John Sayles, considered one of the godfathers of the American independent film movement, will appear in person at Amherst Cinema on Thursday, April 19, at 7 p.m. for a screening of his 17th feature film, "Amigo."
A prolific writer and director with stories and films spanning an incredible range, Sayles began reading novels before age 9. After graduating from Williams College in 1972, he shunned a corporate career to work various blue-collar jobs, moving to East Boston to take a factory job. He wrote stories and submitted them to various magazines.
He began building his career as an Academy Award-nominated writer-director on the power of his storytelling from his first salvo, “Return of the Secaucus 7” (1979). He has used his skills as a writer to finance a unique body of films with a distinctly appealing social consciousness, expanding our understanding of what it means to be American both regionally and through our national values. From the struggles of the labor movement (“Matewan,” 1987), from urban corruption (“City of Hope”, 1991) to racial intolerance (“Lone Star,” 1996), Sayles has been fearless both behind and in front of the camera.
A recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, Sayles used the money to partially fund the fantasy “The Brother From Another Planet,” a film about the immigrant experience: a black, three-toed slave escapes from another planet and finds himself at home among the people of Harlem.
In "Amigo," Sayles explores what he believes to be the imperialist subtext of U.S. country’s military conflicts, in this case the Philippine-American War that became a collateral engagement following the Spanish-American War at the turn of the 19th century.