SpIFF presents actor-director Matthew Modine and Spokane author Jess Walter in a conversation about filmmaking, Hollywood and Spokane in the 1980s

Jesus was a Commie with Matthew Modine: Acclaimed actor-director Matthew Modine will join Spokane author Jess Walter in a conversation about filmmaking, Hollywood and Spokane in the 1980s. The evening will include a screening of Modine’s award-winning new short film, Jesus Was a Commie. The 15-minute film, which Modine wrote, co-directed (with Terence Ziegler) and stars in, has played at festivals from Italy to Canada, and in August it was awarded the Founders Prize for Best Short Film at the Traverse City Film Festival, founded by Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Michael Moore.  Walter, a National Book Award nominee for his 2006 novel “The Zero,” is the author of five novels and one nonfiction book. He’s also written screenplays, most recently adapting his 2009 novel, The Financial Lives of the Poets, for the British director Michael Winterbottom.