If you are the kind of person who loves independent movies, in many ways you have James Schamus to thank. Schamus, a writer, producer and director, ran Focus Features for a dozen years, working on titles like “Lost in Translation,” “Dallas Buyers Club,” “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” and the locally-shot “Taking Woodstock.” He made his feature directorial debut with the recent adaptation of Philip Roth’s “Indignation,” and also teaches film at Columbia University.
Schamus is being honored at this year’s FilmColumbia festival, where several of his movies will be screened, and he’ll take part in a Q and A with Peter Biskind after a screening of “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” on Saturday at 2:30 at the Crandell.
