Aaron Hillis is an American writer, film critic, director, film festival programmer, and curator.

Career

Hillis has been active in independent film, especially within the fields of indie festivals, exhibitions, indie film distribution and programming, filmmaking, marketing, and journalism. As a film journalist, he has written film reviews and features articles and conducted hundreds of interviews with celebrities. He wrote, among others, for ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, th ...

'', ''Vice'', ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'', '' Vanity Fair'', '' LA Weekly'', ''

Indiewire IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Holl ...

'', ''

Filmmaker Magazine ''Filmmaker'' is a quarterly publication magazine covering issues relating to independent film. The magazine was founded in 1992 by Karol Martesko-Fenster, Scott Macaulay and Holly Willis. The magazine is now published by the IFP (Independent F ...

'', ''

GreenCine Daily GreenCine Daily was a film and film criticism news site operated by the defunct video rental service GreenCine. The site was originally edited by David Hudson, who developed a format that curated links to articles, reviews, interviews and pod ...

'' (editor from 2009 to 2013), and '' Spin''. Furthermore, Hillis is a frequent moderator of panels in the indie film world. Between 2006 and 2009, Hillis was the vice-president of ''Benten Films'', a boutique

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

label, founded by Andrew Grant. Responsible for acquisitions, art direction, disc production and marketing, releases include

Joe Swanberg Joseph Swanberg (born August 31, 1981) is an American independent film director, producer, writer, and actor. Known for micro-budget films which make extensive use of improvisation, Swanberg is considered a major figure in the mumblecore film mo ...

's ''

LOL LOL, or lol, is an initialism for laughing out loud and a popular element of Internet slang. It was first used almost exclusively on Usenet, but has since become widespread in other forms of computer-mediated communication and even face-to ...

'' (2006), Aaron Katz's ''

Dance Party USA ''Dance Party USA'' is an American dance television show that aired on cable's USA Network from April 12, 1986, to June 27, 1992. It was originally a half-hour, but was expanded to an hour in 1987. The program was shot live television-to-video ...

'' and '' Quiet City'' (2007),

Matthias Glasner Matthias Glasner (born 20 January 1965) is a German film director. He directed more than twenty films since 1987. Selected filmography *''The Meds (film), The Meds'' (1995) *''Sexy Sadie'' (1996) *''Fandango'' (2000) *''High Score (2001 film), Hi ...

's ''

The Free Will ''The Free Will'' (german: Der freie Wille) is a 2006 German drama film directed by Matthias Glasner. It premiered in competition at the 56th Berlin International Film Festival in February 2006 and was awarded two prizes: Jürgen Vogel received a ...

'' (2008). In 2007, Hillis directed the documentary feature ''

Fish Kill Flea Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

'' (together with Brian M. Cassidy and Jennifer Loeber). The film premiered at '' SXSW'' where it was praised by Premiere Magazine as "one of SXSW's pleasant surprises, with a great, early Errol Morris feel for American weirdness. (''Premiere Magazine'') and as "a wistful, thought-provoking rumination on the cost of progress. ('' Film Threat'') gave a similarly positive review, calling it "a wistful, thought-provoking rumination on the cost of progress." Hillis is one of the programmers at ''

Cucalorus Film Festival The Cucalorus Film Festival is a film festival held annually in Wilmington, North Carolina. It is one of the largest film festivals in the U.S. South and recognized as a destination film festival for indie filmmakers. MovieMaker magazine recogni ...

'' (in Wilmington, North Carolina), where he curates the "Convulsions" genre program since 2013. Between 2012 and 2018, Hillis owned ''Video Free Brooklyn'', a DVD and

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...

rental Renting, also known as hiring or letting, is an agreement where a payment is made for the temporary use of a good, service or property owned by another. A gross lease is when the tenant pays a flat rental amount and the landlord pays for a ...

boutique. The store was awarded the title of "Best Video Store in NYC" on three occasions between 2012–2013, by ''

Time Out NY ''Time Out'' is a global magazine published by Time Out Group. ''Time Out'' started as a London-only publication in 1968 and has expanded its editorial recommendations to 328 cities in 58 countries worldwide. In 2012, the London edition becam ...

'', ''The Village Voice'', ''

The L Magazine ''The L Magazine'' was a free bi-weekly magazine in New York City featuring investigative articles, arts and culture commentary, and event listings. It was available through distribution in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and Hoboken. History ''Th ...

''. In 2016, Hillis sold the library to the ''

Alamo Drafthouse The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema is an American cinema chain founded in 1997 in Austin, Texas, which is famous for serving dinner and drinks during the movie, as well as its strict policy of requiring its audiences to maintain proper cinema-going etiq ...

'' in Brooklyn. The 2019 documentary ''At the Video Store'' by James Westby features a conversation with Hillis about his time as a video rental store owner. Since 2020, Hillis has been curating and hosting "Playtime with Hillis," a

Zoom Zoom may refer to: Technology Computing * Zoom (software), videoconferencing application * Page zooming, the ability to magnify or shrink a portion of a page on a computer display * Zooming user interface, a graphical interface allowing for image ...

screening series of rare cinema. Guests included Paul Schrader,

Alice Cooper Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier, February 4, 1948) is an American rock singer whose career spans over five decades. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusions, including pyrotechnics, guillot ...

, Steve Buscemi,

Rian Johnson Rian Craig Johnson (born December 17, 1973) is an American filmmaker. He made his directorial debut with the neo-noir mystery film '' Brick'' (2005), which received positive reviews and grossed nearly $4 million on a $450,000 budget. Transitio ...

, "Weird Al" Yankovic, Robert Townsend,

Heather Matarazzo Heather Christina Marie Matarazzo (born November 10, 1982) is an American actress. Her breakthrough role was Dawn Wiener in the film '' Welcome to the Dollhouse'' (1995). She played Lilly in ''The Princess Diaries'' (2001) and '' The Princess Di ...

, Joe Dante,

Robyn Hitchcock Robyn Rowan Hitchcock (born 3 March 1953) is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist. While primarily a vocalist and guitarist, he also plays harmonica, piano, and bass guitar. After leading the Soft Boys in the late 1970s and releasing the ...

Guinevere Turner Guinevere Jane Turner is an American actress, screenwriter, and film director. She has written such films as ''American Psycho'' and '' The Notorious Bettie Page'' and played the lead role of the dominatrix Tanya Cheex in '' Preaching to the Per ...

Alessandro Nivola Alessandro Antine Nivola (born June 28, 1972) is an American actor. He has been nominated for a Tony Award and an Independent Spirit Award and has won a Screen Actors Guild Award, a British Independent Film Award (BIFA), and the Best Actor Award ...

, and band Sparks."The Dantes - the playtime with hillis awards show"
(October 3, 2021)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hillis, Aaron Living people Year of birth missing (living people) American film critics Writers from New York City American male journalists Film curators American film directors American documentary film directors