Person

Michelle Handelman

Directing · Born 1960-08-05 · Chicago, Illinois, USA

Michelle Handelman (born August 5, 1960) is an American contemporary artist, filmmaker, and writer who works with live performance, multiscreen installation, photography and sound. Coming up through the years of the AIDS crisis and Culture Wars, Handelman has built a body of work that explores the dark and uncomfortable spaces of queer desire. She confronts the things that provoke collective fear and denial – sexuality, death, chaos. She directed the ground-breaking feature documentary on the 1990s San Francisco lesbian S/M scene BloodSisters: Leather, Dykes & Sadomasochism(1995), described by IndieWire as “a queer classic ahead of its time, a vital archive of queer history.” Her early work included 16mm black and white experimental films combined with performance. She is also known for her video installations Hustlers & Empires (2018), Irma Vep, The Last Breath (2013-2015), and Dorian, A Cinematic Perfume (2009-2011). In 2011, she was awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship for her film and video work.

• 

  Abigail

  Thanks

• 

  The Lens Within Me

  Thanks

• La Suture

  2000

• Candyland

  Director

• 

  BloodSisters: Leather, Dykes, and Sadomasochism

  Producer

• Irma Vep, The Last Breath

  Director

• 

  These Unruly and Ungovernable Selves

  Director

• Solitude is an Artifact of the Struggle Against Oppression

  Director

• Claiming the Liminal Space

  Director

• 

  Dorian, a cinematic perfume

  Director

• 2021Claiming the Liminal SpaceDirector
• 2021AbigailThanks
• 2020CandylandDirector
• 2020Solitude is an Artifact of the Struggle Against OppressionDirector
• 2020These Unruly and Ungovernable SelvesDirector
• 2017FIT Hives: Sustainability - The Secret to SurvivalThanks
• 2014Irma Vep, The Last BreathDirector
• 2009Dorian, a cinematic perfumeDirector
• 2002I Hate YouDirector
• 2000La Suture
• 1995BloodSisters: Leather, Dykes, and SadomasochismProducer
• 1994Twists in the Cord (or) … Other Extensions of the Telephone
• 1993Terminal USAOriginal Music Composer
• 1992A History of Pain
• 1992Flesh HistoriesDirector
• 1991Homophobia Is Known to Cause NightmaresDirector
• 1988Safer Sexual Techniques in the Age of Mechanical ReproductionDirector
• —The Lens Within MeThanks