Gordon's Footlight

Rice hasn't stopped idolizing his subject, although to him, the chief lesson of Half Past Autumn is, "My kids are very important to me." (Rice has four children, two of whom are in their 20s; the other two are 17 and 8.) He continues: "I think artists have a tendency to get myopic about their work. Like, 'This is why I was sent to planet Earth--to do this.' And I'm really aware of the costs of that, because ultimately, kids take that pain with them well into adulthood--and you see that in the movie. In the end, it's not even about sacrificing the work, because what I learn from my children I bring to the film. What you learn from children is who you really are."

Teddy Maki

Parks department: Half Past Autumn director Craig Rice

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More About

• Gordon Parks
• Craig Rice
• Leadbelly
• The Library of Congress
• Visual Arts

Half Past Autumn: The Life and Works of Gordon Parks airs Wednesday at 6:00 p.m., Friday at 10:30 a.m., and Monday at 2:30 p.m. on HBO. It also airs four times in December on HBO-Plus.