UMichigan acquires archive of maverick filmmaker John Sayles

Perhaps more than any modern filmmaker John Sayles personifies American individualism.

From his 1979 directorial debut "Return of the Secaucus 7" to his November 2013 release "Go for Sisters," he has thrived outside the Hollywood mainstream, using his films to explore such complex, nuanced themes as race, class and gender identity. Sayles is an iconoclast who sees film as a means to an end and not an end in itself.

Now, thanks to a gift to the U-M Library, documents, images and props illuminating Sayles’ vast body of work will be made available to researchers in the John Sayles Archive at the Special Collections Library....