Screen Epiphanies

What is your earliest or most significant film memory?

Screen Epiphanies draws together a series of revealing and touching interviews with a host of leading international filmmakers including Martin Scorsese, Lars von Trier, Danny Boyle, Mike Figgis and Stephen Frears, in which they discuss their early encounters with film culture.

Each director’s ‘epiphany’ is different and remarkable, whether it is the lasting impression made by a single ephemeral moment in a film long forgotten by others; a movie that captured their imagination and inspired them creatively; or the overall magical effect of going to the cinema and the nostalgia of an early film-related experience. With refreshing frankness and clarity some of the directors describe the hurdles they had to overcome because of race, class or gender to break into the movie industry.

Films were a support to many, and they describe how they identified with the themes growing up and how they were inspired to pursue a filmmaking career. Their experiences of film and filmmaking styles may differ radically but what stands out is each director’s genuine passion and enduring respect for film.

Also includes a previously unpublished interview with the late Anthony Minghella.

Introduction
Kevin Macdonald, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
Paul Schrader, Pickpocket
Anthony Minghella, The Blue Angel
Danny Boyle, Apocalypse Now
Gurinder Chadha, Purab Aur Pachhim
Mike Leigh, Room at the Top
Mike Hodges, The Sweet Smell of Success
Thomas Vinterberg, Hearts Of Darkness
Albert Maysles, Not a film, people
Sally Potter, Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday
Nick Park, Rebecca
Alan Parker, Little Fugitive
Manoel De Oliveira, Berlin, Symphony of a City
Don Boyd, Hamlet
David Puttnam, Pinocchio
Frank Darabont, THX1138
Lars Von Trier, Barry Lyndon
Atom Egoyan, Persona
Barbet Schroeder, Voyage to Italy
Bertrand Tavernier, Fort Apache
Mike Newell, La Grande Illusion
Ken Loach, The Fireman’s Ball
Michael Apted, Wild Strawberries
Jeremy Thomas, Badlands
Abbas Kiarostami, Eight and a Half
Stephen Frears, Meeting Karel Reisz
Terence Davies, Doris Day
Aki Kaurismäki, Nanook of the North
Mike Figgis, Weekend
Mira Nair, La Jetée
Stephen Woolley, Zulu
Martin Scorsese, The Red Shoes