From: Chicago, Illinois. LA Opera: video design for anatomy theater (2016, debut); filmmaker for Soldier Songs (2018); filmmaker for the Digital Short let me come in (2021).
"Morrison's world is one of the most breathtaking and haltingly disturbing cinematic realms of our time."
—Glenn Kenny, RogerEbert.com
Bill Morrison has premiered films at the New York, Rotterdam, Sundance, and Venice film festivals, and multimedia work at major performance venues around the globe such as BAM, the Barbican, Carnegie Hall and Walt Disney Concert Hall. His films typically source rare archival footage in which long-forgotten, and sometimes deteriorated, imagery is reframed as part of a collective mythology. His work has been recognized with the Alpert Award, Creative Capital, the Foundation for Contemporary Art, a Guggenheim fellowship, and a mid-career retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art.
Decasia (2002), with music by Michael Gordon, was the first film of the 21st century to be selected to the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry.
Spark of Being (2010), a collaboration with trumpeter/composer Dave Douglas, won the Los Angeles Film Critics Award for Best Independent Film of 2011.
The Miners’ Hymns (2011), a collaboration with composer Jóhann Jóhannsson, was described as one of “the best and most beautiful films of the year” by The Huffington Post.
The Great Flood (2013), a collaboration with composer/guitarist Bill Frisell, won the Smithsonian Ingenuity Award of 2014 for historical scholarship.
Dawson City: Frozen Time (2016), with music by Alex Somers, won numerous awards including a Critics’ Choice Award for the most innovative documentary, was named the best documentary of the year by the Boston Society of Film Critics, was included on over 100 critics’ lists of the best films of 2017, and numerous lists of the best films of the decade.
Along with those mentioned above, Morrison has collaborated with the some of the most celebrated musicians and composers of our time, including John Adams, William Basinski, Maya Beiser, Gavin Bryars, Dave Douglas, Philip Glass, Vijay Iyer, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Kronos Quartet, David Lang, Steve Reich and Julia Wolfe, among many others.
Learn more at BillMorrisonFilm.com.
