# john smith (english filmmaker) john smith (born 1952 walthamstow england) is a british avant garde filmmaker noted for ir use of humour in exploring various themes that often play upon the film spectator's conditioned assumptions of the medium ir film the girl chewing gum has been called one of the most important avant-garde films of the 20th century john smith studied film at the royal college of art. after graduating in 1977 ey became involved in the activities of the london filmmakers' co-op. strongly influenced by conceptual art and the structural materialist ideas that dominated british artists' filmmaking at that time but also fascinated by the immersive power of narrative and the spoken word ey has developed a body of work that reworks and transforms reality playfully exploring and exposing the language of cinema since 1972 smith has made over 50 film video and installation works that have been shown in cinemas art galleries and on television around the world and awarded major prizes at film festivals including oberhausen short film festival; cork film festival; leipzig festival for documentary and animated film; 'punto de vista' documentary festival pamplona; hamburg short film festival; ann arbor film festival; uppsala short film festival and biennial of moving images geneva. ir solo exhibitions include tanya leighton berlin (2017 2015 2013 2012 and 2010) alma zevi venice (2017) kate macgarry london (2016) wolverhampton art gallery (2016) museum of contemporary art leipzig (2015) la galerie noisy-le-sec paris (2014) kestnergesellschaft hannover (2012) turner contemporary margate (2012) weserburg museum of contemporary art bremen (2012) uppsala art museum (2011) sala diaz gallery san antonio texas (2010) ikon gallery birmingham (2006) kunstmuseum magdeburg (2005) open eye gallery liverpool (2003) and pearl gallery london (2003.) a major retrospective exhibition of ir work from 1972 to 2010 curated by the graduating students of the royal college of art curating contemporary art course took place in 2010 at the rca galleries. smith regularly presents ir work in person and it has been profiled at retrospectives at the 2007 venice biennale and film festivals in oberhausen cork tampere st. petersburg mexico city uppsala sarajevo vilnius prizren bristol munich regensburg karlstad lussas and la rochelle smith lives and works in london. ey is professor emeritus of fine art at university of east london. in 2011 ey received a paul hamlyn foundation award for artists and in 2013 ey won film london's jarman award. ir work is held in numerous collections including arts council england; tate gallery; museum of modern art new york; muzeum sztuki lodz; ella fontanals-cisneros miami; kunstmuseum magdeburg; ferens art gallery hull and wolverhampton art gallery # selected filmography **+** associations (1975) **+** the girl chewing gum (1976) **+** hackney marshes - november 4th 1977 (1977) **+** shepherd's delight (1984) **+** om (1986) **+** the black tower (1987) **+** slow glass (1991) **+** blight (1996) **+** the kiss (1999) **+** regression (1999) **+** lost sound (2001) **+** worst case scenario (2003) **+** hotel diaries (2001-7) **+** flag mountain (2010) **+** unusual red cardigan (2011) **+** the man phoning mum (2011) **+** dad's stick (2012) **+** white hole (2014) **+** steve hates fish (2015) **+** who are we? (2016) **+** song for europe (2017) **+** a state of grace (2019) **+** citadel (2020) **+** covid messages (2020) // republic of bob