Michael Ventura wrote and directed the documentary I'm Almost Not Crazy: John Cassavetes, the Man and His Work, and was curator of the Sundance Festival's 1989 Cassavetes retrospective. His screenwriting credits include Echo Park, directed by Robert Dornhelm. As a journalist, Ventura has received a USA PEN award, a Los Angeles Press Club award and the Sinclair Lewis Award. He has published three novels and several books of non-fiction. Since 1993 Ventura's bi-weekly column "Letters at 3AM" has appeared in the Austin Chronicle. Selections from his work can be found at www.michaelventura.org