END OF INNOCENCE

More appropriately titled Á Ma Soeur! in the director’s native France, Fat Girl is Catherine Breillat’s brilliant and shocking follow-up to Romance. B. Ruby Rich talks with the director about her genre-morphing ode to sibling rivalry and adolescent desire.

MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION

Following his sinister Hollywood sequel, Alien: Resurrection, Jean-Pierre Jeunet returns to the streets of Paris with Amélie — a giddy love letter to the city and cinema itself. Ray Pride talks to Jeunet about making one of the most successful French films of all time.

GRIEF COUNSELING

Anchored by a quartet of powerhouse performances, In the Bedroom is an exquisitely realized meditation on love and loss. Chuck Stephens speaks to writer/director Todd Field about life in Maine, learning from Stanley Kubrick and the fiction of Andre Dubus.

POWER POINT

Set in a functional universe of corporate meeting rooms, airport lounges and business hotels, Patrick Stettner’s The Business of Strangers looks at female relationships in a man’s world. Peter Bowen speaks to writer/director Stettner.

THE DREAM FACTORY

Red curtains, mysterious aphorisms and a threatening man in a cowboy hat — David Lynch is back! Scott Macaulay speaks with the director about his dreamy depiction of life beneath the Hollywood sign, Mulholland Drive.

BIZARRE LOVE TRIANGLE

Richard Glatzer and Wash West’s The Fluffer is a comedy about obsession set in the world of the gay-porn industry. Steve Gallagher talks with the directors.

IDENTITY CRISIS

Hollywood scripter Henry Bean’s directorial debut, The Believer is a bracing and intelligent drama about a Jewish neo-Nazi. Josh Zeman talks with Bean about Hollywood phone culture, distribution nightmares and religious paradox.

UNORTHODOX BEHAVIOR

Bari Pearlman speaks with director Sandi Simcha DuBowski about his documentary portrait of gay Orthodox Jews, Trembling before G-d.

DV CASE STUDY: FALLING LIKE THIS

Filled with car chases, period detail, and scores of extras, Dani Minnick’s Falling Like This is a stunning-looking DV feature realized on a slim $68,000 budget. Here, producer Lulu Zezza reveals her production secrets.

PLANET HOLLYWOOD

While some say that all the world loves a good story, as cultural theorist Franco Moretti discovers in this provocative essay, that’s not necessarily true. Mapping the limits of Hollywood hegemony, Moretti examines cultural assumptions that govern international film distribution. Introduction by James Schamus.

DON’T YOU FORGET ABOUT ME

First-time filmmakers struggle to create buzz for their pictures. But what to do after the film’s premiere and buzz turns to background noise? Reed Martin investigates the ways in which filmmakers build momentum for their careers.

SIDEBAR: SWITCHING CHANNELS

Peter Bowen looks at the opportunities afforded independent filmmakers by television.

TURBULENT

Atom Egoyan on the work of artist Shirin Neshat.

FOREVER FRANCO

Andre Salas on Spanish director Jess Franco.

OTHER GREEN WORLDS

The films of Richard Green.

DIGITAL ARTHOUSE

SNAPSHOT

Russ Meyer’s photographs.

N.Y. SOCIAL CLUB

Alfredo De Villa’s Washington Heights.

CONTENT PROVIDERS

Edward R. Pressman and John Schmidt’s new company, ContentFilm.

TRAVELOG

Wim Wenders’s Once: Pictures and Stories.

UNDERAGE

J.T. Leroy talks to James Bolton about Eban and Charley.