Isiah Medina

Isiah Medina
Born1991 (age 32–33)
Winnipeg, Canada
Occupation(s)Director, writer, producer
Years active2010–present

Isiah Medina (born 1991) is a Canadian experimental filmmaker from Winnipeg, Manitoba.[1] He is the founder of the Toronto-based production company Quantity Cinema. Medina is known for his radical approach to intellectual montage and the cut, philosophy (most notably the work of Plato and Alain Badiou), and mathematics.[2][3][4][5][6] He has been compared to Jean-Luc Godard, Sergei Eisenstein, Gregory Markopoulos, and Hollis Frampton.[7]

Medina's 2015 feature debut 88:88 received a Vancouver Film Critics Circle nomination for Best Director of a Canadian Film at the Vancouver Film Critics Circle Awards 2016) and was listed as one of the best undistributed films of 2015 by Film Comment and Indiewire.[8] 88:88 received widespread critical acclaim and played at the Locarno Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, New York Film Festival, Berlin Critics' Week, Mar del Plata International Film Festival, and the Viennale.[9] His other films include Semi-Auto Colours (2010), Time is the Sun (2012), idizwadidiz (2016), log 2 (2020), Inventing the Future (2020) (an adaptation of Inventing the Future: Postcapitalism and a World Without Work), and Night Is Limpid (2022).[10][11]

His latest film, He Thought He Died, had its world premiere in the Wavelengths program at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival.[12]

Selected Filmography

  • Semi-auto colours (2010)
  • Time is the Sun (2012)
  • Fare Well (2012)
  • Light Buffer (2012)
  • B. Outside of a School (2013)
  • 88:88 (2015)
  • idizwadidiz (2016)
  • log 2 (2020)
  • Inventing the Future (2020)
  • Night is Limpid (2022)
  • He Thought He Died (2023)

References

  1. ^ Vivian Belik, "Isiah Medina’s 88:88". Point of View, February 2, 2016.
  2. ^ James Slaymaker, "Review: Isiah Medina's Inventing the Future Charts the Origins of the 21st Century". MUBI Notebook, April 14, 2020.
  3. ^ Phil Coldiron, "Necessary Means: Isiah Medina on 88:88". Cinema Scope, 2015.
  4. ^ Frank Ruda, "A Cut in the Night. Isiah Medina’s 88:88 (2015)". Quantity Cinema, July 15, 2022.
  5. ^ Clint Enns, "Much Badiou about Nothing: Productive Misreadings of Mathematical Ideas and Isiah Medina’s 88:88". Annals of Mathematics and Philosophy, 2023.
  6. ^ Ruairí McCann, "Cinema is an Open String: Two Early Shorts by Isiah Medina". Ultra Dogme, August 3, 2022.
  7. ^ Clint Enns, "Towards Infinite Light: An Interview with Isiah Medina". BlackFlash, April 14, 2015.
  8. ^ Film Comment, "Best Undistributed Films of 2015". Film Comment, December 14, 2015.
  9. ^ Steve Macfarlane, "Seeing Stars: 2015 Toronto International Film Festival". The Brooklyn Rail, October 2015.
  10. ^ https://quantitycinema.com/movies
  11. ^ Yani Kong, "Isiah Medina’s Inventing the Future – Streaming Online". Akimbo, April 29, 2020.
  12. ^ Anthony D'Alessandro, "TIFF 2023 Wavelengths & Classics Section Includes Jean-Luc Godard’s Final Film, Uncut Restoration Of ‘Farewell My Concubine’". Deadline Hollywood, August 11, 2023.