Frank V. Ross: The Video Interviews

Explore Split Tooth’s video interviews with Ross about his filmmaking career, from Quietly on By to Bloomin Mud Shuffle

Even if you’re a new reader of Split Tooth, it shouldn’t take long to recognize that our staff’s appreciation for Frank V. Ross and his films runs deep. Since the launch of Brett Wright’s 2018 essay and interview series devoted to Ross, the Chicago filmmaker’s work has been a fixture and a major inspiration for our website. His films Audrey the Trainwreck (2010) and Tiger Tail in Blue (2012) were among the most voted for in our Best of the 2010s staff film lists; we chose Ross’ breakthrough Quietly on By (2005) to screen at our 2023 fifth anniversary celebration; Ross was even among the first artists we asked to submit a guest list for our annual October Horror Favorite Horror Films lists. And based on the correspondence we have received over the years from readers and young filmmakers who consider Ross an inspiration proves his influence on contemporary independent film is vital.

To accompany our anniversary screening of Quietly on By, Split Tooth editors Brett and Craig Wright conducted a video interview with Ross about making Quietly on By. The interview was well received at the screening, and Ross agreed to sit down for five more extensive discussions on each of his subsequent films. Today, for Split Tooth’s seventh anniversary, we are excited to publish the latest installment in the interview series, an episode of Ross’ 2010 classic Audrey the Trainwreck, which is collected below along with the previously released entries on Quietly on By, Hohokam, and Present Company (2008).

We are also excited to announce the launch of Ross’ new website, which is currently hosting a free stream of Audrey the Trainwreck, a film that has been unavailable online for years. (There is more news to come regarding Ross’ website and the availability of the rest of his films, so stay tuned!)

And if that wasn’t enough for a worthy celebration of our anniversary, a new interview with Tony Baker, Ross’ greatest collaborator and frequent leading actor, is available now as well. You can read that here.

The list below will be updated as the video interview series continues. You can also follow the Ross’ video interview series on our YouTube channel here.

Read Brett Wright’s complete series on The Films of Frank V. Ross here