William Richert

Too Young To Die: River Phoenix

On the night of October 30, 1993, River Phoenix is set to play with his band at the Viper Room on Sunset Boulevard when he dies suddenly of a drug overdose on the sidewalk outside the club. "Stand By Me" was his breakthrough, "Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade" popularized him, and "My Own Private Idaho" solidified him as an idol for an entire generation.

My Own Private River

Unused footage from Gus Van Sant's 1991 film My Own Private Idaho is re-contextualized in James Franco's tribute to River Phoenix.

No Subtitles Necessary: Laszlo & Vilmos

The artistry, triumph and lifelong friendship of the great cinematographers Laszlo Kovacs and Vilmos Zsigmond. With film school equipment, they shoot the Soviet crackdown of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. As refugees they struggle in Hollywood, finally breaking into the mainstream with their pivotal contribution to the "American New Wave."

Final 24: River Phoenix

Final 24 recreates River Phoenix's last day to tell the tragic tale of a young man whose short life was dominated by the constant pressure to perform.

Who Killed 'Winter Kills'?

The troubled production of Winter Kills (1979) is covered here in this documentary with interviews with a few cast and crew members. The film was shut down 3 times, and to save the production they had to make The American Success Company (1980) get themselves out of debt. They also talk about the first time director and the "old crew" that was used.

Echos of Enlightenment

A sleazy lawyer finds enlightenment.

Manic

Follows the fate of Lyle, a violent adolescent who, in lieu of prison, is placed in a juvenile mental institution where he encounters a group of equally troubled teens. This motley crew - abused, sexually confused, violent, and yet hanging on by their grit and anger - becomes Lyle's last lifeline as he fights to find meaning in a world that seems to defy understanding.

ATF

In the wake of the tragic events at Waco, Texas where an armed conflict with armed militiamen broke out, agents of the federal government's Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) carry out a clandestine mission within another militia operation that is possibly involved in the sales of guns and the murder of an agent. Agent Robin O'Brien infiltrates the operation against her director's orders. When events start unraveling and an FBI agent threatens to take over the operation and start a military action, the ATF agents have to apply what they learned from Waco to save another blood bath.

The Random Factor

A doctor in Ottawa invents a miraculous machine that uses a record of a person's DNA to reverse injuries to his body. The victim of an accidental shooting, he becomes the first patient in his own machine... and awakens whole, but with his left and right reversed. Or has he, instead, slipped into a reversed parallel universe? On top of this, summer has mysteriously turned into winter, and a visiting American senator is trying to buy or steal the machine to sell it to another country for military use. Written by Anonymous

Paradise Framed

In this art-film, a famous multimedia artist abandons his former life for a new one in a hermetically sealed room filled with living portraits. His new space becomes a haven for the terminally dysfunctional. Trouble ensues when two strangers, the world-weary Col. Hardy and the handsome son of an aspiring presidential candidate, come to collect on a commissioned work of art.

The Client

A street-wise kid, Mark Sway, sees the suicide of Jerome Clifford, a prominent Louisiana lawyer, whose current client is Barry 'The Blade' Muldano, a Mafia hit-man. Before Jerome shoots himself, he tells Mark where the body of a Senator is buried. Clifford shoots himself and Mark is found at the scene, and both the FBI and the Mafia quickly realize that Mark probably knows more than he says.

My Own Private Idaho

In this loose adaptation of Shakespeare's "Henry IV," Mike Waters is a hustler afflicted with narcolepsy. Scott Favor is the rebellious son of a mayor. Together, the two travel from Portland, Oregon to Idaho and finally to the coast of Italy in a quest to find Mike's estranged mother. Along the way they turn tricks for money and drugs, eventually attracting the attention of a wealthy benefactor and sexual deviant.

All God's Children

Big city judge Parke Denison is involved in a forced busing dispute at the climax of his long career. The friendship between two families -- one white, one black -- and their sons, who are buddies, provides the microcosm of this major social issue that has been argued for several decades.

The American Success Company

A husband is humiliated at home and at work. He decides he has had enough of it and hires a prostitute to help him get back at his boss, wife and friends and get a lot richer in the process.

Law and Disorder

In crime ridden New York of the seventies two cops has had enough. They decide to take justice into their own hands. Things turn exciting and humorous. No hoodlum goes safe.