Paraiso Travel is the story of a young Colombian couple who brave the dangers of crossing illegally into the United States to find a better life, only to discover the truth about where they're going -- and each other. Director Simon Brand, a native Colombian, discusses the realities of illegal immigration and the human condition with amctv.com.

Q: What inspired you to do this movie?

A: I read the book about six or seven years ago when it came out, and I thought it was a great book. I came to the US about 15 years ago, and I identified with the main character -- not because of the way he came in, I didn't go that route -- but the culture shock and the love story really attracted me. I stayed in the US because of a girl, so it was a great story to tell. At the same time, it dealt with a very hot topic, the whole immigration issue. Most of the movies I've seen, they're always very vague about what really goes on.

Q: Why do you think most films shy away from the horrors of illegal crossings?

A: I think it is ignorance in a way. People in the US talk about immigration all the time, and they talk about closing the borders and building a wall, but they really don't realize that most people are just trying to find a better life. I wasn't trying to make a political statement, I was just trying to see it from the human standpoint. Going from the south of Mexico to the border is actually extremely dangerous. People lose their limbs; they have to deal with gangs -- it's just one thing after another.

Continue reading "Tribeca Film Festival - Interview with Paraiso Travel Director Simon Brand" »

On the verge of the premiere of Idiots and Angels at Tribeca, Oscar-nominated animator Bill Plympton talks about embarking in a new direction and cutting a deal with Tom Waits.

Q: What was your inspiration for Idiots and Angels?

A: All I can recollect is that I was in France about three years ago, walking down the street with a guy. He asked me what my next film was. I said, "Some a--hole guy who grows wings and he doesn't like it because the wings make him do good things." All that night I started doing sketches and plotting ideas and doing character designs.

Continue reading "Q&A: Bill Plympton on Idiots and Angels: "Guerilla-style filmmaking"" »

Chazz Palminteri was born to be a gangster -- or at least to play one in the movies. He got his big break when his idol Robert De Niro stumbled upon his quasi-autobiographical play A Bronx Tale and turned it into his directorial debut. Barely a year after that flick made him an overnight success, Palminteri was nominated for an Oscar for his role in Woody Allen's mob comedy Bullets Over Broadway. Straight or side-splitting, Palminteri's performances are always pitch-perfect. He recently spoke with Shootout about his five favorites.

Palminteri's Favorite Palminteri Pictures

• A Bronx Tale
• Bullets Over Broadway
• Analyze This
• Hurlyburly
• The Usual Suspects

Palminteri credits others for his success: De Niro was "a great director who would not compromise and dealt with subject matter truthfully," Woody gave him "a chance to show my comic timing," and Hurlyburly's Anthony Drazan was "a great director who had vision." And as career "gangster," he clearly owes a debt to the genre's classic films.

Continue reading "Chazz Palminteri Favors Gangster Roles and Cagney as a Gangster" »

The book that's never been written: how producer Robert Evans tricked, lured and cajoled Francis Ford Coppola into directing The Cotton Club to save the film from financial ruin.

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She may play the ever-dutiful wife of to the most socially inept human being on HBO, but Cheryl Hines' enthusiasm these days is anything but curbed. Perhaps that's because in recent years the actress has broken out as one of Hollywood's newest leading ladies. Aside from her work with Seinfeld genius Larry David, Hines has paired with Robin Williams in RV and Keri Russell in the wonderfully sassy Waitress. From the looks of things, the perpetually gleeful actress is just getting warmed up. Recently, she spoke with Shootout about her three personal career favorites in film...

Continue reading "Auto Focus: Cheryl Hines Not Only Loves Psycho, She Re-enacts It" »

You don't make dozens of films under the direction of artists like Alfred Hitchcock, Charlie Chaplin and Jean Renoir without gathering some educated opinions about what makes a good movie. We asked Norman Lloyd (left in photo from Hitchcock's Saboteur) to review his 65-year acting career and highlight the films he considers the very best among them. He clearly has a certain vintage in mind -- with one notable exception, all his selections are from his early years as an actor, when Hitchcock and Chaplin were at the top of their game.

Lloyd's Favorite Lloyd Pictures

• Saboteur
• The Southerner
• A Walk in the Sun
• Spellbound
• The Flame and the Arrow
• Limelight
• Dead Poets Society

Continue reading "Auto Focus: Hitchcock Actor on His Best Films" »

Roger Corman knows a classic when he sees it (and when he makes it); the low-budget auteur has produced hundreds of films and directed 50 of his own, all the while giving some of Hollywood's best and brightest a leg up along the way (including Vincent Price, pictured above in The Masque of Red Death). On last week's Shootout, Corman revealed which of his own films are nearest and dearest to his heart. Clearly the director felt himself to be in his prime back in the 1960s when all of these were filmed.

Corman's Favorite Corman Pictures

• The Wild Angels
• Little Shop of Horrors
• The Masque of the Red Death
• The Trip
• The Intruder

The fact that Corman chose to single out The Masque of Red Death from his many Poe adaptations shows his awareness of the moment when he truly matured as a filmmaker -- or maybe just a fondness for Vincent Price's edgy performance as the doomed Prince Prospero. More surprising on this list is a movie few remember to attribute to Corman, The Intruder. Pared-down, but no less explosive, it features a deceptively clean-cut William Shatner attempting to single-handedly demolish the Civil Rights movement. As for which recent films will stand the test of time...

Continue reading "Auto Focus: Roger Corman's Personal Best" »