John Sayles has enjoyed one of the more respected careers in film over the last twenty-five years. By some estimates, he is the king of the uncredited re-write and has used the large fees he's garnered as a script doctor to further his own career as a writer-director. His resume is studded with several superb pictures (Sunshine State, Passion Fish, Eight Men Out, The Brother from Another Planet) and one masterpiece (Lone Star). Tonight at the Aero Theater, Sayles unspools his latest, Honeydripper.

It's a tale of the Jim Crow south where Tyrone Purvis, the proprietor of the Honeydripper Lounge, is desperate to save his club from closing. He's hired an ace guitarist to play one night at his club but Trouble, naturally, intervenes. Having seen Sayles speak before, I can vouch for his passionate committment to independent film and his frank assessment of the life he has chosen for himself. If you're a fan of Sayles or just a fan of cinema, I have no doubt you'll enjoy his lively discussion following the screening.

The Aero Cinema is located at 328 Montana Avenue at 14th Street in Santa Monica.

The screening starts at 7:30 pm and tickets are available here.

Photo courtesy of Emerging Pictures