Phillip B. Roth
Phillip B. Roth's films project a self conscious innocence melded with a raw, energetic sexuality.
His first film, "Boy's Life," was awarded First Prize at the Chicago's 1989 Onion City Film Festival and was also an award winner at the 1990 Ann Arbor Film Festival. Additionally, the film was screened at the Berlin International Film Festival, Hallwalls Gallery, Pacific Film Archive, and P.S. 122's Reel Time. His most recent work includes "25 Year Old Gay Man Loses His Virginity to a Woman," which screened at the Andrea Rosen Gallery and Tom Cugliani Gallery in Soho. He also collaborated with filmmaker Sandy Daley on a video entitled "After the Piss Club."
Often broaching sensitive and taboo issues, Roth's work has frequently incited controversy. Critical reaction in the media to his work has ranged from praise for his "polymorphically pleasurable" exploratory qualities (Village Voice) to condemnation of his narcissistic and sexist tendencies (Outweek). Manhattan Cable's refusal in 1990 to air his film "Boys/Life" on Public Access Television provoked widespread public concern and formal complaints to the cable TV company over the illegal censorship practises. In the same year, The New York State Council on the Arts requested that their name be removed from the credits of "25 Year Old Gay Man Loses His Virginity to a Woman" despite the fact that they provided funds to Apparatus Productions which awarded Roth a grant to complete the project.
Phillip B. Roth was raised in Los Angeles and educated at U.C. Berkeley where he graduated with high honors in 1987. In addition to his own films he has also worked with German filmmaker Rosa von Praunheim and with the Centre for Visual History, a New York based documentary film company. He currently lives in Brooklyn.
His upcoming projects include two films: one, an examination of prostitution and familial relations; the other, a documentary meditation on the vicissitudes of circumcision which will cover aspects as diverse as fetishism, religious practice, health concerns and human rights.
Videography
2003, 07:40 minutes, Colour, English
2003, 16:40 minutes, Colour, English
GLAD I'M NOT STRAIGHT ANYMORE!
2003, 10:04 minutes, Colour, English
2003, 02:03 minutes, Colour, English
2003, 44:30 minutes, Colour, English
2003, 02:16 minutes, Colour, English
2003, 10:20 minutes, colour, English
2003, 05:51 minutes, colour, English
25 YEAR OLD GAY MAN LOSES HIS VIRGINITY TO A WOMAN
1990, 22:00 minutes, colour, English
Critical Writing
by . New York Native, Dec. 11, 1989, no. 347.