Directing

Tom Kalin

Born March 4, 1962 · Chicago, Illinois, USA (age 64)

Tom Kalin (born 1962) is an award-winning screenwriter, film director, producer, and professor of experimental film at European Graduate School in Saas-Fee. His debut feature, Swoon, is considered an integral part of the New Queer Cinema. In addition to his feature work, Kalin has created a number of short films, many of which are collected in the compilations Behold Goliath or The Boy With the F…

Known For

Savage GraceSavage Grace · 2007
Savage Grace
5.72007
MovieDrama
This examination of a famous scandal from the 1970s explores the relationship between Barbara Baekeland and her only son, Antony. Barbara, a lonely social climber unhappily married to the wealthy but remote plastics heir Brooks Baekeland, dotes on Antony, who is homosexual. As Barbara tries to "cure" Antony of his sexuality -- sometimes by seducing him herself -- the groundwork is laid for a murderous tragedy.
Office KillerOffice Killer · 1997
Office Killer
5.11997
MovieHorrorThriller
When Dorine Douglas' job as proofreader for Constant Consumer magazine is turned into an at-home position during a downsizing, she doesn't know how to cope. But after accidentally killing one of her co-workers, she discovers that murder can quench the loneliness of her home life, as a macabre office place forms in her basement, populated by dead co-workers.
30/30 Vision: Three Decades of Strand Releasing30/30 Vision: Three Decades of Strand Releasing · 2019
30/30 Vision: Three Decades of Strand Releasing
5.32019
MovieComedyScience Fiction
Over 30 filmmakers and friends of Strand Releasing have come together to honor the company’s indelible contribution to independent cinema over the past thirty years. The participating filmmakers have each created a short film for the project, all shot on iPhones.
Tree ShadeTree Shade · 1998
Tree Shade
9.01998
MovieAdventureDrama
Shame and embarrassment propel Savannah, a gifted high school student, embarks on a journey through space and time to witness the prison convictions of her great-grandmother Etta Mae, her grand-aunt Olive, and her aunt Denise. The fanciful and chilling tales of a delightfully vain maid in the 1920s, a hopelessly depressed nanny in the 1950s, and a mother frustrated during the holiday season in the 1980s, help Savannah reconcile her feelings about her own past in this touching coming-of-age story. An imaginative, thoroughly engaging drama that speaks volumes about identity and self-worth.
AshesAshes · 2014
Ashes
2014
Movie
For Ashes, Tom Kalin photographed thousands of high resolution still images and "stitched" them into a moving image. While borrowing library books for research on another project, Kalin discovered, glued to the endpapers, ordinary "due date" ledgers stamped with dates spanning three decades. Inspired by these tiny ledgers—like skin or palimpsests that recorded an analogue history, an accumulation of many gestures—Kalin combines quotidian pictures snatched from his daily life with an evocative musical track by ongoing collaborator Doveman (Thomas Bartlett). The film layers dates and moments from Kalin's personal world with the public and global history of AIDS. Commissioned by Visual AIDS in 2014 as part of ALTERNATE ENDINGS, a program of seven videos that bring together charged moments and personal memories amidst the public history of HIV/AIDS.
I Shot Andy WarholI Shot Andy Warhol · 1996
I Shot Andy Warhol
6.21996
MovieDrama
The story of Valerie Solanas, a '60s radical who preached misandry in her "SCUM" manifesto. She wrote a screenplay for a film that she wanted Andy Warhol to produce, but he repeatedly ignored her. So she shot him.
Go FishGo Fish · 1994
Go Fish
5.21994
MovieRomanceComedy
Max is a trendy, pretty, young lesbian, who is having trouble finding love. A friend sets her up with Ely, whom Max likes, but Ely is frumpy, homely, and older. Nor do they have much in common. Can Max learn to look past the packaging?
SwoonSwoon · 1992
Swoon
5.71992
MovieDrama
Teenagers Nathan Leopold Jr. and Richard Loeb share a dangerous sexual bond and an amoral outlook on life. They spend afternoons breaking into storefronts and engaging in petty crimes, until the calculating Nathan ups the ante by kidnapping, and murdering, a young boy.

Filmography

Sort
AshesAshes · 2014
Ashes
2014
Movie
For Ashes, Tom Kalin photographed thousands of high resolution still images and "stitched" them into a moving image. While borrowing library books for research on another project, Kalin discovered, glued to the endpapers, ordinary "due date" ledgers stamped with dates spanning three decades. Inspired by these tiny ledgers—like skin or palimpsests that recorded an analogue history, an accumulation of many gestures—Kalin combines quotidian pictures snatched from his daily life with an evocative musical track by ongoing collaborator Doveman (Thomas Bartlett). The film layers dates and moments from Kalin's personal world with the public and global history of AIDS. Commissioned by Visual AIDS in 2014 as part of ALTERNATE ENDINGS, a program of seven videos that bring together charged moments and personal memories amidst the public history of HIV/AIDS.

Director