John Smith
Director · b. 1952 · London, England, UK
John Smith was born in Walthamstow, London in 1952 and studied film at the Royal College of Art, during which time he became a member of the London Filmmakers Co-op. Since 1972 Smith has made over fifty film, video and installation works that have been shown in independent cinemas, art galleries and on television around the world and awarded major prizes at many international film festivals. He received a Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award for Artists in 2011, and in 2013 he was the winner of Film London’s Jarman Award.
Movies6
MovieAnimationFantasyBack stroke butterfly, front crawl and bras, we are awash in an ocean of bubbles. Meanwhile Captain Ahab sets sail on his magic carpet in search of the whale. All is not well in the world but Eden is there, fresh from her garden, tuning into “The Far Away Land”. We are deep in the cloud of our own making but help is at hand, and everything might yet be alright.
In Far Away Land
2019
Movie9.0MusicA portrait of the artist as a not so young man. The film-maker attempts to enter the digital age by making a new video version of his 1978 film 7P.
Regression
1999 · 1 votes
Movie6.2DocumentaryComedyBeing John Smith is a deceptively wry and deeply felt work by the English avant-garde legend, in which Smith reflects on his life and career by way of his generic name, grappling with his own mortality and legacy, through a minimal, unassuming deployment of text, image, and voice.
Being John Smith
2024 · 8 votes
Movie6.5DocumentaryGaza, December 2023. A confrontation with a disturbing photograph on social media triggers questions about what it means to be an onlooker.
Man Number 4
2024 · 2 votes
Movie9.0Home Suite, Smith’s first video work, is a close-up journey through a domestic landscape and a journey through memory, containing only three cuts over the course of its ninety-six minutes duration. Playing upon ambiguity and the unseen, the tape uses physical details of the space to trigger fragmented verbal descriptions of associated memories.
Home Suite
1994 · 1 votes
Movie6.8HorrorA man finds himself haunted by a mysterious black tower in London that appears to follow him wherever he goes.
The Black Tower
1987 · 32 votes