J. Aaron Sanders is a filmmaker, a screenwriter, and a novelist.

Joined June 2011
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Thank you, @statnews , for helping me shed light on the risks of dopamine agonists.
Feb 4
After discovering a drug he took for restless leg syndrome caused compulsive gambling, J. Aaron Sanders found himself facing “existential questions of free will.” trib.al/vs6E4hG
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Shirley MacLaine should be on every list of the great film actors. She has triumphed in every genre she’s tried, and as an accomplished dancer, she was just as deft with a laugh line and as delicate with heartache as she’d be with any choreography. And she’s still here! But are there any screenwriters creating Shirley MacLaine-worthy roles anymore? Please, get to work.
Happy 92nd birthday to Shirley MacLaine!
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My favorite quotes from this interview with Wright Thompson: - Profiles are about figuring out what is a central complication of somebody's life and how, on a daily basis, they go about solving it. - “A great detail will do the work of 50 crappy sentences.” - “In most brainstorming sessions, the goal for the individuals is to look good, not to make the thing good.” - "Stories are like a prayer for empathy, to try to understand each other, to understand another human being a little bit at a time. Then slowly, thread by thread, you understand yourself." - On writing well: "One of the things that's missing is that nobody wants to hear what I have to say, which is just reps. Zen is a butt in a seat. There's no mystery. It's just reps." - "When somebody says something is overwritten, it really just means that the story is underreported." - "I wish someone had told me years ago that if you're going to be a professional writer for decades, writing is not going to be about words, but it's going to be about architecture. Only when you really understand how things fit together and move can you then actually be thinking about the words." - "All writing is trying to say something new that is true and is both specific and universal and that helps the reader understand something they didn't understand before, preferably about themselves."
"The greatest piece of American art ever made is Absalom, Absalom." Wright Thompson says: "Faulkner gets something so essentially right about the South. It's a place where the conflict that exists inside the hearts of every human being is played out on the landscape in an external way that almost never happens. The South is one of the few places in the world where the interior becomes manifestly exterior. You know how they have energy vortexes in Sedona? Likewise, the South is one of those places where the thing cracks open and the big subterranean human ideas — the conflict in the heart of every human being burst into physical action on the actual physical land. William Faulkner could see that. He had that Sixth Sense. One of the reasons that book resonates with people across generations is that he's describing something you've instinctually felt but never had the vocabulary to describe."
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Bill Raftery has this exact same reaction when he hears “last call” at any bar.
WE ALMOST LOST BILL RAFTERY
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Playing @musicboxtheatre as part of @BeyondFest Chicago in a brand new 35MM Print with @RZA in person- your chance to experience one of the most unique filmmakers out there. Tickets still available - don't delay.
The @RZA's actioner 'One Spoon of Chocolate' is currently being supported by Quentin Tarantino, who praised it as "an old-school, foot-to-ass, Revenge-a-matic." It opens in U.S. theaters on May 1. Trailer and synopsis: tinyurl.com/23kpfpfc #FantasticPavilion @36Cinema
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Fantastic review of our 'Impulsive' podcast series in @ObserverUK newspaper. You can listen to all ten episodes here: lnkd.in/eKcs5Mtp
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I’ve spent the past year uncovering the devastating consequences of impulsive behaviour side effects caused by dopamine agonist drugs We’ve discovered how people developed sex and gambling addictions that lead to huge debts, criminality - even suicide bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clym…
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Our podcast series ‘Impulsive’ is due to start now on Radio 4. It's the story of drug side effects which cause people to develop sex and gambling addictions - with devastating consequences. Fantastic to get some terrific reviews. Please take a listen! lnkd.in/eZZeMF4S
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RIP Bud Cort. How else would you even pay tribute to him.
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J. Aaron Sanders shares his experience with excessive gambling after developing an impulse control disorder as a side effect of pramipexole. statnews.com/2026/02/04/rest… #rls #restlesslegssyndrome
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I’m not even Scottish but what a moment a what a bit of iconic commentary “Shoot, SHOOT!!” 😂😂
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25 Sep 2025
shots i took of the ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER 70MM IMAX print. there's nothing like real celluloid projection - support your local film theaters if you have them, and a big shout out to all the projectionists out there making sure we have a good time at the movies.
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25 Mar 2025

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The BLKBRD Mantis camera stabilizer in action is pretty impressive.

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I studied the entire video (50 minutes) of the #Trump and #Zelensky meeting to determine when things started going off the rails. For those who don't have time to watch the entire meeting (the CSPAN YouTube link is at the end of this post), here is what happened. Zelensky quietly sat and listened as Trump made numerous wild claims and false statements, such as the war wouldn't have started if he was president (and that October 7 wouldn't have either), that Europe has spent much less money to help Ukraine than the US has (fact check - by the end of 2024 the US had spent around $120 billion and Europe had spent around $139 billion), that WWIII would happen if it weren't for Trump, comparing himself to George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, and repeatedly calling rare earth minerals "raw earth" for some reason. Trump also said that security for #Ukraine would only be discussed after the deal was done, and then a journalist asked Zelensky a stupid question about why he wasn't wearing a suit and if he owned one. The meeting started to fall apart at 23:20 in the video, when Zelensky answered a question about a ceasefire, saying it would never work without security guarantees. He explained that #Putin had broken 25 signed agreements with Ukraine since the war began in 2014. At 23:50, Trump interrupts and says that Putin never broke an agreement while Trump was president. Zelensky corrects him, saying that broken agreements happened during Trump's first term. Trump's facial expression changes. Trump is visibly angry that anyone corrected one of his many untruths. His demeanor for the rest of the meeting changed after that. Trump continued to lie about the US spending far more on Ukraine than Europe, insulted Biden repeatedly, and bizarrely claimed he had stopped many wars including ones that people never heard about, and wars he stopped before the wars started. At 33:00, Trump said that many Ukrainian cities were destroyed without a building left standing (as if people weren't in cities anymore.) Zelensky corrects him, saying that Trump needs to come see Ukraine for himself because there is still life in Ukraine, that people are working and children are going to school, despite the difficult conditions. Zelensky explains that Ukraine is fighting but is also living, and that Putin hasn't destroyed Ukraine. Trump stares at the floor as Zelensky speaks. A journalist asks Trump what will prevent #Russia from invading after a ceasefire, and he says the agreement will stop Putin, and then tries to divert the conversation by talking about CNN having low ratings. At 40:30, after #JDVance has just finished attacking Biden's Ukraine policy, Zelensky asks if he can say something, and then talks about Putin not being stopped since 2014. Trump interrupts and says 2015, and then Zelensky and JD Vance correct Trump. Zelensky explains why diplomacy doesn't work with Putin. Vance gets angry at 42:10 and says that Zelensky is being disrespectful, and then questions Zelensky on conscription in Ukraine. Zelensky asks JD Vance to come to Ukraine once and see for himself what is happening in Ukraine. JD Vance then tries to quickly pivot away from his lack of experience in Ukraine by accusing Zelensky of attacking the administration. Zelensky says that America is secure because of the ocean separating it from Europe, but that someday in the future America will feel the influence of the Russia problem. Trump, emboldened by JD Vance having just attacked Zelensky, talks over Zelensky, telling Zelensky not to tell them how to feel, and that Zelensky is in no position to dictate how they're going to feel. Trump starts yelling at Zelensky. Zelenksy stays calm. Trump keeps talking above him and not letting him speak, telling him that he doesn't have the cards. Zelenksy says I'm not playing cards, I'm very serious. I'm the President in a war. Trump accuses Zelensky of gambling with WWIII and says that what Zelensky is doing is very disrespectful to America. JD Vance asks Zelensky if he has said "thank you" once in the entire meeting (fact check - Zelensky had said thank you earlier in the meeting, and many times over the past three years). Zelensky asks JD Vance if he thinks that speaking loudly about the war... Trump interrupts him, saying that JD Vance isn't speaking loudly. Zelensky asks if he can answer, and Trump tells him no and that he's done a lot of talking. Trump falsely claims that $350 billion was given by America to Ukraine (fact check - around $120 billion has been spent on support for Ukraine). Trump starts yelling about how much Ukraine owes America. JD Vance tells Zelensky to just say thank you, and that he's wrong. Trump tells Zelensky that he needs to be thankful. Trump complains about Zelensky not wanting a ceasefire. Zelensky says he wants a ceasefire, but with security guarantees. Trump attacks Biden, and then Obama. He tells Zelensky that he needs to be more thankful, and that he doesn't have the cards, with America he has the cards, but without America he doesn't have any cards. A journalist asks what will keep Putin from breaking any agreement. Trump says Russia broke agreements with Obama and Biden (he later added Bush to the list) because Russia didn't respect them, but that they respect Trump. Then it gets crazy. Trump then bizarrely rants about the Russia election interference investigation, saying that he and Putin went through it together, and throwing Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Adam Schiff, and Hunter Biden (and Hunter Biden's laptop, bathroom, and bedroom) into it. Trump professes Putin's innocence and feels sympathy for Putin having been accused of election interference. Trump tells Zelensky that he's empowered Zelensky to be a tough guy and that he doesn't think he'd be a tough guy without the United States. Trump says that Ukraine will make a deal with the US or the US is out, in which case the war will continue to be fought. Trump again accuses Zelensky of not being thankful, and then says this will be great television. #StandWithUkraine #UkraineWillWin #Zelenskyy youtube.com/watch?v=7pxbGjvc…
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Go behind the scenes with Jesse Krimes to see how he transformed prison-issued soap, hair gel, playing cards, and newspapers into powerful works of art. During his six-year incarceration, without access to traditional materials, Krimes created works of art that seek to disrupt and recontextualize the circulation of photographs in the media. Now on view at The Met, his work is displayed alongside Bertillon’s pioneering identification system, which helped establish the modern mug shot. Together, they challenge the perceived neutrality of photographic identification and the social hierarchies it reinforces. "Jesse Krimes: Corrections" is on view through July 13. Watch the full artist interview: met.org/4gRFJqU 🎨 Jesse Krimes (American, b. 1982). Purgatory (detail), 2009. Soap, ink, playing cards, dimensions variable. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Purchase, Vital Projects Fund Inc. Gift, through Joyce and Robert Menschel, and Alfred Stieglitz Society Gifts, 2024 © Jesse Krimes
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21 Feb 2025
Nickel Boys’ cinematographer Jomo Fray, who’s been nominated for Best Cinematography at the Film Independent Spirit Awards, shares his Last Four Watched with us 👀 See who wins the Spirit Awards tomorrow on the @filmindependent YouTube channel tomorrow at 2PM PST / 5 PM EST
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