Beyond the Frame: Dialogues with World Filmmakers

Liza Bear's Beyond the Frame provides immediate insights into the modus operandi of many of the most intriguing figures of world cinema from the past 20 years. This lively collection consists of in-depth profiles reprinted from the cultural quarterly Bomb, and feature stories written for the mass media. Speaking here in their own voices are master directors such as Gillian Armstrong, Milos Forman, Takeshi Kitano, Wong Kar-wai, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Jacques Rivette, Ousmane Sembene, Agnes Varda, and Zhang Yimou. The spontaneity of the exchanges cuts to the creative quick. What drives filmmakers? What are the sources of their scripts? How do art films get made? These and other questions explored in incisive interviews uncover a rich array of topics, from sociopolitical context and family collaborations to directorial choices of casting, location, and mise-en-scene.

In addition to cinema veterans, the book focuses on debut features such as Alejandro Inarritu's Amores Perros, Shirley Barrett's Love Serenade, Samira Makhmalbaf's The Apple, and Jafar Panahi's The White Balloon. Other highly original films discussed include Infernal Affairs, Swimming Pool, and Princess Mononoke. Supplementary to the interviews is an introduction by noted author Robin Andersen that elucidates recurrent themes arising out of the discussions, a foreword by Laurence A. Kardish, Film Curator at the Museum of Modern Art, an index, and numerous photographs.