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Bill Morrison
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"One of the most adventurous American filmmakers" —Robert Koehler, Variety

Director Bill Morrison was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1965, and currently lives in New York. He attended Cooper Union, where he studied painting and animation. After college, he worked with New York's Ridge Theater, making short film backdrops for their avant-garde productions. This work has been recognized with two Bessie awards and an Obie.

Morrison's film and multimedia art has been screened at festivals, museums and concert halls worldwide, including the Sundance Film Festival, the Tate Modern, and the Walt Disney Concert Hall. The Museum of Modern Art has acquired eight of his titles for their permanent collection. Morrison has been commissioned to create films for numerous composers, including John Adams, Laurie Anderson, Gavin Bryars, Dave Douglas, Richard Einhorn, Bill Frisell, Michael Gordon, Henryk Gorecki, Vijay Iyer, Jóhann Jóhannsson, David Lang, Harry Partch, Steve Reich and Julia Wolfe. Morrison has received the Alpert Award, as well as fellowships from Creative Capital, the Guggenheim Foundation, the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, and the NEA.

Decasia (2002), his feature-length collaboration with composer Michael Gordon, was described by The Village Voice film critic J. Hoberman as "the most widely acclaimed American avant-garde film of the fin-de-siècle", and by Oscar-winning filmmaker Errol Morris as "a definitive work of art, and a new kind of documentary." Writing in The New York Times Magazine, Lawrence Weschler wrote that watching the film, "I found myself completely absorbed, transfixed, a pillow of air lodged in my stilled, open mouth."

Photo by James Cubitt

Icarus Films is proud to distribute nine of Bill Morrison's works:

  • Bill Morrison: Collected Works (1996–2013) - This five-disc set comprises 16 works by filmmaker and multimedia artist Bill Morrison.

  • Beyond Zero - Auteur filmmaker Bill Morrison brings to life a new cinematic record of World War I.

  • The Great Flood - Multimedia artist Bill Morrison and composer Bill Frisell explore the catastrophic Mississippi River Flood of 1927, and the ensuing transformation of American society. View trailer

  • Decasia - A legendary cinematic exploration of the beauty of decaying archival footage by experimental film artist Bill Morrison. Music by Michael Gordon. View trailer

  • Light Is Calling - A sumptuous cine-poem created from decaying archival footage. Music by Michael Gordon.

  • The Miners' Hymns - The ill-fated coal mining communities in North East England are the subject of this inspired documentary by multi-media artist Bill Morrison. Music by Jóhann Jóhannsson. View trailer

  • Release - Al Capone's release from prison is eagerly awaited by a crowd in Bill Morrison's split-screen panorama. Music by Vijay Iyer.

  • Outerborough - A trolley traveling over the Brooklyn Bridge in 1899 helped create the footage underlying Bill Morrison's neo-travelogue. Music by Todd Reynolds.

  • The Film of Her - A Library of Congress clerk tries to save early cinematic treasures in Bill Morrison's doc-fiction hybrid. Music by Henryk Gorecki and Bill Frisell.

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Note: This artist does not authorize film screenings with alternate soundtracks. Any request for a rental with live performance must be of the original score.
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