
Elvis Mitchell uncovers why Chameleon Street (1989) by Wendell B. Harris Jr. failed to secure a proper distributor deal. Originally aired as a segment on "20/20".

Self - Film Critic
Self - Miramax Distributors, 'Sex, Lies & Videotape'
Self - Film Critic
Self - Host
6.9Cruelty, psychological and sexual violence, humiliations: reality television seems to have gone mad. His debut in the early 2000s inaugurated a new era in the history of the audio-visual. Fifty years of archives trace the evolution of entertainment: how the staging of intimacy during the 80s opened new territories, how the privatization of the biggest channels has changed the relationship with the spectator. With the contribution of specialists, including philosopher Bernard Stiegler, this documentary demonstrates how emotion has made way for the exacerbation of the most destructive impulses.
0.0Approximately, because so-called "ethnic" statistics are prohibited, there are an estimated 3.3 million black French citizens. Distant descendants of slaves from the Caribbean or "indigenous" peoples from the French colonial empire in Africa, they constitute a minority that is often discriminated against. Isabelle Boni-Claverie, a mixed-race woman raised in the affluent neighborhoods of Paris, daughter of an Ivorian politician and granddaughter of Alphonse Boni, a Black man who became a magistrate of the French Republic in the 1930s, examines what is blocking the social advancement of Black French people and the full recognition of their citizenship.
6.6Robert Altman's life and career contained multitudes. This father of American independent cinema left an indelible mark, not merely on the evolution of his art form, but also on the western zeitgeist. With its use of rare interviews, representative film clips, archival images, and musings from his family and most recognizable collaborators, Altman is a dynamic and heartfelt mediation on an artist whose expression, passion and appetite knew few bounds.
3.8From its simple beginnings in 1939 in a sleepy beach town in the south of France, the prestigious Cannes Film Festival has become the must-attend red carpet event of the year. Filmmaker Richard Schickel's fascinating documentary captures the glitz and glamour of the festival's incredible 60-year run with archival footage and unforgettable moments. Hollywood's biggest names including Clint Eastwood, Martin Scorsese, Sharon Stone and Harvey Weinstein talk about the politics, madness, and thrills of competing for one of the industry's highest honors - the coveted Palme d'Or - and what it's like to be at the most fabulous festival by the sea.
7.2A documentary about the rise and fall of the Cannon Film Group, the legendary independent film company helmed by Israeli cousins Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus.
6.0A look at the horror movies of the 1980's.
3.8A short documentary exploring the ways LGBT couples show affection, and how small interactions like holding hands in public can carry, not only huge personal significance, but also the power to create social change.
7.8Recy Taylor, a 24-year-old black mother and sharecropper, was gang raped by six white boys in 1944 Alabama. Common in Jim Crow South, few women spoke up in fear for their lives. Not Recy Taylor, who bravely identified her rapists. The NAACP sent its chief rape investigator Rosa Parks, who rallied support and triggered an unprecedented outcry for justice. The film exposes a legacy of physical abuse of black women and reveals Rosa Parks’ intimate role in Recy Taylor’s story.
6.0In the sixth installment of the Criterion Channel's Meet the Filmmakers series, director Alex Ross Perry (Her Smell, Listen Up Philip) visits the ever-iconoclastic auteur Paul Schrader during the making of his 2017 masterpiece First Reformed. On set and at home- where, for his own pleasure, he continues to work and rework his previous films- Schrader reflects on the highs and lows of his legendary career, the challenges and rewards of slow cinema, and the influences and experiences that continue to shape his approach to filmmaking. With this insightful portrait of one of his filmmaking heroes, Perry captures an artist who is continually at play, intentionally provocative, and never less than vital.
The cast of the 1988 film, Bad Dreams, talk about their experiences making a film with heavy themes of suicide, guilt, depression, and mass death.
8.5Cast and crew, as well as some famous fans, recall the insanity of making of the ultimate experience of grueling terror that is The Evil Dead.
4.0Mia and Roman is a 1968 23-minute documentary film which was shot during the making of Rosemary's Baby.
0.0Suellyn thought the Department of Community Services (DOCS) would only remove children in extreme cases, until her own grandchildren were taken in the middle of the night. Hazel decided to take on the DOCS system after her fourth grandchild was taken into state care. Jen Swan expected to continue to care for her grandchildren but DOCS deemed her unsuitable, a shock not just to her but to her sister, Deb, who was, at the time, a DOCS worker. The rate of Indigenous child removal has actually increased since Prime Minister Kevin Rudd delivered the apology to the ‘stolen generations’ in 2008. These four grandmothers find each other and start a national movement to place extended families as a key solution to the rising number of Aboriginal children in out-of-home care. They are not only taking on the system; they are changing it…
4.8In the history of “The Simpsons,” few characters outside the title family have had as much cultural impact as Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, the Springfield convenience store owner. Comedian Hari Kondabolu is out to show why that might be a problem.
7.0A tribute to Italian filmmaker Sergio Corbucci (1926-90), presented by American filmmaker Quentin Tarantino.
7.9To Hell and Back: The Kane Hodder Story is the harrowing story of a stuntman overcoming a dehumanizing childhood filled with torment and bullying in Sparks, Nevada. After surviving a near-death burn accident, he worked his way up through Hollywood, leading to his ultimate rise as Jason Voorhees in the Friday the 13th series and making countless moviegoers forever terrified of hockey masks and summer camp. Featuring interviews with cinema legends, including Bruce Campbell (Ash vs. Evil Dead), Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger), and Cassandra Peterson (Elvira: Mistress of the Dark), To Hell and Back peels off the mask of Kane Hodder, cinema's most prolific killer, in a gut-wrenching, but inspiring, documentary. After decades of watching Kane Hodder on screen, get ready to meet the man behind the mask in To Hell and Back - an uniquely human story about one of cinema's most vicious monsters.
4.6In the late 1990s, iconic photographer Bruce Weber barely managed to convince legendary actor Robert Mitchum (1917-97) to let himself be filmed simply hanging out with friends, telling anecdotes from his life and recording jazz standards.
