Independent filmmaker Alan Berliner, who is not afraid to point the camera at himself for his experimental documentaries, will spend a week on campus teaching, showing his films, and discussing an exhibition of two of his installations.
The film screenings, lecture, and exhibition are all free and open to the general public during Berliner’s visit, which runs from March 30 to April 3.
Berliner garnered widespread attention for his personal documentaries The Sweetest Sound and Nobody’s Business, which he followed with Wide Awake, a uniquely personal tour through his lifelong obsession with insomnia.
The New York Times has described Berliner’s films as “powerful, compelling and bittersweet . . . full of juicy conflict and contradiction, innovative in their cinematic technique, unpredictable in their structures. . . . Alan Berliner illustrates the power of fine art to transform life.”
His visit to campus as the Christian A. Johnson Endeavor Foundation Distinguished Artist in Residence was organized by the Film and Media Studies Program with support from the New York State Council on the Arts and the university’s Institute for the Creative and Performing Arts.
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“This is such a great opportunity for our students to engage in sustained, in-depth discussion with Alan throughout the week,” said Lynn Schwarzer, program director. “At the same time, we’re thrilled to give area residents a chance to hear his lecture, view this wonderful exhibition, and see his films.”
Berliner is a three-time Emmy Award winner. He has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, and the New York Foundation for the Arts.
He was the subject of a full career retrospective at the 2006 International Documentary Film Festival, held in Amsterdam. Selected retrospectives of his films have been presented at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and at film festivals around the world.