Jodi Wille Explained

Jodi Wille is an American film director, curator, and book publisher known for her work exploring American subcultures.

Filmmaking and photography

Wille directed and produced The Source Family (2013), her first feature-length documentary, with Maria Demopoulos. The film explores the story of the eponymous Los Angeles utopian commune and its charismatic leader, Father Yod. The Source Family premiered in competition at South by Southwest Film Festival and screened in competition at several major film festivals. The film was released theatrically to 60 cities in May 2013.[1] [2]

Wille is currently directing a feature documentary on The Unarius Academy of Science.[3]

In 1994, R.E.M. gave Wille her first paid directing gig for their "Find the River" music video.[4] Signed to DNA (David Naylor & Associates), she directed a number of music videos in the mid-90s. Wille worked prior to that as assistant to music video and commercial director Samuel Bayer and later as assistant and development consultant to feature film director Roland Joffé.[5]

Throughout the 90s, Wille also worked as a commercial and documentary photographer, shooting billboard campaigns, rock bands and personalities including Sparks (band), Melissa Etheridge, and Vincent Gallo, while also documenting visionary artists and alternative spiritual communities.

Book publishing

In 1998, Wille co-founded Dilettante Press with Steve Nalepa, Nick Rubenstein, and Hedi El Kholti, a publishing house with a focus on self-taught, visionary, and vernacular art and photography.[4] Dilettante published only three titles, but "their impact was considerable."[6] Dilettante produced exhibitions, symposiums, and parties related to their books in galleries and museums in multiple cities in the U.S. and in Europe.

In 2005, Wille founded Process Media with her then-partner (later, husband) Adam Parfrey of Feral House. The imprint focuses on non-fiction, literary memoirs, and illustrated books exploring subcultures and groundbreaking artists such as Andy Kaufman, Roky Erickson and the 13th Floor Elevators, John Sinclair and MC5, Father Yod and Ya Ho Wha 13, and Moondog.[7] Process has also created a "Self-Reliance Series" of illustrated guide books that promote sustainable and self-sufficient living.

Curating

In 2000, Wille, Hedi El Kholti, and Cheryl Dunn co-curated the first exhibition of the work of amateur photographer Gary Lee Boas, "Starstruck: Photographs from Fan", at Deitch Projects.[8] [9] This led to exhibitions at galleries and museums in the U.S. and throughout Europe including Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, The Photographers' Gallery in London, and Galerie Kamel Mennour in Paris.

In 2013, Wille was named as co-curator with Rebecca Alban Hoffberger of the American Visionary Art Museum exhibition The Visionary Experience: St. Francis to Finster, a 44-artist, 244-works exhibition which ran 2014-2015.[10]

Since 2014, Wille has curated several exhibitions of photographs, art, costumes, and ephemera produced by the extraterrestrial-channeling spiritual school Unarius Academy of Science, including a 2016 exhibition at the London arts venue The Horse Hospital,[11] works in The Visionary Experience exhibition at American Visionary Art Museum, a 2016 exhibition at The Standard Hotel Hollywood, and at the 2017 Basilisk exhibition at Nicodim Gallery in Los Angeles.[12] [13]

Film programming and cultural events

Over the years, Wille has programmed films and curated cultural events in several cities.[14] [15] [16] From 2007-2017, Wille served as a regular guest programmer at The Cinefamily cinematheque in Los Angeles, hosting the popular "Occult LA" series and other programs including an eclectic range of guests from Kris Kristofferson, Tony Clifton, Rocky Erickson, and Tom Laughlin to white witches, Hare Krishnas, and Bigfoot researchers, as well as live music, ritual performance, panels, and art exhibitions.[17] [18] [19] [20] [21]

In 2015, Wille presented a retrospective of the films of the Unarius Academy of Science at Cinefamily, which included a Unariun art and artifact exhibition and Unariun workshops.[22] This led to invitations to present Unarius films at the 2015 San Francisco International Film Festival and the Horse Hospital arts center in London.[23] [24]

Selected works

Film

The Source Family (2012, 98 mins.), directed with Maria Demopoulos

We Are Not Alone (2016, 11 mins.)

Music videos (Selected Works)

Publishing and editing (select works)

Awards

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: The Source Family in Theaters May 2013. 5 March 2013.
  2. Web site: The Source Family. thesourcedoc.com. 13 April 2018.
  3. Web site: Things to do in L.A. This Week: April 29 - May 5. 29 April 2019.
  4. Web site: The Outsiders. Kristin. Fiore. 23 June 1999. laweekly.com. 13 April 2018.
  5. Web site: Goodbye Lover (1998). 13 April 2018. www.imdb.com.
  6. Web site: Feral Child. Doug. Harvey. 2 June 2005. laweekly.com. 13 April 2018.
  7. Love & Books in L.A.: Parfrey, Wille Start Process. Publishers Weekly. September 12, 2005. Reid. Calvin. 252. 36. 8.
  8. News: Johnson. Ken. Ken Johnson (art critic). Art in Review; Gary Lee Boas 'Starstruck'. The New York Times. 44. February 18, 2000.
  9. http://www.deitch.com/projects/sub.php?projId=114 Gary Lee Boas Starstruck: Photographs from a Fan
  10. Web site: Art review: 'The Visionary Experience'. Michael. O'Sullivan. 6 November 2014. 13 April 2018. www.washingtonpost.com.
  11. Web site: The Horse Hospital / WELCOME, SPACE BROTHERS: THE UNARIUS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE . www.thehorsehospital.com . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20160730160820/http://www.thehorsehospital.com/past/the-chamber-of-pop-culture-past/welcome-space-brothers-the-unarius-academy-of-science . 2016-07-30.
  12. Web site: Aliens, abstraction and Thomas Kinkade: An L.A. exhibition summons the spiritual and the fantastical. Carolina A.. Miranda. 12 May 2017. Los Angeles Times. 13 April 2018.
  13. Web site: We Are Not Alone: The Films of the Unarius Academy of Science. L.A. Weekly. 13 April 2018.
  14. News: 'The Source Family,' a Concert and Film. Amanda. Petrusich. The New York Times. 25 April 2013. 13 April 2018.
  15. Web site: due process - artforum.com / scene & herd . artforum.com . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20091016012705/http://www.artforum.com/diary/id=23921 . 2009-10-16.
  16. Web site: The Process Church of the Final Judgment Sabbath Assembly. 14 October 2009. seattleweekly.com. 13 April 2018.
  17. Web site: Andy Kaufman Tribute Review - At The Silent Movie Theater - Splash Magazines - Los Angeles. Splash Magazines - Los Angeles. 13 April 2018.
  18. Web site: PROCESS MEDIA presents: THE MODERN UTOPIAN feat. RAINBOW BRIDGE Calendar Film Radar . www.filmradar.com . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20160213142356/http://www.filmradar.com/films/process_media_presents_the_modern_utopian_feat._rainbow_bridge . 2016-02-13.
  19. Web site: THE PROCESS CHURCH SABBATH ASSEMBLY RITUAL @ CINEFAMILY - L.A. RECORD. larecord.com. 13 April 2018.
  20. Web site: Occult L.A. Presents: Bigfoot!. L.A. Weekly. 13 April 2018.
  21. Web site: Occult L.A.: Season of the Witch at Cinefamily Reveals L.A.'s Underground Magic Scene. Caroline. Ryder. 17 August 2011. laweekly.com. 13 April 2018.
  22. Web site: In session with the Unarius Academy of Science at Cinefamily. Mark. Olsen. 31 May 2014. Los Angeles Times. 13 April 2018.
  23. Web site: Presenter of the San Francisco International Film Festival. sffs.org. 13 April 2018.
  24. Web site: The Horse Hospital / Collective Intention . www.thehorsehospital.com . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20160302085912/http://www.thehorsehospital.com/now/collective-intention/ . 2016-03-02.
  25. http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/speccol/findingaids/star.pdf S.T.A.R. (Self Taught Artist Resource) Collection and Daniel C. Prince Papers: 1960’s - 2002
  26. DP: Terry Stacey, producer: Maria Demopoulos, production company: DNA (Billboard, 6/11/94).
  27. DP: Robert Randall Moss, editor: Eric Zumbrunnen, production company: Fuzzyland Films/DNA.
  28. DP: Robert Randall Moss, producer: Chris Kraft, production company: DNA.
  29. Production company: DNA (Billboard, 7/8/95).
  30. DP: Chris Meyer, editor: Chad Misner.

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