Chel White Bio

CheL WhitE
b i o g r a p h y
(click on mugshot to enlarge)

"(Chel White's) work seems to dispatch itself from some secret, subversive code, flashing messages amid animation, obscure stock footage, and actors with crazy eyes."

-Austin Chronicle

"Chel White is a cinematic poet, a grand one at that, with a surrealistic visual sensibility..."

-The Clarion-Ledger

Chel White has been making films independently for over 20 years. His work has been shown in film festivals all over the world and recognized with numerous awards. He is a recent recipient of a Rockefeller Media Arts Fellowship for a feature film currently in development.
Chel's work explores love, obsession, alienation, memories, and dreams. He uses allegory and frequently black humor to paint indelible pictures of the human experience. His narrative films are often told from the perspective of the estranged individual, the outsider looking in. Described as a cinematic poet, his work is intricate, sublime, and beautiful. Dreams and dream-influenced imagery are ongoing resources in his work. With a background in experimental film and animation, his short films consistently defy categorization.
From Sundance to Berlin to Hong Kong, Chel White's films have been exhibited in film festivals all over the world, and recognized with numerous awards. His work has screened at the Smithsonian Museum, the Brooklyn Museum, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and the High Museum in Atlanta. Two commissioned projects White directed are in the permanent collection at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
His film, Magda, made its world premiere in the 2004 Rotterdam International Film Festival, and took the Grand Jury Prize for Best Animated Short from the 2004 Florida Film Festival. Shown in over 60 film festivals world-wide, the film also won the EMPA Work Life Award in the 2005 Ann Arbor Film Festival. Another film, Dirt, received the prize for Best Short Film at the 1998 Stockholm International Film Festival, and was a jury selection in the 1999 Sundance Film Festival. Soulmate won the Best Film Award from the 2000 Northwest Film Festival. Magda, Dirt and Soulmate are based on stories by monologist and radio artist Joe Frank.
White's recent film, A Painful Glimpse Into My Writing Process (In Less Than 60 Seconds) is currently making the festival circuit. It is based on a humorous essay by Northwest poet Scott Poole. The film was opening night short in both the Florida and Nantucket film festivals and recently was awarded Best Short Film at the 2006 Bend Film Festival, as well as Best Animated Film at the Kansas City Filmmakers Jubilee. It also screened in competition at the 2006 Los Angeles Film Festival, the Seattle International Film Festival, and the SXSW Festival.
Completed in 2003, Eclipse follows a poem by Christine M. Toth in which a unique kind of loss is examined on a most personal level. The film won awards at the Kansas City Filmmakers Jubilee and the Ann Arbor Film Festival, and was screened at the Images Festival in Toronto.
An early film, Choreography for Copy Machine (Photocopy Cha Cha), won First Place for Animation in several film festivals, including the USA Film Festival and the Ann Arbor Film Festival. The film also screened at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival.
Chel's short film, Passage, made its world premiere in Film-Harmonic, an evening of short films with live musical accompaniment performed by the Oregon Symphony. In addition to White, the other filmmakers commissioned to create short works were Jim Blashfield, Joan Gratz, and Gus Van Sant. The film has since been shown in the Frontier Section of the Sundance Film Festival and the Cork Film Festival in Ireland.
In addition to his recent Rockefeller Media Arts Fellowship, Chel White is the recent recipient of a Media Arts Fellowship from the Regional Arts & Culture Council (Portland, Oregon). He has also received grants from Creative Capital (New York), the Oregon Arts Commission, the Western States Regional Media Arts Fellowship (through the National Endowment for the Arts, the American Film Institute, and the Northwest Film Center), and from the Pacific Pioneer Fund.
Retrospective screenings of Chel White's work have included the Northwest Film Center / Portland Art Museum, Southern Circuit, the Austin Film Society, the Ann Arbor Film Festival, the Big Muddy Film Festival, the Humboldt Film Festival, Den Haag Film + Video Festival in Holland, and the Retina Festival in Hungary.
He is currently developing two feature film projects, one of which is based on his own experience of being stranded in a car for four days during a mountain snow storm.
In addition to filmmaking, Chel White is a world renowned director of commissioned work, including short films, music videos, commercials, television, feature film effects, audio, multi-media and performance. Chel's commercial and public service clients include Memorial Blood Center, OfficeMax, Reebok, Fila, Adidas, Lux, Lugz, Honda, Coca-Cola, and the Washington Department of Health. His television projects include satirical shorts for Saturday Night Live. In the summer of 2006, Chel directed Harrowdown Hill, a music video for Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke. In 2007 he was commissioned to create a film, titled Wind, for the organization Live Earth, sponsored by Al Gore. The film premiered opening night in the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival and was a part of S.O.S., a concert and rally on the topic of global climate change that occurred simultaneously on July 7, 2007, in seven cities on seven continents.
Chel White is a graduate of Antioch University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Visual Arts. He lives in Portland, Oregon.

f i l m o g r a p h y

2007
WIND
2005
A PAINFUL GLIMPSE INTO MY WRITING PROCESS (IN LESS THAN 60 SECONDS)
2005
DREAM #631
2004
MAGDA
2003
ECLIPSE
2002
NEW YORK
2001
PASSAGE
2000
SOULMATE
1998
DIRT
1991
CHOREOGRAPHY FOR COPY MACHINE (PHOTOCOPY CHA CHA)
1987
MACHINE SONG

a w a r d s . & . w o r k . h i g h l i g h t s

2008
Chel White is awarded the annual filmmaking grant from the Oregon Arts Commission for the production of a feature film.
Chel White supervises visual effects on Gus Van Sant's feature film "Milk."

2007
Chel White is awarded a Rockefeller Foundation Media Arts Fellowship (through ReNew Media) for the production of a feature film.
White's film titled Wind, a poetic look at the issue of global climate change, premieres open night at the Tribeca Film Festival with keynote speaker Al Gore.
Chel White's music video for Thom Yorke, "Harrowdown Hill", is awarded Best Music Video at the 2007 SXSW Festival. It is also nominated in 2 categories in the MVPA awards, including Best Alternative Video.
A Painful Glimpse Into My Writing Process (In Less Than 60 Seconds) wins Best Animated Film at Kansas City Filmmakers Jubilee.
Chel White supervises visual effects on Gus Van Sant's feature film "Paranoid Park," and directs animation for Todd Haynes' Bob Dylan biographic film "I'm Not There." White directs visual effects for Gus Van Snat's Cannes short, "First Kiss."

2006
"Fever Dreams and Heavenly Nightmares", the long-awaited DVD compilation of short films by Chel White, is released and distributed by Microcinema International.

Chel White directs "Harrowdown Hill", a music video for Radiohead front man Thom Yorke. It is included in ResFest 2006.
A Painful Glimpse Into My Writing Process (In Less Than 60 Seconds) makes its international premiere in the Zagreb Animation Festival, Croatia. The film also wins the jury award for Best Short Film in the Bend Film Festival, Oregon.
A Painful Glimpse Into My Writing Process (In Less Than 60 Seconds) screens opening night in both the Florida and Nantucket film festivals. The film also screens in competition at the Los Angeles Film Festival, the Seattle International Film Festival, and the SXSW Festival.
A Painful Glimpse Into My Writing Process (In Less Than 60 Seconds) makes its international premiere in the Zagreb Animation Festival, Croatia.
"Park" and "Rec Room", two anti-smoking public service announcements White directed for the Washington Department of Health win a Gold Plaque for Best Campaign at the Chicago International Film Festival.

2005
Chel White is awarded the Regional Arts & Culture Council's Individual Artist Fellowship for Media Arts, Portland, Oregon.
A Painful Glimpse Into My Writing Process (In Less Than 60 Seconds) makes its world premiere in the Austin Film Festival.
Magda receives the EMPA Work Life Award at the Ann Arbor Film Festival, and ties for Best Animated Film at the Big Muddy Film Festival.
Chel White and Ryan Jeffery are commissioned by Minh Tran + Company to create moving image works for live performance, Portland Oregon.
A television commercial White directs for OfficeMax is included in the permanent collection at The Museum of Modern Art in New York.

2004
Magda makes its world premiere in the Rotterdam International Film Festival, and its North American premiere in the Portland International Film Festival.
Magda wins the Grand Jury Award for Best Animated Short in the Florida Film Festival.
Eclipse screens at the Images Festival in Toronto, and wins jury prizes at the Kansas City Filmmakers Jubilee and Ann Arbor Film Festival.
Two televison commercials directed by Chel White are included in the Annecy Festival of Animation in France.
Chel White gives a retrospective of his films and lecture as a part of the Humboldt Film Festival.
Magda wins Best Animated Film and Best of Festival in the Northwest Film + Video Festival. The film also plays a run of International Film Festivals, including Clermont-Ferrand, Stockholm, Brussels, Seattle, Calgary, Chicago, L'Alternativa (Barcelona), Arizona, Hamburg, Portland, and the World Wide Film Festival in Toronto.
2003
Passage awarded Best Experimental Film in the Kansas City Filmmakers Jubilee, and a Silver Award from Worldfest-Houston.

2002
Chel White's film New York airs on The Sundance Channel as a part of "9 Views on 9-11", corresponding with the one year anniversary of the tragedy. New York is also included in "Underground Zero" a touring program of films by several artists made in response to the events of September 11th, 2001. The profits from screenings raise money for September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows.
Passage screens in Frontier Shorts as a part of the Sundance Film Festival, and is featured as a part of the Cork Film Festival in Ireland.
Chel White is commissioned by Do Jump to create moving image works for live performance.
Passage awarded Best FilmScape in the Arizona Int'l Film Festival, and a Silver Award from the Big Muddy Film Festival.

2001
Chel White is awarded a Creative Capital grant for the development of a feature film script.
Passage makes its world premiere in the Oregon Symphony's Film Harmonic, a performance of silent films with live orchestral accompaniment.
Choreography for Copy Machine screens in a special program of Portland Animation at the Sundance Film Festival.
Soulmate awarded Best Narrative Film in both the Big Muddy and Humboldt Film Festivals. The film's lead actress Vana O'Brien wins Best Actress at Big Muddy. Soulmate is also awarded Best Experimental Film in the Convergence Festival, Providence, Rhode Island, and wins a jury prize in the Ann Arbor Film Festival.
Peace Out, a television commercial White directed for Lugz shoes, wins Honorable Mention at the British Design & Art Direction awards.

2000
Chel White is nominated for both a Rockefeller Fellowship and an Alpert Award in the Arts.
Soulmate receives award for Best Narrative Film and Audience Award in the Northwest Film & Video Festival.
White curates Naked Cinema, a screening of short independent films, including works by Jay Rosenblatt, Lorelei Pepi, and Leighton Pierce. Northwest Film Center, Portland, Oregon.

1999
Dirt screens in competition at the Sundance Film Festival.
White is awarded an Oregon Arts Commission grant and a Regional Arts & Culture Council grant for the production of Soulmate.
Dirt awarded Best Experimental Film in the USA Film Festival.
Chel White produces Poetry and the 1950's: Homage to the Beat Generation, a compact disk of spoken word, read by writer Robert Briggs.

1998
Dirt takes the prize for Best Short Film in the Stockholm International Film Festival.
Chel White gives his first formal retrospective screening at the Northwest Film Center, Portland Art Museum.
White is awarded a Pacific Pioneer Fund grant for a documentary project.
Choreography for Copy Machine shows at the Stuttgart Festival of Animation Film as part of 10th Anniversary Highlights program.

1997
Love and Other Difficulties screens at the Smithsonian Museum, through the Black Maria Film Festival, where the film also wins a Director's Award.

1996
Choreography for Copy Machine airs on the acclaimed PBS television series Alive TV.
Cottonmouth, Texas (trilogy) receives Judge's Award in the Northwest Film & Video Festival.

1995
A television commercial White directs for Fila wins a Clio Award, and is included in the permanent collection at The Museum of Modern Art in New York.

1994
Chel White creates visual effects scenes for Gus Van Sant's feature film To Die For.

1993
Joan Gratz's Mona Lisa Descending a Staircase, a film Chel White created music and sound design for, wins an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Subject.

1992
Choreography for Copy Machine screens in the Berlin and Rotterdam International Film Festivals.
Choreography for Copy Machine is featured in the Zagreb and Hiroshima Animation Festivals.
Chel White works as the visual effects supervisor on Gus Van Sant's Even Cowgirls Get the Blues. He also makes his one and only screen appearance as a brain surgeon in the film.

1991
Choreography for Copy Machine awarded Best Animated Film in the both the Ann Arbor Film Festival and the USA Film Festival.
Choreography for Copy Machine awarded the Gold Plaque in Animation at the Chicago International Film Festival.
Choreography for Copy Machine tours theatrically in the 23rd Tournee of Animation.
White is commissioned by Oslund & Company Dance to create moving image works for live performance. The project is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts.