Station master: Agent's backer speaks at Jefferson

A man who helped make possible the surprise indie hit The Station Agent will speak between screenings of the show at the Jefferson Theater.

Barry Sisson, who gave up his career in the security business to make movies, stepped into his own Cinderella story a year ago when he took this film the Sundance Film Festival and came back with the Audience Award and a Miramax distribution deal.

Starring Peter Dinklage and Patricia Clarkson, the film was written and directed by Thomas McCarthy.

Although it did not produce any Oscar nominations, The Station Agent opened to explosive per-screen box-office and uniformly positive reviews. Roger Ebert pronounced it a "treasure," Rolling Stone called it "an absolute stunner," and the New York Times declared the offbeat sleeper "delicate, thoughtful, and often hilarious."

Pretty good for a film about a lonely dwarf holed up in an abandoned train station. Pretty good for a first-time movie mogul whose previous experience consisted of 25 years in the security business.

Sisson speaks Monday, June 14, at 9pm at the Jefferson Theater. Screening times are 7:30 and 9:30. $3. 980-1331.

 
Barry Sisson knew a winner when he saw The Station Agent.<br>PHOTO BY JEN FARIELLO

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