Carl M. George
Directing
Biography
Carl George is an artist working primarily in film and collage. He is a founding member of the New York based art collective Allied Productions and has curated exhibitions in venues such as The Armand Hammer Museum, The Film Society of Lincoln Center, The New York Department of Cultural Affairs, Participant, Inc., The Kinsey Institute, Warner Brothers, Paramount Studios, and Cinecitta Studios, Rome. Many of his short experimental films have been shown across the USA and Canada, and in festivals internationally and are in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney, the Guggenheim Museum, and the New York Public Library. His 1986 short film, The Lost 40 Days has been digitized with the assistance of the National Film Preservation Foundation and now resides in the permanent collections of the National Film Archive at the Library of Congress, the New York Filmmakers Coop, and Anthology Film Archives in New York. His 1989 film DHPG Mon Amour, documenting the radical advances made by people with AIDS in developing their own health care, is a classic of AIDS activist filmmaking and was recently incorporated into the Oscar-nominated documentary How to Survive a Plague (2012). Carl was chosen for a residency at the Yaddo artist colony in Saratoga Springs, New York and is a recipient of several grants and honors including the Canada Council for the Arts, the New York State Council for the Arts, and a 2022 Kresge Fellowship
Known For
A diverse program of films and videos by various artists who challenge conventional representations of gender, family and sexuality, curated by Tom Kalin for Drift Distribution.
Flesh Histories
A film starring Gordon Kurtti, Jack Waters, Peter Cramer, Samoa, and others with original soundtrack by Barry Frier on percussion and Samoa on vocals. Inspired by Japanese Noe theater and specifically Sankai Juku, films from Hollywood’s silent era and 1920s German Expressionist theatre and film.
La Belle Fleur
Starring Jack Waters with a special guest appearance by Peter Cramer.
Why Do You Love Me So Much
A profile of three dancers: Brian Taylor, Jack Waters and Peter Cramer, friends, collaborators and founding members of P.O.O.L. - Performance On One Leg.
6 Feet: Dancers That I Know and Love
Starring Valerie Caris, Kembra Pfahler, Samoa, Philly, Jack Waters, Peter Cramer, Brad and Brian Taylor, Adrianne Saich, Gordon Kurtti, Lorraine and Amy Lamont Taylor and a cast of thousands.
The Lost 40 Days
A journey of discovery through my own lavender lenses
Finding Ghanem (Part One)
A loving memory poem to New York City in the days before the tsunami of AIDS and the horror of 9/11. A time of unbridled joy and creativity, when the laboratory was open and artists could afford to move to the city.
Back in the Day
A journey of discovery of my Lebanese heritage through my own lavender lenses
Finding Ghanem (Part Two)
The Lie is the latest in an ongoing series of short films by Carl George drawing on found footage and materials from the artist’s archive. Offering “ruminations on ruined nations,” the film aims to expose the links between war, AIDS, capitalism, and the persistent mythologies that bind them all. Commissioned in by Visual AIDS in 2019 as part of STILL BEGINNING, a program of seven short videos responding to the ongoing HIV/AIDS epidemic.
The Lie
A Super-8, home-style movie which explores the radical advances made by PWA's (People With AIDS), in developing their own health care. Focusing precisely on the ordinary minutiae of David Conover and Joe Walsh's daily life, DHPG Mon Amour shows the struggle for self-determination and control over one's own body and resonates on an intimate and more broadly political level. DHPG Mon Amour was featured at the 1990 New Directors Series at the Museum of Modern Art and The Semaine de la Critique at the Cannes Film Festival. The film has been exhibited at festivals, museums and theaters throughout the U.S., Canada and Europe, is in the permanent collection of the Library of Congress and the New York Public Library. DHPG Mon Amour was recently incorporated into the Oscar-nominated documentary How to Survive a Plague (2012).
D.H.P.G. Mon Amour
Examines the relationship between the rise of homophobia and racism during times of frenzied patriotism. The image of Whitney Houston singing the national anthem at Superbowl XXV is juxtaposed with CNN news footage of millitary maneuvers in the Persian Gulf, and a five borough anti-violence march organized by the New York Lesbian and Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project.
The Star Spangled Basher
Dust to dust
Finding Ghanem (Part Three)
Kites, a beautiful summer day on Belle Isle, and Jessye Norman