Movies: Haskell Wexler

A boozy drifter tries to get to know the widow he married while on a bender....

John Cassellis is the toughest TV news reporter around. After extensively reporting about violence and racial tensions in poor communities, he discovers that his network is helping the FBI by granting them access to his footage to find suspects....

Richard Pryor's stand-up act includes his frank discussion about his freebasing addiction, as well as the infamous night on June 9, 1980 that he caught on fire....

Two gamblers must leave New York City after one loses a lot of money. Doing what all gamblers in trouble would do, they hurry to the gambling capital Las Vegas to turn their luck around....

Cameramen and women discuss the craft and art of cinematography and of the "DP" (the director of photography), illustrating their points with clips from 100 films, from Birth of a Nation to Do the Right Thing. Themes: the DP tells people where to loo...

The fighting between the Sandinista government in Nicaragua and the Contra rebels backed by U.S. money and expertise is the focus of this pro-Sandinista film by Haskell Wexler. On a secret mission to help the U.S. Special Forces train Contra rebels i...

The Big Empty is a 2005 short film starring Selma Blair about a woman with an unusual condition that baffles scientists and laymen alike. It was written, directed and produced by Lisa Chang and Newton Thomas Sigel. It is based on the short story The ...

Surrounded by death and the brutal lifestyle that feeds it, a Los Angeles gangbanger explores the history of Southern California street gangs from the 1950s through the 1990s in an attempt to fully understand his existence. Bastards of the Party huma...

Rosy-Fingered Dawn is a film on Terrence Malick. It is about the making of BADLANDS, DAYS OF HEAVEN, THE THIN RED LINE and the personal involvement of some of the most representative figures of the American culture itself. This medley of voices has g...

Three teens get into the drug business when they discover two pounds of uncut heroin in a briefcase that was lost during a botched drug bust....

A very special encounter between legendary American cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond and young French director Pierre Filmon. A personal journey with the brightest shadowmaker and his friends....

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....

A documentary that highlights the deadly combination of sleep deprivation and long days of work, focusing on the American film industry....

NOTFILM is a feature-length experimental essay on FILM -- its author Samuel Beckett, its star Buster Keaton, its production and its philosophical implications -- utilizing additional outtakes, never before heard audio recordings of the production mee...

Cinematographer John A. Alonzo was one of the driving creative forces in the resurgence of expressionistic American movies of the late 1960s and '70s. Director Axel Schill's documentary explores Alonzo's work on key films of that era and beyond. Clip...

Marshal Kirk Reed is escorting five female prisoners---killers all--- from one part of Texas to another part of Texas where a new prison has been built. Along the way he has to deal with dissension among the troops, attacks by the Comanches, a buddin...

A look at the extraordinary achievements and contemporary legacy of Oscar Micheaux, a pioneer of the African-American film industry....

On May 17, 1968, at the height of the Vietnam War, nine men and women entered a Selective Service office outside Baltimore. They removed military draft records, took them outside, and set them afire with napalm....

Documentary that features many interviews and other footage of the cast and crew for the film American Graffiti (1973)...

Using text from Mexican novelist Carlos Fuentes and ancient Aztec and Mayan poetry, viewers are lead on a visual journey through this country's rich and varied past and present. Stunning images and a dramatic musical score by Daniel Valdez create a v...