Peter Biskind
2021Mardik: From Baghdad to Hollywood
Ramy Katrib, Evan York
Mardik Martin, Martin Scorsese
An intimate portrait of an oft-forgotten character in Hollywood: the screenwriter. Raised in Baghdad, screenwriter Mardik Martin was infused with an early love for movies when he was sent to the U.S. by his family to avoid being drafted into the Iraqi army. Mardik discovered the NYU cinema department, and there he met Martin Scorsese; their friendship would lead to some of the greatest films in American cinema.
Mardik: From Baghdad to Hollywood
Waiting for Ishtar
John Mitchell, Jonathan Crombie
John Mitchell, Jonathan Crombie
A conversation about guilty pleasures turns into one man's quest to find others on a library waiting list, while simultaneously examining the fate of the famous Hollywood bomb Ishtar (1987).
Waiting for Ishtar
Edge of Outside
Shannon Davis
Peter Biskind, Robert Townsend
An hour-long documentary designed to celebrate the spirit of the independent filmmaker from D.W. Griffith to Quentin Tarantino. Interview footage and film clips are blended together to form a chronological approach to the subject matter.
Edge of Outside
Rocky IV: le coup de poing américain
Dimitri Kourtchine
Peter Biskind, Robert Chartoff
Rocky IV is dually symbolic - it embodies both the victory of the American boxer over the Soviet one and the victory of neo-liberalism over a dwindling socialism. Today, Rocky is held up as a model by some and is a subject of derision for others. An emblem of the 1980s, its culture and its heroes, the film will be the subject of an entertaining analysis of popular culture.
Rocky IV: The American Punch
Hidden Values: The Movies of the Fifties
Charlie Coates
Lee Grant, Roger Corman
This documentary was broadcast on the Turner Classic Movies (TCM) cable channel to kick off the presentation of films related to TCM's theme of the month for September 2001. Actors Lee Grant and Paul Mazursky, producer Roger Corman, director John Carpenter, film critic Molly Haskell, and journalist Peter Biskind discuss the issues involved in six films of the 1950s. Topics include teenage loneliness, youth rebellion, changing gender roles, and the beginning of the sexual revolution.
Hidden Values: The Movies of the Fifties
