JULIAN SEMILIAN CV 2015
A few introductory words
Julian Semilian is a Professor at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, School of Filmmaking, where he has been teaching film editing since 1998, and, in collaboration with cinematography faculty John LeBlanc, experimental cinema since 2008.
Simultaneously, Semilian taught a class in film editing at Duke University in the fall of 2000. In 2002 and 2005, Semilian conducted master classes in editing and worked one-on-one with students at Columbia University in New York. In the fall of 2008, Semilian taught a master class in film editing at St. Augustine College in Raleigh, NC. In the spring of 2009 and 2010, Semilian taught master classes at Rowan University in New Jersey. In 2002 and 2003, Semilian taught adult classes in editing and writing class at Salem College.
Semilian believes deeply and passionately in the mission of school of the arts, which is to develop the total artist and the complete human being, one who is dedicated not only to the arts but to bettering the world and society. He feels he has dedicated the last sixteen years if his life to this mission. He believes in the potential of each of his students and strives towards making this potential a reality. He believes he has been to some degree successful in this endeavor and feels energized to continue and perfect this work.
Before joining the faculty at UNCSA, Semilian worked for 24 years as a film editor in Los Angeles, where he edited more than 16 feature films and movies of the week. He also worked as a post-production supervisor on 8 movies. As an assistant editor he worked on more than 30 films. On seven of these films he assisted the prominent British film editor Bernard Gribble (1927-2004). Mr. Gribble, who edited more than a hundred film and television shows (Man in the White Suit, Death Wish, Top Secret, Winds of War, War and Remembrance), is also known as the “editor’s editor,” as he mentored many of the now-prominent English editors currently working on major Hollywood productions since the late 1970s. Semilian regards his years with Mr. Gribble as his time of seminal mentorship in film editing, the years when he was initiated by a master into the essence of film editing.
In addition to his film work, Semilian is a prominent writer, translator, poet and essayist. He has published to date two novels, a book of poems, and five books of translations. His work as poet, translator and essayist has been published in various anthologies and numerous magazines.
Semilian is now active as an experimental filmmaker and electronic painter, his work being featured in numerous festivals and shows, both nationally and internationally.
Over the sixteen plus years of his work at UNCSA, Semilian has been actively and passionately involved and committed as a leader in promoting the school to various outside institutions, initiating relationships and collaborations with a multitude of guest artists in various disciplines who have visited and worked with the students at UNCSA; and with other institutions of learning and art establishments, and has been active in participating in cultural events and readings of his work, both locally and nationally. He has also taken a keen interest in new technologies as they pertain to film editing and the film industry and been assertive in introducing the most appropriate of these technologies into the school curriculum. In addition he has constantly sought out mentorship from and dialogue with prominent artists and poets, again both nationally and internationally.
TEACHING
—As a teacher, Semilian agrees with Einstein that the most important aspect of teaching is developing the students’ imagination. In order for this endeavor to be successful, each individual student needs to be personally mentored; Semilian believes that the path to artistic maturity ideally includes the mentoring by an experienced artist who has dedicated his or her life to the art. The time spent working one-on-one with each student is the most valuable for his or her development. As each student is a different human being, one-on-one mentoring affords the best opportunity for individual growth. In order to achieve this goal, Semilian spends countless hours in one-on-one sessions with as many students as his time allows, encouraging them to try new and different approaches in the editing of their films and exhorting them to try their best in order to achieve the highest degree of professionalism, so necessary for success in the competitive world of filmmaking.
—While individual mentoring is essential, Semilian also believes that the atmosphere in the classroom should be one of open dialogue and cooperation leading to personal investigation of the subject. He wishes to facilitate an open, relaxed atmosphere that allows learning to occur; in this non-judgmental environment the students feel free to express all their concerns as well as ask all the questions which trouble them.
— Semilian’s many years in the film business affords him a plethora of varied experiences relating to human resources and relations. He knows how to communicate to students the importance of understanding that it is often not enough to be talented, but one must be able to know how to work with your team and get the best of your particular group of people.
—Semilian prefers not to impose his ideas on the students, but rather to encourage a constructive atmosphere for the students to express their own understandings with confidence. Semilian uses his experience to ask questions which will lead to the students discovering their own satisfying answers. This is a method, Semilian believes, which will continue working for the students far into the future.
—Betsy Brown, former Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs for the University of North Carolina came to observe one of Semilian’s classes:
“I observed Julian Semilian's second year film editing class on November 3, 2004, and was impressed by his rapport with his students and their seriousness about their own work and that of their peers. In particular, I was impressed by their willingness to give and receive criticism and suggestions about how to improve their films, a willingness that is rare in undergraduates in most classes but essential to a course such as Professor Semilian's. He has obviously created an atmosphere of trust and openness in which his students collaborate effectively in creating, editing, and critiquing films and attend closely to his suggestions as well. His easy manner and sense of humor contribute to the constructive atmosphere of the course, which at the same time benefits from his extensive experience as an editor, experience which the students obviously respect and admire.”
—Dan Kleinman, Chair of the Film Department at Columbia has this to say about Semilian’s performance at Columbia:
“Julian Semilian taught in 2002 and 2005 a course at Columbia entitled ‘Editing Project.’ This is a workshop for second-year MFA students in which they revise and improve their edits of videos that they shot during the summer between first and second year. Professor Semilian did an outstanding job and was the most effective and popular teacher of the course in the years that he taught it. His concern for his students and his ability to motivate them were exemplary. I would love to have him teaching at Columbia every year.”
—During his first years at UNCSA, Semilian developed the editing analysis class for the year 3 & 4 editing students. In these highly valuable classes, the year 4 and 3 films in the process of being edited are professionally analyzed. To quote from Semilian’s syllabi: “This is a hands-on, in-depth editing analysis class; using the films made in the third & fourth years. This workshop type class will explore the complex potential, means and methods of editing to repair and emphasize, to underline and re-create story points missed by screenwriting or direction, to re-structure creatively, modulate mood, heal ailing performances, and more.” The methods of analysis and image perception developed by the students in this class will allow them to compete professionally in a world where the editor’s active imagination is a much sought-after commodity. The ability to use one’s imagination to “doctor” problematic films will lead to creating editors who WORK ALL THE TIME.
—The editing analysis class led to the development of the highly valued Teaching Theatre. The Teaching Theatre is unique among film schools and a potential model for the future editing room. The scope of the Teaching Theatre has grown to include not only Semilian’s editing classes but also those of other editing teachers. The Teaching Theatre consists of a room where the students can plug in their laptops containing the films they are editing to a projector. The film is thus viewed on a large screen and then workshopped by all students. Since all the shot film is handy, different ways of editing can be explored in class and the students can observe and discuss the changes made right in front of them.
—For year 1 students, Semilian has created a method of analyzing the editing of classic movies. Because of his experience, Semilian has been able to point out in detail what the choices of the editor may have been and to help the students understand the wide breadth of possibilities and the levels of imagination the editor is apt to employ. For all these classes Semilian has received very high marks of approval from the students and has become one of the most popular professors at the School of Filmmaking.
—The year 1 class follows in the fall semester the development of the history of cinema through the eye of the editor, using as text the much-celebrated editing manual by Karel Reisz and Gavin Millar. The course begins with showings of the proto-cinema sequential frames of Edweard Muybridge. The students are then given the assignment to use the Muybridge frames and place them in sequential order on their timeline so that the most basic cinema can occur: a galloping horse, a woman descending a staircase. Thus they get to live out the incipience of the cinematic process and understand cinema at its most basic level. Then they are asked to shoot their own sequential stills following a simple action, such as the moving a hand, turning of a head, and then place the stills in a sequence on the timeline.
—Next, in viewing the one-shot films of Edison and Lumiere, the students are asked to pay attention to and expand parts of the frame and select significant simple events such as someone sitting in a chair, an object being moved across a table, fingers scratching a head. Thus, the editor’s eye is trained to see details, a one of the most essential career moves for the editor.
—The class continues to the development of the story in cinema in the use and understanding of time and the jump cut in the films of Melies, the development of primitive editing and beginning of parallel action in Edwin Porter, the development of the grammar of cinema in Griffith and the sophisticated constructions of Pudovkin and Eisenstein.
—Significant sequences are watched time and time again and analyzed shot by shot, so that the students understand how these constructions and editing effects are achieved. References to the parallel development of other arts are often discussed.
—At each step, the student is asked to follow this development with editing exercises of their own, paralleling these films, while all the while the student learns the use of the editing software.
—Each week the student is asked to write a short essay about the lessons learned in class.
—In the Spring semester of year 1, along with class analysis of the student’s 3 minute directing exercise, Semilian follows along the historical development of editing and the sound film, beginning with Hitchcock’s inventions, through Renoir and Welles, and ending with the magnificent achievement in editing technique as exemplified in the Hepburn dinner scene of Scorsese’s The Aviator. Again, detailed shot by shot analysis is part and parcel of every class. Each week the student is asked to write a short essay about the editing of each film as discussed in class, with reference to the text used, Bazin’s The Development of the Language of Cinema.
—For a number of years, until 2011, Semilian also taught the year 2 editing class, entitled Developing the Editor’s Eye. In the class Semilian developed a curriculum based on the teaching methods of Slavko Vorkapich. Mr. Vorkapich was the fist dean of USC. During the 30s and 40s he invented the so-called Hollywood Montage, i.e., sequences that detailed the passage of time. Later he dedicated himself to teaching and gave lectures on editing to large audiences all over the country, including the Museum of Modern Art. Using the ideas of Mr. Vorkapich, Semilian engaged the students to think and see deeper through a series of weekly seminal editing exercises that trained the student’s eye to look below the surface to where the real cinematic action takes place. Many students now working successfully in the film business (Rachel Fowler, for instance) can attest to the efficacy of the class.
—Semilian has been the leader in the development of an avant-garde film class. As it is stated in the syllabus, The class aims to awaken the student to his or her potential and mission as a total artist. It is “an exploration of the Moving Image wrenched free of quotidian isolation. The student will explore the expression of communication between external stimulus and internal response in series of visual and aural exercises designed to lead to the deeper awareness of how we shape and are shaped by images, engaging the student to enter the poetic timeline and create short works of artistic integrity.” This popular class had grown in size and breadth in the space of six years from four to seventeen students.
—Each semester the class has an overarching theme, such a Obsession and Compulsion, or leading quotes, such as the one from poet Robert Kelly: “Take each object as it comes and say what comes to mind, “ transposed of course to film. Within the context of the overarching theme the students are assigned a new project every two weeks. The assignments consist of specific themes, such as Windows, Dreams, Memories. Convergencies, Private Spaces, Miniatures, Drawers and Chests, historical objects of cultural value, historical objects of intimate value, etc. Sometimes the themes are taken from the writings of well-known artists, found in the book Theories of Modern Art, by Hershel B. Chipp. The themes explored last year came from the writings of Sigmund Freud, Samuel Becket and The Poetics of Space and The Poetics of Reverie by Gaston Bachelard.
—Each film screening is followed by a discussion in which the creator/student speaks about the work and his or her response to the assigned theme and then answers questions from other students and faculty, regarding the artistic and technical metier of the shown piece.
—The showings and discussions are followed by screenings of historical and current work of experimental nature, which Semilian selects purposefully to address the problems and issues the students are presently encountering in their own work.
—The class was attended for one entire semester last year by DLA dean Dean Wilcox and DLA faculty Bob King. Each of them was engaged by Semilian to give a lecture appropriate to the class themes. (Semilian is happy to report on the magnificent improvement of their work during class.) In addition, a regular guest is Victor Faccinto, who is himself a well-known avant-garde filmmaker and artist and for many years, before his retirement, was the curator of the Scales Art Gallery at Wake Forest.
—Often guest artists from the community are invited. They share their work and advice the students. In the past Chancellor Mauceri showed and spoke in great detail about the Disney animation of Salvador Dali’s drawings for the film Destino, for which he conducted the music. Professor Renata Jackson, PhD, sometimes speaks in this class about American experimental filmmaker Maya Deren or French filmmaker Jean Epstein. Other guest artists, who have interacted with the students in our class and who will be guesting again are animator Thomas Tucker at WSSU, composer Thomas Judson, WSSU, Carol Strohecker and Nick Hristov from Center for Design Innovation, Cora Fisher, SECCA curator, local photographer David Spear, DLA faculty LeeAnna Lawrence, Bruno Louchouarn.
—The student work in this class has been exhibited at Anthology Film Archives two years in a row, with the students in attendance, in showings organized by Semilian and combined with student visits to the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum. The screenings were well-attended by former students and well-established New York artists who are acquaintances and friends of Semilian, who remarked about the variety and high quality of the student work.
—In addition the class has taken many other field trips to in-state art museums such The Mint Museum and the Bechtler in Charlotte and The North Carolina Art Museum in Raleigh, and SECCA.
—The avant-garde film class was a result of an earlier initiative of Semilian’s towards the development of a full avant-garde film track. This idea was not at first popular and it was rejected for many years, until, based on Semilian’s incessant insistence, he was charged with the creation of this track. Semilian’s vision involved a full curriculum in which each student would be able to take cross-disciplinary classes not only in the School of Filmmaking but also the other schools on campus. In order to facilitate this and being deeply committed to inter-disciplinary practice—not an easy task in a conservatory environment—he initiated dialogues with teachers from the others schools and involved other faculty members from the School of Filmmaking, forming a committee towards what was then cryptically called “The Seventh Discipline.” The committee members included Renata Jackson, plus a number of other faculty members no longer at the school now. Ms. Jackson was actively involved in the endeavor and during the period of nearly one year spent countless hours crafting a full curriculum for the avant-garde track. This project, unfortunately, met with resistance from more conservative members of the faculty and was eventually dropped.
—For the last three years Semilian has been teaching a class on surrealist filmmaker Luis Bunuel. The subtitle of the course is: Communicating Vessels: Cinema, Dreams, Religion, Politics. This course covers Bunuel’s development and rise as a surrealist and filmmaker: the class views and analyzes his work spanning over forty years and four countries, from the sensational early surrealist movies to his Oscar winning The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, and his last film, The Obscure Object of Desire, mirroring the significant historical, cultural and political changes that defined that daunting 20th Century, as well as acquaintance with other artists that defined the times. The objectives of this class as stated in the syllabus are:
—Develop and learn to apply an understanding of surrealist thought to your own work
—Grasp a view of the essential aspects of the Twentieth Century through the subjects and themes approached by Luis Bunuel
—Become proficient in being able to write and speak eloquently about Bunuel’s work and his influence on cinema, and consequently about all other work
—Develop your cinematic imagination through an understanding of Bunuel’s themes
—Semilian is also keenly aware of the importance of training the students from a technological point of view. Semilian foresaw the growth of the use of Premiere Pro editing software in the film industry as a replacement for Final Cut Pro and took the initiative in creating and forging a relationship with Adobe. His continued pro-active and assertive energy led to the adoption by UNCSA of this editing software for the year 1 and 2 students. In addition, his efforts led to Adobe, during the academic years of 2012-2014, committing 40 free licenses for the faculty and labs at the School of Filmmaking, and significantly lowering the cost of the software for the students.
—Semilian is committed not only to the introduction of new technology, but also passionately using and pushing every successive iteration of the technology to state of plasticity, much in the same way that a painter uses the brush. He then brings this experience passionately to the classroom.
—In order to further facilitate the easier entry of the editing students into the film industry, Semilian made every possible effort and succeeded in facilitating instruction in After Effects for the editing students, this software being the leading industry software for the creation of cinematic effects and titles, as ubiquitous as it is necessary to know for the editor entering the highly-competitive film industry.
—In keeping with his belief that one-on-one instruction is the best opportunity for the student’s individual growth, Semilian taught over the years many independent study courses, ranging from literature to editing.
—One of the irrefutable results of Semilian’s efforts is the rather high degree of employed students in editing in both Hollywood and New York (Semilian counts 90%) soon after graduation.
CREATIVE ACTIVITY (RESEARCH)
a) Experimental Films (completed to date)
Figures in a Landscape with Butterfly — 2014 , 27 minutes
Figures in a Landscape with Butterfly" is an experimental documentary exploring the unintentional poetic resonance that occurs as a side effect of a happenstance incident of surveillance. A painterly look extracts the film out of the everyday and abstracts it so that the poetic becomes predominant. Captured within the unescapable time and space of the continuous frame, the viewer observes with the scientific lens of slowed-down time as the protagonists gradually reveal themselves. In this film, Semilian reached out to music composition faculty Bruno Louchouarn, who worked with him providing the music.
Music by Bruno Louchouarn
Showings:
2014
Screening for UNCSA and Winston Salem community, Babcock Theatre
Gazing Oozing with Mendacity — 2012, 36 minutes
Gazing Oozing with Mendacity is a surrealist exploration of ways in which images compel our eyes to view them, and ways in which our eyes are compelled to interpret them. It is composed of three episodes, each of which, in exploring its own theme, mirrors the format of a book of stories, such as Cortazar's Blow Up and Other Stories. The first episode is a study in the style of Antonioni's Blow Up of an event, accidentally shot, which, upon second viewing, testifies to mysterious agendas. Repeated perusal of the footage poses hypotheses concerning the nature of surveillance and the ethics of the eye. The second episode explores abstraction and beauty, using and distorting objects which figure in the first episode, and peers into the ways images constantly shift into fugitive meanings, with references to Jorge Luis Borges' The Book of Imaginary Beings. The third episode, featuring documentary footage surreptitiously shot on the streets and subways of New York City interspersed with historical footage, all framed in experimental collaging in Max Ernst style and colliding with mathematical symbols, explores equivalences: what value systems do we each subjectively resort to in order to weigh the nature and meaning of images?
Music by Laura Semilian
Sound Design by Jay Gallagher
Additional Photography by John LeBlanc
Showings:
2014
Beyond Baroque, Los Angeles (upcoming December)
UFVA screening
2013
UNCSA screening, for by students, faculty and the community.
The Dream Life of Cleo de Merode, 2010, 14 min
A surrealist inquiry into the oneiric journeys of the notorious femme fatale.
Festivals and showings:
2012
Filmmakers Showcase, Light Factory, Charlotte, NC
Exquisite Corpse, a Journal of Letters and Life
2011
Les 24 Instants Video Tour: Paris, Milan, Marseilles
Experimentation Mediatica: Galeria Candela, San Juan Puerto Rico
Objects of Desire: The Freud Museum, London
2010
Moving Frames Festival: Mytelene, Greece
Los Angeles Center for Digital Art
Devotees of the Precipitate, 2009, 36 min.
Concerning selected ephemera of one Emuel Dnitsk, an aspirant to Man Ray's circle. Foretelling Ray's derision, Dnitsk restricted the creation of his "moving paintings" (peintures fluides) to furtive yet copious notes. Devotees endeavors to resurrect Dnisk's vision from the precipice of reticence. (Cameo apparition by Bruno Schultz).
Music by Laura Semilian
Festivals and showings:
2013
Halle Cultural Arts Center, Apex, NC
2012
Exquisite Corpse, a Journal of Letters and Life
2010
Gold Mine Gallery, New Orleans
Abstracta Film Festival, Rome
Relation du poème à son temps, University of Haifa:
Anthology Film Archives, NYC
2009
Rowan University , New Jersey
Tear Void Insomnia Mist, 2007, 8 min
A hypnagogic voyage through visual and aural landscapes of longing and desire, color and abstraction. The sinuous weave of juxtaposed, ordinary objects yields arcane meanings and reveals subversive prohibitions, granting surrealist pleasure to ear and eye.
Festivals and showings:
2008
International Xperimental Film & Animation Festival: Nicosia, Cyprus
b) Electronic paintings
The electronic paintings — begun in 2013 — are a suite 12 works, many of which are completed, while some are still in the process of construction. They are intended to be shown simultaneously in the context of a vast art gallery on large monitors. A Faculty Development Grant was awarded at the end of last academic year for the completion of this project. These time-consuming works involve detailed and sophisticated layering and coloring. The moving images are obtained from a variety of sources, many of which are downloaded from the internet, and in the public domain: iconic news footage of events spanning significant and politically turbulent sections of the 20th century, silent film clips, graphs and schemata from old educational and scientific films, old advertising and instructional clips. The clips are then put through a number of processes, using sophisticated techniques of the softwares, in order to intensify and colorize them, after which they are collaged in juxtapositions that recast the original meaning in surrealist fashion, and are re-visualized in repeating patterns and durations, for the purpose of revealing new and hidden meanings, originally unintended. (Example: one piece entitled My British Colonies Stamp Collection, contains centrally a slowed-down looping clip of news footage shot in Congo in 1960, in which a man running into foreground is brutally hit over the head with the butt of a rifle by a soldier. The man grasps his aching head iconically, in the manner of Edward Munch’s The Scream. This image is surrounded in a repeating pattern created by a clip of a masked woman in a 1960’s mental asylum (reminiscent of a Dianne Arbus photo) who obsessively keeps touching her face. These disturbing images are surrounded by frames created through the repetition of palpitating scientific graphs of flowing blood from a 1940s US educational film about the functioning of the heart, and arranged and colored in such a way that it resembles a vibrantly colored woven African rug or tapestry.
One major inspiration has been the outsider Mexican artist Martin Ramirez (1895-1963). His work was recently collected in a book edited by Brooke Davis Anderson, who was for a time the curator at the Diggs Gallery at WSNC.
Showings:
2014
Mad and Infinite Momentums Towards Invisible Splendors — group show —Video Fridge Art Fair, NYC, Video Fridge Presentation
Hebetude, Naïve Fish Art, The System, Mad and Infinite Momentums Toward Invisible Splendors, Si Muerto No Maneje, My English Colonies Stamp Collection and Sis of Sisyphus — UFVA, Bozeman, Montana
Attempts are now in process to contact national and international museums for the showing of these pieces.
Highlights of other activities directly in support of creative pursuits and improvement of teaching methods
—As a recipient of the Kenan Institute for the Arts "Breathe" grant, Semilian met during the summer of 2008 with three filmmaker-artists who have provided him with continuing inspiration: Brothers Quay and Jan Svankmajer.
—Believing that all arts inform each other and passionately wishing to share this belief with his students, Semilian is constantly reaching out to other artists in order to open dialogues and receive inspiration. Some of these artists include George Quasha, a multi-disciplinary artist (poet, painter, musician, sculptor), Andrei Codrescu, writer and poet, John Olson, poet, Will Alexander, poet, Amy Catanzano, poet, Bruno Louchouarn, composer, artist, philosopher.
FILM EDITOR
As a film editor in Hollywood, Semilian’s experience is extensive. He made himself known for his ability to creatively interpret and invigorate the structure of the films that he worked on, as well as for his crisp and magnetic style. From 1993 to 1998, Semilian worked exclusively for producer Pierre David, who felt that Semilian was valuable enough for his projects to merit a yearly contract, an enviable situation at that time in Hollywood. In a letter of recommendation, Pierre David writes:
“This letter is to confirm that Julian Semilian has edited fifteen (15) of the movies that I have produced. He is not only a very gifted editor, but he is also a fabulous problem-solver. Time and time again Julian has come up with very interesting and efficient solutions in order to resolve creative problems, and would in fact not rest before he found that solution.
”Mr. Semilian has also supervised the post-production of many of my movies, and has always done an excellent job at making each movie the best that it could be. Honestly, I cannot say enough good things about my experience with him.”
FILM EDITING RESUME
WANTED - Feature - WIN Entertainment - Producer: Pierre David. Director: Terry O’Keefe. With: Michael Sutton, Timothy Busfield, Tracy Gold, Robert Culp.
CAPTURED - Feature - Image Organization - Producer: Pierre David. Director: Peter Liapis. With: Nick Mancuso, Andrew Divoff.
THE LANDLADY - Feature - Image Organization/Trimark - Producer: Pierre David. Director: Rob Malenfant. With: Talia Shire, Bruce Weitz.
THE NIGHT CALLER - Feature - Image Organization/Live Entertainment - Producer: Pierre David. Director: Rob Malenfant. With: Tracy Nelson, Shana Reed.
KILLING GROUNDS - Feature - Image Organization - Producer: Pierre David. Director: Kurt Anderson. With Anthony Michael Hall, Priscilla Barnes, Charles Rocket. (co-editor)
THE FIANCÉ - Feature - Image Organization/Live Entertainment - Producer: Pierre David. Director: Martin Kitrosser. With: William Moses, Lysette Anthony.
CUPID - Feature - Image Organization/Live Entertainment - Producers: Pierre David & Clark Peterson. Director: Doug Campbell. With Zach Galligan, Ashley Lawrence.
THE NURSE - Feature - Image Organization/Live Entertainment- Producer: Pierre David. Director: Rob Malenfont. With Lisa Zane, William Moses.
DADDY’S GIRL - Feature - Image Organization/Live Entertainment - Producer: Pierre David. Director: Marty Kitrosser. With William Katt, Michelle Greene.
MARKED MAN - Feature - Supervising Film Editor (Credited as Technical Advisor because of Canadian laws) - Image Organization/Allegro Films - Montreal - Director: Marc Voizard. Producer: Pierre David. With Roddy Piper.
SERIAL KILLER - Feature - Image Organization/Republic Pictures - Producer/Director: Pierre David. With Kim Delaney, Tobin Bell, Pam Grier.
THE SECRETARY - CBS Movie of the Week & Feature - Image Organization - Producer: Pierre David. Director: Andrew Lane. With Mel Harris, Sheila Kelly.
THE FORCE - Feature - Image Organization - Director: Mark Rosman Producer: Pierre David. With Jason Gedrick.
SCANNER COP - Feature - Image Organization - Producer/Director: Pierre David. With Daniel Quinn.
DISTANT COUSINS a.k.a. DANGEROUS MOTIVE - CBS Movie of the Week & Feature - Image Organization - Producer: Pierre David. Director: Andrew Lane. With Marg Helgenberger, David Keith, Mel Harris, William Katt.
LONELY HEARTS - Feature - Gibraltar Releasing- Live Entertainment. Producer/Director: Andrew Lane. With Eric Roberts, Beverly D’Angelo.
CYBORG - Feature - Cannon Films. (co-editor, not credited) With Jean-Claude Van Damme
DEATH WISH II - Feature - Cannon Films. Director: Michael Winner. With Charles Bronson. (co-editor)
EDITOR for various commercials (Philip Morris, First Nationwide Bank, Budweiser, Seagram Coolers) - Worked with directors such as Tony Scott and Michael Karbelnikov - Stuart Waks & Co.
RIBALD CLASSICS - Playboy Video Channel.
WOMEN IN SONG - Documentary - KCET. Producer: Marc Robertson. Director: Peter Werner.
DO I DO - Stevie Wonder Music Video - Motown. Director: Bill Parker.
Film Editor (Special Projects)
SURRENDERING IN CHAMPION’S WORLD — 30 minute film of dance performed at NCSA, choreographed by Trish Casey and directed by Trish Casey & Arledge Armenaki
MANTEO — 5 minute video , produced by NCSA, rock-video like documentary serving as visitor introduction to the Manteo Historical State Park.
PSAs for the state of NC for drug and alcohol abuse
Post Production Supervisor
WANTED, DADDY’S GIRL, SERIAL KILLER, THE SECRETARY, SCANNER COP, DISTANT COUSINS, THE FORCE, CAPTURED, CUPID
Assistant Editor (selected credits)
RESCUERS DOWN UNDER - Animated Feature - Disney - Editor: Michael Kelly
LAGUNA HEAT - Feature - HBO - Director: Simon Langton. Editor: Bernard Gribble
THE LION OF AFRICA - Feature - HBO - Director: Kevin Connor. Editor: Bernard Gribble
THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES - Movie of the Week - CBS - Director: Kevin Connor. Editor: Bernard Gribble
POWER’S PLAY - Movie of the Week - CBS - Director: Kevin Connor. Editor: Bernard Gribble
MOONLIGHTING - TV Series - ABC - Executive Producer: Glen Gordon Caron
SINS OF THE FATHER - Movie of the Week - Fries Productions - Director: Peter Werner Editor: David Newhouse
KNIGHTRIDER - TV Series - Universal Studios
INVISIBLE WOMAN - Movie of the Week - Universal Studios
DON’T CRY, IT’S ONLY THUNDER - Feature - Universal Studios - Producer: Walt De Faria Director: Peter Werner Editor: Jack Woods
MOTEL HELL - Feature - United Artists - Producer: Steven Charles Jaffee Director: Kevin Connor Editor: Bernard Gribble
LORD OF THE RINGS - Animated Feature - Director: Ralph Bakshi
JAWS II - Feature - Universal Studios - Producers: Zanuck & Brown Director: Jeanot Swarc Editor: Neal Travis
THE BIG BUS - Feature - Paramount Studios - Executive Producers: Michael Philips and Julia Philips Editor: Ed Warschilka
Avid, Final Cut Pro, Premiere Pro
Writings — Books
Author
OSIRIS WITH A TROMBONE ACROSS THE SEAM OF INSUBSTANCE, novel, Spuyten Duyvil Press, 2006
A SPY IN AMNESIA, novel, Spuyten Duyvil Press, 2003
TRANSGENDER ORGAN GRINDER, poems, Spuyten Duyvil Press, 2002
Translator
THE INVENTOR OF LOVE, poems by Gherasim Luca, Black Widow Press, 2009, with Laura Semilian
SPEAK TRUTH TO POWER, by Kerry Kennedy, translation into Romanian, Curtea Veche Press, 2009, with Diana Nicolae
ANDREI SERBAN, published by the Romanian Cultural Center, on the life and art of the celebrated theatre director, with Laura Semilian.
NOSTALGIA, novel, by Mircea Cartarescu, New Directions, 2005
DESPERATE CONQUESTS, Poems by Carmen Firan, ICR, 2005
PAUL CELAN’S ROMANIAN POEMS , Green Integer, 2003
Anthologies (as author)
Nouveau’s Midnight Sun — Anthology of New Surrealist Writings --Ravenna Press — 2014— Includes the poem Poetry Reading by Semilian
Anthologies (as translator)
BORN IN UTOPIA, Anthology of Romanian Literature, Talisman House Publishers, 2007. Translated a significant number of Romanian poetry relating to the Romanian avant-garde. The following works were translated by Julian Semilian (Author’s name, followed by title of work)
URMUZ — Ismail and Turnavitu
ION VINEA — Others
ION VINEA — Zero
ION VINEA — Foggy Mist and…
TRISTAN TZARA — It Evenings
TRISTAN TZARA — Inscription on a Grave
TRISTAN TZARA — Introduction to Don Quixote
TRISTAN TZARA — I Planted in Your Body
TRISTAN TZARA — If You Were a Seamstress
TRISTAN TZARA — Mamia, You’ll Never Understand
TRISTAN TZARA — Sing to Me Sing to Me Sing Some More
ILARIE VORINCA — Act of Presence
ILARIE VORINCA — Beckonings
GEO BOGZA — Mysterious Crime…
GEO BOGZA — Petrolific Poem
GHERASIM LUCA — The Fencing Foil with Circles Under its Eyes
GHERASIM LUCA — Mineral! O Statue of Desire
GELLU NAUM — Please Forgive Me But
GELLU NAUM — The Suitcase
GELLU NAUM — Sometimes We Succeeded
PAUL CELAN — Partisan of the Erotic Absolute
PAUL CELAN — Love Song
PAUL CELAN — Perhaps One Day
PAUL CELAN — Blinded by Giant Steps
(There are other anthologies of Romanian literature with Semilian’s translations, but unfortunately not kept track of. )
Magazine Publications (as author)
Semilian has published his poems over the years in a multitude of literary magazines. These include: Exquisite Corpse, Suitcase, Arshile, World Letter, Ribbot, Transcendental Friend , Syllogism, Callaloo, Kenning Review, Trepan, Fascicle, MiPoesia, Talisman, International Poetry Review.
Magazine Publications (as translator)
Semilian has concentrated on translating Romanian poets of the Romanian avant-garde. Among the published poets translated by Semilian and published in literary journals are: Paul Celan, Gellu Naum, Tristan Tzara, Benjamin Fondane, Stefan Augustin Doinas, Tudor Arghezi, Urmuz, Gherasim Luca, Ilarie Voronca, Geo Bogza, Mircea Cartarescu. in such magazines as: Exquisite Corpse, Suitcase, Arshile, World Letter, Mr. Knife & Miss Fork, Ribbot, Transcendental Friend , Syllogism, Callaloo, Sun & Moon, Kenning Review, Trepan, Urvox, , Fascicle, MiPoesia, Talisman, Cahiers Tristan Tzara.
WORDS WITHOUT BORDERS, the on-line magazine for International Literature
October 2004 issue dedicated to current Romanian literature:
Nabokov in Brasov, short story, by Mircea Cartarescu
To Live in Sin, novel excerpt by Virgil Duda
A Friend of the Archangel, short story by Gabriela Melinescu
L’apparition, poem by Mariana Marin
Red and White, poem by Mariana Marin
Mynheer, poem by Mariana Marin
The Karenina Complex, poem by Mariana Marin
Beretta, poem by Mariana Marin
WORDS WITHOUT BORDERS, 2003
The Roulette Player, by Mircea Cartarescu (NOSTALGIA excerpt)
EXHIBITION CATALOGUES — Translations
PRIMARY DOCUMENTS
A Sourcebook for Eastern and Central European Art since the 1950s
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Coriolan Babeti, The Bertalan Case
Geta Bratescu, Sleep—Awakening—The Game
CENTRAL EUROPEAN AVANT-GARDES: Exchange and Tranformation (1910-1930) , Los Angeles County Museum of Art, MIT Press, Exhibition Catalogue, 2002
Ioana Vlasiu, Bucharest
BETWEEN WORLDS: a sourcebook of Central European Avant-gardes, 1910-1930, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, MIT Press, Exhibition Compendium, 2002
Ioana Vlasiu, Bucharest
Ion Minulescu, Fragment from “Light the Torches” (1908)
N.D. Cocea, The Exhibit of Painting and Drawing:Derain, Forain, Galanis, Iser, (1909)
Theodor Cornel, Fragment from Tinerimea Artistica exhibition catalogue (1910)
Theodor Cornel, New Guidelines in Art (1910)
Editors of Insula, Statement (1912)
Ion Vinea, Warning (1912)
Marcel Ianco, Art Notes (1924)
Ilarie Voronca, Victor Brauner, (1924)
Victor Brauner and Ilarie Voronca, Pictopoetry (1924)
Ilarie Voronca, Assesments, (1924)
Scarlat Calimachi, The Contimporanul Exhibition (1924)
Tudor Vianu, The First Contimporanul International Exhibition, (1924)
Ilarie Voronca, Marcel Ianco, (1924)
M.H. Maxy, Visual Chrono-metering, 1924
Felix Aderca, Conversations with Lucian Blaga, (1925)
Ilarie Voronca, Grammar, (1925)
Ilarie Voronca, Voices, (1925)
Oscar Walter Cisek, The International Exhibition Organized by the Magazine Contimporanul, (1925)
Ilarie Voronca, Surrealism and Integralism (1925)
Mihai Cosma, From Futurism to Integralism ((1925)
Corneliu Michailescu, Black Art, (1925)
Militsa Petrascu, Note About Sculpture (1925)
G.C. Jacques, Initiation in the Mysteries of an Exhibition: The Sensational
Pronouncements of Militsa Petrascu and Marcel Ianco (1926)
Geo Bogza, Urmuz, 1928
Marcel Ianco, Reflections on Cubism (1928)
Ionel Jianu, Fragments from “A Contribution to Our History of Modernism:
What A Young Painter Tells Us, (1928)
Ilarie Voronca, M.H. Maxy ((1930)
Ilarie Voronca, Victor Brauner (1930)
Ion Vinea and Marcel Ianco, Marinetti (1930)
Ilarie Voronca, F.T. Marinetti (1930)
Magazine Publications (author—essays)
Smuggling, Surrealism and Sympathetic Magic — On Translating Gherasim Luca — by Julian and Laura Semilian
Trade Magazine Publications
Cinema Editor Magazine — American Cinema Editors publication
2007 – Analysis of the editing of Martin Scorsese’s The Aviator (Thelma Schoonmacher — Editor)
2010 — Analysis of the editing of Arthur Penn’s Bonnie and Clyde (Didi Allen — editor)
Other Writings
Wrote Afterword to his translation of the novel Nostalgia.
ENGAGED SERVICE (16 YEARS IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER)
—Semilian took an active role as a leader in developing the editing program from the time he began working at UNCSA. He was instrumental in working with dean Dale Pollock in order to develop a solid program in which both picture editing and sound design is taught according to industry standards. Semilian has a consistent record in seeking and helping hire the right fit of individuals for editing and sound design program, people with the proper industry credentials and ability and desire to raise the next generation of editors. The program is now highly regarded in the film industry and coveted for admission among the students. When Semilian arrived at the School of Filmmaking, there were no more than 3 or 4 students declaring editing as their first choice. Six years later, there were 14 students competing for only 10 spots. Although the numbers have varied somewhat over the years, editing remains a highly respected discipline at UNCSA.
—Semilian has sought out relationships with key editors in the film business for possible guest artists. In each of his 16 years at UNCSA brought in one or two guest artists. These include Michael Tronick (3 times), Lori Jane Coleman (4 times), Bill Gordean (2 times), Steven Mirrione (3 times), Tom Rolf, Harry Keramidas, Bud Smith, Allan Holzman.
—This was in part accomplished through Semilian’s sustained efforts to establish a relationship with American Cinema Editors. Semilian traveled to Los Angeles on various occasions in order to attend American Cinema Editors (ACE) functions and meet with and/or reestablish relationships with editors. It was in this way that he met and was able to successfully invite as guest artists editors Michael Tronick (at the time vice-president of ACE), and Lori Jane Coleman (the head of ACE internship program). This led to numerous benefits for our students and for the institution. These seasoned professionals spent many hours working one-on-one with our students, imparting to them experience and wisdom of many years. Many of the students were able to develop industry connections leading to jobs. Lori Jane Coleman hired our editing student Drew Johnson as her first assistant on the television show she was working on.
—Semilian instituted the formula in which the guest artists are asked to work with the student editors: instead of the previous practice of the one day visit, now the guest artists visit for a few days during which they attend classes, give workshops and spent one-on-one time with student films.
—Because of the relationship with Lori Jane Coleman, former student David Price was selected to be among the top ten candidates for the much-coveted ACE Internship Program and invited to the ACE annual event, where Michael Tronick, in front of the entire ACE membership, mentioned how great UNCSA and its editing program are.
—Semilian attended 3 times ACE’s Invisible Art, Visible Artists (IAVA) program in LA, a dialogue between the Oscar nominated editors held on the day before the Oscars and was each time invited to the Musso & Frank’s lunch held afterwards for the editors. It was there that he met such prominent editors Thelma Schoonmacher, Steve Rosenbloom, Christopher Rouse and more. He was able to speak to them passionately about UNCSA School of Filmmaking and its editing program. In addition he encouraged former UNCSA students to attend IAVA, and this has now become a regular practice for some of our former students. Not only that, he was able to arrange with Allan Heim, the president of ACE, for some of the students to attend the lunches and develop connections to top editors.
—Semilian met personally with ACE president Allan Heim in order to discuss the relationship between UNCSA and ACE.
—The relationship with ACE led also to hiring editing faculty Ron Roose. ACE helped UNCSA out by sending an all-membership email informing the membership of our job search. Many prominent editors, including Bud Smith and Henry Richardson, answered the call.
—Semilian has been consistently active in promoting UNCSA students to working editors, a practice which led to many internships, some paid, and actual jobs, for UNCSA students in LA and New York. A few examples: Eric Barker, Zach Kashket, Gen Liu, Emily Morgan, Josh Climo, Chris Frith, Aneesa Mahboob.
—Semilian reached out to editor and director Jon Kane (Naqoyqtasi, Visitors) who in addition to granting an internship (and lately a position) to former student Gen Liu, visited UNCSA on his own dollar along with his assistant and led a 7 hours editing workshop for editing students in 2009.
—The relationship with editor Steven Mirrione led to a series of benefits for the editing students. While editing George Clooney’s Leatherheads, Mr. Mirrione invited Semilian to bring a couple of students to his editing room in Greenville, South Carolina in order to observe him at work. In addition to generously explaining to the students his process of editing while working, he treated them to lunch and regaled them with inspiring stories about his career path.
—A few weeks later when Mr. Mirrione’s editing room moved to North Carolina, he came to UNCSA and did a workshop for the students, editing an entire scene in in front of the students while explaining his working process to them.
—While editing Hunger Games in North Carolina, Mr. Mirrione called Semilian up asking for suggestions for an intern. Rachel Fowler obtained the internship and in turn was able to suggest Max King for yet another internship on Hunger Games. Semilian was told by Mr. Mirrione that both Rachel and Max performed stellarly.
—During Hunger Games Mr. Mirrione invited Semilian to bring two more students to watch him at work. Mr. Mirrione edited and finessed one of the crucial scenes in the film, the one in which one of the girls gets killed by an arrow and thoroughly explained his process of work.
—Mr. Mirrione accepted Semilian’s invitation to do yet another at UNCSA, in which Mr. Mirrione re-edited a scene in a year 3 student film in front of the students, all the while explaining his process of work.
—In addition to bringing film editors, Semilian also brought to UNCSA two prominent producers he had worked with in the past, Pierre David and Clark Peterson.
—Because of the relationship he developed with Jon Kane, Semilian found himself in a position, in 2010, to stage a grand-scale event for the school and for the community of Winston Salem, by bringing a trio a legendary artists: Godfrey Reggio, Philip Glass, and John Kane, all connected through the films of Mr. Reggio. Semilian envisioned and proposed a multi-faceted event, in which Mr. Glass would conduct the UNCSA symphony to play his written score for Naqoyqatsi at Stevens center while the film was playing. Other connected events were also proposed, such as workshops with Mr. Reggio and Mr. Kane. Semilian reached out to DLA faculty Ellen Rosenberg and along with her to a faculty at Wake Forest. Semilian and Rosenberg also reached out for funding to Kenan Institute, to the Winston-Salem Arts Council, and finally to Chancellor Mauceri. Unfortunately, lack of funding and local support resulted in the project being dropped.
—In 2013, Semilian, in collaboration with DLA faculty Rosemary Millar, and Wake Forest faculty members, brought to UNCSA two prominent African—American poets, Will Alexander (National Book Award, 2013) and Nathaniel Mackey (National Book Award, 2008, Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, 2014, Duke University Faculty). In order to make this event manifest, Semilian and Millar reached out to Wake Forest faculty and to Winston Salem State faculty. The event was highly successful as the first-ever collaboration between Wake Forest and UNCSA. During this event Messrs. Alexander and Mackey conducted poetry workshops, taught classes, and gave readings at both Wake Forest and at UNCSA. In addition, Mr. Alexander and Laura Semilian performed a concert together on the Recording Stage, with music written and sung by Ms. Semilian and words by Will Alexander, who also played, as he calls it, “unconscious piano.”
—The collaboration with Prof. Millar was commended by Provost David Nelson, who asked Semilian and Millar to speak to the UNCSA faculty about their process of collaboration.
—Semilian also collaborates with DLA Professor LeeAnna Lawrence. They have written to date one play based on the story The Debutante, by Leonora Carrington, incorporating Carrington’s painting The Dawn Horse. There have been a number of discussions with the Drama dean and other Drama faculty about staging the play at UNCSA. Semilian and Lawrence are presently collaborating on another two plays, based on Carrington’s work.
—Semilian took the initiative to meet with Carol Strohecker, former head of the Center for Design Innovation (CDI) on numerous occasions in order to discuss ways in which UNCSA and CDI might collaborate.
—Along with cinematography faculty John LeBlanc, and Nick Hristov at CDI, Semilian helped prepare and edited a 12 minute film demonstrating the features of new motion capture cameras acquired by CDI. The video was screened to a well-attended screening at the Sawtooth Center, to which Semilian brought his 2nd year class, and was later projected downtown, in collaboration with D & P faculty, on the façade of buildings in a city-wide and much-advertised and widely-attended event.
—Along with cinematography faculty John LeBlanc, and Nick Hristov at CDI, Semilian helped organize the shooting and editing of a CDI film about an Old Salem gun shop and the making of ancient guns, involving leaders of Old Salem, while providing a student editor for the project.
—Semilian served as Editing and Sound chair for a period of seven years. As supervisor of a faculty of weathered professionals, Semilian put out many fires emerging out of creative differences of opinion and led the faculty to perform in a harmonious manner.
—Semilian was instrumental in helping hire all the present and most of the past members of the editing faculty.
—In 1999 Semilian was charged by then DLA dean Bill Tribby to complete a documentary film that Mr. Tribby had begun, From Arts to Others, about former UNCSA students who, while not working at the discipline they studied for at school, were major players in other fields and credited their success to their UNCSA training. Semilian flew to New York in order to shoot a segment of the film, and under his supervision an editing student completed the film, which was used by dean Dale Pollock to raise successfully money for the school.
—In 2002 Semilian edited Surrendering in a Champion’s World, a film made in conjunction with the School of Dance. The film, as edited by Semilian, stands on its own rather than being merely a documentation of Trish Casey’s choreography. Semilian collaborated with Casey and cinematography faculty Arledge Armenaki to craft a high quality film, which received the North Carolina Filmmakers Award at the RiverRun Film Festival, and was selected for the Bermuda Film Festival and the Santa Fe Film Festival.
—In 2000 Semilian edited a brief documentary/infomercial for the historical Manteo State Park, under UNCSA auspices.
—Semilian took initiative to participate and present talks and his video art at The University Film & Video Association (UFVA) in 2013 and 2014.
—At the 2013 UFVA conference in Los Angeles at the Chapman University, working with Emmy Award filmmaker and much-celebrated film editor Allan Holzman, ACE, he designed the title and content of the panel — Imagining Worlds, Designing Worlds, Building Worlds — which included Academy Award art director Rick Carter (Lincoln, Forest Gump, Avatar). Semilian’s presentation, including his own video work, concentrated on the “disappearance” of the landscape as we know it.
—At the 2014 UFVA conference, in Bozeman, Montana, Semilian’s work was included in 3 panels.
—He showed a number of his electronic paintings (Hebetude, Naïve Fish Art, The System, Mad and Infinite Momentums Toward Invisible Splendors, Si Muerto No Maneje, My English Colonies Stamp Collection and Sis of Sisyphus) in context of his New Media presentation.
—He showed his experimental film Gazing Oozing with Mendacity in context of his Experimental Cinema presentation.
—He was part of the panel Story Outside the Box panel in which he presented The Eye is a Guilty Hunter: Amour Fou, Fetish and Obsession in the films of Bunuel, Hitchcock and Truffaut. Along with his written presentation, Semilian created a cinematic essay-compilation spanning significant clips from the films of these directors in a uniquely significant order, bringing out meanings previously unremarked.
—In addition, Mr. Semilian was a respondent to another New Media presenter, Leann Erickson, film professor and well-respected documentarian at Temple University.
—Most recently Semilian helped organize and artistically collaborated in the first-ever event in which UNCSA collaborated with the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art (SECCA). This much-publicized event, with radio interviews by David Ford at WFDD, centered on SECCA-exhibited artist Neil Goldman, included faculty and students from the UNCSA Film and Dance schools, who collaborated toward a dance and cinematic installation which was attended by many members of the community, UNCSA Chancellor Bierman and Provost Nelson.
—Over the last more than 20 years Semilian has read his poems, writings and translations at numberless venues throughout the US and locally at readings which included many of the much celebrated US and international poets, thus taking his place as a significant part of the cultural life in the United States. These include readings at venues in Los Angeles , including Beyond Baroque, (where he played a major part in a seminar on surrealism, whose attendants, among others, included poets Jerry Rothenberg, David Antin and Will Alexander, and Andre Breton biographer Mark Polizzotti), in San Francisco, including The New College, in New York at the Brooklyn Public Library and The Romanian Cultural Institute, in New Orleans, at the Gold Mine, Raleigh, NC, and locally at the Reynolda House, and on a few occasions at UNCSA, including two readings organized by Prof. Joe Mills.
—Semilian served in a jury organized by Salem College to judge a Spoken Word event at Community Café.
—Semilian was selected by Wake Forest creative writing professor Amy Catanzano to serve as judge for a Wake Forest organized poetry event, Wake Up to Poetry at the Community Café. Semilian also read his own poetry at this event.
—Semilian participated by reading his essays and lecturing about other artists and writers in cross-disciplinary courses at UNCSA, including classes taught by Profs. Rick Miller, Margaret Mertz and at our own screenwriting classes.
—Semilian gave a lecture on film editing at St. Augustine College in Raleigh, NC.
—Throughout his extensive tenure at UNCSA served on the following committees: Faculty Council (4 years), Health Council (2 years), Campus Development Committee (currently, 3 years).
—Semilian attended the NAB 2013 conference at the request of Adobe, where he represented UNCSA and spoke about the editing and sound program, during 3 presentations about how UNCSA adopted and integrated Premiere Pro as the editing software for year 1 and 2 students. The event was attended by more than 300 people, all of whom learned about UNCSA.
—While at NAB Semilian was interviewed on film by Adobe. The film can be found on the Adobe website. Information about UNCSA is prominently featured in the interview. (Adobe Love Affair —University of North Carolina School of the Arts).
—Adobe wrote a detailed story about Semilian’s activities at UNCSA. The school is again prominently featured and can be found on Adobe’s website. (Julian Semilian — poised for the Filmmaking Future).
—Semilian served as judge for the North Carolina Arts Council for the film grants, and serves regularly as judge for regional North Carolina Arts Council Grants.
—Mark Burger, film critic of Yes magazine, recently reached out to Semilian and interviewed him regarding his work on the film Motel Hell, a cult horror film Semilian worked on in 1981, and his long career in Hollywood. The article appears in a recent issue of the magazine.
—An article about Julian and Laura Semilian’s translation of Gherasim Luca appeared in Hyperallergic in 2012.