James Fotopoulos (born 1976,

Norridge, Illinois Norridge is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 15,251 at the 2020 census. The village and its neighbor to the east, Harwood Heights, together form an enclave within the city of Chicago (i.e. they are surrounded ...

) is an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

filmmaker Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, castin ...

whose work is low-budget and rigorous, and consists of

experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when ...

narrative A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, whether nonfictional (memoir, biography, news report, documentary, travel literature, travelogue, etc.) or fictional (fairy tale, fable, legend, thriller (ge ...

features, non-narrative shorts, and

video Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) syste ...

installations. He began creating his film projects as a teenager in 1993, and as of 2012, has made over 100 films and videos.

Partial filmography

* ''Zero'' (1997) * ''Drowning'' (2000) * '' Migrating Forms'' (2000) * ''Insect'' (2001) * '' Christabel'' (2001) * ''Consumed'' (in 5-parts) (2001) * ''

Back Against the Wall ''Back Against the Wall'' is an album released in 2005 by Billy Sherwood in collaboration with a number of (mostly) progressive rock artists as a tribute to Pink Floyd's album ''The Wall''. A year later, Sherwood followed it with the release of ...

'' (2002) * ''Families'' (2002) * ''Hymn'' (2002) * ''The River'' (2002) * ''The Swan'' (2002) * ''The Nest'' (2003) * ''Conjunction'' (2003) * ''Jerusalem'' (2003) * ''Sublimation'' (2003) * ''The Fountain'' (2003) * ''The Hemispheres'' (2003) * ''Esophagus'' (2004) * ''The Ant Hill'' (2004) * ''The Pearl'' (2004) * ''30.40'' (2005) * ''Shattered'' (2005) * ''Spine Face'' (2005) * ''The Mirror Mask'' (2005) * ''The Hard-Boiled Egg'' (2006) * ''Trinity'' (2006) * ''Go Back and Watch It'' (2007) * ''Knot 1'' (2007) * ''Knot 2'' (2007) * ''Knot 3'' (2007) * ''Knot 4'' (2007) * ''Knot 5'' (2007) * ''Knot 6'' (2007) * ''Knot 7'' (2007) * ''Knot 8'' (2007) * ''Sleep Weep (The Zookeeper)'' (2007) * ''Tape 1'' (2007) * ''The Discovery'' (2007) * ''The Sky Song'' (2007) * ''Untitled (Thanks, Get in...)'' (2008) * ''Surprise!'' (2009) * ''Alice in Wonderland'' (2010) * ''Thick Comb'' (2011) * ''Chimera'' (2011) * ''Dignity'' (2012) * ''THERE'' (2014) * ''The Given'' (2015) * ''Two Girls'' (2018)

Recognition

Fotopoulos' work was featured in the 2004

Whitney Biennial The Whitney Biennial is a biennial exhibition of contemporary American art, typically by young and lesser known artists, on display at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, United States. The event began as an annual exhibition in ...

and he has collaborated with media artist

Cory Arcangel Cory Arcangel (born May 25, 1978) is an American post-conceptual artist who makes work in many different media, including drawing, music, video, performance art, and video game modifications, for which he is best known. Arcangel often uses the ...

. ''

The Film Journal ''Film Journal International'' was a motion-picture industry trade magazine published by the American company Prometheus Global Media. It was a sister publication of ''Adweek'', '' Billboard'', ''The Hollywood Reporter'', and other periodicals. ...

'' praises Fotopoulos, writing he is "one of cinema's most unique voices, a filmmaker of uncompromising vision." Of Fotopoulos' film '' Migrating Forms'', Amy Taubin of ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...

'' wrote that while it was not a pleasurable experience, the film stayed with her most vividly as a "kind of stripped-down Eraserhead", which offered "a formal purity and obsessive power that's all too rare these days".

Awards and nominations

* 2000 won Best Feature at

New York Underground Film Festival The New York Underground Film Festival was an annual event that occurred each March at Anthology Film Archives in New York City from 1994 through 2008 founded by filmmakers Todd Phillips ('' Road Trip'', '' Old School'') and Andrew Gurland. After P ...

for ''Migrating Forms'' * 2005 Creative Capital Grant Film/Vide

Personal

James Fotopoulos was raised in

. His father was a policeman and his mother a hairdresser. He displayed artistic aptitude as a child and devoted his attention to filmmaking at age 15. His 1997 film ''Zero'', shot when he was 18 years old during his first year as a film student at

Columbia College Chicago Columbia College Chicago is a Private college, private art college in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1890, it has 5,928https://about.colum.edu/effectiveness/pdf/spring-2021-student-profile.pdf students pursuing degrees in more than 60 undergra ...

, was his first feature. In 1998 James founded his production compan
Fantasma Inc

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fotopoulos, James 1976 births Living people American experimental filmmakers American contemporary artists People from Norridge, Illinois