T Arthur Cottam

Education

Cottam graduated from the Film and Television Production program at the Tisch School of the Arts of New York University. Cottam's thesis work at NYU was titled Beer Goggles, the film received the Best Editing award at the First Run Film Festival and was featured at the Chicago and New York Underground Film Festivals. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from NYU in 1998.

Career

T. Arthur Cottam is an actor, and film-maker, based in Los Angeles, California. Cottam was a member of Zombie Joe's Underground Theatre Group, and performed along with actors Denise Devin and Bernadette Larsen in 2000 in a series of productions titled "Sketches 7: Bury the Hatchet", directed by Zombie Joe and Josh T. Ryan. He continued performing in theatre in Los Angeles in 2001. In 2002, Cottam received an Artistic Director Achievement Award from the Valley Theatre League for his role in the theatre production Othello put on by the Zombie Joe group. Cottam's short films were produced along a topical series titled, "Dirty Little Shorts". His film Pornographic Apathetic debuted in 2002. The existential plot features four individuals (two women and two men) who recreate dialog from pornographic film while in a state of apathy. Pornographic Apathetic garnered eight film awards, and was featured at more than 50 film festivals.

Pornographic Apathetic received positive reception from journalist Gary Dowell of The Dallas Morning News, who described it as "Especially notable ... an experimental work that strips the mystique from porn". Pornographic Apathetic was selected for inclusion in the Puchon International Fantastic Festival (PiFan) in South Korea; the festival "aims to identify the important elements of fantastic films, such as creativity and popularity". The movie was shown at the Paris Porn Film Fest at the Le Brady cinema, in Paris, France. The film was featured in an exhibit in Vienna, examining the nature of pornography. Writing for San Antonio Express-News, Mike Greenberg observed, "T. Arthur Cottam's Pornographic Apathetic is just about the funniest thing I've ever seen. (The excellent actors are mostly clothed, never touch each other and are nearly motionless, but the dialogue is not suitable for children or bluenoses.)" The film was given a favorable review by reporter Robert W. Butler of The Kansas City Star who covered the piece during its presentation at the Kansas City Filmmakers Jubilee. Butler wrote, "Your ears will burn while watching T. Arthur Cottam's superlative satiric essay on the desensitizing effects of pornography, but you'll also be laughing. ... It's lurid. It's raunchy. It's vile. But all this nasty lubricity is delivered deadpan, a device that deconstructs the whole intention of porn." Marc Mohan reviewed the film during its feature at the Portland International Short Short Film Festival, and wrote that it "makes the most of its one-joke premise". In 2007, The Orlando Sentinel characterized Cottam as a favorite film-maker at the Florida Film Festival. Los Angeles Times journalist Borzou Daragahi cited the film as an example of problems with the adult film industry in an article about a sexual art exhibit; he commented, "The piece makes you laugh while illustrating one of the paradoxes of smut: At its core, it's rather idiotic and boring."

In 2006, Cottam's film Carbuncle competed at the Milano Film Festival, alongside another U.S. film titled The Blood of my Brother by Andrei Berends. Carbuncle received a nomination in the category of "Best Feature Film" at the Milan Film Festival. Cottam's 2006 film Filthy Food was featured in the San Francisco Underground Short Film Festival, and received the award for "Best Experimental Short Film" at the festival CineKink NYC. In 2010, Cottam's film 52 Takes of the Same Thing, Then Boobs was an entrant in the International Short Film Festival in Piombino, Italy. It was featured in a section of the International Short Film Festival which included selections of films that were considered "visionary" and contributed a "visual impact" to cinema. 52 Takes of the Same Thing, Then Boobs was featured in AFI FEST 2010, where Lane Kneedler associate director of programming called it "the most outrageously 'out there' film that we have scheduled". In an interview with Girami, Cottam stated he had intended to direct a feature-length film for some time, and wanted to combine his talents with actors who could improvise in front of the camera. Cottam said he had a great experience working with the actors on the film Carbuncle, and stated he let improvisation be the tool by which the actors could show emotions and create their characters. In September 2010, 52 Takes of the Same Thing, Then Boobs was shown at the Black Rock City Film Festival located at the Burning Man site in the Nevada desert.