Are all of the films based on you own personal experiences or feelings?
All films by whomever makes them are based on personal experience. Whether that personal experience is direct, or through some other medium obviously differs from one individual to another. My films are my children (you might think I'm a bad father because my children are always depressed). They are an extension of my fantasy and reality. Often I write when I'm depressed about whatever, and it obviously shows. I find often that the happy have not many stories to tell. But relying on depression for inspiration is an equivalent to relying on alcohol or drugs. I never write drunk for it always comes out misdirected, no matter what Paul Schrader, Dylan Thomas, or Winston Churchill will have you believe. Just have faith in your own state of mind and don't run from negative thoughts. Properly used, those negative thoughts can create positive results. Without depression, we as a culture would not have the art in which we marvel today.

The nightmarish vision of The Picture Fades relies on the subconscious premise that all self-control has been stripped from the character, i.e., he could theoretically switch the television off at any time and remove the stranglehold that it has on him. Do you believe that television is now such an inescapable presence that it no longer matters whether it is on or off--its destructive malaise affects us either way?
I do believe that we are controlled by our surroundings. Religion has been replaced by McDonalds, and every day activity by Seinfeld re-runs. But in 'The Picture Fades' the television is used more as a metaphor, and should not just be taken literally. Television and other influences have determined how the individual regards itself, and his/her relation to its environment. The TV represents a division of the mind and body. And once you seperate the two you become the quotient of a repeated division. Is technology or forced thought impresion inescapable? I don't seem to think so. This is one of the reasons the main character kills his mind and self by the physical means of a gun (which I also put in as phalic symbol, but that's a whole other therapy session all together). Technology, although said to bring our large world together, will separate us further from ourselves and each other... more so than any cold war evr could.

The suicide solution in The Picture Fades: an exasperated attempt for a last breath of salvation? Or a pathetic resignation to a seemingly all-encompassing fate?
I've never viewed suicide as 'pathetic.' The question "to be or not to be' (as cliche as it has become), is the central question to humankind's existence. In a way, the character's suicide is more for 'salvation' than 'resignation.' The entire film is an abstract metaphor. By killing himself, the main character acts as a christ-like sacrifice for the betterment of humankind. Learn by example... I'm not pontificating that everyone should sacrifice his/her self. This film is simply a comment or observation, my own personal philosophy, and a different (or the same) way of looking at human existence.

In the Shadowboxer, why is fear represented darkly, as a mute, black, hooded, ass-kicker? Isn't fear, truly, as Milan Kundera would say, something light, something to be loved, cherished, and embraced?
It is because he does not embrace his fear that the main character gets knocked down. So if he had loved and/or cherished this fear, he would have triumphed over it. Why is the character played by an African-American? I don't know because that was the director's vision. The director came to me with the story boards already finished and told me to write a story in action description and no dialogue (accept for some voice over which mainly was edited out). I wouldn't have cast an African-American because I hate the idea of white meaning 'good' and black meaning 'bad.' It re-confirms a lot of racist stereotypes, that were created by the white or supposedly 'good' man.

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