Gus Van Sant
Biography: Gus Green Van Sant, Jr. (born July 24, 1952) is an American director, screenwriter, painter, photographer, musician, and author. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Achievement in Directing for his 1997 film Good Will Hunting and his 2008 film Milk, and won the Palme d'Or at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival for his film Elephant. He lives in Portland, Oregon. His early career was devoted to directing television commercials in the Pacific Northwest. In his films, he has dealt with themes concerning homosexuality and other marginalized subcultures. His filmography as writer and director includes an adaptation of Tom Robbins' novel Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, which features a diverse cast (Keanu Reeves, Roseanne Barr, Uma Thurman, and k.d. lang, with cameos by William S. Burroughs and Heather Graham, among others); and My Own Private Idaho, also starring Reeves as well as River Phoenix. He wrote the screenplays for most of his early movies, and wrote one novel, Pink. A book of his photography has also been published, called 108 Portraits.
Place of Birth: Not available
Birthday: July 24, 1952
Deathday: N/A
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Known For
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
2001-08-22
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
Overview: When Jay and Silent Bob learn that their comic-book alter egos, Bluntman and Chronic, have been sold to Hollywood as part of a big-screen movie that leaves them out of any royalties, the pair travels to Tinseltown to sabotage the production.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2001-08-22
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Made in the USA
1993-09-25
Made in the USA
Overview: A Paul Joyce documentary on the American independent film scene.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1993-09-25
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William S. Burroughs: A Man Within
2010-11-05
William S. Burroughs: A Man Within
Overview: A riveting and emotional journey into the world of writer William S. Burroughs, a man considered as cold as an iceberg on a winter night.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2010-11-05
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Guns on the Clackamas
1995-01-01
Guns on the Clackamas
Overview: Nigel Nado, the notable documentary filmmaker, is trying to make a movie about some people trying to make a movie. But everything is going wrong. The subject of his documentary, the western 'Guns on the Clackamas' is plagued with problems. The lead actress has a severe stutter. And since she also happens to be the Executive Producer's mistress, there's not much that can be done to remedy the situation. Unsuccessful in turning the movie into a yodeling extravaganza, they decide to fire the actress. This results in having her irate beau pull the plug on the film's financing. The beginning of the end is marked by cast members dropping like flies due to any number of reasons. Bad macaroni salad. Bad chili. Bad caterer. A camera dolly runs over a crew member, severing some key limb or another. Then since no cast member has survived, and the film's producers can't hire replacements, the 'Guns on Clackamas' makers must resort to solutions at once startling and hilarious.
Genres: Drama Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1995-01-01
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The Canyons
2013-08-02
The Canyons
Overview: The discovery of an illicit love affair leads two young Angelenos on a violent, sexually charged tour through the dark side of human nature.
Genres: Thriller Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2013-08-02
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The Advocate for Fagdom
2011-11-04
The Advocate for Fagdom
Overview: The Advocate for Fagdom unites the puzzle pieces one by one. Testimonies are combined with rare archive images. Art galeries present movie extracts that are succeeded by images shot on location. And the other way round. Writers, film makers, art galeries owners, actors and actresses, photographers, producers, friends and loved ones all join in a game of interpretation, analysis or simple anecdotes. John Waters, Bruce Benderson, Harmony Korine, Gus Van Sant, Richard Kern, Rick Castro and others deliver their impressions, theories and confessions. Everything blends into the fascinating portrait of a singular person blessed with singular talents. A complex personality at war not with a system but all systems. The portrait of a man constantly moving between his punk attitude and extreme sensibility.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2011-11-04
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Strange Parallel
1998-10-15
Strange Parallel
Overview: Strange Parallel is a documentary/short film revolving around the American singer/songwriter Elliott Smith. The film features interviews with Elliott himself as well as fans, friends and other acquaintances of his (including Gus Van Sant, Larry Crane, and the members of Quasi). The film also includes snippets of Elliott Smith performing as well as footage of him recording an unreleased song, "Brand New Game". The film sometimes moves out of reality, with acted-out, metaphorical sequences that involve Elliott considering purchasing a mechanical hand (a "robot hand" ) to improve his music.
Genres: Documentary Music Fantasy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1998-10-15
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The Trainer
2024-10-16
The Trainer
Overview: It unfolds over eight days of sleep-deprived chaos and follows Jack, a down-on-his-luck fitness expert living with his mother in Los Angeles, who takes a maniacal swing at fame and fortune, trying to realize his version of the American dream.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2024-10-16
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Here’s Looking at You, Boy
2007-02-16
Here’s Looking at You, Boy
Overview: Documentary on the history of gay and lesbian film.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: de
Release Date: 2007-02-16
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In the Mood for Doyle
2007-08-30
In the Mood for Doyle
Overview: Christopher Doyle is one of the best known and most acclaimed directors of photography in world cinema. Born in Australia, he sees himself as an Asian citizen rather than a Westerner. His artistic contribution to the films of Wong Kar-wai, Zhang Jimou and Fruit Chan films, among others, is indisputable. Filmed in DV and Super8, this documentary is a kind of wild and stylized road movie -- from Bangkok to Hong Kong, via New York. The camera follows this eccentric and outrageous artist as he gives us his thoughts on his past and present work. From the recent sets of Invisible Waves by Thailand's Pen ek Ratanaruang, and M. Night Shyamalan's Lady in the Water, to the locations in Hong Kong where he shot some of his most famous pictures, such as In The Mood for Love and Dumplings, Chris Doyle talks about his cinematic fascination for Asian culture.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2007-08-30
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Finding Forrester
2000-12-21
Finding Forrester
Overview: Gus Van Sant tells the story of a young African American man named Jamal who confronts his talents while living on the streets of the Bronx. He accidentally runs into an old writer named Forrester who discovers his passion for writing. With help from his new mentor Jamal receives a scholarship to a private school.
Genres: Drama History
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2000-12-21
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On the Set of 'Elephant': Rolling Through Time
2004-05-04
On the Set of 'Elephant': Rolling Through Time
Overview: An artistic and unconventional documentary about the making of Gus Van Sant's 'Elephant'. Brief interviews are put together with behind-the-scenes clips with the director, cast and crew showing the creative process behind some of the movie's elaborated scenes.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2004-05-04
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Nicole Kidman: Eyes Wide Open
2023-09-10
Nicole Kidman: Eyes Wide Open
Overview: Over the years, Nicole Kidman, Oscar and two-time Emmy Award winner, became both a pop culture icon & a complex dramatic actress. Her career is a unique body of work that mirrors her personal life, which is more political than it might seem.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 2023-09-10
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Zeroville
2019-09-19
Zeroville
Overview: A young actor arrives in Hollywood in 1969 during a transitional time in the Industry.
Genres: Comedy Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2019-09-19
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Xavier Dolan: Bound to Impossible
2016-09-20
Xavier Dolan: Bound to Impossible
Overview: Actors Anne Dorval, Suzanne Clément, Monia Chokri, Gaspard Ulliel, Vincent Cassel, Niels Schneider and Melvil Poupaud discuss working with the young Canadian director Xavier Dolan, who has conquered the hearts of both cinema lovers and prestigious festival juries with his films. To French actress Nathalie Baye, he seems very experienced despite his young age, while Cannes Director Thierry Frémaux says he may be insolent, but everyone agrees he is passionate, creative, a perfectionist and... in a hurry.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 2016-09-20
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About Elephant
2003-01-01
About Elephant
Overview: 15-minute interview with director Gus Van Sant on Elephant (2003)
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2003-01-01
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At the Video Store
2019-10-11
At the Video Store
Overview: Equal parts personal essay, intense rumination, and playful satire, this movie laments the death of the American Video Store while it searches for the missing human element in today's digital landscape.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2019-10-11
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About Cinema
2015-09-15
About Cinema
Overview: An abandoned tumbledown theater in the outback of Paraíba state is the initial setting of a film about cinema, which explores the testimonials of the novelist and playwright Ariano Suassuna and other filmmakers such as Ruy Guerra, Julio Bressane, Ken Loach, Andrzej Wajda, Karim Ainouz, José Padilha, Hector Babenco, Vilmos Zsigmond, Béla Tarr, Gus Van Sant and Jia Zhangke. They all respond to two basic questions: why do they make movies and why do they serve the seventh art. The filmmakers share their thoughts about time, narrative, rhythm, light, movement, the meaning of tragedy, the audience‘s desires and the boundaries with other forms of art.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: pt
Release Date: 2015-09-15
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who is Gus Van Sant?
2024-03-30
who is Gus Van Sant?
Overview: An essay based on photographs and videos taken during the Gus Van Sant retrospective held at La Casa Encendida during 2018. Perhaps a glorified powerpoint.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: es
Release Date: 2024-03-30
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I Don't Belong Anywhere: The Cinema of Chantal Akerman
2015-09-28
I Don't Belong Anywhere: The Cinema of Chantal Akerman
Overview: I Don’t Belong Anywhere - Le Cinéma de Chantal Akerman, explores some of the Belgian filmmaker’s 40 plus films. From Brussels to Tel-Aviv, from Paris to New-York, this documentary charts the sites of her peregrinations. An experimental filmmaker, a nomad, Chantal Akerman shares her cinematic trajectory, one that has never ceased to interrogate the the meaning of her existence. Thanks in great part to the interventions of her editor, Claire Atherton, she delineates the origins of her film language and her aesthetic stance.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 2015-09-28
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Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema
2006-02-12
Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema
Overview: A chronological look at films by, for, or about gays and lesbians in the United States, from 1947 to 2005, Kenneth Anger's "Fireworks" to "Brokeback Mountain". Talking heads, anchored by critic and scholar B. Ruby Rich, are interspersed with an advancing timeline and with clips from two dozen films. The narrative groups the pictures around various firsts, movements, and triumphs: experimental films, indie films, sex on screen, outlaw culture and bad guys, lesbian lovers, films about AIDS and dying, emergence of romantic comedy, transgender films, films about diversity and various cultures, documentaries and then mainstream Hollywood drama. What might come next?
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2006-02-12
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Saltlake Van Sant
2003-11-11
Saltlake Van Sant
Overview: Behind-the-scenes documentary of one morning on the set of "Gerry" directed by Gus Van Sant.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2003-11-11
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Psycho Path
2000-02-10
Psycho Path
Overview: Documentary on the making of Gus Van Sant's "Psycho."
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2000-02-10
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The Making of ‘My Own Private Idaho’
2005-03-01
The Making of ‘My Own Private Idaho’
Overview: Making-of documentary of Gus Van Sant's 'My Own Private Idaho'.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2005-03-01
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A Special Day
2012-05-16
A Special Day
Overview: At the 60th anniversary of Cannes Film Festival, 34 famous directors are followed by camera.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2012-05-16
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Thank You for Supporting the Arts
Thank You for Supporting the Arts
Overview: Directors W. Alexander Jones and Carolann Stoney turn their cameras on Liv Osthus, one of the best-known artists working in Portland’s adult entertainment industry. She also happens to be a published author, musician, breast cancer survivor, mother, and daughter of a preacher. Better known as Viva Las Vegas, Osthus grew to wide notoriety when, along with a handful of other strippers, she faced down Portland city council for greater protections for sex workers. In a city with the highest number of strip clubs per capita in the country (and probably strippers), this unique woman not only revels in the glorious grit of the profession, but also manages to raise social perceptions with her creative successes, bravery, and artistry.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: en
Release Date:
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Junior
1988-01-01
Junior
Overview: In Gus Van Sant's loving portrait of his cat, a reflected light leads the subject to explore a domestic composition in a manner that can only be described as wholly feline.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1988-01-01
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Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot
2018-04-04
Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot
Overview: On the rocky path to sobriety after a life-changing accident, John Callahan discovers the healing power of art, willing his injured hands into drawing hilarious, often controversial cartoons, which bring him a new lease on life.
Genres: Comedy Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2018-04-04
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Mala Noche
1988-05-04
Mala Noche
Overview: Walt is a lonely convenience store clerk who has fallen in love with a Mexican migrant worker named Johnny. Though Walt has little in common with the object of his affections — including a shared language — his desire to possess Johnny prompts a sexual awakening that results in taboo trysts and a tangled love triangle.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1988-05-04
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My Own Private Idaho
1991-02-01
My Own Private Idaho
Overview: In this loose adaptation of Shakespeare's "Henry IV," Mike Waters is a hustler afflicted with narcolepsy. Scott Favor is the rebellious son of a mayor. Together, the two travel from Portland, Oregon to Idaho and finally to the coast of Italy in a quest to find Mike's estranged mother. Along the way they turn tricks for money and drugs, eventually attracting the attention of a wealthy benefactor and sexual deviant.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1991-02-01
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Paranoid Park
2007-07-12
Paranoid Park
Overview: A teenage skateboarder becomes suspected of being connected with a security guard who suffered a brutal death in a skate park called "Paranoid Park".
Genres: Drama Crime
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2007-07-12
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Psycho
1998-12-04
Psycho
Overview: A young female embezzler arrives at the Bates Motel, which has terrible secrets of its own.
Genres: Horror Mystery Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1998-12-04
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Last Days
2005-06-12
Last Days
Overview: The life and struggles of a notorious rock musician seeping into a pit of loneliness whose everyday life involves friends and family seeking financial aid and favors, inspired by rock music legend Kurt Cobain and his final hours.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2005-06-12
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The Making of Last Days
2004-01-01
The Making of Last Days
Overview: Behind-the-scenes documentary of Gus Van Sant's "Last Days."
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2004-01-01
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Five Ways to Kill Yourself
1987-02-20
Five Ways to Kill Yourself
Overview: Gus Van Sant, dissatisfied professionally, counts five ways to end his life. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2016.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1987-02-20
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Crítico
2008-01-22
Crítico
Overview: Seventy critics and filmmakers discuss cinema around the conflict between the artist and the observer, the creator and the critic. Between 1998 and 2007, Kléber Mendonça Filho recorded testimonies about this relationship in Brazil, the United States and Europe, based on his experience as a critic.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: pt
Release Date: 2008-01-22
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The Making of Drugstore Cowboy
1999-10-26
The Making of Drugstore Cowboy
Overview: Portland, 1988. Filmmaker Gus Van Sant shoots Drugstore Cowboy, the project that will bring he and his collaborators a formidable burst of mainstream attention. Starring Matt Dillon, Kelly Lynch, and Heather Graham, the film follows a roving quartet of drug addicts — and, consequently, drug thieves, especially from the businesses of the title — who wash up in Portland's then-gritty Pearl District. A death among their own spooks the leader of the pack into trying to clean up, and an encounter with a sepulchral junkie priest does its part to convince him further. Or maybe we should call him a Junkie priest, portrayed as he is by a controversial cameo from writer William S. Burroughs. "I'm going back to the old days," Burroughs says of his role early in the above documentary on the making of Drugstore Cowboy. "The old days when they used to give people morphine in jail. The old days before the methadone programs."
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1999-10-26
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Making Paranoid Park
2008-04-24
Making Paranoid Park
Overview: Behind the scenes documentary of Gus Van Sant's "Paranoid Park." Felix Andrew: director, cinematographer, editor. Dane La Chiusa: titles and original drawings. Joel Shelton, composer. Additional music: "Songs" by Ethan Rose, "Sangue de Bairro" by Chico Science e Nacao Zumbi. Made in 2006. Length: 27 minutes
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2008-04-24
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Drugstore Cowboy
1989-10-20
Drugstore Cowboy
Overview: Portland, Oregon, 1971. Bob Hughes is the charismatic leader of a peculiar quartet, formed by his wife, Dianne, and another couple, Rick and Nadine, who skillfully steal from drugstores and hospital medicine cabinets in order to appease their insatiable need for drugs. But neither fun nor luck last forever.
Genres: Drama Crime
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1989-10-20
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Illegal Civilization 3
2018-08-25
Illegal Civilization 3
Overview: Features Kevin White, Aramis Hudson, Zach Saraceno, Nico Hiraga, and Olan Prenatt skating, having fun, and getting into all of the hijinks that we’ve come to expect from the Civ.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2018-08-25
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Rescued from the Closet
2001-05-29
Rescued from the Closet
Overview: A collection of interviews recorded for the making of the 1995 documentary "The Celluloid Closet," on the subject of LGBT representation in film history.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2001-05-29
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Red Hot Chili Peppers: Funky Monks
1991-10-29
Red Hot Chili Peppers: Funky Monks
Overview: An intimate look at Los Angeles-based funk rock foursome Red Hot Chili Peppers' creative process as they join producer Rick Rubin at a Hollywood Hills mansion to record their 1991 studio album 'Blood Sugar Sex Magik', which would go on to propel the band into critical acclaim and worldwide popularity.
Genres: Music Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1991-10-29
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Reflecting On A Journey: Good Will Hunting 15 Years Later
2012-08-21
Reflecting On A Journey: Good Will Hunting 15 Years Later
Overview: Documentary featurette for the 15th Anniversary Edition of Good Will Hunting, including interviews with Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Robin Williams, Gus Van Sant, Chris Moore, and Kevin Smith.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2012-08-21
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