Perhaps there should be two categories: the independent filmmaker, and the fiercely independent filmmaker. Acclaimed director Rob Nilsson has held onto his independence with a rare ferocity, creating in a dozen or so features a "cinema of the streets," rife with unsettling emotion, charmed happenstance, and hard-won truths. A disciple of John Cassavetes, the outspoken Nilsson fashioned his own "Direct Action Cinema," a character-driven, intuitive mode of moviemaking. He has been awarded both the Camera d'Or at Cannes (Northern Lights) and the Grand Prize at Sundance (Heat and Sunlight).
The last decade has seen Nilsson join his immersive cinema with a culturally engaged venture, the Tenderloin Action Group, later renamed the Tenderloin yGroup. Out of this intense drama workshop for San Francisco's inner-city residents has come a succession of revelatory features, including the much-lauded Chalk, the unvarnished story of pool hustlers.
Yet another expression of Nilsson's ardent independence is his pioneering use of electronic image-making. The mid-eighties saw his emotionally frank Signal 7 shot on videotape, then transferred to film for wide distribution, an achievement years ahead of much-vaunted movements like Dogme. Nilsson continues to turn digital innovations to his impassioned purpose, a memorable cinema of "high freedom and deep responsibility."
During his PFA residency, Rob Nilsson addressed the audience at his film screenings, introduced three evenings of films by John Cassavetes, and brought his concept of Direct Action Cinema to the UC Berkeley campus for an intensive workshop with students. Although the formal residency has ended, Rob continues to work with students to edit their film, SECURITY (working title). For updates, please see the UCB Workshop: Image Gallery.
