Jodi Wille

Photo of Jodi Wille Photographer: Rachael Pony Sparrow

Jodi Wille is an American filmmaker, book publisher, curator and film programmer known for her work exploring American subcultures.

Filmmaking and photography

Wille directed and produced The Source Family (2012), her first feature-length documentary, with Maria Demopoulos. The film, which explores the rise and fall of the eponymous 1970s Los Angeles utopian cult, premiered in competition at South by Southwest Film Festival in March 2012 and sold out screenings there and at several other major festivals.[1][2] The Source Family was released theatrically to 60 cities in May 2013 through Drag City Film Distribution.[3]

In June 2016, Wille premiered "We Are Not Alone," a documentary short about The Unarius Academy of Science, at the Horse Hospital arts venue in London. [4]

In 1993, R.E.M. gave Wille her first paid directing gig for their "Find the River" music video.[5] Signed to DNA (David Naylor & Associates), she directed a number of music videos in the mid-90s. Wille worked prior to that as assistant to music video and commercial director Samuel Bayer and later as assistant and development consultant to feature film director Roland Joffé.[6]

As a photographer in the 90s, Wille worked with a number of musicians and artists including Sparks (band), Vincent Gallo, Melissa Etheridge, and the Dwarves.

Book publishing

In 1998, Wille co-founded Dilettante Press (with Steve Nalepa, Nick Rubenstein, and Hedi El Kholti), a now defunct publishing house with a focus on self-taught, visionary, and vernacular art and photography.[7] Dilettante only published three titles, but "their impact was considerable."[8] Dilettante’s first book, The End Is Near! Visions of Apocalypse, Millennium and Utopia, by Roger Manley, won the Benjamin Franklin Award for Best First Book.[9] Their subsequent titles included: Extreme Canvas: Hand-Painted Movie Posters from Ghana by Ernie Wolfe III, and Starstruck: Photographs from a Fan by amateur photographer Gary Lee Boas, selected for Artforum Magazine's "Best of 2000," issue, with a Boas photograph on the magazine's cover.[10] [11]

In 2005, Wille and her then-companion Adam Parfrey of Feral House founded Process Media, with an emphasis on non-fiction, literary memoirs, and illustrated books exploring subcultures and groundbreaking artists such as Andy Kaufman, Roky Erickson and the 13th Floor Elevators, John Sinclair and MC5, Ya Ho Wa 13 and Father Yod, and Moondog.[12] Process has also created a "Self-Reliance Series" of illustrated guide books that promote sustainable and self-sufficient living.

In 2008, the couple left Los Angeles and moved their publishing operations to Port Townsend, Washington.[13]

Curating

In 2000, in conjunction with the release of the book Starstruck: Photographs from a Fan (edited by Wille and Hedi El Kholti), Wille, El Kholti, and Cheryl Dunn co-curated the first exhibition of amateur photographer Gary Lee Boas' work, "Starstruck: Photographs from Fan", at Deitch Projects,[14][15] which led to exhibitions at major galleries and museums in the U.S. and throughout Europe, including Galerie Kamel Mennour in Paris, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, and The Photographers' Gallery in London.

In 2013, Wille was named co-curator, with Rebecca Alban Hoffberger, of the American Visionary Art Museum exhibition "The Visionary Experience: St. Francis to Finster," a 44-artist, 244-works exhibition that opened October 4, 2014, and ran through September 7, 2015.[16]

As part of the 2016 program "Collective Intention: Affirmative Visions from Communes, Collectives, and Cults" at the Horse Hospital arts venue in London, Wille curated the "Welcome Space Brothers!" exhibition of photographs, costumes, original student paintings, books, and ephemera created by the UFO group Unarius Academy of Science, including film screenings of original Unarius films and a Unarius creativity workshop led by Unariuns.[17]

Film programming and cultural events

Since 2007, Wille has served as a regular guest programmer at The Cinefamily cinematheque in Los Angeles, presenting original programming and hosting the popular "Occult LA" series.[18] Events have included an eclectic range of guests from Tony Clifton, Rocky Erickson, and Kris Kristofferson to radical spiritual group members, white witches, and Bigfoot researchers, as well as live music, performance, panels, and related art exhibitions.[19][20][21][22] In 2015 Wille presented at Cinefamily a retrospective of the films of the Unarius Academy of Science group, which included a Unariun art and artifact exhibition, Q&As with original members, and Unariun workshops.[23] This led to invitations to present Unarius films at the 2015 San Francisco International Film Festival and the Horse Hospital arts center in London. [24][25] Over the years, Wille has produced cultural events in several other cities related to her projects, incorporating elements of film, live music, art, and performance.[26][27][28]

Selected works

Documentary film

The Source Family (2012, 98 mins.), Directed with Maria Demopoulos

We Are Not Alone (2016, 11 mins.)

Music videos

Publishing and editing

Awards

References

  1. ↑ http://www.rockofthearts.com/reviews/205--the-source-family-spaced-out-70s-spiritual-hippie-cult
  2. ↑ http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/movies/2013/05/09/movie-review-the-source-family-crunchy-cult-story/YAGp2kJkLXDVZSE1xeD29L/story.html
  3. ↑ http://thesourcedoc.com/
  4. ↑ http://www.thehorsehospital.com/past/the-chamber-of-pop-culture-past/welcome-space-brothers-the-unarius-academy-of-science-opening-event/
  5. ↑ http://www.laweekly.com/arts/the-outsiders-2130813
  6. ↑ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119219/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm
  7. ↑ http://www.laweekly.com/arts/the-outsiders-2130813
  8. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20071011072850/http://laweekly.com/art+books/wls/feral-child/595/
  9. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20070930204706/http://www.laweekly.com/art+books/art/the-outsiders/6535//
  10. ↑ https://www.artforum.com/inprint/issue=200010
  11. ↑ https://www.questia.com/magazine/1G1-68697130/bruce-hainley
  12. ↑ Reid, Calvin (September 12, 2005). "Love & Books in L.A.: Parfrey, Wille Start Process". Publishers Weekly. 252 (36): 8.
  13. ↑ Reid, Calvin (September 22, 2008). "Indie Publishing: Process, Feral House Try Greener Acres". Publishers Weekly. 255 (38): 10/12.
  14. ↑ Johnson, Ken (February 18, 2000). "Art in Review; Gary Lee Boas 'Starstruck'". The New York Times. p. 44.
  15. ↑ Gary Lee Boas Starstruck: Photographs from a Fan, Deitch Projects.
  16. ↑ https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/museums/art-review-the-visionary-experience-at-american-visionary-art-museum-in-baltimore/2014/11/06/dcd1067c-6119-11e4-91f7-5d89b5e8c251_story.html
  17. ↑ http://www.thehorsehospital.com/past/the-chamber-of-pop-culture-past/welcome-space-brothers-the-unarius-academy-of-science/
  18. ↑ http://www.laweekly.com/arts/occult-la-season-of-the-witch-at-cinefamily-reveals-las-underground-magic-scene-2371271
  19. ↑ http://www.lasplash.com/publish/Entertainment/cat_index_la_events/Andy_Kaufman_Lives_Review.php
  20. ↑ http://www.filmradar.com/films/process_media_presents_the_modern_utopian_feat._rainbow_bridge
  21. ↑ http://larecord.com/uncategorized/2009/08/27/live-review-the-process-church-sabbath-assembly-ritual-cinefamily
  22. ↑ http://www.laweekly.com/event/occult-la-presents-bigfoot-7222784
  23. ↑ http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-unarius-academy-of-science-cinefamily-20140530-story.html
  24. ↑ http://www.sffs.org/sfiff58/program/welcome-space-brothers-the-films-of-the-unarius-academy-of-science-with-jodi-wille#.Vrf7OsArLbg
  25. ↑ http://www.thehorsehospital.com/now/collective-intention/
  26. ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/26/nyregion/the-source-family-a-concert-and-film.html?_r=0
  27. ↑ http://artforum.com/diary/id=23921
  28. ↑ http://www.seattleweekly.com/2009-10-14/calendar/the-process-church-of-the-final-judgment-sabbath-assembly/
  29. ↑ S.T.A.R. (Self Taught Artist Resource) Collection and Daniel C. Prince Papers: 1960’s - 2002, Jean and Alexander Heard Library, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee (also for the following).
  30. ↑ DP: Terry Stacey, producer: Maria Demopoulos, production company: DNA (Billboard, 6/11/94).
  31. ↑ DP: Robert Randall Moss, editor: Eric Zumbrunnen, production company: Fuzzyland Films/DNA.
  32. ↑ DP: Robert Randall Moss, producer: Chris Kraft, production company: DNA.
  33. ↑ Production company: DNA (Billboard, 7/8/95).
  34. ↑ DP: Chris Meyer, editor: Chad Misner.
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