David Wojnarowicz

Acting

Biography

David Wojnarowicz was an American painter, photographer, writer, filmmaker, performance artist, and AIDS activist prominent in the New York City art world.

Filmography Movies

Acting

MOVIE

You Killed Me First

4.7(0.0K)

Elizabeth bristles at the religious directives of her parents, asserting her right to personhood outside demure hairstyles and turkey dinners, constructing voodoo dolls and entertaining other manners of dark drawing in her dank emo-den. When confronted with the humanity and hypocrisy of her tormentors, the young antihero vanquishes their belief systems (and bodies) asserting, "You killed me first!"

Stray Dogs

6.6(0.0K)

A fan tries to get an artist's attention by literally coming apart.

Silence = Death

5.1(0.0K)

AIDS victims and activists cope with hardship and society’s ignorance.

Where Evil Dwells

5.6(0.0K)

Loosely based on an infamous 1984 Long Island murder case involving Satan-worshiping, teenage drug freaks (Knights of the Black Circle), David Wojnarowicz and Tommy Turner’s Where Evil Dwells is a low-budget D.I.Y. movie that walks the jagged lines between splatter flick, experimental film and transgressive art. The original footage was destroyed in a fire and the only footage that survived is this 28 minute preview that was put together for the Downtown New York Film Festival in 1985.

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Where Evil Dwells

MOVIE

All I can feel is the pressure

David Wojnarowicz speaking before his death. Tens pounds of pressure, tens pounds of rage

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All I can feel is the pressure

himself

MOVIE

American Obsessions

Richard Kern’s 1983 film "American Obsessions" features David Wojnarowicz interacting with plaster heads from his “Metamorphosis” sculpture series. Kern went on to create two more films with David, "Stray Dogs" from his series Manhattan Love Suicides, 1984 and "You Killed Me First," 1985.

The Hardcore Collection

7.7(0.0K)

This DVD features 13 provocative short films by Richard Kern. Color & B&W film shorts with Lydia Lunch, Henry Rollins and more. Includes Death Valley 69 , The Right Side Of My Brain, You Killed Me First, The Bitches, The Sewing Circle, X is Y, Fingered, Horoscope, Submit to Me Now, My Nightmare, Manhattan Loves Suicides, Submit to Me, and Evil Cameraman. Music from Sonic Youth, Cop Shoot Cop, J.G. Thirwell, Butthole Surfers.

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The Hardcore Collection

(archive footage)

MOVIE

A Fire in My Belly

7.0(0.0K)

Experimental short film that explores themes of religion, violence, and gender/masculinity.

Manhattan Love Suicides

5.5(0.0K)

A series of short films by Richard Kern: Stray Dogs, Woman At The Wheel, Thrust In Me, & I Hate You Now.

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Manhattan Love Suicides

Fan (segment "Stray Dogs")

MOVIE

Pompeii New York, Part 1: Pier Caresses

A crumbling pier, its walls covered with graffiti and erotic frescoes reminiscent of pagan Pompeii, the locus of the seduction rituals of men longing for men, is the focus of this meditation on gay cruising at the height of sexual freedom before AIDS. Shot in 1982, this is the first segment of a film capturing the life, death, and rebirth of the legendary “sex piers” over the last three decades.

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Pompeii New York, Part 1: Pier Caresses

Production

MOVIE

Promises: Through Congress

10.0(0.0K)

Promises: Through Congress is a collaboration between Julie Mehretu, electronic music composer Floating Points aka Sam Shepherd, and filmmaker Trevor Tweeten. This 46-minute film features Mehretu’s expansive painting Congress (2003) and Promises (Luaka Bop, 2021), the acclaimed album from Floating Points and jazz titan Pharoah Sanders featuring the London Symphony Orchestra. Filmed on location at The Broad in Los Angeles.

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Promises: Through Congress

Other

MOVIE

An exploration concerning the act of revealing to a potential lover that one is seropositive to HIV, the virus believed to cause AIDS.

Beautiful People

6.0(0.0K)

Beautiful People was one of the last films David Wojnarowicz made before his death. The film follows Jesse Hultberg as he makes himself up in drag and ventures out onto the streets of New York, then beyond the city limits to a quiet lakeside.

Super 8

Recreated from existing Super-8 films and audio collage by David Wojnarowicz.

A Fire in My Belly

7.0(0.0K)

Experimental short film that explores themes of religion, violence, and gender/masculinity.

When I Put My Hands on Your Body

The series of five videos Collaborative Film Collection made in collaboration with Marion Scemama in 1989 is emblematic of Wojnarowicz's artistic practice, it unfolds through performance, films, photographs, texts and paintings. Taking a highly subjective point of departure he shares poetic and moving moments, moving through the material until his voice achieves a universal dimension.

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When I Put My Hands on Your Body

Director