Michael Langan

Last updated

Michael Langan (born Providence, RI 1984) is an American film director. He grew up in Montgomery, Alabama, where he began his artistic career as a professional stage actor, and is a graduate of Rhode Island School of Design. [1]

Contents

Langan's films typically involve technical experimentation, particularly the manipulation of time. Surreal sequences appear frequently in his films. He is known for his use of the experimental animation technique, pixilation, and his adaptation of the historical photographic technique, chronophotography. [2]

His artistic influences include singer/composer Bobby McFerrin and filmmakers Norman McLaren, Zbigniew Rybczyński, Steven X. Arthur, and Jan Švankmajer. [3] Notable awards include a Student Academy Award nomination, [4] Most Promising Filmmaker at Ann Arbor Film Festival, and Best Experimental Short at Slamdance Film Festival. [5]

Short films

Langan's first student film, Snail, premiered at Ann Arbor Film Festival in March 2007. [6] His undergraduate thesis film, Doxology, has received widespread acclaim, winning fourteen awards at over eighty film festivals worldwide. [7]

Slamdance Film Festival commissioned Langan to complete a short film in 2008. [8] The resulting film, Dahlia, which premiered at the festival the following year, has since screened at film festivals around the world and appeared on Showtime. [9] The film is a three-minute portrait of San Francisco, Langan's home at the time, featuring a musical score composed by the filmmaker. [10]

In 2010, Langan collaborated with author Brian Christian on a short film adaptation of Christian's poem, Heliotropes. [11] The film was featured at twenty film festivals in 2011 [12] and premiered online with The Atlantic on September 1, 2011. [13] Heliotropes later appeared in the final edition of Wholphin (DVD) in February 2012. [14]

Langan collaborated with Harvard lecturer Terah Maher [15] on the 2011 dance film, Choros, building on the chronophotography work of Eadweard Muybridge, Etienne Jules Marey, and Norman McLaren. [16] The film is scored with the 1976 composition Music for 18 Musicians by minimalist composer Steve Reich. [17]

Langan returned to pixilation with his 2013 short film, Butler, Woman, Man (L'homme, la femme et le majordome), a French co-production of Paprika Films and Arte. The film premiered on French and German television broadcast in March, 2013. [18]

Music videos

In March 2014, Skrillex's Owsla record label released Hundred Waters - Cavity, a music video for the single by indie band Hundred Waters, directed by Michael Langan. The music video was premiered by NPR's Jacob Ganz, and subsequently covered by Pitchfork Media and The Huffington Post. [19] [20] [21]

Filmography

Related Research Articles

<i>Neighbours</i> (1952 film) 1952 Canadian film

Neighbours is a 1952 anti-war film by Scottish-Canadian filmmaker Norman McLaren for the National Film Board of Canada. In 1953, it won the Oscar for Best Documentary, Short Subject.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Rachman</span> American film director

Paul Rachman is an American film director who directed the highly praised 2006 documentary on punk music American Hardcore, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was released by Sony Pictures Classics. He is also one of the founders of the Slamdance Film Festival.

<i>Religulous</i> 2008 American film

Religulous is a 2008 American documentary film written by and starring comedian Bill Maher and directed by Larry Charles. The title of the film is a portmanteau derived from the words religious and ridiculous. The documentary examines and challenges religion and religious belief.

Dan Mirvish is an American filmmaker and author, best known as the co-founder of the Slamdance Film Festival and co-creator of the Martin Eisenstadt hoax during the 2008 Presidential election.

<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.

<i>And Everything Is Going Fine</i> 2010 American documentary about Spalding Gray

And Everything Is Going Fine is a 2010 documentary film directed by Steven Soderbergh about the life of monologist Spalding Gray. It premiered on January 23, 2010 at the Slamdance Film Festival and was screened at the 2010 SXSW Film Festival and the 2010 Maryland Film Festival. Soderbergh had earlier directed Gray's filmed monologue, Gray's Anatomy.

Jeremy Osbern is an American director and director of photography.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Silver Screen Pictures</span> Australian film production company

Silver Screen Pictures was first established in 2004 under the original name Silver Screen Productions before registering as Australian business, Silver Screen Pictures in 2006. The film, media and production company was first established in Brisbane, Australia by Director Alex Barnes and later partnered with by his Producer Justin Morrissey in early 2009. The company predominantly work in Music Videos, Corporate and documentary Production.

One Hundred Mornings is a 2009 Irish post-apocalyptic drama film written and directed by Conor Horgan. It was one of three films funded by the Irish Film Board's Catalyst Project, designed to give up-and-coming filmmakers the opportunity to produce a low-budget feature film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2011 Slamdance Film Festival</span> American film festival in Utah

The 2011 Slamdance Film Festival was a film festival held in Park City, Utah from January 20 to January 27, 2011. It was the 17th iteration of the Slamdance Film Festival, an alternative to the more mainstream Sundance Film Festival.

Michael Please is an English animator, illustrator, director, and writer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brian Christian</span> American non-fiction author and poet

Brian Christian is an American non-fiction author, poet, programmer and researcher, best known for a bestselling series of books about the human implications of computer science, including The Most Human Human (2011), Algorithms to Live By (2016), and The Alignment Problem (2020).

Daniel Fickle is a film director, photographer, cinematographer, music composer, and the founder of Two Penguins Productions.

Jared Moshe is an American-born director, screenwriter and producer of independent films He wrote and directed the films "Aporia" (2023), Dead Man's Burden (2012) and The Ballad of Lefty Brown (2017). He has also produced the features Destricted (2006), Kurt Cobain: About a Son (2006), Low and Behold (2007), Beautiful Losers (2008), Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel (2011), and Silver Tongues (2011).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hundred Waters</span> American band

Hundred Waters is an American band formed in Gainesville, Florida in October 2011, composed of Nicole Miglis, Trayer Tryon and Zach Tetreault. The group came to prominence in 2012 with the release of their first self-titled album and an unexpected partnership with Skrillex's predominantly electronic Owsla record label. Hundred Waters wrote and produced most of their second album, The Moon Rang Like a Bell, while on tour with alt-J, The xx, Julia Holter and others; it was released on May 27, 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Teo Halm</span> American record producer, songwriter, and actor

Teo Lucas Halm is an American record producer, songwriter, singer, and actor. Halm's notable production and songwriting credits include the Rosalía singles "Con Altura" with J Balvin and "TKN" with Travis Scott, the former which won a Latin Grammy Award, Evergreen by Omar Apollo, as well as two songs from the Beyoncé-produced The Lion King: The Gift. As an actor, Halm is best known for starring in the 2014 film Earth to Echo.

<i>Hank and Asha</i> 2013 American film

Hank and Asha is a 2013 comedy-romance directed by James E. Duff, and produced and co-written by James E. Duff and Julia Morrison. The film stars Mahira Kakkar and Andrew Pastides. It premiered in competition at the 2013 Slamdance Film Festival where it won the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature, and was later acquired for US distribution by FilmRise.

<i>Buddymoon</i> 2016 American film

Buddymoon is a 2016 American independent comedy film directed by Alex Simmons; written by Simmons, Flula Borg, and David Giuntoli; and starring Borg and Giuntoli. It is the story of a former child actor (Giuntoli) whose fiancée leaves him days before their wedding. In an effort to cheer him up, his best friend and would-be best man (Borg) convinces him that the two of them should go on the planned honeymoon trip together.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suki Hawley</span> American filmmaker (born 1969)

Suki Hawley is an American indie filmmaker and a partner in the production and distribution company RUMUR. Either solo or with Michael Galinsky, she has directed low-budget fictional narratives but has mostly concentrated on documentaries in recent years.

Lucas Leyva is an American director, screenwriter, and producer. He has written and directed multiple acclaimed short films, as well as several music videos for bands such as Arcade Fire, Jacuzzi Boys, and Hundred Waters. Leyva is the founder of the Borscht Film Festival and the Borscht Corporation.

References

  1. "Biography for Michael Langan". Internet Movie Database . Retrieved 2010-01-17.
  2. "Michael Langan and Terah Maher: Choros". motionographer.com. 5 February 2013. Retrieved 2014-05-08.
  3. "Michael Langan: Doxology". motionographer.com. October 2008. Retrieved 2010-01-17.
  4. "2008 Student Academy Awards Finalists". Alt Film Guide. Retrieved 2014-05-08.
  5. "Awards for Michael Langan". Internet Movie Database . Retrieved 2010-01-17.
  6. "Director's Notes: Michael Langan". Director's Notes. 4 April 2012. Retrieved 2014-05-08.
  7. "Doxology Screenings and Awards". langanfilms.com. Retrieved 2010-01-17.
  8. "Michael Langan - Doxology and Dahlia". spoileralertradio.linsyn.com. Retrieved 2010-01-17.
  9. Hale, Mike (18 February 2011). "Fishing Online for Cable Viewers". The New York Times . Retrieved 2014-05-08.
  10. "Dahlia on IMDB". Internet Movie Database . 18 January 2009. Retrieved 2010-01-17.
  11. "Official Website of Heliotropes". Langan Films. Retrieved 2010-11-06.
  12. "Official Website of Heliotropes". Langan Films. Retrieved 2014-05-08.
  13. "Animation and Poetry Meet in 'Heliotropes'". The Atlantic . Retrieved 2014-05-08.
  14. "Archive Snapshot of wholphindvd.com". archive.today. Archived from the original on 2013-02-09. Retrieved 2014-05-08.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  15. "Harvard VES: Terah Maher Bio". ves.fas.harvard.edu/. Archived from the original on 2013-05-25. Retrieved 2014-05-08.
  16. "Short of the Week: Choros". shortoftheweek.com/. Retrieved 2014-05-08.
  17. "Time Transfixed in "Choros" by Michael Langan and Terah Maher". vanguardseattle.com/. 5 February 2014. Retrieved 2014-05-08.
  18. ""L'homme, la femme, et la majordome" de Michael Langan". videos.arte.tv/. Retrieved 2014-05-08.
  19. "Hundred Waters Shines a Strange Light in Darkness". NPR . Archived from the original on 2014-03-04. Retrieved 2014-05-08.
  20. "This Is How You Make A Hallucinatory Music Video With Only A Flashlight". The Huffington Post . 7 March 2014. Retrieved 2014-05-08.
  21. "Video: Hundred Waters: Cavity". Pitchfork Media . 4 March 2014. Retrieved 2014-05-08.