James Fotopoulos

Directing

Biography

Born in Norridge, IL in 1976, James Fotopoulos is a filmmaker who began production on his first feature-length film, ZERO (1997), in 1995. In 1998, he founded Fantasma for the production of his second feature, Migrating Forms (1999), and would continue to create a number of critically acclaimed narrative feature films, such as Back Against the Wall (2000), Families (2002), The Nest (2003) and Dignity (2012). Along with his narrative productions, Fotopoulos has created a prolific body of over 200 non-narrative films, which include Christabel (2001), Esophagus (2004), The Mirror Mask (2005), The Sky Song (2007) and Alice in Wonderland (2010). These works range from feature length to a few seconds long and combine an exhaustive portfolio of visual art and performance techniques. Fotopoulos' work received a retrospective at the Anthology Film Archives; premiered at the Museum of Modern Art, MoMA PS1, Festival del Film Locarno and the Museum of Art and Design; and was screened and exhibited widely at a number of film festivals, museums, and sites, such as Rotterdam International Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, London Film Festival, Whitney Biennial, Walker Art Center, and the Andy Warhol Museum, among many others.

Filmography Movies

Acting

MOVIE

Barney's Wall

Not rated yet

What makes a rebel? This 78 minute documentary probes the psyche of bad-boy publisher and free speech warrior Barney Rosset, whose mid-century legal and cultural battles smashed sexual and political taboos in the United States — unleashing the counter-culture of the 1960s and introducing millions of young intellectuals to the most radical currents in literature, film, theater and politics. In his late eighties, coming to terms with his life, Barney Rosset began to obsessively sculpt an autobiographical 15′ x 22′ surreal wall mural, embedded with jewel-like vignettes crafted out of found objects, each a clue to the conflicts and obsessions that drove Barney’s lifetime rebellion against authority. A cast of artists, a neurologist, and a shaman connect the clues and piece together Barney’s life.

Play Trailer

Barney's Wall

Self

Production

MOVIE

Two Girls

Not rated yet

The story of young sisters in the American Midwest left alone with their increasingly unstable mother while their father is fighting in the Civil War. The film traces the girls’ naturally fraught sibling dynamic and the ways that their father’s absence ignites their imagination. When they meet a stranger in the forest they become enchanted by a world of creative work and nature, a welcome distraction from their volatile mother. Play and the dreamlike space they inhabit provides an expansive and ultimately grounding setting for the girls’ response to war.