Lee Grant, Brooke Adams, and Fred Murphy on Tell Me A Riddle and The Stronger

The legendary Lee Grant was joined by actor Brooke Adams and cinematographer Fred Murphy to discuss her theatrical directorial debut, Tell Me a Riddle, a NYFF61 Revivals selection newly restored in 2022.

Grant and screenwriters Joyce Eliason and Alev Lytle adapted Tillie Olsen’s O. Henry Award-winning novella as a moving meditation on aging and coming to terms with the past. Melvyn Douglas and Lila Kedrova star as an elderly Midwestern couple who set out on a pilgrimage to visit their children and grandchildren, occasioning a reflection on the unexamined corners of their souls they’ve too long neglected in order to raise their family. Grant’s touching and richly traced debut is notable for having been directed, written, and produced exclusively by women. Grant’s 1976 short, The Stronger, also screened as part of this program.

The NYFF61 Revivals presentations of Tell Me a Riddle and The Stronger are sponsored by TCM.

Enjoy this conversation with Grant, Adams, and Murphy, and don’t forget to follow FLC’s YouTube page for more NYFF61 videos.