Tom Kalin
Tom Kalin’s work traverses diverse forms and genres, from narrative features to mixed media installation to activism. His feature film, Swoon, was awarded prizes in Berlin, Stockholm, Sundance and the Gotham Awards; Savage Grace, starring Julianne Moore and Eddie Redmayne, premiered in Cannes, screened worldwide and was named “top ten” by Artforum and The LA Times. As a producer, his features include I Shot Andy Warhol and Go Fish. He was co-writer of Cindy Sherman’s Office Killer.
With frequent collaborator Doveman (Thomas Bartlett), he exhibited in 2015 at NYC’s Participant Gallery with the live installation My Silent One (In The Sweetness of Time) and at Dublin’s National Concert Hall for Blood and the Moon, an evening of music, film and performance celebrating the work of Yeats. Bartlett, Kalin and actor Mandy Patinkin collaborated on an a short music film series, including a cover of Laurie Anderson’s seminal From The Air, which was integrated into Mandy’s 2018 and 2019 live tours.
Kalin recently directed the first episode of Pride, a six part documentary series for the FX Networks and produced by Killer Films and Refinery29. The series conveys the history and diversity of LGBTQ civil rights in America: Kalin’s episode concerns the 1950s and will air in 2021.
In 1993, fashion designer Geoffrey Beene commissioned Kalin to write and direct Geoffrey Beene 30, a lyrical narrative film commemorating his 30th anniversary. The cast includes Marcia Gay Harden, Claire Danes and Viveca Lindfors.
In 2016, a retrospective of Kalin’s features and shorts was held in Ankara and Istanbul, Turkey through the Pembe Hayat Kuirfest. In 2018, Kalin’s short films were installed in the museum show Music For The Eyes in the Santa Maria Della Scala, Siena.
He was a founding member of the AIDS activist collectives ACT UP and Gran Fury, which exhibited in the Venice Biennale and is in collection of the Whitney, MoMA and the Smithsonian. You can find more at granfury.org.
He received the Pride Award from the 2020 Ashland Independent Film Festival. Kalin is also a Rockefeller and Guggenheim Fellow, has twice been included in the Whitney Biennial and has screened in venues including ICA, London; Reina Sofia, Madrid; The Cartier Foundation, REDCAT, MoMA and The Getty Museum among many others.
Still from 'Savage Grace,' 2007, Tom Kalin
Still from 'Savage Grace,' 2007, Tom Kalin
'Savage Grace' poster
Still from 'Swoon,' Tom Kalin, 1992
'Swoon,' Tom Kalin, 1992 poster
News
Five Columbia artists have projects that have been nominated for the 2022 GLAAD Media Awards. They are: Ray Yeung ’13, Manuela Sosa ’19, Joey Odom ’19, Ashley Lyle '07 ('02 CC), and Professor Tom Kalin.
The Oxford Handbook of Queer Cinema, co-edited by Senior Lecturer Ron Gregg and featuring Professor Tom Kalin, was published by Oxford Handbooks on November 26, 2021.
Whether it's AIDS or COVID or rampant injustice, political necessity brings LGBTQ people “together in an expression of community.”
Professor Tom Kalin recently directed an episode for a limited series that is set to premiere on FX soon.
Professor Tom Kalin and Film Alumna Lisa Cholodenko ‘97 recently participated in a panel discussion for the Sundance Film Festival entitled The Big Conversation: Barbed Wire Kisses Redux.
The Ashland Independent Film Festival is an annual event that is held in Ashland, Southern Oregon every spring.
Professor and Directing Concentration head, Tom Kalin will receive the Pride Award at this year’s Ashland Independent Film Festival in Oregon. Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, the festival will be held entirely online from May 22 to June 14.
The last and coming weeks have been great for Faculty Member and Directing Concentration Supervisor Tom Kalin.
The 34th Annual New York LGBTQ+ Film Festival, NewFest, kicked off this year on October 13. Two Columbia filmmakers and Film faculty member Tom Kalin screened their films.