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Ben Russell (filmmaker)

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Ben Russell in 2014

Ben Russell (born 1976) is an American artist and experimental filmmaker. Russell developed his reputation over the numerous shorts he made throughout the 2000s,[1] many as part of his "Trypps" series,[2][3] and as the curator of the Magic Lantern Cinema in Providence, Rhode Island.[4] 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.[5][6] Both a Guggenheim Fellow and participating artist in documenta 14,[7] Russell's work has been described as drawing on elements of ethnography, psychedelia and Surrealism.[8][9][10][11]

Biography

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Russell attended Brown University from 1994 to 1998, where he received a BA in art and semiotics.[12] It was during his last year at Brown that Russell became interested in filmmaking,[13] and shot his first film on 16mm. Afterwards, Russell traveled to Suriname with the Peace Corps.[8] The experience inspired many of his films, and the country ended up as the setting for his first feature-length work, Let Each One Go Where He May, a film which premiered in the Tiger Awards competition at the 2010 Rotterdam International Film Festival and received the FIPRESCI International Critics Prize.[14]

Early in his career, Russell befriended the English filmmaker Ben Rivers, and the two would later co-program a touring series of their work.[13] They have collaborated on two films together, the feature film A Spell to Ward Off the Darkness (2013)[15] and the experimental short The Rare Event (2018).[16]

Russell's third feature film, Good Luck (2017),[17][18][19][20] premiered in the international competition at the 2017 Locarno Film Festival and was exhibited as a four-channel video installation[21] at documenta 14 in Kassel, Germany. It was voted the "Best Experimental Film of 2017" by the National Society of Film Critics.[22]

Russell received an MFA in film and video from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2003.[12] From 2006-2011, he was assistant professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Filmography

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  • 2024: Direct Action co-director with Guillaume Cailleau
  • Color-Blind (2019)
  • The Rare Event (2018)
  • Good Luck (2017)
  • He Who Eats Children (2016)
  • YOLO (2015)
  • Greetings to the Ancestors (2015)
  • Atlantis (2014)
  • A Spell to Ward off the Darkness (2013)
  • Let Us Persevere In What We Have Resolved Before We Forget (2013)
  • Ponce de León (2012)
  • Austerity Measures (2012)
  • River Rites (2011)
  • Trypps #7 (Badlands) (2010)
  • Trypps #6 (Malobi) (2009)
  • Let Each One Go Where He May (2009)
  • Rock Me Amadeus by Falco via Kardinal by Otto Muehl (2009)
  • Trypps #5 (Dubai) (2008)
  • Black and White Trypps Number Four (2008)
  • Tjúba Tén / The Wet Season (2008)
  • Workers Leaving the Factory (Dubai) (2007)
  • Black and White Trypps Number Three (2007)
  • Black and White Trypps Number Two (2006)
  • Black and White Trypps Number One (2005)
  • The Red and the Blue Gods (2005)
  • The Twenty-One Lives of Billy the Kid (2005)
  • Last Days (2004)
  • The Ataraxians (2004)
  • Extra Terrestrial (2004)
  • The Tawny (2003)
  • Terra Incognita (2002)
  • The Quarry (2002)
  • The Breathers-In (2002)
  • Daumë (2000)
  • The Death of Abraham Lincoln (in Three Parts) (1998)

References

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  1. ^ "A Decade in the Dark: Avant-Garde Film and Video 2000-2009; 50 Best Films of the Decade". Film Comment. May–June 2010.
  2. ^ "breaking waves - artforum.com / film". Artforum.com. Retrieved 2009-12-21.
  3. ^ "corduroy magazine | New Rebel Cinema: Corduroy reports from Park City". Corduroymag.com. 2009-02-01. Archived from the original on 2011-07-08. Retrieved 2009-12-21.
  4. ^ "Ben Russell: Profile of the Curator | Newcity Art". Art.newcity.com. 2008-04-17. Retrieved 2009-12-21.
  5. ^ Sicinski, Michael (Spring 2010). "The Unbroken Path: Ben Russell's Let Each One Go Where He May". Cinemascope. 40.
  6. ^ "taking place - artforum.com / film". Artforum.com. Retrieved 2009-12-21.
  7. ^ Peleg, Hila. "Ben Russell". documenta 14.
  8. ^ a b "Unfamiliar Ground: The 38th International Film Festival Rotterdam". Archive.sensesofcinema.com. 2009-02-01. Archived from the original on 2009-07-05. Retrieved 2009-12-21.
  9. ^ "Supposed Aura". Supposedaura.blogspot.com. 2008-10-27. Archived from the original on 2010-08-04. Retrieved 2009-12-21.
  10. ^ Cornell, Lauren (September 2013). "We Have Always Been in the End Times: A Conversation Between Lauren Cornell, Rachel Rose, and Ben Russell". Mousse. No. 49.
  11. ^ MacDonald, Scott (2019). The Sublimity of Document: Cinema as Diorama. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-005212-6.
  12. ^ a b "Ye Olde Curriculum Vitae". Dimeshow.com. 2008-04-17. Archived from the original on 2011-07-10. Retrieved 2009-12-21.
  13. ^ a b "The Lumičre Reader ť Film » Ben Russell on We Can Not Exist in This World Alone". Lumiere.net.nz. Archived from the original on 29 November 2009. Retrieved 2009-12-21.
  14. ^ "IFFR FIPRESCI Award". IFFR.com.
  15. ^ Kenigsberg, Ben (December 4, 2014). "Feeling Your Way Toward Utopia: Metaphysical Moments in A Spell to Ward Off the Darkness". The New York Times.
  16. ^ Camia, Giovanni Marchini (April 14, 2018). "The Rare Event review: metaphysical gymnastics with Bens Rivers and Russell". Sight & Sound.
  17. ^ Caldiron, Phil (Spring 2017). "Ahead of its Reflection: Ben Russell's Good Luck". Cinemascope. 72.
  18. ^ Kenigsberg, Ben (April 5, 2018). "Review: In 'Good Luck,' Miners in Serbia and Suriname Share A Cinematic Link". The New York Times.
  19. ^ Vishnevetsky, Ignatiy (April 4, 2018). "The experimental documentary Good Luck mines gold from the oldest industry". AV Film Club.
  20. ^ Uhlich, Keith (April 2, 2018). "Good Luck". Slant.
  21. ^ Ramos, Filipa (April–May 2017). "Collective Hallucinations Come to Light". Mousse. No. 58.
  22. ^ "Best Experimental Film (2017)".
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