Jon Jost is a self-proclaimed outsider whose films, made on impossibly slim budgets, shine with originality, technical virtuosity and political savvy. Something of the Bad Boy, his work is postured as a reproach to cinematic convention and to the indulgence of "personal films," a mode he views as non-political. Jost's emergence on the filmmaking scene began in 1963 with a series of short films. By 1974, he completed Speaking Directly, a feature with a hefty budget of $2,500. Tonight, PFA premieres Plain Talk & Common Sense, Jost's newest feature and the companion to Speaking Directly (to be screened May 3). "Jon Jost makes an attempt to analyze the American national character in a critically composed chain of quotes, pictures, and sounds, from the Mayflower Compact to a Ginsberg poem, from landscapes to satellite pictures, from Talking Drums and human voice to synthesizers. The montage of thematic fragments, making use of various filmic techniques-from the 'documentary' to 'abstract,' from statistics to Walt Whitman poems, from satirical snapshots to analytical commentaries-is open, inviting viewer involvement." -Berlin Film Festival, translated by Ginny Lachner "Like its predecessor Speaking Directly, the film moves from subjectivity to objectivity, between closeness and distance. It challenges the viewer to rethink and consider his place in society and his true role in activities which he daily takes for granted. Ironically, this film, which was made by an American and financed by Channel 4 in London, will probably never be seen on American TV." -Jon Jost