John Smith
Being John Smith, 2024
digital video
27 minutes
Edition of 5 plus 1 artist's proof
Further images
After enduring many decades of embarrassment and discomfort, the artist finally admits to the negative impact that the commonest name in the English-speaking world has had on his psyche. Peppered...
After enduring many decades of embarrassment and discomfort, the artist finally admits to the negative impact that the commonest name in the English-speaking world has had on his psyche. Peppered with disparate fragments of autobiography, ‘Being John Smith’ takes us on a confessional journey that reveals just how important a name can be.
“An autobiographical reflection on his unassuming name leads the filmmaker down a wayward path through family photographs, personal archives, and internet searches. Alternately wry and wistful, peppered with Smith’s characteristically droll commentary, Being John Smith flits between self-deprecation and cris de coeur, offering quietly hilarious observations on Smith’s lower middle class origins and career as an avant-garde cinema luminary, as well as unexpectedly melancholic impressions on age and extinction.” New York Film Festival
“Moving, extremely funny, utterly personal, witty, wry and minimal, it’s a universal exploration of what might one be doing on this earth, and who one might or might not be.” Philippe Ciompi
“A deceptively wry and deeply felt work by the English avant-garde legend, in which Smith reflects on his life and career by way of his generic name, grappling with his own mortality and legacy, through a minimal, unassuming deployment of text, image, and voice.” Jesse Cumming, Toronto International Film Festival
"Though the film seems to be about how one’s name can be a disadvantage and create long-lasting prejudice in life, it is also much more. Rather, it is a witty, moving, humorous meditation on aging, life, politics, change, mortality and the role of art and the artist over time. Using economical means with no-nonsense inventiveness, the film is coherent, concise and complex all at once. With self-deprecating gusto, Smith creates a portrait of dignified fragility and vulnerability, but also resilience. 'Being John Smith‘ is at once personal as it is highly political, reflecting as it does on the current moment of dystopian disbelief as the world ploughs forward in high-capitalist mode, increasing polarisation and atomisation. Despite the disheartening socio-political subtext, the film at once affirms the belief in the emancipatory potential of culture and community.“ Jury Statement, Hamburg International Short Film Festival
Screenings
John Smith, Secession, Vienna, Austria (upcoming, 12 September - 16 November 2025)
Being John Smith, Kate MacGarry, London, UK (18 January - 15 February 2025)
Close-Up Film Centre, London, UK (26 November 2024)
‘Currents’ strand, New York Film Festival, USA (4 - 5 October 2024)
‘Wavelengths’ strand, Toronto Film Festival, Canada (8 September 2024)
Prizes
2025 Grand Prix and Audience Prize at the Hamburg International Short Film Festival
2024 Golden Dove Short Film Award for International Documentary Film, DOK Leipzig International Film Festival, Germany
“An autobiographical reflection on his unassuming name leads the filmmaker down a wayward path through family photographs, personal archives, and internet searches. Alternately wry and wistful, peppered with Smith’s characteristically droll commentary, Being John Smith flits between self-deprecation and cris de coeur, offering quietly hilarious observations on Smith’s lower middle class origins and career as an avant-garde cinema luminary, as well as unexpectedly melancholic impressions on age and extinction.” New York Film Festival
“Moving, extremely funny, utterly personal, witty, wry and minimal, it’s a universal exploration of what might one be doing on this earth, and who one might or might not be.” Philippe Ciompi
“A deceptively wry and deeply felt work by the English avant-garde legend, in which Smith reflects on his life and career by way of his generic name, grappling with his own mortality and legacy, through a minimal, unassuming deployment of text, image, and voice.” Jesse Cumming, Toronto International Film Festival
"Though the film seems to be about how one’s name can be a disadvantage and create long-lasting prejudice in life, it is also much more. Rather, it is a witty, moving, humorous meditation on aging, life, politics, change, mortality and the role of art and the artist over time. Using economical means with no-nonsense inventiveness, the film is coherent, concise and complex all at once. With self-deprecating gusto, Smith creates a portrait of dignified fragility and vulnerability, but also resilience. 'Being John Smith‘ is at once personal as it is highly political, reflecting as it does on the current moment of dystopian disbelief as the world ploughs forward in high-capitalist mode, increasing polarisation and atomisation. Despite the disheartening socio-political subtext, the film at once affirms the belief in the emancipatory potential of culture and community.“ Jury Statement, Hamburg International Short Film Festival
Screenings
John Smith, Secession, Vienna, Austria (upcoming, 12 September - 16 November 2025)
Being John Smith, Kate MacGarry, London, UK (18 January - 15 February 2025)
Close-Up Film Centre, London, UK (26 November 2024)
‘Currents’ strand, New York Film Festival, USA (4 - 5 October 2024)
‘Wavelengths’ strand, Toronto Film Festival, Canada (8 September 2024)
Prizes
2025 Grand Prix and Audience Prize at the Hamburg International Short Film Festival
2024 Golden Dove Short Film Award for International Documentary Film, DOK Leipzig International Film Festival, Germany
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