Paula M. Froehle

Paula Froehle is an independent filmmaker working in Chicago. She has been making films for over ten years which have been funded both regionally (Illinois Art Council and Chicago Arts Council) and nationally (National Endowment for the Arts) and have screened/won awards at numerous festivals, including the Ann Arbor Film Festival, the London International Film Festival, the New Zealand Film Festivals, the Tampere International Film Festival, Finland, the Houston International Film Festival, the Mint Museum of Art, the Baltimore Art Museum and others.

In addition to her own films, she is an Assistant Professor at Columbia College, Chicago and has directed music videos and music-related films for Atavistic, a Chicago-based production company.

My films investigate issues of identity and boundaries of the self, particularly of individuals in crisis situations. Extreme close-up cinematography, optically printed montages and intricate soundtracks coalesce to form an intimate analysis of limitations and contours - historic, public, private and personal. I approach the elements of film in a painterly way, carefully balancing the disparity of image, sound, space, structure and time to heighten meaning, add complexity and more actively involve the viewer. My work is also concerned with the use of "voice" in film - as sound effect, voice-over and text on the screen - to scrutinized assumptions about its authority and sense of truth, utilizing its intimacy and isolation as a method to define new spaces for cinematic communication.