J. Leighton Pierce

Leighton Pierce has made over 30 short impressionistic/experimental documentaries exploring the margins of memory and perception and the filmic construction of space and time. Many of his recent works focus on unsentimental close views of small events in domestic space. While always concentrating on the subtleties of sound/image relationships, these films are also visually unique as reflected in the cinematography awards these films have won.

Before concentrating on film and video, Pierce studied music composition (musique concrete, and jazz). Many compositional tendencies still influence his production process. Parallel to that, he also worked as a ceramist and a sculptor. Most of these films (since 1985) were made while he has been employed as Professor of Film and Video Production at the University of Iowa.

Every one of Leighton Pierce's films and videos listed in Canyon are festival award winners. For example, his two most recent films, GLASS and 50 FEET OF STRING won Best Cinematography and Best of the Fest respectively at the Ann Arbor Film Festival as well as top awards at Black Maria, Athens, Atlanta, and other national and international screenings. His work has also been screened and/or won awards at Oberhausen, Edinburgh, Marin County, New York Expo, Cin?ma du Re?l, Hong Kong, European Media Arts Festival, Impakt and many other festivals. Retrospectives of his work have been presented at the Museum of Modern Art, the Pacific Film Archive, Chicago Filmmakers and the San Francisco Cinematheque.