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," and sci-fi gems such as "Blad ...

Them That Work (2019)

Documentary about the impact left by John Sayles' 1987 film Matewan, about a shooting between company gun thugs and union organizers in Southern West Virginia. Along with a lasting legacy of support for union rights, the film inspired many West Virginians ...

The Umbrella (2016)

A man uses an imaginary umbrella to protect himself against against life; until he is convinced to use a real umbrella. ...

The Third Man: A Filmmaker's Influence (2015)

Martin Scorsese and other contemporary filmmakers reveal the impact The Third Man had on their careers and why the film is still so relevant today. ...

That Guy Dick Miller (2014)

Documentary about veteran character actor Dick Miller, whose career in and outside of Hollywood has spanned almost 200 films across six decades, featuring a diverse range of interviews with directors, co-stars, and contemporaries. ...

The Normals (2012)

With a debt collector hot on his trail, Harvard graduate Billy Schine enrolls in a clinical drug trial to make a quick buck. Carted out of New York City in a shuttle full of oddball characters, Billy and the rest of the guinea pigs, affectionately referred ...

Casting By (2012)

This essential new documentary pays tribute to the legacy of the late, legendary casting director Marion Dougherty and shines a light on one of the most overlooked and least understood crafts in filmmaking. ...

Corman's World (2011)

A chronicle of the long career of American filmmaker Roger Corman, the most tenacious and ingenious low-budget producer and director in the US film industry, a pioneer of independent filmmaking and discoverer of new talent. ...

Great Directors (2009)

Features conversations with ten of the world's greatest living directors: Bernardo Bertolucci, David Lynch, Liliana Cavani, Stephen Frears, Agnes Varda, Ken Loach, Todd Haynes, Catherine Breillat, Richard Linklater and John Sayles. The film documents Ismai ...

In the Electric Mist (2009)

Lt. Dave Robicheaux, a detective in New Iberia, Louisiana, is trying to link the murder of a local hooker to New Orleans mobster Julie (Baby Feet) Balboni, who is co-producer of a Civil War film. At the same time, after Elrod Sykes, the star of the film, r ...

The Toe Tactic (2009)

Mona is nearly overwhelmed by grief and depression. After her father's death, she's cut herself off: leaving teaching - she now temps as an office assistant, ignoring her mother's calls, talking to herself in mirrors, and rejecting any offered intimacy. Sh ...

Obscene: A Portrait of Barney Rosset and Grove Press (2008)

A look at the life and work of American publisher Barney Rosset, who struggled to bring controversial works like "Tropic of Cancer" and "Naked Lunch" to publication. ...

Alligator Author (2007)

A documentary looking back on the making of the 1980 film 'Alligator', featuring an interview with screenwriter John Sayles. ...

Honeydripper (2007)

In 1950s Alabama, the owner of the Honeydripper juke joint finds his business dropping off and against his better judgment, hires a young electric guitarist in a last ditch effort to draw crowds during harvest time. ...

Edge of Outside (2006)

An hour-long documentary designed to celebrate the spirit of the independent filmmaker from D.W. Griffith to Quentin Tarantino. Interview footage and film clips are blended together to form a chronological approach to the subject matter. ...

Howard Zinn: Voices of a People's History of the United States (2006)

An impressive roster of celebrities -- including Lili Taylor, Paul Robeson, Sarah Jones, Brian Jones, John Sayles and Wallace Shawn -- lend their voices to this performance of readings inspired by Howard Zinn's best-selling book. Segments bring to life Tec ...

Tell Them Who You Are (2004)

The son of acclaimed cinematographer Haskell Wexler confronts his complex father by turning the camera on him. What results is a portrait of a difficult genius and a son's path out of the shadow of a famous father. ...

Unleashing the Beast: Making ‘The Howling’ (2003)

Documentary featuring director Joe Dante, screenwriter John Sayles, producer Mike Finnell, stars Dee Wallace Stone, Dick Miller, Robert Picardo, and Belinda Balaski. ...

Sunshine State (2002)

A woman and her new husband returns to her hometown roots in coastal northern Florida, and must deal with family, business, and encroaching real estate development. ...

A Constant Forge (2000)

One of the great mavericks of cinema, John Cassavetes has earned a reputation as the godfather of American independent movies. The actor-turned-filmmaker invented a realist style of unadorned narrative films heavily influenced by documentaries. This in-dep ...

When It Was a Game 3 (2000)

In this third entry of the ongoing HBO documentary series celebrating America's favorite pastime, the focus is on the 1960s, when Major League Baseball was slowly evolving from pure sport to big-bucks entertainment. Using footage of players and fans, the f ...

Girlfight (2000)

Diana Guzman, a troubled Brooklyn teenager, decides to channel her aggression by training to become a boxer, all while keeping it a secret from her father. ...

Big Guns Talk: The Story of the Western (1997)

Interviews and film clips re-create the glorious history of the American western. ...

Gridlock'd (1997)

After a friend overdoses, Spoon and Stretch decide to kick their drug habits and attempt to enroll in a government detox program. Their efforts are hampered by seemingly endless red tape, as they are shuffled from one office to another while being chased b ...

My Life's in Turnaround (1994)

Two Manhattan slackers want to make a movie about their lives. One drives a cab, the other tends bar; neither has a clue how to make a movie. Things look up when real-life actors Phoebe Cates and Martha Plimpton agree to star in the project. ...

Matinee (1993)

A showman introduces a small coastal town to a unique movie experience and capitalizes on the Cuban Missile crisis hysteria with a kitschy horror extravaganza combining film effects, stage props and actors in rubber suits in this salute to the B-movie. ...

Passion Fish (1992)

After an accident leaves her a paraplegic, a former soap opera star struggles to recover both emotionally and mentally, until she meets her newest nurse, who has struggles of her own. ...

Malcolm X (1992)

A tribute to the controversial black activist and leader of the struggle for black liberation. He hit bottom during his imprisonment in the '50s, he became a Black Muslim and then a leader in the Nation of Islam. His assassination in 1965 left a legacy of ...

Straight Talk (1992)

Honest and straightforward small-town Shirlee Kenyon chucks her boyfriend and heads for Chicago. Accidentally having to host a radio problem phone-in show, it is clear she is a natural and is hired on the spot. But the station insists she call herself Doct ...

City of Hope (1991)

This gritty inner-city film follows various people living in a troubled New Jersey setting, most notably Nick Rinaldi, a disillusioned contractor who has been helped along his whole life by his wealthy father. Other characters in this ensemble drama about ...

Little Vegas (1990)

Quirky serio-comedy about the unusual residents of a desert trailer park that mobsters want to turn into a gambling mecca. ...

Untamagiru (1989)

A magical realist story of the legendary Okinawan hero Untamagiru participating in efforts to form an independent Okinawa before the island was returned to Japan in 1972. ...

La fine della notte (1989)

Eight Men Out (1988)

Buck Weaver and Hap Felsch are young idealistic players on the Chicago White Sox, a pennant-winning team owned by Charles Comiskey - a penny-pinching, hands-on manager who underpays his players and treats them with disdain. And when gamblers and hustlers ...

Matewan (1987)

Filmed in the coal country of West Virginia, "Matewan" celebrates labor organizing in the context of a 1920s work stoppage. Union organizer, Joe Kenehan, a scab named "Few Clothes" Johnson and a sympathetic mayor and police chief heroically fight the power ...

Unnatural Causes (1986)

Frank Coleman is a Vietnam veteran dying from cancer brought on by exposure to the defoliant chemical Agent Orange which he turns to Maude DeVictor, a Veterans Administration benefits counselor who teams up with Coleman to fight a lopsided batted against t ...

Something Wild (1986)

A free-spirited woman "kidnaps" a yuppie for a weekend of adventure. But the fun quickly takes a dangerous turn when her ex-con husband shows up. ...

Hard Choices (1985)

A teenaged boy goes for a ride with his brother and the brother's friends, who proceed to rob a store and murder the clerk. They are caught and, despite the young boy's protestations, he is convicted of murder and sent to prison. A female social worker ass ...

The Brother from Another Planet (1984)

A mute alien with the appearance of a black human is chased by outer-space bounty hunters through the streets of Harlem. ...

Lianna (1983)

Lianna's life is a succession of domestic errands and boring faculty parties, however her heaviest cross to bear is dealing with her waning marriage to Dick. In order to find intellectual stimulus, Lianna takes a college extension child-psychology course t ...

The Howling (1981)

After a bizarre and near fatal encounter with a serial killer, a newswoman is sent to a rehabilitation center whose inhabitants may not be what they seem. ...

Return of the Secaucus Seven (1980)

Seven former college friends, along with a few new friends, gather for a weekend reunion at a summer house in New Hampshire to reminisce about the good old days, when they got arrested on the way to a protest in Washington, D.C. ...

Piranha (1978)

When flesh-eating piranhas are accidentally released into a summer resort's rivers, the guests become their next meal. ...

Django Lives! (2022)

Plot details unknown. ...

Them That Work (2019)

Documentary about the impact left by John Sayles' 1987 film Matewan, about a shooting between company gun thugs and union organizers in Southern West Virginia. Along with a lasting legacy of support for union rights, the film inspired many West Virginians ...

Sonora: The Devil’s Highway (2019)

1931, a year of nationalisms and excesses: The Chinese are expelled from Sonora; the US deports Mexicans and closes its borders. Twelve desperate people cross the Sonoran desert in a 1929 Chrysler, hoping to find peace in Baja California. As their sojourn ...

The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot (2019)

Decades after serving in WWII and assassinating Adolf Hitler, a legendary American war veteran must now hunt down the fabled Bigfoot. ...

Richard Linklater: Dream Is Destiny (2016)

Highlighting one of the most innovative American directors, this film reveals the path traveled by the auteur from his small-town Texas roots to his warm reception on the awards circuit. Long before he directed Boyhood, Richard Linklater's intense desire t ...

Elsie Hooper (2016)

In the sleepy town of Campbell Falls, Ridley Hooper awakens to discover that his little sister has been stolen by an army of creepy Shadowmen. Arming himself, Ridley embarks on a terrifying adventure to rescue Elsie Hooper... ...

Dr. Del (2016)

Del Canyon reluctantly returns to his small hometown to run his family's apothecary, the only source for medical attention for hundreds of miles. The series will follow his emergence as the town healer while he grapples between his desire to distance himse ...

Go for Sisters (2013)

Bernice and Fontayne grew up so tight they could 'go for sisters'. After twenty years apart, they are reunited when Bernice is assigned to be Fontayne's parole officer — just when she needs help on the wrong side of the law. ...

Amigo (2011)

Rafael is a village mayor caught in the murderous crossfire of the Philippine-American War. When U.S. troops occupy his village, Rafael comes under pressure from a tough-as-nails officer to help the Americans in their hunt for Filipino guerilla fighters. B ...

The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008)

Upon moving into the run-down Spiderwick Estate with their mother, twin brothers Jared and Simon Grace, along with their sister Mallory, find themselves pulled into an alternate world full of faeries and other creatures. ...

My Mexican Shivah (2007)

After Moishe's death, family and friends sit Shiva in Mexico City. During seven days, secrets will be disclosed. ...

Honeydripper (2007)

In 1950s Alabama, the owner of the Honeydripper juke joint finds his business dropping off and against his better judgment, hires a young electric guitarist in a last ditch effort to draw crowds during harvest time. ...

Silver City (2004)

The discovery of a corpse and the ensuing probe by an idealistic journalist threatens to unravel a bumbling local politician's campaign for governor of Colorado. ...

Casa de los Babys (2003)

A group of women, including Skipper, the wealthy young Jennifer and the domineering Nan, journey from the United States to South America in hopes of easily adopting children. Unfortunately, their plans are complicated by local laws that require the women t ...

Sunshine State (2002)

A woman and her new husband returns to her hometown roots in coastal northern Florida, and must deal with family, business, and encroaching real estate development. ...

Bruce Springsteen: The Complete Video Anthology 1978-2000 (2001)

The video kicks off from a 1978 performance of 'Rosalita' with a 29 year old Bruce wailing away with chicks jumpin' on the stage grabbing him! Lucky guy! The other songs featured include all the popular tunes like 'Born To Run', 'Born In The USA', 'I'm On ...

Girlfight (2000)

Diana Guzman, a troubled Brooklyn teenager, decides to channel her aggression by training to become a boxer, all while keeping it a secret from her father. ...

Limbo (1999)

Traumatized by a fishing boat accident many years before, Joe Gastineau has given up his hopes for a life beyond the odd jobs he takes to support himself. That quickly changes when nomadic club singer Donna de Angelo and her troubled teen-age daughter ente ...

Little Saints (1999)

After St. Jude appears in Esperanza's oven, she sets out to find her daughter, who died under mysterious circumstances. The journey forces Esperanza to challenge her own beliefs and face her fears in order to be reunited with her beloved daughter. ...

Men with Guns (1998)

Dr. Fuentes is a medical professor approaching his retirement and journeys to find old students, with sometimes disturbing results. ...

Mimic (1997)

A disease carried by common cockroaches is killing Manhattan children. In an effort to stop the epidemic an entomologist, Susan Tyler, creates a mutant breed of insect that secretes a fluid to kill the roaches. This mutant breed was engineered to die after ...

Lone Star (1996)

When the skeleton of his murdered predecessor is found, Sheriff Sam Deeds unearths many other long-buried secrets in his Texas border town. ...

Piranha (1995)

Doctor Baines has been conducting genetic experiments on piranhas and has made them virtually unstoppable. Unfortunately, his assistants, Maggie and Paul, accidentally release the hybrids into the Lost River Lake threatening to destroy everyone in their pa ...

Men of War (1994)

Nick Gunar is a burnt-out, jaded and hard-up former mercenary who is having a difficult time adjusting to civilian life. At the end of his rope, he is hired by the Nitro Mine Corporation to strong-arm the natives of a South China Sea island into giving up ...

The Secret of Roan Inish (1994)

Ten-year-old Fiona is sent to live with her grandparents in a small fishing village in Donegal, Ireland. She soon learns the local legend that an ancestor of hers married a Selkie – a seal who can turn into a human. Years earlier, her baby brother was wa ...

Passion Fish (1992)

After an accident leaves her a paraplegic, a former soap opera star struggles to recover both emotionally and mentally, until she meets her newest nurse, who has struggles of her own. ...

City of Hope (1991)

This gritty inner-city film follows various people living in a troubled New Jersey setting, most notably Nick Rinaldi, a disillusioned contractor who has been helped along his whole life by his wealthy father. Other characters in this ensemble drama about ...

Breaking In (1989)

Professional thief Ernie takes Mike on as an apprentice, but while Mike clearly has "larceny in his heart", it will take him a long time to get as good as Ernie. ...

Mountain View (1989)

A dance drama work that, through movement and very little spoken text, details the interaction of several people residing at or visiting a motel or motor inn named Mountain View. The work spans a period of about 24 hours, following the individuals through ...

Shannon's Deal (1989)

A washed-up lawyer refuses to take a bribe and instead goes after the South American drug cartel that's trying to push those in its way. Pilot for the TV Series. ...

Eight Men Out (1988)

Buck Weaver and Hap Felsch are young idealistic players on the Chicago White Sox, a pennant-winning team owned by Charles Comiskey - a penny-pinching, hands-on manager who underpays his players and treats them with disdain. And when gamblers and hustlers ...

Matewan (1987)

Filmed in the coal country of West Virginia, "Matewan" celebrates labor organizing in the context of a 1920s work stoppage. Union organizer, Joe Kenehan, a scab named "Few Clothes" Johnson and a sympathetic mayor and police chief heroically fight the power ...

Wild Thing (1987)

A child witnesses drug dealers murder his parents. He escapes and grows up wild in the city's slums. Years later he emerges to help the residents of the area who are being terrorized by street gangs and drug dealers. ...

Unnatural Causes (1986)

Frank Coleman is a Vietnam veteran dying from cancer brought on by exposure to the defoliant chemical Agent Orange which he turns to Maude DeVictor, a Veterans Administration benefits counselor who teams up with Coleman to fight a lopsided batted against t ...

The Clan of the Cave Bear (1986)

Natural changes have the clans moving. Iza, medicine woman of the "Clan of the Cave Bear" finds little Ayla from the "others"' clan - tradition would have the clan kill Ayla immediately, but Iza insists on keeping her. When the little one finds a most need ...

The Brother from Another Planet (1984)

A mute alien with the appearance of a black human is chased by outer-space bounty hunters through the streets of Harlem. ...

Baby It's You (1983)

In a 1966 New Jersey high school, Jill and new student Sheik from the other side of the tracks make their way in a first love romance. ...

Lianna (1983)

Lianna's life is a succession of domestic errands and boring faculty parties, however her heaviest cross to bear is dealing with her waning marriage to Dick. In order to find intellectual stimulus, Lianna takes a college extension child-psychology course t ...

Enormous Changes at the Last Minute (1983)

This film is made up of three segments that share no plot but have a general thematic relationship. In the first segment, Virginia and her three children are left by her shiftless husband and she is courted by an old beau who is now divorced. In the second ...

The Challenge (1982)

Rick, a down-and-out American boxer, is hired to transport a sword to Japan, unaware that the whole thing is a set up in a bitter blood-feud between two brothers, one who follows the traditional path of the samurai and the other a businessman. At the behes ...

The Howling (1981)

After a bizarre and near fatal encounter with a serial killer, a newswoman is sent to a rehabilitation center whose inhabitants may not be what they seem. ...

Alligator (1980)

A baby alligator is flushed down a toilet and survives by eating discarded lab animals that have been injected with growth hormones. The now gigantic animal escapes the city sewers and goes on a rampage, pursued by a cop and a big-game hunter. ...

A Perfect Match (1980)

A successful fashion designer who learns that she has a mysterious illness that threatens her life searches frantically for the one suitable donor for a bone-marrow transplant -- the daughter she, as a teenager, had given up for adoption. ...

Battle Beyond the Stars (1980)

A young farmer assembles a band of diverse mercenaries to defend his peaceful planet from an evil tyrant. ...

Return of the Secaucus Seven (1980)

Seven former college friends, along with a few new friends, gather for a weekend reunion at a summer house in New Hampshire to reminisce about the good old days, when they got arrested on the way to a protest in Washington, D.C. ...

The Lady in Red (1979)

A farm girl's life turns upside down after she moves to Chicago and becomes trapped in a vicious cycle of prostitution and crime. ...

Piranha (1978)

When flesh-eating piranhas are accidentally released into a summer resort's rivers, the guests become their next meal. ...