Z CHANNEL: A MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION

Long before HBO stole Sunday evening, or Blockbuster became ubiquitous, a maverick man ran an equally maverick cable channel serving the Los Angeles area. It was called the Z Channel and it was unique: all movies all the time with no commercials?a veritable film festival in one?s living room. The man behind it was Jerry Harvey, a would-be filmmaker whose passion for finding unsung, overlooked and interesting films from the around the world drove Z Channel to be essential viewing in and around Hollywood in the late ?70s and ?80s. But Harvey was a driven man plagued by childhood demons and family suicides, say his friends, co-workers, and celebrities in this fascinating documentary. Jim Jarmusch, Quentin Tarantino, Robert Altman, F.X. Feeney, Stuart Cooper, Robert B. Harris and more all weigh in on the importance of Harvey?s work in redefining Hollywood. Teasingly spiced with dozens of film clips showing Harvey?s enormous range and eclectic taste, the film chronicles the life of a fascinating man working in a fascinating time.