Gillian McIver | writer and filmmaker

I’m a writer and filmmaker. I began by studying History at university, then became a filmmaker simply by picking up a camera and shooting. After my BA and MA in History I went to film school and art school.

[a note about the SSL insecure alert. This is a fully secure website running off a fully managed WordPress platform. I don’t use an SSL certificate because they are a ripoff for websites of this nature.] That is all 🙂

I love to write about cinema, art and interesting places.

I wrote Art History for Filmmakers: The Art of Visual Storytelling (Bloomsbury Press 2016). It’s the first book of its kind, both a rich journey into the history of art and film, and a practical guide to using visual art from the past to stimulate and enrich contemporary filmmaking.

Listen to the interview I did about the book with Kirsten Ellsworth of the New Books Network. Listen here

I work as a freelance writer and a consultant to writers of non-fiction. See the Consultancy link above for more info.

My most recent film as director is “Taking Over The King’s Land” (2014), about an artist’s project to cover a condemned East London estate with murals.

I co-produced the documentary “Image Matters” (dir. Rozy Sarkis, 2012) a feature documentary about the culture of cosmetic surgery in Lebanon.

I worked as camera operator and also participated as a performer in the acclaimed feature doc “Estate A Reverie” and the short “Towards Estate” both directed by Andrea Luka Zimmerman (2015).

Passionately inspired by Urban Exploration, I co-founded the site-specific live art group Luna Nera and directed the short film “Postindustrial Baroque” (2009) which explores the exciting abandoned urban spaces the group worked in. I run the website sitespecificart.org.uk which features many articles written by me and articles I commissioned by others. In 2018 I co-hosted the symposium ART AND THE URBAN at the University of London.

I have curated many exhibitions and I ran the East London gallery and screening room STUDIO75 (2010-2013).

Please use the menu to find out more about what I do and have a look at some of my work.

Have fun!