Lisa Rovner

Filmmaker, writer and creative provocateur Lisa Rovner came into the world in 1979 in Silver Spring, Maryland, during a snowstorm—a statement debut that indicated an innate instinct for drama. Her first pivotal encounter with film came after watching Godard’s One Plus One while working in a video store in New York; encouraged by a customer, she set out to remake it. After arming herself with degrees in political science from both McGill University and L’Institut d’Etudes Politiques et Sociales, Rovner settled in Paris courtesy of a film grant and later launched Message is the Medium, a creative consultancy whose clients include Opening Ceremony, Maison Martin Margiela and Acne. Her work in film, photography, performance and writing is thematically linked by a desire to confront history and engage with precedents using the tools of poetry and images. “My films represent my desire to transform politics and philosophy into cinematographic spectacle,” says Rovner, whose work has been presented at FIAC Art Fair, Art Basel Switzerland, the Paris Film Festival, the Anthology Film Archives and The Center for Contemporary Art in Barcelona. Next up for the Paris- and New York-based artist: a feminist version of The Simpsons.

Lisa Rovner by Magnus Unnar, Brittany, France, 2010