Smoke is an American independent film

Independent film

An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...

 released in 1995. It was produced by Hisami Kuroiwa

Hisami Kuroiwa

-Career:Born in Japan, Hisami was educated at Meiji Gakuin University in Tokyo before moving to the United States to pursue her career. She based herself in New York City, where she has now been working in the film industry for over 25 years....

, Harvey Weinstein

Harvey Weinstein

Harvey Weinstein, CBE is an American film producer and movie studio chairman. He is best known as co-founder of Miramax Films. He and his brother Bob have been co-chairmen of The Weinstein Company, their film production company, since 2005...

 and Bob Weinstein

Bob Weinstein

Robert "Bob" Weinstein is an American film and theatre producer, the founder and head of Dimension Films, former co-chairman of Miramax Films, and current head, with his brother Harvey Weinstein, of The Weinstein Company.-Career:...

 and directed by Wayne Wang

Wayne Wang

Wayne Wang is a Chinese American film director.-Biography:Wang was born and raised in Hong Kong, and named after his father's favorite movie star, John Wayne...

 and Paul Auster

Paul Auster

Paul Benjamin Auster is an American author known for works blending absurdism, existentialism, crime fiction and the search for identity and personal meaning in works such as The New York Trilogy , Moon Palace , The Music of Chance , The Book of Illusions and The Brooklyn Follies...

 (who also wrote the screenplay). Among others, it features Harvey Keitel

Harvey Keitel

Harvey Keitel is an American actor. Some of his most notable starring roles were in Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets and Taxi Driver, Ridley Scott's The Duellists and Thelma and Louise, Ettore Scola's That Night in Varennes, Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, Jane Campion's The...

, William Hurt

William Hurt

William McGill Hurt is an American stage and film actor. He received his acting training at the Juilliard School, and began acting on stage in the 1970s. Hurt made his film debut as a troubled scientist in the science-fiction feature Altered States , for which he received a Golden Globe nomination...

, Victor Argo

Victor Argo

Victor Argo was a Puerto Rican - American actor who usually played the part of a tough bad guy in his movies.-Early years:...

, Forest Whitaker

Forest Whitaker

Forest Steven Whitaker is an American actor, producer, and director. He has earned a reputation for intensive character study work for films such as Bird and Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, and for his recurring role as ex-LAPD Lieutenant Jon Kavanaugh on the gritty, award-winning television...

, Ashley Judd

Ashley Judd

Ashley Judd is an American television and film actress, who has played lead roles in films including Ruby in Paradise, Kiss the Girls, Double Jeopardy, Where the Heart Is and High Crimes...

, Stockard Channing

Stockard Channing

Stockard Channing is an American stage, film and television actress. She is known for her portrayal of First Lady Abbey Bartlet in the NBC television series The West Wing; for playing Betty Rizzo in the film Grease; and for her role as Ouisa Kittredge in the play Six Degrees of Separation and its...

 and Harold Perrineau Jr.

Harold Perrineau Jr.

Harold Perrineau is an American actor known for the roles of Michael Dawson in the U.S. television series Lost, Link in The Matrix films and games, Augustus Hill in the American television series Oz, and Mercutio in Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet...

.

The film follows the lives of multiple characters, all of whom are connected by their patronage of a small Brooklyn

Brooklyn

Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...

 tobacco shop managed by Auggie (Harvey Keitel). Brooklyn Cigar Co. was located on the corner of 16th Street and Prospect Park West.

The film was followed by Blue in the Face

Blue in the Face

Blue in the Face is a 1995 comedy directed by Wayne Wang and Paul Auster. It stars Harvey Keitel, Victor Argo, Giancarlo Esposito, Roseanne Barr, Michael J. Fox, Lily Tomlin, Mira Sorvino, Lou Reed, Mel Gorham, Jim Jarmusch,and Malik Yoba....

, a sequel of sorts that continues following a few of the characters and introduces several new ones.

Awards

Won

• Silver Bear (Wayne Wang) Berlin International Film Festival, 1995
• Danish Film Critics Bodil Award for Best American Film, 1995
• German Film Award for Best Foreign Film, 1995
• Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay
  Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay
  The Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay is one of the annual awards given by Film Independent, a non-profit organization dedicated to independent film and independent filmmakers.-1990s:1994*David O...
  
  (Paul Auster), 1995

Nominated

• Stockard Channing - Best Supporting Actress - Screen Actors Guild

Legacy

• The character Augustus "Auggie" Wren (played by Harvey Keitel) is modelled after the real-life owner of Augie's Jazz Bar, which closed in 1998. When the establishment reopened in 1999, the new owners could not keep the former establishment's name. To honor its legacy, they named the new club after the 1995 film.