BIO:
Richard Kovitch is a director, writer and producer based in London whose work has won awards in Europe and the US.
His debut feature documentary ‘Penny Slinger – Out Of The Shadows’ (2019) was described as 'essential viewing' by the Guardian and 'enthralling' by Time Out. It is distributed by Andy Starke's Anti-Worlds Releasing (UK / ROW) and Cinema Guild (North America)
His non-fiction writing has appeared in 'We'll Never Have Paris' (ed. Andrew Gallix, published by Repeater Books, 2019), Gorse Journal and 3AM Magazine.
He is currently developing numerous projects including feature films and documentaries.
He is the owner of Mystery Man Films Ltd and works regularly for the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 .
'PENNY SLINGER - OUT OF THE SHADOWS' (Documentary, 94 mins, 2019)
The incredible, untold story of the British artist Penny Slinger and the traumatic events that led to the creation of her masterpiece, the 1977 photo-romance, ‘An Exorcism’. So powerful was her vision that 50 years later her work is still influencing contemporary artists. Propelled by an original, hypnotic soundtrack by Psychological Strategy Board, Richard Kovitch’s film finally brings Penny Slinger ‘Out Of The Shadows’, immersing us in her extraordinary body of work, and presenting it anew for a contemporary audience.
Produced & Directed by Richard Kovitch
Cast: Penny Slinger, Peter Whitehead, Jack Bond, Michael Bracewell,
Tim & Maris Blum, Jane & Louise Wilson, Tot Taylor, Anke Kempkes, Maxa Zoller.
Editor / VFX: Zoe Rixon
Music: Psychological Strategy Board
Website: https://www.pennyslingerfilm.com
'Paris at 24 Frames A Second'. Essay in 'We'll Never Have Paris' (Ed. Andrew Gallix / Publisher: Repeater Books 2019).
The French capital has always radiated an unmatched cultural, political and intellectual brilliance in the anglophone imagination. 'We’ll Never Have Paris' explores this enduring fascination with this myth of a bohemian and literary Paris (that of the Lost Generation, Joyce, Beckett and Shakespeare and Company) which also happens to be a largely anglophone construct — one which the Eurostar and Brexit only seem to have exacerbated in recent years.
Publication: Paris At 24 Frames A Second
Book Editor: Andrew Gallix
"Paris eludes our attempts to define it, but the range of styles and voices in this book suggests it will always capture writers’ imaginations." -Financial Times, 2019
Website: https://repeaterbooks.com/product/well-never-have-paris/
Other contributors: Tom McCarthy, Will Self, Brian Dillon, Joanna Walsh, Eley Williams, Max Porter, Sophie Mackintosh and Lauren Elkin.
'Ghosts of Love: Sex & Obsession in the Work of David Lynch'.
Essay (gorse 8, 2017).
“Sex was like a world so mysterious to me, I really couldn’t believe there was this fantastic texture to life that I was getting to do. It has all these different levels, from lust and fearful, violent sex to the real spiritual thing at the other end. It’s the key to some fantastic mystery of life.” - David Lynch, 1990
‘David is obsessed by obsession,’ - Isabella Rossellini, Vanity Fair, 1987
Other contributors: Diarmuid Hester, SJ Fowler, Colm O’Shea, Alice Butler
'Close To The Edit: The Films Of Nic Roeg'.
Essay (gorse 1, 2014)
"It’s difficult to talk of Richard’s writing – both his fiction and essays – without resorting to terminology familiar from film: the opening shot, the close-up, the tracking shot, the POV shot, these are techniques that Richard deploys with a precision that make his writing a truly immersive experience. For gorse Richard looks at the films of Nicolas Roeg, in particular, Roeg’s unique editing style."
Other contributors: Darran Anderson, Rob Doyle, Karl Whitney, David Winters, Julie Reverb
Publication: gorse 1
Editor: Susan Tomaselli
"Roeg’s directing career began in 1968 when he made Performance
alongside Donald Cammell. It is fitting that a film about the mutability of identity not only shares two directors but that their collaboration was so total their individualism is impossible to segregate in the final cut."
Website: http://gorse.ie/close-to-the-edit/
'Millennium Man: Extreme Metaphors - Interviews with JG Ballard 1967-2008'
(3AM Magazine, 2012)
"Martin Amis nailed the contradictions in Ballard’s work in his review of The Day Of Creation (1987), observing that the text was ‘occasionally boring and frequently ridiculous’ and yet it would ‘still come and haunt you’. Amis concluded, ‘Ballard’s novels go to work on you after you’ve finished.’ And go to work they did. Ballard’s influence remains inescapable, energising the post-war imagination in a way few of his contemporaries can claim."
Publication: 3:AM Magazine
Editor: Andrew Gallix
'Again, To The Shadows: Paul Duane and the making of 'Barbaric Genius' '
(3AM Magazine, 2012)
"Barbaric Genius is a brilliant re-framing of Healy’s ‘history’; whether we really know him now who can say, but we are certainly wiser. And so we’re left to revisit 'The Grass Arena' with renewed urgency. Healy may yet again return to the shadows, but the portrait Paul Duane has presented in 'Barbaric Genius' feels nothing less than definitive."
Publication: 3:AM Magazine
Editor: Andrew Gallix
Website: http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/again-to-the-shadows/