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Bill Viola (b. 1951)

Birthplace:
Queens, New York, USA

Born:
January 25, 1951

Biography from TheMovieDB

A pioneer in the medium of video art, Bill Viola's work explores the spiritual and perceptual side of human experience. Since 1970 he has created videotapes, architectural video installations, sound environments, electronic music performances and pieces for television. Works include Hatsu Yume (First Dream), The Passing, and installations Room for St. John of the Cross, The Messenger and The Quintet of the Astonished, recently shown at the National Gallery, London in "Encounters, New Art from Old". A 25-year survey exhibition of his work organized by The Whitney Museum of American Art recently traveled to 6 institutions in the USA and Europe. MacArthur Fellow.

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Additional information:

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Film Performances

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Film Production

Cinematography:
1986  I Do Not Know What It Is I Am Like

Creator:
1979  Chott el-Djerid (A Portrait in Light and Heat)
1986  I Do Not Know What It Is I Am Like

Director:
1973  Information
1975  A Million Other Things (2)
1975  A Non-Dairy Creamer
1975  Playing Soul Music to My Freckles
1975  Red Tape: Collected Works
1975  Return
1975  The Semi-Circular Canals
1976  Four Songs
1976  Junkyard Levitation
1976  Migration (for Jack Nelson)
1976  Songs of Innocence
1976  The Space Between the Teeth
1976  Truth Through Mass Individuation
1977  He Weeps for You
1977  Memories Of Ancestral Power
1977  Memory Surfaces and Mental Prayers
1977  Sweet Light
1977  The Morning After the Night of Power
1977  The Wheel of Becoming
1979  Chott el-Djerid (A Portrait in Light and Heat)
1979  Moonblood
1979  Moving Stillness: Mount Rainier 1979
1979  The Reflecting Pool
1980  Vegetable Memory
1981  Hatsu Yume (First Dream)
1982  Ancient of Days
1983  Anthem
1983  Reasons for Knocking at an Empty House
1984  Reverse Television - Portraits of Viewers
1986  I Do Not Know What It Is I Am Like
1986  Silent Life
1986  Sodium Vapor
1989  Angel's Gate
1990  The Stopping Mind
1992  Heaven and Earth
1992  Slowly Turning Narrative
1992  The Nantes Triptych
1992  The Passing
1992  The Sleepers
1994  Déserts
1995  The Greeting
1995  The Veiling
1996  The Crossing
2000  Anima
2000  Ascension
2000  Eternal Return
2000  The Quintet of the Astonished
2001  Catherine's Room
2001  Four Hands
2001  Surrender
2002  Fire Birth
2002  Going Forth By Day
2002  The Path
2002  The Voyage
2003  Emergence
2004  The Raft
2004  The Tristan Project
2005  Ablutions
2005  Basin of Tears
2005  Fire Woman
2005  Tristan’s Ascension (The Sound of a Mountain Under a Waterfall)
2007  Ocean Without a Shore
2008  The Innocents
2008  Three Women
2011  A Phrase from Chris
2012  The Encounter
2012  Traveling on Foot
2012  Walking on the Edge
2013  Man Searching for Immortality/Woman Searching for Eternity
2013  The Dreamers
2014  Inverted Birth
2014  Martyrs
2014  Martyrs: Air
2014  Martyrs: Earth
2014  Martyrs: Fire
2014  Martyrs: Water
2016  Mary
2018  Wagner: Tristan und Isolde
????  The Crossing

Director of Photography:
1973  Information
1975  A Million Other Things (2)
1975  A Non-Dairy Creamer
1975  Playing Soul Music to My Freckles
1975  Red Tape: Collected Works
1975  Return
1975  The Semi-Circular Canals
1976  Four Songs
1976  Junkyard Levitation
1976  Migration (for Jack Nelson)
1976  Songs of Innocence
1976  The Space Between the Teeth
1976  Truth Through Mass Individuation
1977  Guadalcanal Requiem
1977  He Weeps for You
1977  Memories Of Ancestral Power
1977  Memory Surfaces and Mental Prayers
1977  Sweet Light
1977  The Morning After the Night of Power
1977  The Wheel of Becoming
1979  Chott el-Djerid (A Portrait in Light and Heat)
1979  Moonblood
1979  Moving Stillness: Mount Rainier 1979
1979  The Reflecting Pool
1980  Vegetable Memory
1981  Hatsu Yume (First Dream)
1982  Ancient of Days
1983  Anthem
1983  Reasons for Knocking at an Empty House
1984  Reverse Television - Portraits of Viewers
1986  I Do Not Know What It Is I Am Like
1986  Silent Life
1986  Sodium Vapor
1989  Angel's Gate
1990  The Stopping Mind
1992  Heaven and Earth
1992  Slowly Turning Narrative
1992  The Nantes Triptych
1992  The Passing
1992  The Sleepers
1994  Déserts
1995  The Greeting
1995  The Veiling
1996  The Crossing
2000  Anima
2000  Ascension
2000  Eternal Return
2000  The Quintet of the Astonished
2001  Catherine's Room
2001  Four Hands
2001  Surrender
2002  Fire Birth
2002  Going Forth By Day
2002  The Path
2002  The Voyage
2003  Emergence
2004  The Raft
2004  The Tristan Project
2005  Ablutions
2005  Basin of Tears
2005  Fire Woman
2005  Tristan’s Ascension (The Sound of a Mountain Under a Waterfall)
2007  Ocean Without a Shore
2008  The Innocents
2008  Three Women
2011  A Phrase from Chris
2012  The Encounter
2012  Traveling on Foot
2012  Walking on the Edge
2013  Man Searching for Immortality/Woman Searching for Eternity
2013  The Dreamers
2014  Inverted Birth
2014  Martyrs
2014  Martyrs: Air
2014  Martyrs: Earth
2014  Martyrs: Fire
2014  Martyrs: Water
2016  Mary
2018  Wagner: Tristan und Isolde
????  The Crossing

Editor:
1973  Information
1975  A Million Other Things (2)
1975  A Non-Dairy Creamer
1975  Playing Soul Music to My Freckles
1975  Red Tape: Collected Works
1975  Return
1975  The Semi-Circular Canals
1976  Four Songs
1976  Junkyard Levitation
1976  Migration (for Jack Nelson)
1976  Songs of Innocence
1976  The Space Between the Teeth
1976  Truth Through Mass Individuation
1977  Guadalcanal Requiem
1977  He Weeps for You
1977  Memories Of Ancestral Power
1977  Memory Surfaces and Mental Prayers
1977  Sweet Light
1977  The Morning After the Night of Power
1977  The Wheel of Becoming
1979  Chott el-Djerid (A Portrait in Light and Heat)
1979  Moonblood
1979  Moving Stillness: Mount Rainier 1979
1979  The Reflecting Pool
1980  Vegetable Memory
1981  Hatsu Yume (First Dream)
1982  Ancient of Days
1983  Anthem
1983  Reasons for Knocking at an Empty House
1984  Reverse Television - Portraits of Viewers
1986  I Do Not Know What It Is I Am Like
1986  Silent Life
1986  Sodium Vapor
1989  Angel's Gate
1990  The Stopping Mind
1992  Heaven and Earth
1992  Slowly Turning Narrative
1992  The Nantes Triptych
1992  The Passing
1992  The Sleepers
1994  Déserts
1995  The Greeting
1995  The Veiling
1996  The Crossing
2000  Anima
2000  Ascension
2000  Eternal Return
2000  The Quintet of the Astonished
2001  Catherine's Room
2001  Four Hands
2001  Surrender
2002  Fire Birth
2002  Going Forth By Day
2002  The Path
2002  The Voyage
2003  Emergence
2004  The Raft
2004  The Tristan Project
2005  Ablutions
2005  Basin of Tears
2005  Fire Woman
2005  Tristan’s Ascension (The Sound of a Mountain Under a Waterfall)
2007  Ocean Without a Shore
2008  The Innocents
2008  Three Women
2011  A Phrase from Chris
2012  The Encounter
2012  Traveling on Foot
2012  Walking on the Edge
2013  Man Searching for Immortality/Woman Searching for Eternity
2013  The Dreamers
2014  Inverted Birth
2014  Martyrs
2014  Martyrs: Air
2014  Martyrs: Earth
2014  Martyrs: Fire
2014  Martyrs: Water
2016  Mary
2018  Wagner: Tristan und Isolde
????  The Crossing

Idea:
1973  Information
1975  A Million Other Things (2)
1975  A Non-Dairy Creamer
1975  Playing Soul Music to My Freckles
1975  Red Tape: Collected Works
1975  Return
1975  The Semi-Circular Canals
1976  Four Songs
1976  Junkyard Levitation
1976  Migration (for Jack Nelson)
1976  Songs of Innocence
1976  The Space Between the Teeth
1976  Truth Through Mass Individuation
1977  Guadalcanal Requiem
1977  He Weeps for You
1977  Memories Of Ancestral Power
1977  Memory Surfaces and Mental Prayers
1977  Sweet Light
1977  The Morning After the Night of Power
1977  The Wheel of Becoming
1979  Chott el-Djerid (A Portrait in Light and Heat)
1979  Moonblood
1979  Moving Stillness: Mount Rainier 1979
1979  The Reflecting Pool
1980  Vegetable Memory
1981  Hatsu Yume (First Dream)
1982  Ancient of Days
1983  Anthem
1983  Reasons for Knocking at an Empty House
1984  Reverse Television - Portraits of Viewers
1986  I Do Not Know What It Is I Am Like
1986  Silent Life
1986  Sodium Vapor
1989  Angel's Gate
1990  The Stopping Mind
1992  Heaven and Earth
1992  Slowly Turning Narrative
1992  The Nantes Triptych
1992  The Passing
1992  The Sleepers
1994  Déserts
1995  The Greeting
1995  The Veiling
1996  The Crossing
2000  Anima
2000  Ascension
2000  Eternal Return
2000  The Quintet of the Astonished
2001  Catherine's Room
2001  Four Hands
2001  Surrender
2002  Fire Birth
2002  Going Forth By Day
2002  The Path
2002  The Voyage
2003  Emergence
2004  The Raft
2004  The Tristan Project
2005  Ablutions
2005  Basin of Tears
2005  Fire Woman
2005  Tristan’s Ascension (The Sound of a Mountain Under a Waterfall)
2007  Ocean Without a Shore
2008  The Innocents
2008  Three Women
2011  A Phrase from Chris
2012  The Encounter
2012  Traveling on Foot
2012  Walking on the Edge
2013  Man Searching for Immortality/Woman Searching for Eternity
2013  The Dreamers
2014  Inverted Birth
2014  Martyrs
2014  Martyrs: Air
2014  Martyrs: Earth
2014  Martyrs: Fire
2014  Martyrs: Water
2016  Mary
2018  Wagner: Tristan und Isolde
????  The Crossing

Producer:
1973  Information
1975  A Million Other Things (2)
1975  A Non-Dairy Creamer
1975  Playing Soul Music to My Freckles
1975  Red Tape: Collected Works
1975  Return
1975  The Semi-Circular Canals
1976  Four Songs
1976  Junkyard Levitation
1976  Migration (for Jack Nelson)
1976  Songs of Innocence
1976  The Space Between the Teeth
1976  Truth Through Mass Individuation
1977  Guadalcanal Requiem
1977  He Weeps for You
1977  Memories Of Ancestral Power
1977  Memory Surfaces and Mental Prayers
1977  Sweet Light
1977  The Morning After the Night of Power
1977  The Wheel of Becoming
1979  Chott el-Djerid (A Portrait in Light and Heat)
1979  Moonblood
1979  Moving Stillness: Mount Rainier 1979
1979  The Reflecting Pool
1980  Vegetable Memory
1981  Hatsu Yume (First Dream)
1982  Ancient of Days
1983  Anthem
1983  Reasons for Knocking at an Empty House
1984  Reverse Television - Portraits of Viewers
1986  I Do Not Know What It Is I Am Like
1986  Silent Life
1986  Sodium Vapor
1989  Angel's Gate
1990  The Stopping Mind
1992  Heaven and Earth
1992  Slowly Turning Narrative
1992  The Nantes Triptych
1992  The Passing
1992  The Sleepers
1994  Déserts
1995  The Greeting
1995  The Veiling
1996  The Crossing
2000  Anima
2000  Ascension
2000  Eternal Return
2000  The Quintet of the Astonished
2001  Catherine's Room
2001  Four Hands
2001  Surrender
2002  Fire Birth
2002  Going Forth By Day
2002  The Path
2002  The Voyage
2003  Emergence
2004  The Raft
2004  The Tristan Project
2005  Ablutions
2005  Basin of Tears
2005  Fire Woman
2005  Tristan’s Ascension (The Sound of a Mountain Under a Waterfall)
2007  Ocean Without a Shore
2008  The Innocents
2008  Three Women
2011  A Phrase from Chris
2012  The Encounter
2012  Traveling on Foot
2012  Walking on the Edge
2013  Man Searching for Immortality/Woman Searching for Eternity
2013  The Dreamers
2014  Inverted Birth
2014  Martyrs
2014  Martyrs: Air
2014  Martyrs: Earth
2014  Martyrs: Fire
2014  Martyrs: Water
2016  Mary
2018  Wagner: Tristan und Isolde
????  The Crossing

Writer:
1973  Information
1975  A Million Other Things (2)
1975  A Non-Dairy Creamer
1975  Playing Soul Music to My Freckles
1975  Red Tape: Collected Works
1975  Return
1975  The Semi-Circular Canals
1976  Four Songs
1976  Junkyard Levitation
1976  Migration (for Jack Nelson)
1976  Songs of Innocence
1976  The Space Between the Teeth
1976  Truth Through Mass Individuation
1977  Guadalcanal Requiem
1977  He Weeps for You
1977  Memories Of Ancestral Power
1977  Memory Surfaces and Mental Prayers
1977  Sweet Light
1977  The Morning After the Night of Power
1977  The Wheel of Becoming
1979  Chott el-Djerid (A Portrait in Light and Heat)
1979  Moonblood
1979  Moving Stillness: Mount Rainier 1979
1979  The Reflecting Pool
1980  Vegetable Memory
1981  Hatsu Yume (First Dream)
1982  Ancient of Days
1983  Anthem
1983  Reasons for Knocking at an Empty House
1984  Reverse Television - Portraits of Viewers
1986  I Do Not Know What It Is I Am Like
1986  Silent Life
1986  Sodium Vapor
1989  Angel's Gate
1990  The Stopping Mind
1992  Heaven and Earth
1992  Slowly Turning Narrative
1992  The Nantes Triptych
1992  The Passing
1992  The Sleepers
1994  Déserts
1995  The Greeting
1995  The Veiling
1996  The Crossing
2000  Anima
2000  Ascension
2000  Eternal Return
2000  The Quintet of the Astonished
2001  Catherine's Room
2001  Four Hands
2001  Surrender
2002  Fire Birth
2002  Going Forth By Day
2002  The Path
2002  The Voyage
2003  Emergence
2004  The Raft
2004  The Tristan Project
2005  Ablutions
2005  Basin of Tears
2005  Fire Woman
2005  Tristan’s Ascension (The Sound of a Mountain Under a Waterfall)
2007  Ocean Without a Shore
2008  The Innocents
2008  Three Women
2011  A Phrase from Chris
2012  The Encounter
2012  Traveling on Foot
2012  Walking on the Edge
2013  Man Searching for Immortality/Woman Searching for Eternity
2013  The Dreamers
2014  Inverted Birth
2014  Martyrs
2014  Martyrs: Air
2014  Martyrs: Earth
2014  Martyrs: Fire
2014  Martyrs: Water
2016  Mary
2018  Wagner: Tristan und Isolde
????  The Crossing

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Additional data for Film Titles come from The Open Movie Database (OMDb).

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Data are -- hey, it's a plural -- subject to the limitations of their sources. (For example, TMDB search results currently max out at 20.) I am limiting myself to free data sources for now. (No, a "free trial" is not free.)

While much of the above data are retrieved directly from outside APIs and other such sources, data from American Film Institute (AFI) and British Film Institute (BFI) were manually entered the old fashioned way into a MySQL database. Re BFI I took the following liberties:

  • I added "runners up" to Top 10 lists, treating them as ties where applicable and numbering them accordingly at the bottom of each list.
  • Regarding those polls wherein "franchise" movies were submitted as one project until BFI's policy changed to regard them separately, I treated them as ties and renumbered the affected lists accordingly (e.g. the Godfather films).

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Filtering is applied here to film projects flagged as "adult" by TheMovieDB. Pending "popular demand" I am contemplating a login and profile system with preferences (such as whether to allow adult images to appear) and permissions (such as data entry).

Whereas the overall purpose of this website is to serve as a personal demo/portfolio/workshop of web and data skills, this Movies section is not meant to compete with or substitute for far more definitive movie websites.

Whether or not he still clings to an award which he won in 1986 as a film critic for his college's newspaper, Jeffrey Hartmann is not responsible for the texts of overviews and biographies supplied by external data sources.