This weekend, the Port Townsend Film Festival honors the great indie filmmaker John Sayles and his longtime partner and producer Maggi Renzi. The veritable godfather of the American independent film scene, Sayles has made such classics as “The Return of the Secaucus 7,” “The Brother From Another Planet,” “Matewan,” “Eight Men Out,” “Lone Star” and over a dozen other films, all on very tiny budgets. By staying outside the studio system, he has been able to keep total aesthetic control over his films, a rarity in the film business.

In this wide-ranging interview Sayles and Renzi answer all sorts of questions.

— What’s their legacy as filmmakers?
— Did Lawrence Kasdan’s The Big Chill rip off Secaucus 7?
— What do baseball fans think of “Eight Men Out”?
— Speaking of sports, what do Sayles and Renzi think of the job the NFL’s Roger Goodell is doing?

— Does the artistry of their films get short-changed by having so much of the critical focus be on their shoestring budgets?
— If they could have doubled the budgets on any or all of their films, would they have been any better?
— How does Renzi pitch John’s movies to investors?
— Do they have any dream projects they’d love to do, if only they had access to a lot of money?
— With the quality of cable television these days, do they have anything in the works there?
— Do they take much pride in launching relatively unknown actors (Chris Cooper, David Strathairn, Matthew McConaughey) into the star stratosphere?
— Why do they prefer theatre actors to movie actors?

— Are their more recent films better than their early films?

— Is the independent film scene better off today than it was in the 70’s and 80’s?
— Since Sayles is such an accomplished writer, why doesn’t he just chuck the film world altogether and focus on his writing?
— What high profile movies has Sayles scripted?

— How did they become such good friends with Bruce Springsteen? (Sayles made three music videos with the Boss, including “Born in the USA.”)