Biographies for independent film director Chel White
Short biography:
Director Chel White’s body of work includes television, short films, music videos, ads and an independent feature film. His work has screened at the Museum of Modern Art, the Van Gogh Museum, and film festivals including Berlinale, Tribeca, Annecy, Hong Kong and Sundance. His video for Radiohead’s Thom Yorke won Best Music Video at SXSW, and his film Dirt won Best Short Film at the Stockholm Film Festival. A Rockefeller fellow, Chel cites dreams as his greatest influence and often makes use of black humor and a poetic sensibility to depict the human experience. He has directed projects for Saturday Night Live, David Lynch and the American Indian College Fund. He is a co-founder of the studio Bent Image Lab in Portland, Oregon.
Long biography:
Independent film director Chel White cites dreams as his greatest influence and often makes use of black humor and a poetic sensibility to depict the human experience. A Rockefeller Fellow, he describes his own work as “stories and images that reside on the brink of dreams, or linger on the periphery of distorted memories.” Equally at home with both animation and live action, White's extensive body of work includes short films, television, music videos, ads and an independent feature film. He is also a composer, screenwriter and visual artist.
The veteran director earned a place in animation history with his 1991 film, "Choreography for Copy Machine", the first film to employ the unique photographic capabilities of a B&W photocopier to generate sequential images of hands, faces, and other body parts. "Harrowdown Hill", White’s groundbreaking video for Radiohead's Thom Yorke, won Best Music Video at SXSW, and his film "Dirt" won Best Short Film at the Stockholm International Film Festival. White's work has screened at the Museum of Modern Art, the Van Gogh Museum, and film festivals that include Berlinale, Tribeca, Annecy, Hiroshima, Ann Arbor, Hong Kong and three films at Sundance.
Over the course of his 35 year career, Chel has directed projects for Saturday Night Live, Touchstone, David Lynch, David Oyelowo, Al Gore, Hallmark and the American Indian College Fund. He has also been a visual effects artist for director Gus Van Sant on several of his pictures, including the Academy Award winning "Milk". Chel White’s advertising kudos include awards from The One Show, AICP and the Clios. His commercial clients include Nike, Fila, AT&T, Starbucks and Hershey’s. Along with Ray Di Carlo and David Daniels, Chel White is a co-founder of Bent Image Lab, a film studio in Portland, Oregon where White has resided since 1985.
Chel White in Martin Cooper's 2023 documentary feature film, "History, Mystery & Odyssey: The Lives and Work of Six Portland Animators"