Artist

Philip Hoffman

A filmmaker of memory and association, Philip Hoffman creates highly ‘personal’ yet universal works, which weave fiction and documentary in an experimental ‘diarist’ cinema. His filmmaking began in his hometown of Waterloo, Ontario. After completing his formal education which includes a Diploma in Media Arts at Sheridan College and a Bachelor of Arts in Literature at Wilfrid Laurier University, Hoffman began working on his films, as well as teaching film, digital-based media.

He has screened his work in England, Holland, Australia, Malaysia, Cuba, Finland, Estonia,Germany, Belgium, Italy, Russia, France and the USA. In 1987, ?O,Zoo! (The Making of a Fiction Film) received a Genie Nomination (in the Documentary Category), and First Prize in theExperimental Film Category at the Athens International Film Festival. In 1991, the Sydney International Film Festival in Australia honored Hoffman with a retrospective of his work. In 1994, Technilogic Ordering received jury citations at the Toronto International Film Festival and the Ann Arbor Film Festival, Chimera (1996) won a 1st Prize at Athens Film Festival, and Destroying Angel (1998) has won three awards at festivals in the USA. Kokoro is for Heart (1999) is Hoffman’s 15th film. In 2001 Hoffman was featured at the Images Festival for Independent Film and Video. What these ashes wanted (2001) premiered at the festival and received the Telefilm Canada Award. As well, at the festival a book about his work was launched: Landscape with Shipwreck: First Person Cinema and the Films of Philip Hoffman contains over twenty-five essays/writings by academics and artists. He has also received a 2002 Golden Gate Award, New Visions, from the San Francisco International Film Festival, as well as the Gus Van Sant Award from the Ann Arbor Film Festival for What these ashes wanted. In 2008, Rivers of Time: The Films of Philip Hoffman was published, which is a collection of essays on Hoffman’s work edited by Tom McSorley at the Canadian Film Institute. All Fall Down, Hoffman’s first feature length film had its World Premiere at the Berlin Film Festival in 2009,and had its North American Premiere at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival. He is currently a full-time faculty member in the Film Department at York University in Toronto.

Videography

The Leona Drive Project

2011, 20:06 minutes, colour, English

Critical Writing

Barns, Brits, and Birthrights: Philip Hoffman's All Fall Down:...
by Scott Mackenzie. POV, Winter 2009, no. 76.
Top 20 Toronto Films since 1981
by Cameron Bailey. Now, Oct. 25, 2001, v. 21, no. 8.
From Chaos to Creation: Ed Video Screening twelve works at the...
by Michelle Elle Pettis. The Ontario Magazine for Artists, Dec. Winter 1998.
Chaos and Disaster inspires video artists
by Alan Ferris. The Guelph Mercury, Nov. 27 Winter, 1998.
Our Collective Fears
by Sherri Telenko. i-D, Nov. 26 Winter, 1998.