An evocative chronicle of the rise and fall of the TV programmer whose cable channel pumped a diet of art, cult, unreleased and otherwise under-the-radar movies into the Los Angeles area from 1974 to 1989 and influenced a generation of filmmakers.
Screened as part of NZIFF 2005
Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession 2004
This doc is an absolute must-see for lovers of cinema. An evocative chronicle of the rise and fall of pioneering cable TV programmer Jerry Harvey, whose Z Channel pumped a diet of art, cult, unreleased and otherwise under-the-radar movies into the Los Angeles area from 1974 to 1989. This was an era before VHS or DVD, and the brilliantly programmed channel became Mecca for movie nuts, with Harvey as cinematic saviour. Films that had been mangled by the studios (1900, Once Upon a Time in America) suddenly had an outlet to be shown as originally intended: Z Channel championed the term ‘director’s cut’ like no other. The unknown and unloved in world cinema were also given the star treatment, with little known actors/directors given month-long retrospectives. Harvey’s programming inspired many influential filmmakers (Altman, Tarantino, Jarmusch all testify here) and thousands of others. Harvey was also living out his own grim film noir, complete with guns, broads, booze and suicide and director Xan Cassavetes’ admiring portrait does not shrink from portraying his dark side.