John Sayles and Maggie Renzi met in college in the early 1970s. After writing for Roger Corman on films like Piranha and The Lady in Red, Sayles got to make his first film as director, The Return of the Secaucus Seven, which told the story of notorious student protestors reuniting ten years later, and featured Renzi as an actress. It was on their film Lianna, a lesbian love story, that Renzi stepped up into the role of producer, helping to raise funds for a film that investors were reluctant to support.

Since then, despite a degree of mainstream acceptance that has seen Sayles twice Oscar-nominated for a Best Original Screenplay (for 1992’s Passion Fish and 1996’s Lone Star) they have forged together a truly independent and varied career, telling fearlessly political stories about real people facing real issues, from the urban tapestry of City of Hope, to the sci-fi infused racial commentary of The Brother from Another Planet, to directing three of the defining music videos of Bruce Springsteen’s career on his Born in the USA album.

In this wide-ranging conversation, John and Maggie will discuss their decades-spanning, genre-hopping careers, the state of filmmaking and film-labour today and, in a time of increasing corporatisation and commercialisation, what advice they can give to the many emerging filmmakers who have been inspired by their uncompromisingly maverick example.

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For information on the full BFF23 programme visit: www.belfastfilmfestival.org