In 1984, trailblazing independent filmmaker Arthur Dong received an Oscar nomination for Sewing Woman, a touching documentary short about the life of a Chinese immigrant worker in San Francisco, his mother Zem Ping Dong. This recognition marked the director as an emerging artist to watch, while the film itself exemplified what would become hallmarks of... Continue Reading →
Exclusive Interview: Swan Song writer-director Todd Stephens “I wanted to cast a queer actor to play this queer part”
Filmmaker Todd Stephens returns to his hometown of Sandusky, following 1998's Edge of Seventeen and 2001's Gypsy 83, to complete his Ohio trilogy with Swan Song, "an instant queer classic" (TheQueer Review), now playing in US theaters. The bittersweet comedy which premiered at SWXW Online 2021, stars the legendary Udo Kier as Mister Pat, a... Continue Reading →
Exclusive Interview: Jeffrey Friedman on his Oscar-winning decades-long filmmaking partnership with Rob Epstein
This Pride Month the Criterion Channel is showcasing the Oscar-winning work of filmmakers Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman with the eight film collection, Pride and Protest. In 1977, Friedman, who was working as an assistant editor in New York, was struck by the power of queer filmmakers putting queer lives on screen when he encountered... Continue Reading →