still from The Brother From Another Planet

1984 / 108 min
Director & Screenwriter: John Sayles
Cast: Joe Morton, Caroline Aaron, David Straithairn, John Sayles, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Fisher Stevens, Steve James
35mm print courtesy of IFC Films and UCLA
35mm | Courtesy of IFC Films
35mm preservation print courtesy of the UCLA Film & Television Archive

Screening followed by Q&A with director John Sayles and producer Maggie Renzi, moderated by Columbia Film professor Jamal Joseph.

Long before Get Out and Sorry to Bother You, John Sayles made a film that used science fiction tropes as a way to explore race relations here on Earth. His fourth movie as a director was a sly satire about a mute extraterrestrial visitor (Joe Morton) who resembled an African-American man... except for the three toes on each of his feet. As Roger Ebert wrote at the time, “When the movies started to talk, they began to lose the open-eyed simplicity with which they saw the world. The Brother From Another Planet tells the story of a man who cannot talk, but who can read minds, listen carefully, look deep into eyes, and provide a sort of mirror for our society. That makes it sound serious, but like all the most serious movies, it's a comedy.” (Ira Deutchman distributed the movie while at Cinecom.)

This screening is part of NY Indie Guy: Ira Deutchman and the Rise of Independent Film

On September 14-16 and September 20-23, 2018, Columbia University’s Lenfest Center for the Arts will host a retrospective exhibit honoring the career of Film Professor and Producing Concentration Supervisor Ira Deutchman. Since 1975, Deutchman has been a leader in distributing, marketing, and producing American independent films, international films, and arthouse films. He is perhaps best known for founding and running the distribution companies Cinecom, Fine Line Features, and Emerging Pictures. Deutchman has taught at Columbia since 1987.  

This retrospective will screen essential motion pictures from various points in Deutchman’s career, such as The Brother From Another Planet; Diva; Harlan County USA; sex, lies, & videotape; Swoon; and A Woman Under the Influence. Many showings will feature Q&A talkbacks with filmmakers or performers. The celebration will also include panel discussions and an extensive exhibit covering Deutchman’s impact on cinema.  

Sponsors

The Art House Convergence
Cowan, DeBaets, Abrahams & Sheppard
Film and Media Studies, Columbia University School of the Arts
The Society of Fellows and Heyman Center for the Humanities at Columbia University
The Institute for Research on Women, Gender, and Sexuality at Columbia University
The University of Michigan Library