Old-school retro while "new era" ballsy as hell, the films of producer Arthur Sarkissian - among them the RUSH HOUR series, WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING, Walter Hill's LAST MAN STANDING, Rutger Hauer's back-in-day classic WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE, Martin Campbell's THE FOREIGNER with Jackie Chan and Pierce Brosnan, THE PROTÉGÉ, MEMORY and more - were all shepherded to the screen by Mr. Sarkissian not necessarily because of how critics or studios or distributors would react to them, ... but more importantly by how audiences would. And this is because Sarkissian grew up falling in love with films like THE GUNS OF NAVARONE, KELLY'S HEROES, JAWS and others while watching them in theaters surrounded by audiences laughing, screaming, cheering and more. As such, it's my great honor to present a nifty sit-down wherein "filmic king" Arthur delves into his past, inspirations, mentorship under iconic Hollywood mogul Howard W. Koch, Sr., early involvement with MIDNIGHT EXPRESS, AIRPLANE and Abel Ferrara's KING OF NEW YORK and much, much more.

Ladies and gentlemen, one of the last of Hollywood's great gentleman producers, Mr. Arthur Sarkissian.

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What could make the greatest film summer of them all, 1982 - where within four months POLTERGEIST, STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN, E.T., ROCKY III, BLADE RUNNER, THE THING, CONAN THE BARBARIAN, TRON, FIREFOX, AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN, PINK FLOYD: THE WALL, THE SECRET OF NIMH, THE ROAD WARRIOR, NIGHT SHIFT, DINER and more, ... which 40 years ago all opened back-to-back / week-after-week - even better? How 'bout reliving that time with the people with whom you first saw many of those movies! That's what we did - inviting three of our closest life-long friends to step into the WayBack Machine with us to that most memorable summer. And, hey, in doing so we realized it wasn't just the films themselves which gave us that lifetime of memories we cherish to this day, but the fact that it was also a very special time of life associated with those movies which we came to emotionally - sometimes subconsciously - link to them. And as such, whether - like us - you got to those now-classic flicks of '82 in the first "POS" car you ever owned or on bicycles, whether those four months helped heal a first-time broken heart, or whether it was the last time you and your own personal STAND BY ME / STRANGER DAYS / FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH-like group of friends were ever together in the same room before separating to the four winds, to this day every time you rewatch one of those films a piece of you zooms back to the time and place you first saw it - and with whom you saw it - faster than Doc Brown can say "Great Scott!" or "1.21 gigawatts!".

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THE MOVIE SNEAK PODCAST is part of The GullCottage/Sandlot - a film blog, cinema magazine, growing reference library and online network "Celebrating The Art of Cinema, ... And Cinema As Art".

Explore the GULLCOTTAGE / SANDLOT @ www.gullcottageonline.com

Rights to film / TV clips and other audio excerpts held by copyright owners. Presented here for educational and criticism purposes.

The concept of independent cinema isn't as new as some believe, and there have always been two kinds. One is where stars break from the system to do their own thing - such as when Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin and D.W. Griffith joined to form the (then) independent company United Artists to oppose the financial and creative strangulation of the “Big Five” studios of the day. And the other where a relative upstart / outsider has the chutzpah to not only tear down long-established walls, but in the process build bridges for others into the industry - such as when 100 years before Tyler Perry African-American novelist Oscar Micheaux establish himself as the first black American “one man studio”, directing and producing 40 films and seven novels in just under 30 years between 1919 and 1948. 

That spirit still exists today. And in celebration THE MOVIE SNEAK sits down with three filmmakers for our annual fireside on the current state of the independent cinematic arts. Stacy Layne Wilson takes us behind-the-scenes on her new “Lo Fi, Sci Fi, Rock ‘n Roll Comedy” THE SECOND AGE OF AQUARIUS. Filmmaker Amanda Kasmira Cryer gives us a little pre-vis on her searing in-the-works documentary INSIDE MEN which delves into prison reform and the need to do away with the “for-profit” incarceration system. And ahead-of-his-time writer / director Chris Chan Lee chats with us about his acclaimed hard-hitting 1997 coming-of-age drama YELLOW, and his “currently on the festival circuit" SILENT RIVER – which begins as a Sam Shepard-like drama about a man seeking reconciliation with his estranged wife, then branches in mind-bending genre territory worthy of Rod Serling and Richard Matheson. Recently returned from Europe where just a few weeks ago SILENT RIVER picked up a Jury Award at the Paris International Film Festival, we’re honored to have Chris -- along with Stacy and Amanda – join us for our Second Annual Celebration of “INDEPENDENT’S” DAY. 

More on STACY LAYNE WILSON @ ...

• Staci Layne Wilson Official Website
• Staci Layne Wilson - IMDb

More on AMANDA KASMIRA CRYER @ ...

• Amanda Cryer - IMDb
• Kazzy Reacts - YouTube

More on CHRIS CHAN LEE @ ...

• Chris Chan Lee - IMDb
• FILM AND TV NOW - CHRIS CHAN LEE (SILENT RIVER) INTERVIEW - YouTube

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THE MOVIE SNEAK PODCAST is part of The GullCottage/Sandlot - a film blog, cinema magazine, growing reference library and online network "Celebrating The Art of Cinema, ... And Cinema As Art".

Explore the GULLCOTTAGE / SANDLOT @ www.gullcottageonline.com

Rights to film / TV clips and other audio excerpts held by copyright owners. Presented here for educational and criticism purposes.