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Born September 28, Schenectday, New York. |  |
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Begins writing stories featuring favorite TV and movie characters. | |
Attends Mount Pleasant High School, Schenectday, NY, in a Technical Electrical Program. | |
Earns letters in basketball, baseball, track, football. | |
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Drafted but rejected by US Army because of missing vertebra. | |
Attends Williams College, Williamstown, MA, majoring in psychology. Enrolls in creative writing classes. Acts in student plays with David Strathairn, Gordon Clapp, and Maggie Renzi. | |
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Graduates from Williams with B.S. in psychology. | |
Works as a nursing-home orderly in Albany, as a day laborer in Atlanta, as a meat packer in Boston, and hitchhikes across much of the US. | |
Short story "I-80 Nebraska, m.490-m.205" published in The Atlantic and wins an O. Henry award. | |
First novel Pride of the Bimbos published by Little Brown. | |
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Spends the summer acting with his former Williams classmates at the Eastern Slope Playhouse in North Conway, New Hampshire. | |
Acquires literary agent with ties in LA; writes Eight Men Out as a show-script. | |
Novel Union Dues published by Little Brown; nominated for National Book
Award, National Book Critics Circle Award. Short story "Breed" wins O. Henry Award. |
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Relocates to LA area (Santa Barbara) to pursue screenwriting. |
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Screenplay for Piranha filmed by Joe Dante. | |
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Story collection The Anarchists' Convention published by Little Brown. Screenplay for Lady in Red filmed by Lewis Teague. . |
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Secaucus 7 is edged out of the top prize at the USA Film Festival (later Sundance) by Heartland and Gal Young 'Un, both about the overcast hardships of rural existence. | |
Screenplay for Alligator filmed by Lewis Teague. Screenplay for Battle Beyond the Stars filmed by Jimmy Murakami. |
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Screenplay for The Howling filmed by Joe Dante. Teleplay for A Perfect Match filmed by Mel Damski. The Return of the Secaucus Seven released. |
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Writes and directs two plays, New Hope for the Dead and Turnbuckle, Off-Off Broadway. | |
Screenplay for The Challenge filmed by John Frankenheimer. Teleplay with Susan Rice for Enormous Changes at the Last Minute, filmed by Ellen Hovde and Mirra Bank; airs on PBS. |
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Awarded the MacArthur Foundation's "genius grants"-$33,000, tax free, for the each of the next five years. | |
Writes screenplay for Matewan, based on an episode in Union Dues. Lianna released. Baby, It's You released by Paramount. |
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Financing for Matewan collapses; writes and directs The Brother From Another Planet in less than three months. | |
The Brother From Another Planet released. | |
Sayles plays a "gentleman dope farmer" in Rick King's Hard Choices, his first acting role in a film he did not direct; the first of many. | |
Bruce Springsteen videos: "Born in the USA," "I'm on Fire," "Glory Days." | |
Screenplay
for The Clan of the Cave Bear filmed by Michael Chapman. Teleplay for Unnatural Causes filmed by Lamont Johnson. |
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Screenplay
for Wild Thing filmed by Max Reid. Matewan released. Thinking in Pictures: The Making of the Movie Matewan published by Houghton Mifflin. |
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Eight Men Out released. | |
Screenplay
for Breaking In filmed by Bill Forsyth. Creates TV series Shannon's Deal for NBC. |
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Mountain View, co-directed with Marta Renzi, airs on PBS. | |
Novel
Los Gusanos published by HarperCollins. City of Hope released. |
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Passion Fish released. Sayles' screenplay and Mary McDonnell's lead performance are nominated for Academy Awards. | |
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Screenplay for Men of War with Ethan Reigg and Cyrus Voris filmed by Perry Lang. | |
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The Secret of Roan Inish released. | |
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Lone Star released; Sayles snags his second Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay. | |
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Men With Guns released; Golden Globe nomination as the Best Foreign Language Film. | |
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Book-length interview Sayles on Sayles, edited by Gavin Smith, published by Faber and Faber. | |
Writes and directs Limbo. | |
Anthology John Sayles: Interviews, edited by Dian Carson, published by University Press of Mississippi. | |
Limbo released. | |
Girlfight released (executive producer) | |
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Sunshine State released. | |
IFC releases retrospective package of The Return of the Secaucus Seven, Lianna, and The Brother From Another Planet. | |
Casa de los Babys released. | |
Dillinger in Hollywood: New and Selected Short Stories published. | |
Silver City released. | |
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Honeydripper shot in Fall 2006. Coming to theaters next year! |  |
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Korean
War begins Sen. McCarthy hunts Reds in the State Department. TV: You Bet Your Life (Groucho Marx) Movies: All About Eve, Sunset Boulevard, Rashomon |
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Korean
War ends Movies: From Here to Eternity, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, The Wild One |
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U.S.
Marshals enforce school desegregation in Little Rock. Jack Kerouac's On the Road is published. TV: Leave It to Beaver |
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First
sit-in occurs in Greensboro, NC. U.S. launches first Explorer satellite. Movies: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Gigi, The Horse's Mouth |
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Berlin
Wall is built. TV: Bonanza, Gilligan's Island, The Smothers Brothers |
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Movies: La Dolce Vita, Psycho, Breakfast at Tiffany's, To Kill a Mockingbird, Alfie, The Graduate, Planet of the Apes | |
Cuban
Missile Crisis JFK assassinated Malcolm X assassinated Autobiography of Malcolm X published. |
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National
Organization for Women (NOW) founded. "Summer of Love" in the Haight-Ashbury. |
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Rev.
Martin Luther King, Jr. assassinated Riots throughout the U.S. Woodstock. Neil Armstrong walks on the moon |
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U.S. bombs Hanoi |
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Movies: Cabaret, Deliverance, The Godfather, Last Tango in Paris, Play It Again, Sam | |
Communists seize power in Vietnam; fall of Saigon. Personal computer, VHS videotape introduced. | |
TV: Saturday Night Live Movies: Dog Day Afternoon, Jaws, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest |
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Jimmy Carter becomes President; issues pardon to Vietnam-era draft evaders. Alex Haley's Roots published. | |
Movies: All the President's Men, Bound For Glory, Carrie, Network, Rocky, Saturday Night Fever. | |
First space shuttle flight. Anwar Sadat becomes first Arab leader to visit Israel. Elvis Presley dies. | |
TV:
Roots Movies: Annie Hall, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Star Wars |
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Arab/Israeli summit talks; Camp David Accords. Sandanistas fight in Nicaragua. Jonestown. | |
Movies: Blue Collar, Coming Home, The Deer Hunter, Get Out Your Handerchiefs (Bertrand Blier), Grease, Halloween, National Lampoon's Animal House, An Unmarried Woman. | |
Mother
Teresa of Calcutta receives Nobel Peace Prize. Shah of Iran ousted
by the Ayatollah Khomeini. Song: "Rapper's Delight" (Sugar Hill Gang). First commercial rap record. |
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Movies: Alien, Apocalypse Now, The China Syndrome, Kramer vs. Kramer, Manhattan | |
Hostage crisis in Iran; rescue attempt fails. Ronald Reagan becomes president. John Lennon killed. | |
Movies: Airplane!, Altered States, The Blues Brothers, The Elephant Man, The Empire Strikes Back, Ordinary People, The Shining | |
MTV
debuts with "Video Killed the Radio Star" (The Buggles). Movies: Arthur, Chariots of Fire, Porky's, Raiders of the Lost Arc, Stripes |
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The
term AIDS ("Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome") is first used. John Belushi dies. Music: "Thriller" (Michael Jackson). |
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Movies: 48 Hrs, Blade Runner, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, First Blood, Gandhi, An Officer and a Gentleman, Tootsie, Missing | |
U.S.
backs Contra rebels in Nicaragua. Grenada. CD (Compact Disc) launched. |
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Movies: The Big Chill, The Return of the Jedi, Risky Business, Terms of Endearment, Trading Places | |
Los
Angeles Olympics; Macintosh computer introduced. Indira Gandhi assassinated Music: "Born in the USA" (Bruce Springsteen). |
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Movies: Amadeus, Beverly Hills Cops, Ghostbusters, Gremlins, Silkwood, The Cotton Club, The Gods Must be Crazy, The Terminator, This is Spinal Tap | |
Hole
in ozone layer discovered. Rock Hudson dies of AIDS. Movies: Back to the Future, Brazil, The Killing Fields, Out of Africa |
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First
national Martin Luther King, Jr., holiday. Chernobyl. Challenger. Iran/Contra. |
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Movies: Aliens, The Color Purple, The Killer (John Woo), Platoon, Top Gun | |
Gorbachev
launches "glasnost" and "perestroika" Movies: Full Metal Jacket, The Last Emperor, Lethal Weapon, Moonstruck |
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George
H. W. Bush becomes president. Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses published. Movies: Big, Cinema Paradiso, Die Hard, Rain Man |
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George Bush authorizes U.S. invasion of Panama to kidnap suspected drug baron Manuel Noriega. Berlin Wall demolished; Cold War ends. Tiananmen Square. | |
Movies: Batman, Driving Miss Daisy, Glory, The Little Mermaid | |
Senate Judiciary Committee grills Supreme Court appointee Clarence Thomas, when charges of sexual harassment are leveled by law professor Anita Hill. | |
Gulf
War; Operation Desert Storm. Abolition of apartheid in South Africa.
Movies: Beauty and the Beast, JFK, The Silence of the Lambs, T2 |
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Rodney
King cops walk; LA riots. UN troops in Somalia; Black Hawk down. Bill Clinton becomes president. |
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World
Trade Center bombed. Movies: The Fugitive, Jurassic Park, The Remains of the Day, Schindler's List, Sleepless in Seattle |
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Israel/Jordan peace agreement. Nelson Mandela becomes president in South Africa. | |
Movies: Dumb and Dumber, Ed Wood, Forrest Gump, The Lion King, Philadelphia, The Shawshank Redemption, Speed. | |
U.S.
troops with the UN in Bosnia Bill Clinton re-elected. |
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Movies: The English Patient, Independence Day, Mission: Impossible, Trainspotting | |
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Princess Diana, Mother Teresa die. Million Man March on Washington | |
Movies: As Good as it Gets, Good Will Hunting, LA Confidential, Men in Black, Princess Mononoke (Hayao Miyazaki), Titanic. | |
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Frank Sinatra dies. India and Pakistan conduct nuclear weapons tests. | |
Movies: Run Lola Run, Saving Private Ryan, Shakespeare in Love, The Truman Show | |
Woodstock
'99; legacy of Sixties trashed. Columbine. Stanley Kubrick dies. |
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Non-story
of the year: Y2K-related disasters fail to occur. George W. Bush becomes President in contested election. |
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Movies: American Beauty, Being John Malkovich, The Insider, The Sixth Sense, Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace | |
9/11 terrorist attacks destroy World Trade Center, damage Pentagon George W. Bush invades Afganistan. |
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Movies: Cast Away, Gladiator, Ali, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, The Lord of the Rings, Pearl Harbor | |
George
Harrison dies. TV: Six Feet Under |
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George W. Bush invades Iraq. Dept. of Homeland Security created. |
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Space shuttle Columbia breaks up on reentry, killing all astronauts aboard. | |
George W. Bush appears before a banner celebrating "Mission Accomplished" in Iraq. | |
Robert Wise, acclaimed director, producer, and editor, dies at 91. | |
San Francisco begins issuing marriage licenses to gay couples as an act of civil disobedience. Terrorist bombing in Madrid. |
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Anti-American insurgency rises in Iraq. George W. Bush elected to second term. | |
Kyoto Protocol takes effect, without U.S. support. Pope John Paul II dies. Joseph Ratzinger elected Pope Benedict XVI. |
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W. Mark Felt confirmed to be "Deep Throat" Watergate source. Movies: Farenheit 9/11 |
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Hurricane Katrina strikes Gulf Coast, followed by Hurricane Rita days later. New Orleans devastated. | |
John G. Roberts, Jr. sworn in as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, replacing William Rehnquist. | |
Movies: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith, The Chronicles of Narnia, War of the Worlds | |
Conservative Samuel Alito joins Supreme Court, replacing Sandra Day O'Connor. Movies: Syriana, Munich, V for Vendetta |
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In midterm elections, Democrats win control of House and Senate. Iraq war continues. |
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Kenneth Anger completes his first "underground" film, Fireworks. |  |
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Stanley Kubrick completes his first low-budget independent feature Fear and Desire. Salt of the Earth, a fact-based labor film, is produced by a co-operative. | |
John Cassavetes makes what is widely regarded as the first true American independent features, Shadows. | |
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War Hunt (Denis Sanders) Emile de Antonio's first documentary, Point of Order, about the Army-McCarthy hearings, is released. |
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John Waters makes his first underground film in Baltimore, Hag in a Black Leather Jacket. Nothing But a Man (Michael Roemer) The Pawnbroker (Sidney Lumet) |
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Rush to Judgment (Emil de Antonio) Andy Warhol's Chelsea Girls becomes the first "underground" film to receive a high-profile theatrical release. |
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Russ Meyer's Vixen! and George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead break
out of the exploitation ghetto to become "outlaw" cult movies. |
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The New York film school generation debuts, with the first low-budget features of Brian De Palma (Murder a la Mode and Greetings) and Martin Scorsese (Who's That Knocking at My Door?) | |
Dennis Hopper's Easy Rider, though released by a major studio, confirms the existence of a large audience for non-mainstream cinema. | |
Ganja & Hess (Bill Gunn, Fima Noveck) |
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John Waters' Pink Flamingos becomes the first certified "midnight movie" hit. | |
Female Trouble (John Waters) Hearts and Minds (Peter Davis; AA 1975, Best Documentary feature) |
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Robert Altman's Nashville, another major-studio release that helped define
the independent spirit. Martha Coolidge makes the path-breaking feminist film Not a Pretty Picture. |
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The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Jim Sharman) A Woman Under the Influence (John Cassavetes) |
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Harlan County, U.S.A. (Barbara Kopple) Meat (Frederick Wiseman) |
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Annie Hall (Woody Allen), a major hit and a multiple Oscar winner whose influence has been almost exclusively on the indie world. |
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Citizen's
Band, aka Handle With Care (Jonathan Demme) Eraserhead (David Lynch) Last Chants for a Slow Dance (Jon Jost) Welcome to L.A. (Alan Rudolph) |
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Alambrista!
(Robert M. Young) Girlfriends (Claudia Weil) Northern Lights (Rob Nilsson) Remember My Name (Alan Rudolph) |
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The Independent Feature Project debuts as an indie-market sidebar to the New York Film Festival. | |
Chilly
Scenes of Winter is released as Head Over Heels (Joan Micklin Silver) Gal Young 'Un (Victor Nunez) Over the Edge (Jonathan Kaplan) |
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Gloria
(John Cassavetes) Heartland (Richard Pearce) One Trick Pony (Robert M. Young) Out of the Blue (Dennis Hopper) |
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Robert Redford establishes the Sundance Institute, a summer workshop program "dedicated to the support and development of emerging screenwriters and directors." | |
The
Ballad of Gregorio Cortez (Robert M. Young) Chan Is Missing (Wayne Wang) |
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Come
Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (Robert Altman)
Diner (Barry Levinson) Wild Style (Charlie Ahearn) |
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Liquid Sky (Slava Tsukerman) My Brother's Wedding (Charles Burnett) Streamers (Robert Altman) Valley Girl (Martha Coolidge) |
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IFP/West presents the first annual Independent Spirit Awards show. The Coen Brothers low-budget Blood Simple is released, helping to create a new sub-genre, the neo-noir art movie. |
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Jim Jarmusch's third feature Stranger Than Paradise establishes him as a definitive indie auteur with a hip, downtown sensibility. | |
Robert Redford takes over the struggling USA Film Festival, which as the Sundance Festival will become a make or break showcase for independent cinema. | |
Blue
Velvet (David Lynch) Down by Law (Jim Jarmusch) Platoon (Oliver Stone) The River's Edge (Tim Hunter) |
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Spike Lee launches one of the definitive independent film careers
with She's Gotta Have It. Sid and Nancy (Alex Cox) |
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Border Radio (Allison Anders) Raising Arizona (Joel & Ethan Coen) Working Girls (Lizzie Bordon) |
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Colors
(Dennis Hopper) Hairspray (John Waters) The Moderns (Alan Rudolph) |
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The Sundance Festival emerges as the key starmaker of the indie world, when Steven Soderbergh's Sex, Lies, and Videotape is anointed there and goes on to become a landmark hit. | |
Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee) Drugstore Cowboy (Gus Van Sant) True Love (Nancy Savoca) |
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The Independent Feature Projects debuts the annual Gotham Awards presentation. | |
Boyz N the Hood (John Singleton) My Own Private Idaho (Gus Van Sant) Slacker (Richard Linklater) |
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Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs takes indie-punk neo-noir to the next level, marking the emergence of a generation of self-taught filmmakers weaned in video stores. | |
The Independent Feature Project launches the magazine FILMMAKER as a voice for the independent film community. | |
Robert
Rodriguez shoots his first feature, El Mariachi, for just $7,000,
a new world record. The Player (Robert Altman) |
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Twin brothers Allen and Albert Hughes make Menace II Society, partly in response to the "preachy" Boyz N the Hood---and the conversation continues. | |
Amateur
(Hal Hartley) Kevin Smith shoots Clerks after hours in a New Jersey convenience store. The Independent Film Channel debuts on cable. |
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Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction becomes the most successful American indie movie ever made. | |
The
Slamdance Festival is established as an anti-establishment alternative
to Sundance, which is now perceived as too powerful and clique-ridden.
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A group of filmmakers led by Danish director Lars von Trier issues the Dogme 95 manifesto, heralding the DV (Digital Video) revolution. | |
Kids (Larry Clark) Welcome to the Dollhouse (Todd Solondz) The Sundance Channel is launched |
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Basquiat
(Julian Schnabel) Bottle Rocket (Wes Anderson) Fargo (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen) Sling Blade (Billy Bob Thornton) |
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IFC Entertainment is established, incorporating Next Wave Films, which provides finishing funds for the emerging DV cinema movement. | |
The Apostle (Robert Duvall) Boogie Nights (Paul Thomas Anderson) Chasing Amy (Kevin Smith) |
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Gummo
(Harmony Korine) Rosewood (John Singleton) Waiting for Guffman (Christopher Guest) |
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The Big Lebowski (Joel & Ethan Coen) Gods and Monsters (Bill Condon) Happiness (Todd Solondz) Pi (Darren Aronofsky) Rushmore (Wes Anderson) |
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The Blair Witch Project (Daniel Myrick & Eduardo Sanchez) Boys Don't Cry (Kimberly Peirce) Dogma (Kevin Smith) Magnolia (Paul Thomas Anderson) |
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Love
& Basketball (Gina Prince-Bythewood) O Brother, Where Art Thou? (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen) |
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Baby
Boy (John Singleton) Bamboozled (Spike Lee) Bully (Larry Clark) The Center of the World (Wayne Wang) |
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The
Man Who Wasn't There (Joel & Ethan Coen) Memento (Christopher Nolan) Gosford Park (Robert Altman) |
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No Such Thing (Hal Hartley) Y tu Mama Tambien (Alfonso Cuaron) Human Nature (Michel Gondry) |
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George Washington (David Gordon Green) Girlfight (Karyn Kusama) Dancer in the Dark (Lars von Trier) |
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Monster's Ball Waking Life (Richard Linklater) |
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In the Bedroom (Todd Field) Donnie Darko (Richard Kelly) Amores Perros (Alejandro Inarritu) |
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Far From Heaven (Todd Haynes) Lovely & Amazing (Nicole Holofcener) My Big Fat Greek Wedding |
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Bowling for Columbine (Michael Moore) | |
Lost in Translation (Sofia Coppola) Raising Victor Vargas (Peter Sollett) The Station Agent (Thomas McCarthy) |
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Whale Rider (Niki Caro) In America (Jim Sheridan) The Fog of War (Errol Morris) |
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Maria Full of Grace (Joshua Marston) The Motorcycle Diaries (Walter Salles) Tarnation (Jonathan Caouette) |
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Good Night, and Good Luck (George Clooney) Brokeback Mountain (Ang Lee) Brick (Rian Johnson) Junebug (Phil Morrison) |
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Inland Empire (David Lynch) Half Nelscon (Ryan Fleck) Little Miss Sunshine (Faris/Dayton) |
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A Prairie Home Companion (Robert Altman) Old Joy (Kelly Reichardt) |
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