James Fotopoulos (born 1976, Norridge, Illinois) is an independent filmmaker whose work is low-budget and rigorous, and consists of experimental narrative features, non-narrative shorts, and video installations.^[1] He began creating his film projects as a teenager in 1993, and as of 2012, has made over 100 films and videos.^[2][3]

Partial filmography

Recognition

Fotopoulos' work was featured in the 2004 Whitney Biennial^[4] and he has collaborated with media artist Cory Arcangel.

The Film Journal praises Fotopoulos, writing he is "one of cinema's most unique voices, a filmmaker of uncompromising vision."^[2]

Of Fotopoulos' film Migrating Forms, Amy Taubin of The Village Voice wrote that while it was not a pleasurable experience, the film stayed with her most vividly as a "kind of stripped-down Eraserhead", which offered "a formal purity and obsessive power that's all too rare these days".^[5]

Awards and nominations

• 2000 won Best Feature at New York Underground Film Festival for Migrating Forms^[6]
• 2005 Creative Capital Grant Film/Video [1]

Personal

James Fotopoulos was raised in Norridge, Illinois. His father was a policeman and his mother a hairdresser. He displayed artistic aptitude as a child and devoted his attention to filmmaking at age 15. His 1997 film Zero, shot when he was 18 years old during his first year as a film student at Columbia College Chicago, was his first feature.^[7] In 1998 James founded his production company Fantasma Inc.^[8]