John Sayles
When approaching John Sayles, the selection committee was unaware that he had directed the iconic videos for the Springsteen classics "I'm on Fire," "Glory Days," and "Born in the USA." To the committee, Sayles was known only as an acclaimed author and the writer-director of independent film classics such as Lone Star, Matewan, and Return of the Secaucus 7. On the afternoon of February 14, Sayles came to campus and regaled students with film clips and stories of filmmaking. Later that evening Sayles appeared at the Town Theater for a premiere of his Spanish language film Men with Guns and accepted the John Steinbeck Award from Dr. Martha Heasley Cox. Of Steinbeck, Sayles said, "What I remember most about him is how he developed a sense of place. And his characters actually worked for a living!"
