John Smith Movies

Back stroke butterfly, front crawl and bras, we are awash in an ocean of bubbles. Meanwhile Captain Ahab sets sail on his magic carpet in search of...

A film by John Smith and Ian Bourn

As the camera looks out through a barred window and the clock strikes four in a Swiss city, the death of Yasser Arafat provides the starting point...

Artist John Smith tells stories about tower block life, editing in bold, unconventional fashion, cutting into the material and highlighting the...

John Smith stands in front of a mirror, singing “Happy Birthday” in a minor key, like a funeral dirge, twice, as he washes his hands.

‘Covid Messages’ is a video in six parts, based around broadcasts of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s COVID-19 press conferences. The...

'Shine So Hard' is a rare Echo and the Bunnymen promotional concert film, taking place during their 1981 'Camo Tour'.

Home Suite, Smith’s first video work, is a close-up journey through a domestic landscape and a journey through memory, containing only three...

John Smith’s Leading Light evolves a sense of screen depth and surface through the simple agency of light. The film is shot in a room over a...

A portrait of the artist as a not so young man. The film-maker attempts to enter the digital age by making a new video version of his 1978 film 7P.

On the 23rd of June 2016 Britain voted to leave the European Union. Who Are We? is a re-working of material from a BBC television debate transmitted...

The filmmaker returns to the city where he made the first video in the series [Frozen War] and looks back at the events of the past six years.

Rapid cutting between identically framed portrait photographs creates composite faces and various illusions of movement. The film features...

Waiting by the sea with his camera ready for action, the artist complains about the weather and attempts to describe his intentions and working...

While the Iraq war continues, a day’s sightseeing and the features of a German hotel provoke a stream of thoughts about events large and small.

Lost Sound documents fragments of discarded audio tape found on the streets of a small area of East London, combining the sound retrieved from each...

The discovery of a VHS tape of the artist's films on eBay triggers obsessive speculation about the seller's identity.

THE CAMERA, THE ACTOR was commissioned by musician Charles Hayward to accompany the song of the same name on his album entitled (Begin Anywhere).

“If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.” Matthew 5:38-40

Reflecting on past political problems and the state of the world as it was provides no tools or means for envisioning the future.