Poetry and rebellion with the directors of ‘Howl’

55 years ago, Allen Ginsberg wrote his beat generation poetic masterpiece, “Howl.” Almost immediately after its publication in 1956, the poem’s publisher, Lawrence Ferlinghetti of City Lights Books, was arrested and charged with obscenity. In a landmark legal case, a judge ruled in 1957 that the poem was not obscene.

A new movie, “Howl,” starring James Franco, John Hamm, and Mary Louise Parker, follows the story of the poem and the man who wrote it.

Directed by Oscar-winning documentary team Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, the film opens today.

Epstein and Friedman talk with us about what it was like to make their first non-documentary feature, and why Ginsberg continues to be so influential.