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30 Jan – 9 Feb 2025

John Smith

John SMITH (1952, UK) studied Film at the Royal College of Art in London and is one of the best-known experimental filmmakers in the world. Since 1972, he has made many films – first on 16mm and then much later on video – in which autobiographical elements and irony play major roles. The Girl Chewing Gum (1976) is considered to be one of the most important cinematic works of the 20th century avant-garde movement. His award-winning work has been shown in cinemas, art galleries and on televisions around the world.

Filmography

(selection) Triangles (1972, short), Someone Moving (1972, short), The Hut (1973, short), Words (1973, short, co-dir), Out of the Back (1974, short), William and the Cows (1974, short), Faces 1 & 2 (1974, short), Associations (1975, short), Leading Light (1975, short), Nine Short Stories (1975, short), Subjective Tick-Tocks (1975, short), The Girl Chewing Gum (1976, short), Summer Diary (1977, short), Hackney Marshes – November 4th 1977 (1977, short), Gardner (1977, short), Hackney Marshes (1978, short TV), 7P (1978, short), Blue Bathroom (1979, short), Celestial Navigation (1981, short), Spring Tree (1981, short), Shine So Hard (1981, short), Light Sleep (1984, short), Shepherd’s Delight (1984, short), Om (1986, short), The Black Tower (1987, short), Dungeness (1991, short), Slow Glass (1991, short), Gargantuan (1992, short), Home Suite (1994, short), Blight (1996, short), The Kiss (1999, short & instal), The Waste Land (1999, short), Regression (1999, short), Rebus (2001, instal), Lost Sound (2001, short), Frozen War (2001, short), Worst Case Scenario (2001-2003, short), Besides the A-Side (2002, instal, co-dir), Museum Piece (2004, short), Throwing Stones (2004, short), B&B (2005, short), Pyramids/Skunk (2006-2007, short), Dirty Pictures (2007, short), Six Years Later (2007, short), Double Shutter (2010, instal), Third Attempt (2010, instal), Flag Mountain (2010, short), unusual Red cardigan (2011, short & instal), The Man Phoning Mum (2011, short), Dad’s Stick (2012, short), White Hole (2014, short)  Song for Europe (2017, short),  A State of Grace (2019, short), Citadel (2020, short), Covid Messages (2020, short)

More Info: John Smith and Wikipedia, John Smith

John Smith at IFFR

  • Frozen War (Hotel Diaries 1)

    Sardonic reflections on the state of the world occasioned by a frozen news broadcast. 

    • Short & Mid-length

  • Pyramids

    Part five from the series Hotel Diaries came about in Smith’s hotel room in Rotterdam while he was a jury member at the Festival in 2006.

    • Short: As Long As It Takes

  • The Kiss

    Love, so strong yet so fragile.

    • main programme short

  • Regression

    The maker talks about the use of video and demonstrates this using a Christmas carol.

    • main programme short

  • Dad’s Stick

    A film crammed full of warmth and compellingly dry insight introduces us to Mr. Tony Smith, John’s Dad, and ‘a perfectionist with a steady hand’.

    • Spectrum Shorts

  • A State of Grace

    Good heavens! Airline safety instructions can be highly ambiguous. John Smith delivers a biblical interpretation of Ryanair’s in-flight safety card.

    • Wait and See

  • Worst Case Scenario

    Quiet observations on Viennese street corners acquire more and more (strange) life as the film progresses.

    • short films

  • The Host

    The artist’s investigation into her parents’ involvement with the Anglo Iranian Oil Company (nowadays British Petroleum) lead to her discovery o

    • Bright Future
    • Bright Future Mid-length

  • Museum Piece

    Personal reflections form a hotel room in Berlin.

    • Short!

  • Lost Sound

    What do fragments of sound tell us about the context they were discovered in?

    • What (is) Cinema?