Lynn Hershman Leeson

Films

1984-Present

Lynn Hershman Leeson has directed 26 films. Her six most recent films are feature-length, including her much-acclaimed documentary !Women Art Revolution, a living history of the feminist art movement.

Complete Filmography (PDF)

Criterion Channel | B. Ruby Rich Interview with Lynn Hershman Leeson

Selected Films

First Person Plural, The Electronic Diaries of Lynn Hershman Leeson (1984-Ongoing)

A VIDEO confessional that records Hershman’s struggle, transformation, and transcendence as her personal story unfolds before the camera and sees the mirroring effects when personal becomes political, becomes cultural. This consists of four segments: Confessions of a Chameleon, Binge, First Person Plural and Shadow’s Song.

Logic Paralyzes the Heart (2022)

A film and installation featuring Joan Chen as a 65 year old cyborg who explains the history of Artificial Intelligence and its relationship to warfare. The script was written by ChatGPT3 in collaboration with Hershman Leeson.

As Evan Moffitt wrote for Eyebeam in 2023, “Its utopian language, which predicts a future of peaceful collaboration and connectivity, recalls the marketing tactics of tech moguls in the 2010s, before companies like Meta were accused of eroding democracy and fomenting genocide.”

Winner of a special Jury prize at the 2022 Venice Biennale.

!Women Art Revolution (2012)

Through intimate interviews, art, and rarely seen archival film and video footage, !Women Art Revolution reveals how the Feminist Art Movement fused free speech and politics into art that radically transformed the culture of our times.

Director, Writer, Editor, Producer / TRT 83 mins / World Premier: Toronto Film Festival September 2010 / US Premier: Sundance 2011 / European Premier: Berlinale International Film Festival 2011 / Distributed by Zeitgeist / BEST FILM ON ART, MONTREAL INTERNATIONAL FEST

Strange Culture (2009)

Strange Culture, a fusion of documentary and docudrama, examines a surreal miscarriage of justice amplified by post-9/11 hysteria.

Director, Writer, Editor, Producer / TRT 83 mins / Starring Tilda Swinton, Thomas Jay Ryan / World Premier: Sundance Film Festival 2008 / European Premier: Berlin Film Festival 2009, Human Rights Watch Festival and others / Distributed by Cinedigm / MARLON RIGGS AWARD FOR COURAGE AND INNOVATION

Teknolust (2003)

In this sci-fi-drama, Tilda Swinton plays four parts, including Rosetta Stone—a scientist specializing in biogenetics who has created three self-replicating automatons who rely on sperm to survive.

Director, Writer, Editor, Producer / TRT 82 mins / Starring Tilda Swinton, Jeremy David, Karen Black, Thomas Jay Ryan, James Urbaniak / 2002 Sundance Film Festival / 2003 Berlin Film Festival / 2002 Toronto International Film Festival / ALFRED P. SLOAN AWARD FOR WRITING AND DIRECTING

Conceiving Ada (1997)

This Sci-Fi adventure is a time-travel film about Lady Ada Lovelace (daughter of Lord Byron), a mathematics genius a century ahead of her time.

Director, Writer, Editor, Producer / TRT 82 mins / Starring Tilda Swinton, Karen Black, Timothy Leary, Thomas Jay Ryan / 1982 Sundance Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, 1999 Berlin Film Festival / NOMINATED FOR INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARD