PORTLAND, Maine — When Roger Corman died a few days ago at the age of 98, he was warmly remembered as a B-movie legend, a producer and director who cranked out hundreds of low-budget pictures that you’ve never heard but whose titles will make you smile: “Sharktopus,” “Swamp Women, “The Brain Eaters,” and “Attack of the Crab Monsters.”
One of the many young filmmakers who got a major break from Corman was John Sayles, who was just a few years out of college when he wrote the screenplay for “Piranha,” a story of especially vicious—and genetically altered—fish that wreak havoc in the waters near a summer resort.
This week, Sayles will visit Maine as a featured guest at the Bates Film Festival. From Tuesday to Sunday, the festival will present 26 movies and more than 20 guests, including Academy Award-winning actor Chris Cooper and Rob Epstein, a documentary director and producer who has received two Oscars and five Emmys.
What sets the festival apart is that it’s organized and run by Bates College students under the direction of Professor Jon Cavallero, who helped found the festival and teaches film at Bates. We talked with him and Sophie Wheeler, a student who serves on the festival board of directors, about what’s being offered this year and how it all comes together. Watch our conversation to learn more.