History Isn't Really About The Past -

I'm A Filmmaker. I'm An Artist. I've Chosen To Work In History The Way Someone Might Choose To Work In Still Lifes Or Landscapes.

Write: Write Letters. Keep Journals. Besides Your Children, There Is No Surer Way Of Achieving Immortality.

I Think We Continually Need To Understand How Important An Event The War Was - How Defining, How Central To Who We Are. Everything That Came Before It Led Up To It, And Everything Of Importance To This Country - At Least Up To 1940 - Was A Consequence Of It. Even Now There's An Echo Of The War, However Faint, In Almost Everyone's Life.

I Have Made A Film About Jazz That Tries To Look Through Jazz To See What It Tells Us About Who We Are As A People. I Think That Jazz Is A Spectacularly Accurate Model Of Democracy And A Kind Of Look Into Our Redemptive Future Possibilities.

Jazz Is A Very Accurate, Curiously Accurate Accompaniment To 20th Century America.