Event

Burroughs: The Movie @ SLIFF

"Burroughs: The Movie" -- newly restored and available after years as a "lost" film -- explores the life and times of controversial "Naked Lunch" author (and St. Louis native) William S. Burroughs. With an intimacy never before seen and never repeated, the film charts the development of Burroughs' unique literary style and his wildly unconventional life, including his travels from the American Midwest to North Africa and several personal tragedies. "Burroughs: The Movie" is the first and only feature-length documentary to be made with and about Burroughs. The film was directed by the late Howard Brookner, who began working on the project in 1978 as his senior thesis at NYU and then expanded it into a feature, finally completing the documentary in 1983. Among those who worked on the film are a pair of fellow NYU classmates -- both close friends of Brookner's -- who went on to significant careers of their own: Jim Jarmusch ("Stranger Than Paradise"), who recorded sound, and Tom DiCillo ("Living in Oblivion"), who served as cinematographer.