My First Movie: Twenty Celebrated Directors Talk about Their First Film

Candid interviews with leading filmmakers about their first films including Ang Lee, Pedro Almodovar, Oliver Stone, Allison Anders, The Coen Brothers, and others

In these vivid and revealing interviews, a diverse collection of filmmakers talk in extraordinary detail and with amazing candor about making their first films. Each chapter focuses on a director's celebrated debut and tells the inside story of the film's creation. Along the way, every aspect of the movie industry is explored-from writing the script and raising the money to casting the actors and assembling the crew, from shooting and editing to selling the movie and screening it. These interviews are not only memoirs of particular movies; each one is also an emotional journey in which the director relives the pain and elation, the comedy and tragedy, of making a first feature film.

STEPHEN LOWENSTEIN is the editor of My First Movie. He has worked on British television documentaries for Channek 4, ITV, and te BBC. He is the writer-director of two critically acclaimed short films and lives in London.