James Robert Jarmusch is an American film director and screenwriter. He has been a major proponent of independent cinema since the 1980s, directing films such as Stranger Than Paradise (1984), Down by Law (1986), Mystery Train (1989), Dead Man (1995), Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999), Coffee and Cigarettes (2003), Broken Flowers (2005), Only Lovers Left Alive (2013), and Paterson (2016). Stranger Than Paradise was added to the National Film Registry in December 2002. As a musician, he has composed music for his films and released three albums with Jozef van Wissem.
Thomas Alan Waits is an American musician, composer, songwriter, and actor. His lyrics often focus on the underbelly of society and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He began in the folk scene during the 1970s, but his music since the 1980s has reflected the influence of such diverse genres as rock, country, Delta blues, opera, vaudeville, cabaret, funk, hip hop and experimental techniques verging on industrial music. Per The Wall Street Journal, Waits “has composed a body of work that’s at least comparable to any songwriter’s in pop today. A keen, sensitive and sympathetic chronicler of the adrift and downtrodden, Mr. Waits creates three-dimensional characters who, even in their confusion and despair, are capable of insight and startling points of view. Their stories are accompanied by music that’s unlike any other in pop history.”
24 Hour Party People is a 2002 British biographical comedy drama film about Manchester's popular music community from 1976 to 1992, and specifically about Factory Records. It was written by Frank Cottrell Boyce and directed by Michael Winterbottom. The film was entered into the 2002 Cannes Film Festival to positive reviews.
Four Rooms is a 1995 American anthology farce black comedy film co-written and co-directed by Allison Anders, Alexandre Rockwell, Robert Rodriguez, and Quentin Tarantino. The story is set in the fictional Hotel Mon Signor in Los Angeles on New Year's Eve. Tim Roth plays Ted, the bellhop and main character in the frame story, whose first night on the job consists of four very different encounters with various hotel guests.
One from the Heart is a soundtrack album of Tom Waits compositions for the Francis Ford Coppola film of the same name. It was recorded from October 1980 to September 1981. It was during this period that Waits met his wife Kathleen Brennan, an employee at the studio where it was recorded. While the film was released in February, the soundtrack album release was delayed until October of 1982 due to a dispute between Columbia Records and Coppola's Zoetrope Studios.
Alfred Molina is a British actor. He is known for his leading roles and character actor roles on the stage and screen. In a career spanning over five decades he has received a Drama Desk Award as well as nominations for two BAFTA Awards, a British Independent Film Award, an Independent Spirit Award, five Screen Actors Guild Awards, and three Tony Awards.
Basquiat is a 1996 American biographical drama film directed, written and co-composed by Julian Schnabel in his feature directorial debut. The film is based on the life of American postmodernist/neo expressionist artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. It is the first film about an American painter written and directed by another artist.
My Dinner with Andre is a 1981 American comedy-drama film directed by Louis Malle, and written by and starring André Gregory and Wallace Shawn as fictionalized versions of themselves sharing a conversation at Café des Artistes in Manhattan. The film's dialogue covers topics such as experimental theater, the nature of theater, and the nature of life, and contrasts Andre's spiritual experiences with Wally's modest humanism.
Night on Earth is a 1991 American comedy-drama anthology film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch. It is a collection of five vignettes, taking place during the same night, concerning the temporary bond formed between taxi driver and passenger in five cities: Los Angeles, New York City, Paris, Rome, and Helsinki. The action in the vignettes takes place at the same time, moving from Los Angeles in the United States to Helsinki, Finland. The scene in each city appears to occur later and later in the night due to the changing time zones. Jarmusch wrote the screenplay in about eight days, and the choice of certain cities was largely based on the actors with whom he wanted to work. The soundtrack of the same name is by Tom Waits. The Criterion Collection released the film on DVD and Blu-ray on April 9, 2019.
Palindromes is a 2004 American comedy drama film written and directed by Todd Solondz. Referencing Solondz's previous Welcome to the Dollhouse, it was nominated for the Golden Lion award at the 61st Venice International Film Festival.
Down by Law is a 1986 American black-and-white independent neo-beat noir comedy film. It was written and directed by Jim Jarmusch, and stars Tom Waits, John Lurie, and Roberto Benigni.
Cigarettes & Coffee is a 1993 short film written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson and starring Philip Baker Hall. It tells the story of five people connected through a $20 bill. Anderson later used it as a basis for his directorial debut film Hard Eight.
Mystery Train is a 1989 comedy-drama anthology film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch and set in Memphis, Tennessee. The film is a triptych of stories involving foreign protagonists, unfolding over the course of the same night. "Far from Yokohama" features a Japanese couple on a cultural pilgrimage, "A Ghost" focuses on an Italian widow stranded in the city overnight, and "Lost in Space" follows the misadventures of a newly single and unemployed Englishman and his reluctant companions. The narratives are linked by a run-down flophouse overseen by a night clerk and his disheveled bellboy, the use of Elvis Presley's song "Blue Moon", and a gunshot.
Arabic coffee is a version of the brewed coffee of Coffea arabica beans. Most Arab countries throughout the Middle East have developed distinct methods for brewing and preparing coffee. Cardamom is an often-added spice, but it can alternatively be served plain or with sugar.
Coffee and Cigarettes: Somewhere in California is a 1993 black-and-white short film directed by writer/director Jim Jarmusch shot in Northern California. The film consists primarily of a conversation between musicians Tom Waits and Iggy Pop in a coffee shop. The film would later be included as the third segment in the feature-length Coffee and Cigarettes released in 2003. The film won the Golden Palm at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival as best "Short Film".
Nikola Tesla is portrayed in many forms of popular culture. The Serbian-American engineer has particularly been depicted in science fiction, a genre which is well suited to address his inventions; while often exaggerated, the fictionalized variants build mostly upon his own alleged claims or ideas. A popular, growing fixation among science fiction, comic book, and speculative history storytellers is to portray Tesla as a member of a secret society, along with other luminaries of science. The impacts of the technologies invented by Nikola Tesla are a recurring theme in the steampunk genre of alternate technology science-fiction.
The Sorcerer's Apprentice is a 2010 American action adventure fantasy film produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, directed by Jon Turteltaub, and released by Walt Disney Pictures, the team behind the National Treasure franchise. The film stars Nicolas Cage and Jay Baruchel with Alfred Molina, Teresa Palmer, and Monica Bellucci in supporting roles.
"Phantom 309" is a song written by Tommy Faile and released as a single by Red Sovine in 1967. It was a minor hit, peaking at number nine on the Billboard Magazine Country chart. The lyrics are spoken, rather than sung.
Only Lovers Left Alive is a 2013 fantasy comedy-drama film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch, starring Tilda Swinton, Tom Hiddleston, Mia Wasikowska, Anton Yelchin, Jeffrey Wright, Slimane Dazi and John Hurt. An international coproduction between the United Kingdom and Germany, the film focuses on the romance between two vampires and was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.
Lucky is a 2017 American drama film directed by John Carroll Lynch, written by Logan Sparks and Drago Sumonja, and starring Harry Dean Stanton. It was one of Stanton's final onscreen roles before his death. The film tells the story of 90-year-old Lucky as he comes to terms with his own mortality and searches for enlightenment. It received positive reviews from critics.
