OUR GUEST SPEAKER

Jonathan Rattner is an award-winning filmmaker and artist who primarily produces experimental nonfiction films and videos. In his work he employs a mixture of documentary (found footage, interviews, historical research) and lyrical (soft-focus imagery, collage, jump cuts, non-diagetic sound design, long-duration wide shots) filmic elements. By doing so, he strives to create a cinematic space in which viewers are invited to interact with what they see on the screen and create meaning by reflecting on their own experiences, ideas, and truths.

He holds M.F.A's in Film and Video Production and in Intermedia Art from the University of Iowa and a B.F.A. in Film and Television from Tisch School for the Arts, N.Y.U. From fall of 2005 to the summer of 2009 he acted as the creative director of Iowa City Senior Television, a twenty-year-old station consisting of crewmembers whose ages range from 65 to 89.Rattner has exhibited works at the Anthology Film Archives, Walker Art Center, The Whitechapel Gallery, Ann Arbor Film Festival, Atlanta Film Festival, Currents New Media Festival, the European Media Arts Festival, as well as at other galleries, microcinemas, festivals, and universities in the United States, Europe, and Australia.  His film The Interior won best documentary at the Ann Arbor Film Festival and was acquired by the Walker Art Center’s Ruben/Benston Moving Image Collection.  In 2019, he won the Tennessee Individual Artist Fellowship. Rattner is currently an active member of the art collective COOP, and he holds the position of Associate Professor of Cinema & Media Arts and Associate Professor of Art at Vanderbilt University.