In 1994 Dennis Potter knew he was going to die. The writer of such television theater masterpieces as "The Singing Detective" and "Pennies from Heaven" had just been diagnosed with untreatable cancer of the liver and pancreas. In a strange move, he agreed to talk with the BBC about his life and immin

Contemplative, Contemporary plays, Dense, Political, Profane, Witty

If Britain had a blacklist during the Thatcher era, Ken Loach was on it. Pound the pavement though he might, he couldn't persuade anyone to fund his films. His made-for-TV documentaries met with steep resistance -- in fact, his depiction of the 1984 coal miners' strike was banned outright. Why? Loach

British documentary movement, Gritty, Industrial, Intense, Political, Sincere, Violent, Young british/kitchen sink/free cinema

If Paul Rotha was going to be fired, he was going to be fired by the best. In the early years of his career, while working as an assistant designer for Hitchcock, Rotha published a scathing article on the stagnation of British film. The future master of suspense was not impressed. Hitchcock canned Ro

British documentary movement, Egalitarian, Gritty, Political, Sincere

When people look at Joan Chen, an irresistible urge to see her as the perfect china doll overcomes them, whether they are Chinese themselves or hail from the West. Chen's lifelong battle has been to act her way out of that porcelain persona, and to wrest the director's chair from the hands of those w

Intense, Pathos, Pioneering, Political, Sexy