Tessa Hughes-Freeland

British-born experimental filmmaker and writer living in New York City (b. 1965). Tessa Hughes-Freeland has directed over 20 shorts in a broad range of genres, from classic narratives to "automatic" films assembled from found footage, cinematic performances and live multimedia collaborations with prominent experimental musicians like John Zorn and J.G. Thirlwell. She is closely associated with "No Wave Cinema" and subsequent "Cinema of Transgression" movements, active around New York's Lower East Side since the mid-1970s and uniting such prominent directors and experimental artists as Richard Kern, Nick Zedd, Beth B & Scott B, Jim Jarmusch, Tom DiCillo, early Steve Buscemi, and Vincent Gallo. Hughes-Freeland has screenings at prominent international film festivals in North America, Europe and Australia, as well as prestigious museums and galleries, including MoMA, The Museum Of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, the Whitney Museum Of American Art, and New Museum Of Contemporary Art. Tessa Hughes-Freeland spent her youth in Great Britain, earning Bachelor's degree in History of Art from the University College London. In 1980, Tessa relocated to the United States and settled in Manhattan, New York. Hughes-Freeland enrolled into New York University, graduating with her Master's degree in Cinema Studies. She began filming with a Super8 camera gifted by David Wojnarowicz and soon met the writer, critic and curator Carlo McCormick, one of her early supporters and fans, subsequently marrying him. In 1984, Tessa Hughes-Freeland co-founded the New York Film Festival Downtown with Ela Troyano, serving as its producer and co-director until 1990. She also wrote for several publications, including East Village Eye (1982–87) and Paper Magazine (95–2002).