Wheeler Winston Dixon facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Wheeler Winston Dixon
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Wheeler Winston Dixon in 2016
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| Born | March 12, 1950 |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Rutgers University (BA, PhD) |
| Occupation | Film critic, film historian, filmmaker, scholar |
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Notable work
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A Short History of Film, A History of Horror Experimental films |
| Partner(s) | Gwendolyn Audrey Foster |
Wheeler Winston Dixon was born on March 12, 1950. He is an American filmmaker and a very knowledgeable expert on movies. He knows a lot about how films have changed over time, how they are made, and how people talk about them.
Dixon is especially interested in films by famous directors like François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard. He also studies experimental American movies and horror films. He has written many books about movies, including A Short History of Film and A History of Horror. From 1999 to 2014, he helped edit a magazine called Quarterly Review of Film and Video.
Besides writing, Wheeler Winston Dixon is also known for making his own experimental films. His movies have been shown in important places like the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. He taught film studies at several universities, including Rutgers University and the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. He is now a professor emeritus, which means he is a retired professor who is still highly respected.
Wheeler Dixon's Early Life
Wheeler Winston Dixon was born in 1950 in New Brunswick, New Jersey. This city is located in New Jersey, about halfway between New York City and Philadelphia. He grew up in a nearby town called Highland Park, New Jersey. He finished high school there in 1968.
In the late 1960s, Dixon was part of the "underground" experimental film scene in New York. During this time, he also worked as a writer for Life Magazine and Andy Warhol's Interview magazine. In 1970, he helped start a music group called Figures of Light. He also spent time in London, where he made and showed short films at a place called Arts Lab.
After returning to the United States, he worked with a group in Los Angeles called TVTV. This group made experimental videos. Wheeler Winston Dixon earned his Ph.D. in English from Rutgers University in 1982.
Wheeler Dixon's Experimental Films
Over many years, Wheeler Winston Dixon created a large number of experimental films. These films often explore new ways of telling stories or showing ideas, rather than following traditional movie rules. In 1991, he worked with filmmaker Gwendolyn Audrey Foster to make a documentary called Women Who Made the Movies. In 1995, he made a film in France called Squatters.
In 2003, the famous Museum of Modern Art in New York City bought all of his experimental films for their collection. Some of these films include:
- Quick Constant and Solid Instant (made in 1969)
- Madagascar, or, Caroline Kennedy's Sinful Life in London (made in 1976)
- Serial Metaphysics (made in 1972)
- What Can I Do? (made in 1993)
His films have also been shown at many other important places. These include the British Film Institute in London and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. In 2018, an art gallery in Poland showed a month-long collection of new video work by Dixon and Gwendolyn Audrey Foster. He also had shows in Texas, Amsterdam, Stockholm, and Montreal that same year. In January 2019, all of his video work was added to the UCLA Film and Television Archive in Los Angeles.
Wheeler Dixon's Family Life
Wheeler Winston Dixon is related to the artist Nina Barr Wheeler. She is his aunt.
