Film

From the film "The Last Seduction," actress Linda Fiorentino and screenwriter Steve Barancik. Barancik's screenplay tells the story of a woman who robs her husband of the proceeds from a drug deal, and then leaves town. Fioirentino stars as "one of the screen's most formidible femme fatales ever" ("Variety"), as she displays her character's "spellbinding talent for getting exactly what she wants" ("The New York Times").

From the new movie documentary "Hoop Dreams," young basketball player Arthur Agee and film director Steve James. The movie traces the lives of Agee and his friend William Gates for five years as they try to follow their dreams of rising from inner city Chicago to play in the NBA. James is the director, producer and co-editor of the film.

The two actors co-wrote and co-starred in the 1981 film, "My Dinner with Andre." They have since worked on many other projects individually in television, theater, and film. They have now collaborated again in "Vanya on 42nd Street," a film adaptation of Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya."

Paymer received an Oscar nomination for his role in "Mr. Saturday Night." He's now starring in the new movie "Quiz Show" as Dan Enright, the villain producer who rigs the show "Twenty-One."

Evans is an actor and producer of such films as "The Odd Couple", "Love Story", "Chinatown" and "The Godfather." His new memoir about his career's peaks and valleys is called "The Kid Stays in the Picture."

Hayes rose to the top of the charts in the 1970's on the Staxl record label. He released his first solo album, "Presenting Isaac Hayes," in 1968. His next album, "Hot Buttered Soul," became a gold record in the 1970's.

Lee is the co-writer and director of the new movie, "Eat Drink Man Woman." The movie looks at sex and food as the two main things that create and maintain families. It centers on Taiwan's leading chef and his disappointments -- both in his career as a chef and in his attempts to raise his three daughters. The movie also examines his daughters' relationships to food and sex. Lee is the director of "The Wedding Banquet," a movie about a love triangle between an American man, a Chinese woman and, a Chinese-American man.

Russell is the writer and director of the movie “Spanking the Monkey." It's about Raymond, who returns after his freshman year at MIT to find he has to spend the summer caring for his mother, who’s broken her leg. His loneliness, combined with his mother’s depression, results in a dark comedy about mother-son incest. “Spanking the Monkey” won the Audience Award for the most popular dramatic film at the Sundance Film Festival in January.

Speech Therapist Sam Chwat. Chwat's New York Speech Improvement Services attracts 200 to 250 clients a week. He taught Robert DeNiro how to gain an Appalachian accent for his role in "Cape Fear." Julia Roberts sought him out to relearn her southern drawl for "Steel Magnolias." He helped another southerner, Andie McDowell, after her lines for "Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan" were dubbed by Glenn Close.

Independent film director, producer and writer Rose Troche. She and co-producer and co-writer Guinevere Turner have made the new lesbian comedy, "Go Fish." The movie is being hailed as the newest "crossover hit." The two say they wanted to make a film about the community they lived in: "young, urban, multicultural, out, and burning up the phone lines gossiping about who went home with who last night." (The film played at the New York Lesbian and Gay Film festival in May, and opens at the San Francisco International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, June 9.