By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Australian-born Mark Savage, 44, is a true D.I.Y. filmmaker, having begun making scads of short films while in his teens. He eventually graduated to features, shot on the cheap with lots of exploitation elements. He is also something of an expert on Hong Kong action cinema, having directed the "making of" documentary on Jackie Chan's Mr. Nice Guy (1997).

Savage's 2004 film Defenceless is now on DVD.

Interviewed By Craig Phillips

In the not too distant past, Mike Nelson was host of the long-running cult TV series Mystery Science Theater 3000, which had run for years on cable.s Comedy Central before moving over to the Sci-Fi channel (both channels, oddly, embraced the show for its cultdom while simultaneously screwing it over). When MST3K finally disappeared, those of us who had been fans from nearly the beginning were in a state of disbelief. The wisecrackers on the Satellite of Love gave us our fix for cheesy genre movies, making the horrible not only tolerable, but also damned entertaining.

Mike Nelson, Bill Corbett and Kevin Murphy, have brought Rifftrax back to the Bay Area and will be performing May 27th & 28th. You can find event times and ticket info here.

By Sean Axmaker

The author of over 30 books on films and filmmakers, the founder and editor of The International Film Guide for over 40 years before his retirement, and the editor of the Tantivy Press line of film books that flourished through the 60s and early 70s, Peter Cowie is one of the most important writers and editors on cinema of the past half-century. He is one of the leading authorities on Ingmar Bergman and Scandinavian cinema and, in addition to his numerous books on the subjects, has contributed commentary tracks and essays to numerous Criterion DVD releases, including eight Bergman films, and has penned three books on Francis Ford Coppola and his films.

By Jonathan Marlow

On the occasion of the U.S. Premiere of Les Blank.s latest documentary, All in This Tea, at the San Francisco International Film Festival, Jonathan Marlow spoke with the remarkably accomplished filmmaker about his legendary career. What follows is the second of two parts, the first part can be found here.