Ed Emshwiller
Biography
Born in 1925, Ed Emshwiller studied graphic design at the University of Michigan and L'Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. By the late '60s Emshwiller was working as a science fiction illustrator, and had established his place in the American avant-garde cinema with such works as Relativity (1966) and Image, Flesh and Voice (1969). His early films featured collaborations with dancers and choreographers—a theme he carried over into his videoworks.
As both an artist and a teacher, Emshwiller’s pioneering efforts to develop an alternative technological language in video were enormously influential. His early experiments with synthesizers and computers included the electronic rendering of three-dimensional space, the interplay of illusion and reality, and manipulations of time, movement, and scale that explore the relationship between "external reality and subjective feelings." Emshwiller was among the first artists-in-residence at the TV Lab at WNET, where he produced the groundbreaking Scape-mates (1972). Sunstone (1979) was made over a period of eight months at the New York Institute of Technology. Emshwiller passed away in 1990 and an extensive collection of his work is housed by Anthology Film Archives.
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Career timeline
Full filmography
- Birth of a Nation (1997)
- Hungers (1987) Director
- Home Movies 1971-81 (1985)
- Skin Matrix (1984) Director
- Skin Matrix S (1984) Director
- The Lathe of Heaven (1980) Special Effects
- Sunstone (1979) Director
- Sunstone (1979) Writer
- Eclipse (1979) Director
- Dubs (1978) Director
- Sur Faces (1977) Director
- Family Focus (1976) as Himself
- Family Focus (1976) Editor
- Family Focus (1976) Cinematography
- Family Focus (1976) Director
- Self-Trio (1976) Director
- Lost, Lost, Lost (1976) as Self
- New England Visions Past and Future (1976) Director
- Inside Edges (1975) Director
- Solstice and Solyanka (1975)
- Crossings and Meetings (1974) Director
- Suite 212 (1974) Camera Operator
- Painters Painting (1973)
- Painters Painting (1973) Cinematography
- Notes on the Buffalo Conference: “Autobiography in American Independent Cinema” (1973)
- Chrysalis (1973) Director
- Chrysalis (1973) Cinematography
- Chrysalis (1973) Sound
- Identities (1973) Director
- Positive Negative Electronic Faces (1973) Director
- Pilobolus and Joan (1973) Director
- Scape-Mates (1972) Director
- Scape-Mates (1972) Writer
- Thermogenesis (1972) Director
- Woe Oh Ho No (1972) Director
- Computer Graphics #1 (1972) Director
- Millhouse (1971) Cinematography
- Film with Three Dancers (1971) Director
- Choice Chance Woman Dance (1971) Director
- Report (1970) Sound Recordist
- Report (1970) Cinematography
- Carol (1970) Director
- Carol (1970) Editor
- Carol (1970) Cinematography
- Branches (1970) Director
- Images (1970) Director
- Jr. Star Trek (1969) Cinematography
- Image, Flesh and Voice (1969) Director
- Diaries, Notes, and Sketches (1968) as Self
- Project Apollo (1968) Director
- Bob Dylan – Don't Look Back (1967) Camera Operator
- Fusion (1967) Director
- Relativity (1966) Director
- In Three Zones (1966) Director
- Galaxie (1966) as Self
- Art Scene USA (1966) Director
- Oysters Are in Season (1966) Director of Photography
- Film Magazine of the Arts (1965) Cinematography
- George Dumpson's Place (1965) Director
- Faces of America (1965) Director
- Scrambles (1964) Director
- Hallelujah the Hills (1963) as Gideon
- Hallelujah the Hills (1963) Cinematography
- Freedom March (1963) Director
- Thanatopsis (1963) Director
- The Existentialist (1963) Cinematography
- Totem (1963) Director of Photography
- Totem (1963) Director
- Totem (1963) Editor
- The American Way (1962) Camera Operator
- Time of the Heathen (1962) Editor
- Time of the Heathen (1962) Art Direction
- Time of the Heathen (1962) Cinematography
- The Streets of Greenwood (1962) Cinematography
- Lifelines (1960) Director
- Dance Chromatic (1959) Director
- Transformation (1959) Director
- Monsters (1958) Director
- Big Vacation (1958) Director
- Paintings by Ed Emshwiller (1958) Director
- The Thing from Back Issues (1956) Director