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John Dorr

John Dorr

Director

John Dorr (1944-1993), born in Massachusetts, first studied at Yale University (1962-1966), where he programmed the Film Society, created the Film Bulletin and completed a thesis on D.W. Griffith's last pictures. After moving to Los Angeles to study at UCLA (1966-1969), he shot his first shorts in 8mm and worked as a film critic for « Take One », « On Film », « Millimeter » or « The Hollywood Reporter », where he proved himself ruthless towards New Hollywood movies, hoping for another type of American cinema. The 1970s were spent writing around a dozen screenplays (from 1971 to 1978 : a gay priest drama, a vampire romance, a two-screen revisionist western, a six-hour Griffith biopic...) which all remained unproduced. In one of his poems, Dorr judged the decade harshly : « The 70s Suck ». After a short stay in Massachusetts (1977-1978), Dorr returned to California. Then, using one his friends' consumer-level B&W video camera, he decided to shoot his first feature, no longer waiting for the traditional production route. « Sudzall Does It All! » (1979) and its rapid follow-up, « The Case of the Missing Consciousness » (1980), were shown in a public screening at LAICA in March 1980. During the next two years, Dorr helped his friends with their own video projects, while completing his Dorothy Parker biopic, « Dorothy and Alan at Norma Place » (1982). All videos were shown under the « EZTV » banner in 1982, and a brick-and-mortar location, the « EZTV Video Gallery », was eventually opened in West Hollywood in 1983, with Dorr's fourth feature « Approaching Omega » (1983) and the ambition to offer a new production model for non-conventional artists in the 1980s. For Dorr, the next decade was spent maintaining EZTV's fragile existence, working as cameraman, editor, sound engineer, producer, and sometimes actor, in other people's projects. He himself only directed a handful of short subjects, or codirected documentaries on literature, poetry and film. His last fiction project, « The Three Cassandras », was abandoned after a few days of shooting. Dorr learned he was HIV-positive in the Spring of 1991, and died from AIDS-related complications in Los Angeles on January 1st, 1993.

Born: September 22, 1944 in Lancaster, Massachusetts

Died: January 1, 1993 (Age 48)

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John Dorr  Movies & TV Credits

Title Rating Job Role(s) Year
Movie
ActorNick Malace1980
Movie
ActorBuzzy Composition1979
Movie
ActorJohn Dorr1992
Movie
4.9
ActorBenchley1982
Movie
ActorHimself / John Dorr
Movie
6.9
ActorPark Security Man1984
Movie
ActorTV repairman
Movie
5.6
DirectingScript Supervisor, Script Consultant1974
Movie
6.8
DirectingDirector, Camera Operator1993
Movie
4.9
DirectingDirector, Director of Photography, Producer, Writer, Editor1982
Movie
5.6
DirectingCinematography, Director, Editor, Writer, Producer, Director of Photography1983
Movie
6.9
CrewThanks1984
Movie
6.3
ProductionExecutive Producer1986
Movie
6.1
ProductionExecutive Producer1990
Movie
DirectingDirector, Editor, Writer, Original Concept, Producer, Director of Photography1980
Movie
DirectingDirector1992
Movie
CrewCinematography1982
Movie
DirectingDirector, Writer, Editor, Producer, Director of Photography1979
Movie
DirectingDirector, Writer
Title Rating Job Role(s) Year
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