I am a filmmaker and academic, whose work explores and inhabits the spaces between documentary film, digital art, and streaming video. I was born in Liverpool, educated at Oxford and Harvard universities, and worked as a video editor before completing a PhD at the University of Melbourne in 2008.
My hybrid video essay, real-time VR experience, and expanded cinema performance A Machine For Viewing (2019, co-created with Charlie Shackleton and Oscar Raby) screened at IDFA, Sundance Film Festival, and the Eye Filmmuseum (Amsterdam). My feature documentary Rohmer in Paris (2014) has been screened on five continents and at venues including the National Museum of Art (Washington D.C.), Museum of Moving Image and Anthology Film Archives (New York), the Barbican Centre and BFI Southbank (London), and Forum des images (Paris). I am also a pioneer in the field of audiovisual film and media studies, and my video essays have been cited in numerous best-of lists.
My research focuses in particular on exploring and expanding digital access to arts and culture and the digital commons. I have led several grant-funded research projects on film and online culture in collaboration with partners including Arts Council England, the Whitechapel Gallery, and the British Film Institute. Recent projects include ‘From TV to Metaverse: towards an inclusive Web 3.0’ (2022-23, Unimob/University of Bergen) and ‘Digital Access to Arts and Culture’ (2020-22, Arts and Humanities Research Council), the results of which have been widely reported in media outlets including the BBC and The Guardian.
My latest film, A History Of The World According To Getty Images, has been screened at over forty international film festivals (including IDFA, Locarno, Hot Docs, and Clermon-Ferrand) and forms part of a longer investigative project into images and power.
I am a Professor of Screen Media at the University of Bergen in Norway, where I also lead the Bachelor’s in Film & Television Production.