Name Judy Hoffman | Role Artist | |
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Movies Howard Zinn: You Can´t Be Neutral on a Moving Train, Stages: Three Days in Mexico Education New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture, Grinnell College People also search for Denis Mueller, Deb Ellis, Jim Forni, Albert Maysles, Antonio Ferrera, Jim Morrissette | ||
Judy hoffman on propaganda and national identity
Judy Hoffman is an American filmmaker and arts activist based in Chicago. She graduated from Northwestern University with a MFA and currently holds the position of Professor of Practice in The Arts in the Department of Cinema and Media Studies at the University of Chicago. Hoffman has played a major role in the development of Kartemquin films working on films such as Golub (2004). Hoffman still continues to have a huge influence in Kartemquin today, serving as a member on the Board of Directors. Beyond Kartemquin films, Hoffman worked with Kwakwaka’wakw, a First Nation in British Columbia. There, she produced films and videotapes about the reclaiming of Native culture. Most of Hoffman's work is done in the form of documentaries focusing on Chicago and its development. Hoffman has brought her activism to her films and still continues to make films that show the many facets of Chicago.
Contents
- Judy hoffman on propaganda and national identity
- Career
- Awards
- Judy hoffman on why we watch triumph of the will
- References
Career
Ms. Hoffman has worked in the film industry for over 35 years; Some of her major work was with the Chicago film company Kartemquin. While at Kartemquin, Hoffman directed Golub, which went on to debut at the New York Film Festival. The mission of Kartemquin, and a guiding theme in Hoffman's work, was the principle of social inquiry; promoting social change through the medium of film. Hoffman still plays a major role at Kartemquin today. Besides working with Kartemquin, Hoffman also worked with the Kwakwaka'wakw First Nation of British Columbia, producing films and videotapes about reclaiming the tribe's culture. Hoffman specifically worked with the video training program on the N'amgis Reserve so that the natives would be able to make their own tapes. While with Kwakwaka'wakw she produced such films as award winning Box of Treasures, which was a film about the efforts to repatriate cultural artifacts.
In 1996 Hoffman was Acting Director of The Documentary Center of Columbia College where, along with Ronit Bezale, she developed the Voices of Cabrini. The film was about the destruction of public housing in Chicago.
Hoffman's love for documentary led her to film work showing a behind the scenes look at Britney Spears, called Stages: Three Days in Mexico , directed by Albert Maysles. This film gave her the opportunity to be the cinematographer on Maysles' The Gates, which was a documentary on Jeanne Claude and Christo's Central Park installation. The documentary aired on HBO in 2006.
Ms. Hoffman has collaborated with some noted feminists such as Jill Godmilow, Michelle Citron, and Barbara Kopple. She was the cinematographer on Howard Zinn: You Can't be Neutral on a Moving Train; Sacco and Vanzetti; Nelson Algren: The End is Nothing, The Road is All. Judy has worked as the producer and shot many installations at the Smart Museum of Art and The Block Museum, among others.
Judy is currently working at The University of Chicago as a professor of the arts in the Department of Cinema and Media studies. Alongside her teaching role, Hoffman was most recently working on the film 70 acres in Chicago, which is a followup to The Voices of Cabrini.
Awards
Hoffman received the Voice from the Chicago Chicago's Center for Community and Media in 1994 and the Nelson Algren Committee Award in 2004 for “community activists making a significant contribution to Chicago life.”