Alexander Payne’s satiric films–small, human and humorous–tell poignant stories of individualism and self-fulfillment, of ordinary people pursuing dreams despite their limitations. The depressed wine lover in Sideways. A poor, pregnant woman inadvertently made into a symbol in America’s abortion wars in Citizen Ruth. The dazed and confused dad struggling to do right in The Descendants. A high school teacher getting a little too involved in his school’s student council race in Election. His thesis film at UCLA, The Passion of Martin, was screened at the 1991 Sundance Film Festival and won an array of awards. The intensely personal work of this unique visual artist has garnered two Academy Awards and two Golden Globes.