Experimenta focus: Stephen Dwoskin

Stephen Dwoskin arrived in London from New York in 1964, aged 25, with a trunk of 16mm films shot in the milieu of Andy Warhol and Jonas Mekas. He became known for a series of films in which the camera’s unblinking gaze is returned by his female subjects. Laura Mulvey wrote that he ‘opened a completely new perspective for me on cinematic voyeurism’. In the mid-70s, Dwoskin turned his gaze on his own body, disabled in childhood by polio, before making a number of personal documentaries about disability and diaspora. In the 2000s, with his mobility severely impaired, he embraced the possibilities of digital technology to return to the underground and the erotic obsessions that powered his extraordinary 50-year career.

Rachel Garfield and Henry K Miller, co-programmers

See our Access information page to support your visit to BFI Southbank.

While we are pleased to screen some new restorations for this focus programme in venue we acknowledge that they are not fully accessible. We always aim to present accessible screening materials when they are available.

Two of Dwoskin‘s films are available to watch on BFI Player with closed captions and audio description: Trying to Kiss the Moon and Behindert. In addition Central Bazaar has closed captions only. We aim to make other titles accessible in the future.