FETISH PUPPIES BREAK FREE!

BIO Lior Shamriz creates films, installations, and music. Born in Ashkelon on the East Mediterranean, Shamriz dropped out of the army at nineteen and began making hi8 films and experimenting with algorithm-manipulated music and collective art publications. After living a decade in Berlin, they are now based in Oakland, California. Shamriz’s oeuvre includes feature-length independent/experimental narrative films, many short experimental fiction films, and essay and documentary films. Their work was featured at the Berlinale (2010,13,15), Locarno IFF, Sarajevo IFF, MoMA’s New Directors / New Films, BAFICI, Frameline, MixNYC, Torino IFF, Outfest Los Angeles, and exhibited at KW Berlin, MMCA Korea, NGV Australia, among many other venues and festivals. They won awards at Oberhausen Kurzfilmtage (2013,14,15) and received retrospectives from the Thessaloniki International Festival (2012), Ars Independent Katowice (2012), SteakCinema Seoul (2021), and the Berlin Art Film Festival (2015), among others. In addition to film essays, short documentaries and narrative films, Shamriz created dozens of poetry video commissions. Some were commissioned directly by the poets, while others were commissioned by the Griffin Poetry Prize in Toronto. They include readings by poets such as Ocean Vuong, Douglas Kearney, Yusuf Komunyaaka, Heather McHugh, Dez’mon Omega Fair, Liz Howard, Valzhyna Mort, Victoria Chang, and Ida Limón. From 2015-17, Shamriz curated films, performances, and residencies at the PAM performance space in Highland Park, Los Angeles, and from 2018 for Project Space Festival Juárez in Chihuahua, Mexico. In 2023, they launched the magazine Mimesis – for Film as Performance. Shamriz is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Film and Digital Media at the University of California, Santa Cruz.