John Smith’s excellent short film The Girl Chewing Gum turns fifty a week from today. Its first ever screening took place at the London Filmmakers’ Co-op on the 10th of March 1976.
In celebration of the film’s 50th anniversary, it will be presented at the Close-Up Cinema in Shoreditch on the exact same date, together with ‘The Man Phoning Mum’ (2011), ‘Being John Smith’ (2024) and the first ever screening of the artist's latest video ‘Two Pids’ (2026).
The programme will screen twice, at 6.00pm and 8.00pm. Smith will be in attendance, in conversation with Stanley Schtinter after the first screening and Erika Balsom after the second.
The twelve minute film widely acknowledged as one of the most important avant-garde films of the 20th century. It was preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2019. I don’t think I ever taught film or video students without showing it.
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