Ken McMullen (film director)
Encyclopedia
Ken McMullen is an award-winning film director
and artist
living currently in London
. His feature films are distributed worldwide, his documentaries broadcast extensively and his art works exhibited in leading contemporary art galleries in Europe, The United States
and the Far East
. McMullen's films are grounded in philosophy
, history, psychoanalysis
and literature
. McMullen's exhibition Signatures of the Invisible brought together artists and scientists working at CERN
, the European particle physics
facility near Geneva
. His other work includes filming conversations with leading physicists at Stanford Linear Accelerator Centre, which he describes as "making a diary of the transition in human culture" because he believes physics is arriving at another shifting point. His latest work Arrows of Time is a radical new form of cinema consisting of 40 interchangeable elements that deal with literature, philosophy
, and contemporary physics. These elements are combined in a different order for each showing. This work premiered at the Museum of Modern Art
in San Francisco in April 2007.
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
and artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
living currently in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. His feature films are distributed worldwide, his documentaries broadcast extensively and his art works exhibited in leading contemporary art galleries in Europe, The United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and the Far East
Far East
The Far East is an English term mostly describing East Asia and Southeast Asia, with South Asia sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.The term came into use in European geopolitical discourse in the 19th century,...
. McMullen's films are grounded in philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
, history, psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis is a psychological theory developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud. Psychoanalysis has expanded, been criticized and developed in different directions, mostly by some of Freud's former students, such as Alfred Adler and Carl Gustav...
and literature
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
. McMullen's exhibition Signatures of the Invisible brought together artists and scientists working at CERN
CERN
The European Organization for Nuclear Research , known as CERN , is an international organization whose purpose is to operate the world's largest particle physics laboratory, which is situated in the northwest suburbs of Geneva on the Franco–Swiss border...
, the European particle physics
Particle physics
Particle physics is a branch of physics that studies the existence and interactions of particles that are the constituents of what is usually referred to as matter or radiation. In current understanding, particles are excitations of quantum fields and interact following their dynamics...
facility near Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
. His other work includes filming conversations with leading physicists at Stanford Linear Accelerator Centre, which he describes as "making a diary of the transition in human culture" because he believes physics is arriving at another shifting point. His latest work Arrows of Time is a radical new form of cinema consisting of 40 interchangeable elements that deal with literature, philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
, and contemporary physics. These elements are combined in a different order for each showing. This work premiered at the Museum of Modern Art
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is a modern art museum located in San Francisco, California. A nonprofit organization, SFMOMA holds an internationally recognized collection of modern and contemporary art and was the first museum on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th century art...
in San Francisco in April 2007.
Selected filmography
- An Organization of Dreams (2009)
- Arrows of Time (2007)
- Art, Poetry and Particle Physics (2004)
- Pioneers in Art and Science: Metzger (2004)
- Lumin de Lumine (2001)
- Seven Sighs (1995)
- Lucky ManLucky Man (film)Lucky Man is a 1995 Tamil film directed by Prathap K. Pothan and starring Karthik Muthuraman in the lead role. It is a remake of a 1994 hit Telugu film, Yamaleela, starring Ali and Indraja, and directed by S. V. Krishna Reddy....
(1994) - There We Are, John (1993)
- 1867 (1990)
- 18711871 (film)1871 is a 1990 period film about the rise and fall of the Paris Commune in 1871. It was directed by Ken McMullen and produced by Stewart Richards. The writers were McMullen, James Leahy and Terry James...
(1990): a period film about the rise and fall of the Paris Commune in 1871. Screened in the Un Certain RegardUn Certain RegardUn Certain Regard is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's Official Selection. It is run at the Salle Debussy, parallel to the competition for the Palme d'Or.This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob...
section at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival1990 Cannes Film Festival- Jury :*Bernardo Bertolucci *Alexei Guerman *Anjelica Huston *Bertrand Blier *Christopher Hampton*Fanny Ardant *Françoise Giroud *Hayao Shibata *Mira Nair *Sven Nykvist...
. - PartitionPartition (1987 film)Partition is a film by award-winning director Ken McMullen. The film is set in the turmoil surrounding the transfer of political power in British India from British to Indian hands and the partition of the subcontinent into The Dominion of Pakistan and The Republic of India in 1947. Made in 1987,...
(1987): set in the turmoil surrounding the transfer of political power in British IndiaBritish RajBritish Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
from BritishUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
to IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n hands and the partition of the subcontinentPartition of IndiaThe Partition of India was the partition of British India on the basis of religious demographics that led to the creation of the sovereign states of the Dominion of Pakistan and the Union of India on 14 and 15...
into The Dominion of PakistanHistory of PakistanThe 1st known inhabitants of the modern-day Pakistan region are believed to have been the Soanian , who settled in the Soan Valley and Riwat almost 2 million years ago. Over the next several thousand years, the region would develop into various civilizations like Mehrgarh and the Indus Valley...
and The Republic of IndiaHistory of the Republic of IndiaThe history of the Republic of India began on 26 January 1950. The country became an independent dominion within the British Commonwealth 15 August 1947. George VI was King until the Republic was proclaimed in 1950. Concurrently the Muslim-majority northwest and east of British India was separated...
in 1947. - ZinaZina (film)Zina is an award-winning film by director Ken McMullen. It tells a story of a twentieth century Antigone, Zinaida Volkova , daughter of Leon Trotsky. In 1930s Berlin, Zina is being treated by the adlerian psychotherapist Professor Arthur Kronfeld...
(1985): comparable to a twentieth century AntigoneAntigoneIn Greek mythology, Antigone is the daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta, Oedipus' mother. The name may be taken to mean "unbending", coming from "anti-" and "-gon / -gony" , but has also been suggested to mean "opposed to motherhood", "in place of a mother", or "anti-generative", based from the root...
, the titular daughterZinaida VolkovaZinaida Volkova was a Russian Marxist. She was Leon Trotsky's first daughter by his first wife, Aleksandra Sokolovskaya.- Biography :...
of Leon TrotskyLeon TrotskyLeon Trotsky , born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein, was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and theorist, Soviet politician, and the founder and first leader of the Red Army....
discusses memories of her life and her father with the BerlinBerlinBerlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
ian psychotherapist Professor KronfeldArthur KronfeldArthur Kronfeld was a German Psychiatrist.-1933 - 1941: Suppression and exile :...
. - Being and Doing (1984)
- Ghost DanceGhost Dance (film)Ghost Dance is a 1983 British film directed by Ken McMullen. This independent film explores the beliefs and myths surrounding the existence of ghosts and the nature of cinema.-Plot:...
(1983): a journey into beliefs and myths surrounding the existence of ghosts and the nature of cinema. - Patrick Hughes (1980)
- Patrick Heron (1979)
- ResistanceResistance (film)Resistance is a war movie released in 2003. It was written by Todd Komarnicki and Anita Shreve, stars Bill Paxton, Julia Ormond, Philippe Volter, Sandrine Bonnaire, and Victor Reinier, and was directed by Todd Komarnicki. Resistance, with a 16 million euro budget, was the most expensive Dutch...
(1976) - Lovelies and Dowdies (1974)
- Joseph Beuys at the Tate and Whitechapel (1972)
External links
- Ken McMullen. symmetry: a joint Fermilab/SLAC publication. Accessed August 9, 2007.