James Fotopoulos

James Fotopoulos (born 1976, Norridge, Illinois) is an independent filmmaker whose work is low-budget and rigorous, and consists of experimental narrative features, non-narrative shorts, and video installations.[1] He began creating his film projects as a teenager in 1993, and as of 2012, has made over 100 films and videos.[2][3]

Partial filmography

  • Zero (1997)
  • Drowning (2000)
  • Migrating Forms (2000)
  • Insect (2001)
  • Christabel (2001)
  • Consumed (in 5-parts) (2001)
  • Back Against the Wall (2002)
  • Families (2002)
  • Hymn (2002)
  • The River (2002)
  • The Swan (2002)
  • The Nest (2003)
  • Conjunction (2003)
  • Jerusalem (2003)
  • Sublimation (2003)
  • The Fountain (2003)
  • The Hemispheres (2003)
  • Esophagus (2004)
  • The Ant Hill (2004)
  • The Pearl (2004)
  • 30.40 (2005)
  • Shattered (2005)
  • Spine Face (2005)
  • The Mirror Mask (2005)
  • The Hard-Boiled Egg (2006)
  • Trinity (2006)
  • Go Back and Watch It (2007)
  • Knot 1 (2007)
  • Knot 2 (2007)
  • Knot 3 (2007)
  • Knot 4 (2007)
  • Knot 5 (2007)
  • Knot 6 (2007)
  • Knot 7 (2007)
  • Knot 8 (2007)
  • Sleep Weep (The Zookeeper) (2007)
  • Tape 1 (2007)
  • The Discovery (2007)
  • The Sky Song (2007)
  • Untitled (Thanks, Get in...) (2008)
  • Surprise! (2009)
  • Alice in Wonderland (2010)
  • Thick Comb (2011)
  • Chimera (2011)
  • Dignity (2012)
  • THERE (2014)
  • The Given (2015)
  • Two Girls (2018)

Recognition

Fotopoulos' work was featured in the 2004 Whitney Biennial[4] and he has collaborated with media artist Cory Arcangel.

The Film Journal praises Fotopoulos, writing he is "one of cinema's most unique voices, a filmmaker of uncompromising vision."[2]

Of Fotopoulos' film Migrating Forms, Amy Taubin of The Village Voice wrote that while it was not a pleasurable experience, the film stayed with her most vividly as a "kind of stripped-down Eraserhead", which offered "a formal purity and obsessive power that's all too rare these days".[5]

Awards and nominations

Personal

James Fotopoulos was raised in Norridge, Illinois. His father was a policeman and his mother a hairdresser. He displayed artistic aptitude as a child and devoted his attention to filmmaking at age 15. His 1997 film Zero, shot when he was 18 years old during his first year as a film student at Columbia College Chicago, was his first feature.[7] In 1998 James founded his production company Fantasma Inc.[8]

  1. ^ Frye, Brian. "James Fotopoulos: An Interview". Other Cinema. Archived from the original on January 31, 2013. Retrieved June 5, 2013.
  2. ^ a b Curnutte, Rick. "Unquiet Cinema - An Interview with James Fotopoulos". Film Journal, Issue 4. Retrieved June 6, 2013.
  3. ^ Filmmaker Magazine, Summer 2012, Donal Foreman (April 29, 2013). "James Fotopoulos in Filmmaker Magazine Now Online" (reprint in Fantasma). Retrieved June 6, 2013.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ Whitney website Archived 2006-05-03 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ Taubin, Amy (March 7, 2000). "Getting Over; Going Underground". The Village Voice. Retrieved June 6, 2013.
  6. ^ Everleth, Mike (May 4, 2012). "James Fotopoulos' Migrating Forms". Underground Film Journal. Retrieved June 5, 2013.
  7. ^ Halter, Ed (November 21, 2000). "Horror, Violence, Sociopathic Loners: The Films of James Fotopoulos Play Downtown". New York Press. Retrieved June 6, 2013.
  8. ^ "James Fotopoulos – Film". jamesfotopoulos.com. Retrieved 2018-08-04.

External links

  • Official website
  • James Fotopoulos at IMDb
Authority control databases Edit this at Wikidata
International
  • ISNI
  • VIAF
  • WorldCat
National
  • United States
Artists
  • ULAN