The Suite (212) Sessions, no. 15 - John Smith

In the wake of the coronavirus epidemic and shutting down of much of the UK's cultural life, we have decided to bring you a series of interviews with contemporary artists, writers, filmmakers and other cultural figures, conducted via Skype (so apologies for the diminished audio quality), about their practices, the political issues that inspire them and the socio-economic conditions that have shaped their work. In the fifteenth of these Sessions, Juliet talks to artist-filmmaker John Smith. Born in London in 1952, Smith remains best known for The Girl Chewing Gum (1976), but has made more than sixty films in a career spanning nearly half a century, working with 16mm and digital film, and showing his work at the London Film-Makers’ Co-op and numerous galleries and cinemas as well as BBC2, Channel 4 and Vimeo. Here, Smith discusses his experiences canvassing for Labour (with Juliet) in the 2019 General Election campaign; his new film Twice (2020) about the government’s Covid-19 communications; his relationship with television in the 1980s and 1990s; his Hotel Diaries (2001-2007) and the War on Terror; and the two films he made around the EU referendum, Who Are We (2016) and A Song for Europe (2017). A full list of references for the programme, with links, can be found via our Patreon at www.patreon.com/suite212, and are available to $3 subscribers.