Ernest Hardy

"Sometimes," says Todd Solondz, pausing before his plate of pasta, "people say to me, 'Why do you make such ugly characters?' Well, first of all, they're not ugly to me. I think it says more about the viewer than about me or my films, when I hear that. If you......

The painter Francis Bacon was once quoted as saying that the only portraits he painted were of his friends, because "If they were not my friends, I could not do such violence to them." It was the imposition of violence on intimacy - or vice versa - that gave Bacon's......

The recent 100th anniversary of cinema encompasses a span of time that almost perfectly parallels the stretch of this century. From the beginning, film was yoked to racist imagery. In 1903, Edwin S. Porter, a white former mechanic, directed a 12-minute version of Uncle Tom's Cabin. Tom was played by......

"Can you see the difference?" asks Shari Frilot, one of the programmers of this year’s Outfest, with a slightly nervous laugh about the festival. "I’m so glad you can. One of the reasons I think I was attractive as a programmer is because of my background. I think Cooper thought......

Last year, when Soul Food and Eve's Bayou opened within weeks of one another, conversation in my largely Afro-American and Latino barbershop spun squarely on the two films, with comparisons favoring the decidedly mediocre Soul Food. Explaining his preference (and echoing the sentiments of many in the room), a twentysomething......

Warren Beatty is sitting in his room at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, cradling a phone to his ear and discussing the critical response to Bulworth. "Listen," he says into the receiver, "the reviews have just come in from around the country, and they're the best reviews of......

THE COOL WORLD OF SHIRLEY CLARKE Five feature films and 15 film and video shorts At UCLA James Bridges Theater and at KAOS in Leimert Park For UCLA, call 310-206-3456; for KAOS, call 213-296-5717 April 16–22 "This all hasn’t been a waste," says Jason Holliday, commenting on his life for......