Happy new year, and welcome to Cinéclub podcast number 12. For this episode I was very lucky to talk with John Smith, a London-based experimental filmmaker who has been working since the early 1970s. John’s films include The Girl Chewing Gum from 1976, The Black Tower from 1985, Slow Glass, made between 1988 and 1981, and the Hotel Diaries series which ran from 2001 until 2007. His latest, Being John Smith, uses his very common and un-Googleable name and its effect on his life and work as a way to explore themes of celebrity, mortality, how to make art in a global crisis, and much more.
The film will be showing as part of a gallery exhibition at the Kate McGarry Gallery in Shoreditch in East London between 18th January and 15th February 2025. There’s a link to the show in the shownotes for this episode.
John and I discuss the influence of the London Filmmakers Co-Op, his signature blend of the mundane and the profound, the role of politics, humour and documentary in his work, and more. Please enjoy.
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Show notes
52 pages w/ articles on cinematic representations of the German urban guerilla group The Red Army Faction, Claude Chabrol’s 1962 film The Third Lover’ and some pieces on punks in cinema. DIY and sold on a not-for-profit basis at a cost that just covers the cost of printing: £3.50 plus postage.
Info on The Girl Chewing Gum and The Man Phoning Mum
Info on The Black Tower
Info on Slow Glass
Info on the Hotel Diaries series
Info on Being John Smith
Info on John’s exhibition at the Kate McGarry Gallery, 18th January - 15th February 2025
Erika Balsom’s excellent dossier on The Girl Chewing Gum for the Tate Gallery
Includes material on John’s experiences at the London Filmmaker’s Co-Op (discussed in the podcast episode) and much more
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