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THE INDEPENDENT FILM CHANNEL PRESENTS
a MAJA FILMS and FRESH PRODUCE FILMS production

Z CHANNEL: A Magnificent Obsession

Directed by Xan Cassavetes
Produced by Rick Ross & Marshall Persinger
Executive Producers, Alison Palmer Bourke & Ed Carroll
Supervising Producer, Susan Heimbinder
Co-Producer, F.X. Feeney
Associate Producers, Leslie Lowell & Jonathan Montepare
Director of Photography, John Pirozzi
Edited, Iain Kennedy
Assistant Editor and Graphic Design, Gabriel Reed
Music, Steven Hufsteter

Featured in Z CHANNEL: A Magnificent Obsession

Robert Altman, Filmmaker
Vera Anderson, Jerry Harvey’s First Wife, Photojournalist
Charles Lynn Batten, English Professor, UCLA
Jacqueline Bisset, Actress
Charles Champlin, Film Critic
David Chasman, Film Executive
Stuart Cooper, Filmmaker
F.X. Feeney, Film Critic
Andrea Grossman, Z Channel Programming Assistant
James B. Harris, Filmmaker
Don Hyde, Friend Of Jerry Harvey
Henry Jaglom, Filmmaker
Jim Jarmusch, Filmmaker
Charles Joffe, Producer
Bill Mechanic, Former Programmer, Select TV
Edwin Michaelove, Founding Z Channel Programmer
Ned Nalle, Film Executive, Universal
Jerry Pam, Z Channel Producer
Alexander Payne, Filmmaker
Chuck Ross, Z Channel's Top Door-To-Door Salesman
Doreen Ringer Ross, Jerry Harvey’s Longtime Girlfriend
Alan Rudolph, Filmmaker
Theresa Russell, Actress
Tim Ryerson, Z Channel Assistant Programmer
Jeff Schwager, Z Channel Assistant Programmer
Penelope Spheeris, Director
Bob Strock, Z Marketing Executive
Quentin Tarantino, Filmmaker
Kevin Thomas, Film Critic
Jonathan Turell, Janus Films/Criterion Collection
Douglas Venturelli, Friend And Writing Partner Of Jerry Harvey
Paul Verhoeven, Filmmaker
James Woods, Actor
Vilmos Zsigmond, Cinematographer

Film Footage Showcased in Z CHANNEL: A Magnificent Obsession

8 ½, Federico Fellini (1963)
1900, Bernardo Bertolucci (1976)
The 400 Blows, Francois Truffaut (1959)
A Safe Place, Henry Jaglom (1971)
Andrei Rublev, Andrei Tarkovsky (1969)
Attilas ’74, Michael Cacoyannis (1975)
Bad Timing, Nicolas Roeg (1980)
Berlin Alexanderplatz, Rainer Werner Fassbinder (1980)
Black Orpheus, Marcel Camus (1959)
Children of Paradise, Marcel Carne (1945)
China 9, Liberty 37, Monte Hellman/Tony Brandt (1978)
College, James W. Horne (1927)
Das Boot, Wolfgang Petersen (1981)
Decline of Western Civilization Part I, Penelope Spheeris (1981)
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, Stanley Kubrick (1964)
The Empire Strikes Back, Irvin Kershner (1980)
Fingers, James Toback (1978)
Fitzcarraldo, Werner Herzog (1982)
Heaven’s Gate, Michael Cimino (1981)
Images, Robert Altman (1972)
The Important Thing is to Love, Andrzej Zulawski (1975)
In a Lonely Place, Nicholas Ray (1950)
Juliet of the Spirits, Federico Fellini (1965)
La Cicala, Alberto Lattuada (1980)
La Notte, Michelangelo Antonioni (1961)
La Strada, Federico Fellini (1954)
Lady on the Bus, Neville De Almeida (1978)
L’Avventura, Michelangelo Antonioni (1960)
Le Magnifique, Philippe de Broca (1973)
The Leopard, Luchino Visconti (1963)
Madchen in Uniform, Leontine Sagan (1931)
Malizia, Salvatore Samperi (1973)
McCabe and Mrs. Miller, Robert Altman (1972)
The Moon’s Our Home, William Seiter (1936)
My Darling Clementine, John Ford (1946)
Once Upon A Time In America, Sergio Leone (1984)
One Deadly Summer, Jean Becker (1983)
Overlord, Stuart Cooper (1975)
Pandora’s Box, G.W. Pabst (1929)
The Passenger, Michelangelo Antonioni (1975)
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, Sam Peckinpah (1973)
Paths of Glory, Stanley Kubrick (1957)
The Red Desert, Michelangelo Antonioni (1964)
Ride the High Country, Sam Peckinpah (1962)
Salvador, Oliver Stone (1986)
The Sicilian, Michael Cimino (1987)
Silver Streak, Arthur Hiller (1976)
Something of Value, Richard Brooks (1957)
Turkish Delight, Paul Verhoeven (1973)
Welcome to L.A., Alan Rudolph (1976)
Wifemistress, Marco Vicario (1977)
The Wild Bunch, Sam Peckinpah (1969)
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Quotes from Z CHANNEL: A Magnificent Obsession

“With Jerry [Harvey] you always talked about movies. His entire frame of reference was films.”
- Doug Venturelli, Friend

“He [Jerry Harvey] was manic. He was an obsessive programmer. I want to say that’s not a bad thing, by the way.”
- Ned Nalle , Universal Pictures

“It was really appropriate that [Z Channel] was in L.A. in a way, because in New York we did have a lot of venues to see those kinds of movies.”
- Jim Jarmusch, Filmmaker

“I would ask, ‘Hey, do you have this movie, do you have that movie?’ And he’d pull them out. And as I’d watch them I’d realize that these were the old Z Channel tapes.”
- Quentin Tarantino, Filmmaker

“[Z Channel] was like a film festival in your house every single night. And the programming was eccentric and odd and mixed.”
- Henry Jaglom, Filmmaker

“Jerry insisted to the Grimaldis for five years that they had an uncut 1900, a five hour version of 1900. They just said, “No, no, it no longer exists. Maybe it existed once, but it no longer exists.” And Jerry pressed them and pressed them, and eventually, managed to get it released. And so we showed it on Z Channel. And there you could see in all its splendor what Bertolucci had intended.”
- F.X. Feeney – Friend, Film Critic

“If you couldn’t get a studio to release your picture, your picture did not get seen. One of the big things to change that was the Z Channel.”
- Henry Jaglom, Filmmaker

“Personally, I always felt that particular day with Chuck Champlin and Jerry Harvey and what came of it was the turning point in my career. Without a doubt.”
- James Woods – Actor

“I knew Jerry personally so well, he’d say ‘I want to sneak your film on my channel.’ And I’d say “Oh that’s good.” Because otherwise they didn’t play anywhere.”
- Robert Altman - Filmmaker

“So many of my students, when they’re interested in movies, are only interested in the art movies, the Indies. Jerry loved them all. And hated them all when they were bad.”
C.L. Batten, English Professor U.C.L.A