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Xan Cassavetes: the daughter of two independent-film mavericks raises the curtain on the cult cable channel that inspired a new generation of original directors

Interview, Feb, 2005 by Leslie Cafferty

With parents like legendary director John Cassavetes and Oscar-nominated actress Gena Rowlands, director Xan Cassavetes is, quite literally, a child of Hollywood. The 39-year-old mother of two spent much of her early years on sets, growing up in a Los Angeles household where movies were not just a regular topic around the dinner table, but a way of life. That familial devotion to films and filmmaking is in part why her new documentary, Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession, feels more like a paean to the television station she loved as a kid than a hard-hitting examination of a pop-culture curio. "It was this wonderful window into the lives of adults," Cassavetes recalls of Z Channel, which operated from 1974 to 1989. "It meant so much to me, but it's mainly been forgotten by history. I thought, 'That's not right! I have to do something about this.'"

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Launched as a subscription cable service available only to people living in industry-heavy sections of Los Angeles, Z Channel was renowned for the eclectic taste of its programmer, Jerry Harvey, who approached his job as if he were curating a museum, filling airtime with a mix of obscure European films (Philippe de Broca's Le Magnifique, 1973), Hollywood blockbusters (The Empire Strikes Back, 1980), and late-night blue movies--revolutionary programming in the days before video stores or Cinemax. Featuring interviews with filmmakers like Quentin Tarantino, Jim Jarmusch, and Alexander Payne, the documentary also spotlights subjects whose own work was shaped by the movies Z showed. But like many of the darker films Harvey celebrated, his own story ended tragically: After struggling for years with alcoholism and mental illness, he murdered his wife and committed suicide in his Hollywood home in 1988. Z folded soon afterward, and the documentary's downbeat ending raises more questions than it answers. "You can understand how mystified they are," Cassavetes says of her interview subjects. "You can clearly see their love for Harvey and how disillusioned they were after his death."

Nevertheless, Cassavetes finds Harvey's deep love of movies inspirational--which is understandable, considering her siblings Nick and Zoe are also filmmakers. Now even Cassavetes's own kids are trying to get in on the game: After funding for one of her recent projects--The Sky Is Green, a feature about a West Coast hip-hop producer--fell through, her 7-year-old daughter offered to help out. "My daughter lost her first tooth and got $5 from the tooth fairy, so she came to me and said, 'This is for your movie,'" explains Cassavetes. "1 took it, too," she adds. "I told her she could be my executive producer."

Leslie Cafferty is a New York City-based writer.

Xan Cassavetes: the daughter of two independent-film mavericks raises the curtain on the cult cable channel that inspired a new generation of original directors

Interview, Feb, 2005 by Leslie Cafferty

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