The Girl Chewing Gum is a 1976 British avant-garde short film directed by John Smith.BFIFrom Warhol to Steve McQueen: a history of video art in 30 works|Video art|The Guardian
Background The film, made as the ideological opposition to mainstream cinema,LUXJohn Smith “The Man Girl Phoning Chewing Mum Gum” at Tanya Leighton, Berlin — Mousse Magazine and Publishing was inspired by a scene in François Truffaut's 1973 film Day for Night in which the director gives instructions to the actors, and even tells a dog to urinate on a lamppost.Reading the Everyday - Google Books (pg.90)
Summary At Stamford Road in Dalston Junction of east London, the camera follows pedestrians, cars and birds while a narrator, who appears to be the (fictional) director behind the camera, seems to direct their actions.Film at Lincoln CenterCan The Girl Chewing Gum Save the World? — ALT/KINOReality and Artifice in John Smith’s “The Girl Chewing Gum”|ArtsyCLOSE-UP|John Smith: Introspective (19720=-2022)
Legacy The film is widely acknowledged as one of the most important avant-garde films of the 20th century.Reporting back on Tony Conrad screening|UAL
The Girl Chewing Gum was preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2019.
Similar works 1973: The aforementioned Academy Award-winning Day for Night by François Truffaut 2011: The 2 min 28 sec Swedish short film Fågel däruppe by Mårten Nilsson
See also Auteur theory Postmodernist film Structural film
References
External links Essay on 'The Girl Chewing Gum' by Erika Balsom on Tate website MUBI Excerpt on John Smith's official Vimeo channel