Abigail Child

Last updated

Abigail Child is an American filmmaker, poet, and writer who has been active in experimental writing and media since the 1970s. [1] She has completed more than thirty film and video works and installations, and six books. Child's early film work addressed the interplay between sound and image through reshaping narrative tropes, prefiguring many concerns of contemporary film and media.

Contents

Academics

In 1968, Abigail Child graduated from Radcliffe College in Harvard University with a degree in history and literature. [1] She has received a Guggenheim Fellowship in Film. [2] She has taught at several universities, including New York University, Massachusetts College of Art, and Hampshire College. [3] She has been the chair of Film and Animation department at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston since 2000 [3] and was appointed to a fellowship at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. [1] In 2009, she was awarded the Rome Prize. [4]

Career in film, writing, and poetry

Child began making films in the 1970s, producing seven independent documentaries shot on 16mm. [1] From the middle of the 70s she turned to experimental montage and in the 80s her work explores gender and strategies for remaking narrative. [5] Is This What You Were Born For? is a major, seven-part experimental work from this period, completed over nine years, which included the cult classics Mayhem and Covert Action. [6] [7] In the 90s, Child poetically envisioned and interrogated public spaces in such films as B/side (1996), about urban homelessness on the Lower East Side of New York city, [8] [9] and Below the New: A Russian Chronicle (1999), filmed in St. Petersburg. [10] [11]

In the 21st century, Child's film and video has explored history, memory, and cultural experiences—the politics of place and identity. Digital works like Cake + Steak (2004) and The Future Is Behind You (2005) [12] investigate the awkward drama of the everyday, often utilizing found material to examine the past. Mirror World (2006) is a multi-screen installation that incorporates parts of Child's "foreign film" series to explore narrative excess. Key works include Surface Noise (2000), Dark Dark (2001), Where The Girls Are (2002), Cake and Steak (2004), The Future Is Behind You (2004), To and No Fro (2005), and Mirror World (2006). Her feature video documentary On The Downlow (2007)), is an exploration of bisexuality and an intimate look at a little-viewed underground scene.

In 2012, Child completed a feature film, Shape of Error, an imaginary "home movie" based on the diaries of Mary Shelley during her marriage with Percy Shelley.

Child is also the author of five books of poetry (published between 1983 and 2012) [2] [3] and a book of critical writings: This Is Called Moving: A Critical Poetics of Film (2005).

A collection of writings by various authors on Is This What You Were Born For?, including a DVD of the film series, was published in 2011. [6]

Filmography

[16]

Publications

Related Research Articles

Video art is an art form which relies on using video technology as a visual and audio medium. Video art emerged during the late 1960s as new consumer video technology such as video tape recorders became available outside corporate broadcasting. Video art can take many forms: recordings that are broadcast; installations viewed in galleries or museums; works either streamed online, or distributed as video tapes, or on DVDs; and performances which may incorporate one or more television sets, video monitors, and projections, displaying live or recorded images and sounds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">16 mm film</span> Historically popular gauge of film

16 mm film is a historically popular and economical gauge of film. 16 mm refers to the width of the film ; other common film gauges include 8 mm and 35 mm. It is generally used for non-theatrical film-making, or for low-budget motion pictures. It also existed as a popular amateur or home movie-making format for several decades, alongside 8 mm film and later Super 8 film. Eastman Kodak released the first 16 mm "outfit" in 1923, consisting of a camera, projector, tripod, screen and splicer, for US$335. RCA-Victor introduced a 16 mm sound movie projector in 1932, and developed an optical sound-on-film 16 mm camera, released in 1935.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Squat Theatre</span> Hungarian theatre company

Squat Theatre (1977–1991) was a Hungarian theatre company from Budapest which left Hungary for Paris and then New York City, where they performed experimental theatre.

Spencer Breslin is an American actor. Breslin has appeared in the feature films Disney's The Kid, The Santa Clause 2 and The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause, Return to Neverland, Zoom, The Cat in the Hat, Raising Helen, The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, The Shaggy Dog, Harold, The Happening, and Perfect Sisters. His television credits include Teamo Supremo, Stephen King's Storm of the Century, and Law & Order.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jodelle Ferland</span> Canadian actress (born 1994)

Jodelle Micah Ferland is a Canadian actress. She debuted as a child actress at the age of four in the television film Mermaid (2000) for which she won a Young Artist Award and received a Daytime Emmy Award nomination, making her the youngest nominee in Emmy history. Her career progressed with roles in the television film Carrie (2002), the horror films They (2002), Tideland (2005), Silent Hill (2006) and Case 39 (2009), and the comedy film Good Luck Chuck (2007). She also led the television series Kingdom Hospital (2004).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taryn Southern</span> American actress

Taryn Southern is an American storyteller, artist, speaker and brand strategist who works with emerging technologies. She was formerly known for her work as a TV host, actress and YouTuber.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gábor Bódy</span>

Gábor Bódy was a Hungarian film director, screenwriter, theoretic, and occasional actor. A pioneer of experimental filmmaking and film language, Bódy is one of the most important figures of Hungarian cinema.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suzan Pitt</span> American film animator and painter (1943–2019)

Suzan Pitt Kraning, known professionally as Suzan Pitt, was an American film director, animator, painter, and fashion designer best known for her surrealist animated shorts, including Asparagus (1979).

<i>John Adams</i> (miniseries) 2008 American television miniseries chronicling US President John Adamss political life

John Adams is a 2008 American television miniseries chronicling U.S. Founding Father and president John Adams's political life and his role in the founding of the United States. The miniseries was directed by Tom Hooper and starred Paul Giamatti in the title role. Kirk Ellis wrote the screenplay based on the 2001 book John Adams by David McCullough.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dekker Dreyer</span> American filmmaker, artist, and composer

Dekker Dreyer is an American multi-disciplinary artist working in film, visual art, and music also known as Phantom Astronaut. He is a prominent artist in virtual and augmented reality.

Takahiko Iimura was a Japanese avant-garde filmmaker and fine artist. He is considered one of the pioneers of experimental and independent filmmaking in Japan. Iimura was born in Tokyo and was a graduate of Keio University. His film Onan (1963) won the Special Prize at the Brussels International Independent Film Festival in 1964. He published a seminal work on experimental filmmaking in 1970, Geijutsu to higeijutsu no aida, and a biography of Yoko Ono, Ono Yōko hito to sakuhin, in 1985. Iimura made much of his film in New York City, but became a professor at the Nagoya Zokei University of Art & Design in 1992.

Abigail Pogrebin is an American writer, journalist, podcast host for Tablet magazine, and former Director of Jewish Outreach for the Michael Bloomberg 2020 presidential campaign.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ben Russell (filmmaker)</span> American artist and experimental filmmaker

Ben Russell is an American artist and experimental filmmaker. Russell developed his reputation over the numerous shorts he made throughout the 2000s, many as part of his "Trypps" series, and as the curator of the Magic Lantern Cinema in Providence, Rhode Island. In 2009, he made his acclaimed feature debut, Let Each One Go Where He May, shot in Suriname in a series of 13 long takes accomplished with a Steadicam. Both a Guggenheim Fellow and participating artist in documenta 14, Russell's work has been described as drawing on elements of ethnography, psychedelia and Surrealism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cauleen Smith</span> American film director

Cauleen Smith is an American born filmmaker and multimedia artist. She is best known for her feature film Drylongso and her experimental works that address the African-American identity, specifically the issues facing black women today. Smith is currently a professor in the Department of Art at the University of California - Los Angeles.

Babette Mangolte is a French cinematographer, film director, and photographer who has lived and worked in the United States since 1970.

The dark web is the World Wide Web content that exists on darknets: overlay networks that use the Internet but require specific software, configurations, or authorization to access. Through the dark web, private computer networks can communicate and conduct business anonymously without divulging identifying information, such as a user's location. The dark web forms a small part of the deep web, the part of the web not indexed by web search engines, although sometimes the term deep web is mistakenly used to refer specifically to the dark web.

<i>The Favourite</i> 2018 film by Yorgos Lanthimos

The Favourite is a 2018 period black comedy film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos and written by Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara. A co-production between Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States, the film stars Olivia Colman, Emma Stone, and Rachel Weisz. Set in early 18th century Great Britain, it examines the relationship between cousins Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough and Abigail Hill as they vie to be court favourite of Queen Anne.

Abigail Savage is an American actress and sound editor. She played inmate Gina Murphy on Netflix's Orange Is the New Black, as well as roles in Brian De Palma's Redacted (2007), Lee Daniel's Precious (2009), and on Law & Order SVU. As of July 2015, she had twelve acting credits, and seventy-five sound credits including Half Nelson (2006), Inside Job (2010), Mike Birbiglia's Sleepwalk with Me (2012), Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon (2013), as well as all of Ramin Bahrani's feature films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trump Steaks</span> Former steak brand

Trump Steaks was a brand of steak and other meats that was licensed by Donald Trump. The brand was launched in May 2007 and was exclusively sold through The Sharper Image and QVC. Due to poor sales and a failure to live up to sales and product expectations, The Sharper Image discontinued the Trump Steaks product line in July 2007, just two months after its launch.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Abbott, J. Samuel (2005-11-03). "Alumni Watch: Abigail Child '68". The Harvard Crimson . Archived from the original on 2013-02-21. Retrieved 2008-10-20.
  2. 1 2 Petrolle, Jean; Wexman, Virginia (2005). Women and Experimental Filmmaking. University of Illinois Press. pp. 20–21. ISBN   0-252-03006-0. Archived from the original on 2021-07-25. Retrieved 2020-10-21.
  3. 1 2 3 Marchessault, Janine; Lord, Susan (2007). Fluid Screens, Expanded Cinema. University of Toronto Press. p. 341. ISBN   978-0-8020-9297-7. Archived from the original on 2021-07-25. Retrieved 2020-10-21.
  4. "Abigail Child". American Academy in Rome . 2009. Archived from the original on 2010-07-03. Retrieved 2010-06-09.
  5. "Query: Abigail Child". Walker Art Center . February 2006. Archived from the original on 2007-07-21. Retrieved 2008-10-20.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Supanick, Jim. "Is this What You Were Born For?". Brooklyn Rail. Archived from the original on February 2, 2021. Retrieved March 27, 2021.
  7. Foster, Gwendolyn Audrey (1995). Women Film Directors . Greenwood Publishing Group. p.  74. ISBN   0-313-28972-7. Perils Abigail Child.
  8. "Films - B/Side". Abigail Child. Archived from the original on 2016-11-15. Retrieved 2021-07-25.
  9. Skoller, Jeffrey (1998-11-01). "Home sweet home.(Abigail Child's 1996 documentary film 'B/side')". Afterimage. Archived from the original on 2021-07-25. Retrieved 2008-10-20.
  10. "Films - BELOW THE NEW: A RUSSIAN CHRONICLE (1999)". Abigail Child. Archived from the original on 2016-11-15. Retrieved 2021-07-25.
  11. "SMFA Boston - Abigail Child". School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston . Archived from the original on 11 October 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-20.
  12. These artworks can be found in "Artists". The repository of the Experimental Television Center. Cornell University Library. Archived from the original on 2017-01-05.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 "Abigail Child - Director, Editor, Producer". MUBI. Archived from the original on August 21, 2018. Retrieved March 18, 2021.
  14. MacDonald, Scott (2005). A Critical Cinema 4: Interviews with Independent Filmmakers. University of California Press. ISBN   978-0-520-24271-5. Archived from the original on 2021-07-25. Retrieved 2020-10-21.
  15. 1 2 "Climate/Plus: Abigail child". abigailchild.com. Archived from the original on 2017-07-18. Retrieved 2018-03-26.
  16. "Filmography: Abigail child". abigailchild.com. Archived from the original on 2017-07-18. Retrieved 2018-03-26.
  17. "Is This What You Were Born For?: Abigail child". abigailchild.com. Archived from the original on 2017-07-18. Retrieved 2018-03-26.
  18. "This is Called Moving: Abigail child". abigailchild.com. Archived from the original on 2017-07-18. Retrieved 2018-03-26.
  19. "Counter Clock: Abigail child". abigailchild.com. Archived from the original on 2017-07-18. Retrieved 2018-03-26.
  20. "Artificial Memory: Abigail child". abigailchild.com. Archived from the original on 2017-07-18. Retrieved 2018-03-26.
  21. "Flesh: Abigail child". abigailchild.com. Archived from the original on 2017-07-18. Retrieved 2018-03-26.
  22. "Scatter Matrix: Abigail child". abigailchild.com. Archived from the original on 2017-07-18. Retrieved 2018-03-26.
  23. "Mob: Abigail child". abigailchild.com. Archived from the original on 2017-07-18. Retrieved 2018-03-26.
  24. "A Motive for Mayhem: Abigail child". abigailchild.com. Archived from the original on 2017-07-18. Retrieved 2018-03-26.
  25. "From Solids: Abigail child". abigailchild.com. Archived from the original on 2017-07-18. Retrieved 2018-03-26.