Turn Left, Turn Right, Douglas Seok, 2016, Cambodia/South Korea/US
Film as a Subversive Art by Amos Vogel, 1974, 2021 edition published by Film Desk Books.
I'm the co-editor of the new edition of Amos Vogel's landmark 1974 book Film as a Subversive Art, formerly out of print and now re-published by NYC-based imprint Film Desk Books. My work consisted of copyediting and fact-checking, revising and clarifying Vogel's work for contemporary readers and researchers. The book will be released late October 2021 and will be accompanied by numerous events celebrating the new edition and Amos Vogel's centenary, several of which I have curated.
EVENTS, WRITING & UPDATES
Coming soon: I will be on an episode of Nicolas Rapold's podcast The Last Thing I Saw speaking about Amos Vogel's Film as a Subversive Art alongside critic and Artforum contributing editor Amy Taubin and Thomas Beard, co-founder and co-director of Light Industry. 11/6/2021: Philadelphia, PA | Lightbox Film Center
I've programmed a double screening based around Amos Vogel's Film as a Subversive Art for Philadelphia's Lightbox Film Center at University of the Arts including films by Luis Buñuel & Salvador Dalí, Pontus Hultén & Hans Nordenström, Vlado Kristl, Forugh Farrokhzad, Lawrence Jordan and Yasujiro Ozu. 10/29/2021: Astoria, NY | Museum of the Moving Image
I will introduce a screening of Peter Watkins' Punishment Park (1971) and Joseph Strick's Interviews with My Lai Veterans (1971), screening as part of the Museum of the Moving Image's series Amos Vogel Centenary: "Reality" as a Subversive Art. 10/13-10/20/2021: New York, NY | Metrograph
I've programmed a 4-screening series based around Amos Vogel's Film as a Subversive Art for the Metograph theater, including films by Constance Beeson, Donald Richie, Hollis Frampton, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Jud Yalkut, Marcel Duchamp, Nagisa Ōshima, Nedeljko Dragić and Theo Kamecke. 9/23/2021: London, UK | Queer East Film Festival @ The Horse Hospital
Q&A with filmmaker Kim Longinotto following a screening of her 1994 documentary Shinjuku Boys 9/10–9/30/2021: 17th Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival (IRL + online)
I was on the programming team once again for the Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival, this year a hybrid edition happening in person (in Berwick-upon-Tweed, UK) and online at bfmaf.org. I was lead curator for the festival's Focus programme on Cambodian film production company Anti-Archive, whose work is showcased across an 8-film retrospective and a conversation with filmmakers Danech San, Kanitha Tith, Kavich Neang, Sreylin Meas, Steve Chan and curator Roger Nelson.
I was happy to record podcast interviews with artist-filmmakers Ane Hjort Guttu (Manifesto), Carlos Maria Romero (La Nave) and Fern Silva (Rock Bottom Riser), as well as the production team behind Nelson Makengo's upcoming feature film debut Rising Up at Night. 8/27/2021: London, UK | A Cake Disaster @ SET, Lewisham
DJ HTSHELL performed at the exhibition/event/performance "A Cake Disaster" organized by artists Maria de la O Garrido (ES/UK) and Carmen Gray (ES/NL). NOVEMBER 2020 UPDATE
Here I am, here we are. I haven't really updated this website since March 2020 when the first lockdown hit, lots of work was canceled and confusion set in. Over the past 7.5 months, I co-programmed the first online edition of Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival, contributed too much of myself to the strike of museum workers at Tate Modern + Tate Britain (where I've worked in the bookshop since 2017; see more at Tate United), moved to a new home and have experienced many ups and downs. I'm trying to steady the ship while figuring out what comes next, as I'm sure a lot of people are too. I've seen my regular gigs for the past 3 years evaporate in this time and my work in film/art has not been sustainable over the past years, so it's a big question mark for what comes next. I'll be working to fill in the content of this site which has been long overdue while figuring out the path forward. Thanks for your attention and support! 11/2/2020: London, UK @ Institut Français Royaume-Uni
Q&A with artist Paul Heintz at Artist Work in Progress: Paul Heintz 10/12/2020: Online | Animate Projects
Panelist at Animation Salon: Curating Experimental and Artists’ Animation 9/17–10/11/2020: Online | 16th Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival
I was on the programming team of the first online edition of Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival. I was lead programmer on the festival's retrospectives on the short films of Indian filmmaker Payal Kapadia and on a multi-faceted focus on the work of Hong Kong artist Tiffany Sia based around the world premiere of her 2020 film Never Rest/Unrest. My essay on Sia's work can be read here.
I also contributed as usual to all other sections of the festival and was happy to record podcast interviews with artist/filmmakers Yu Araki, Sky Hopinka, Phạm Ngọc Lân and Lisa Spilliaert, as well as a written interview with Mariana Caló & Francisco Queimadela. 8/18–10/1/2020: London, UK | Tate United strike
Along with about 100 of my colleagues at Tate Modern + Tate Britain, where I've worked since 2017 in the retail department (bookshops), I went on strike to protest layoffs of 313 workers. Tate United PCS (our union, a member-led branch of the Public and Commercial Services Union) built a vibrant and strong campaign that used art and culture to mobilize support to our cause and across the arts and culture sector. This included protest events with guest speakers like Mark Leckey, The White Pube, 4 Brown Girls Who Write, Jeremy Corbyn, Owen Jones and Ash Sarkar, a series of online protests interventions, a livestream film screening, participatory performances and installation works outside the museums and much more. As an active organizer in the social media group, I held livestream discussions with guests like artist Liv Wynter, Adam Rizzo of the Philadelphia Museum of Art Union, artist Tiffany Sia, illustrator Bethany Hall and more. And I did a lot of work that can't be written about publicly. It was a fulfilling and draining experience.
I was Guest Curator of the Theme series (6 programs) for European Media Art Festival, part of the festival's film program for the 2020 edition. The series—"Face & Mask"—loosely coincided with the festival's overall theme, "First Person Plural". Unfortunately it was canceled due to Covid-19. I will be publishing the full program and my accompanying essay on this website. 4/12/2020: Online | Scalarama Glasgow
Guest speaker for Scalarama Glasgow's roundtable, Taking things online, hosted by Matchbox Cineclub. 3/26/2020: "STAY AT HOME MOVIES" article for MAP Magazine on special viewing during the first weeks of lockdown. 3/10–3/12/2020: "The Magnaminal World of Klaus Lutz", article for Projections, Tyneside Cinema's artist program
Commissioned writing on the films of Swiss artist Klaus Lutz on the occasion of a 16mm film tour at BFI Southbank (March 10), Pavilion (March 11) and Tyneside Cinema (March 12). 1/27/2020: Introducing IFFR’s Tiger Short winners on IFFR Daily
Writing for International Film Festival Rotterdam's website about the winners of the Tiger Short Award 2020. 1/19/2020: London, UK | London Short Film Festival @ Soho Theatre
Q&A with artist Wong Ping at "PLATFORM: Wong Ping" 1/18/2020: London, UK | London Short Film Festival @ Rich Mix
DJ HTSHELL at LSFF 2020 Awards + Party NEWSLETTER
Launched in January 2020, a regular newsletter/online publication I've started called Rep Cinema International, focusing on repertory and archival film programming around the world. It's a mix of repertory programming highlights, news, interviews with programmers, archivists and others who are invested in getting older films to screens both locally and internationally. It's a vibrant new publication and I hope you'll subscribe. NEW PUBLICATION
Dream Dance: The Art of Ed Emshwiller, published by Anthology Editions/Lightbox Film Center, 12/10/2019. Hardcover, 176 pages, 453 images. Edited by Jesse Pires, with writing by Jesse Pires, Bill Griffith, Susan Emshwiller, Jenelle Porter, Carolyn Carlson, Joanna Priestley and Herb Shellenberger. Illustration by Robert Beatty. 12/5/2019: London, UK @ BFI Southbank
Guest speaker ("A Practical Toolkit for Diversifying Archive Film Programming") at ICO Archive Screening Day 11/14/2019: Vienna, Austria @ Austrian Film Museum
Guest speaker at 100th Birthday of Maria Lassnig Symposium and Film Programs in association with the Albertina Museum 10/30–11/12/2019: World Wide Web @ Vdrome
Introduction to Monika Uchiyama's a new use (2018) 11/5/2019: London, UK | London Korean Film Festival @ ICA
Introduction to Kim Ki-Young's Goryeojang (1963) 10/24/2019: Edinburgh, UK @ Edinburgh Napier University
Guest speaker at Cinematic Inclusions: Documentary Traditions and Experiments in Lithuanian Cinema 10/23/2019: Glasgow, UK @ CCA Glasgow
Guest speaker at Cinematic Inclusions: Documentary Traditions and Experiments in Lithuanian Cinema 10/19/2019: Philadelphia, USA @ Lightbox Film Center
Introduction to Ed Emshwiller's Image, Flesh & Voice (1969) + George Dumpson's Place (1965), part of Dream Dance: The Art of Ed Emshwiller