Baba Hillman

Baba Hillman grew up in Japan, Venezuela and Panama and works between France and the United States. She received a B.A. in French Literature from Duke University, and an M.F.A. in Film and Performance from the University of California, San Diego. Her films explore memory, history, and the poetics and politics of place, language, and the body. Her most recent film, “Kitâb al-Isfâr: The Book of the Journey,” draws upon the writings of Sufi philosopher Ibn ‘Arabi in an exploration of near-death experience in Andalucía. Her films have screened widely at international film festivals and museums including the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, FIDMarseille, Edinburgh Film Festival, Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin, Ann Arbor Film Festival, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., Anthology Film Archives, Athens Avant Garde Film Festival, and MIX Brazil. Earlier films include “5 cité de la Roquette,” and “Decroux’s Garden,” part of a series of films connected to return and disappearance. Hillman is the recipient of grants and fellowships from the Whiting Foundation, MacDowell, the French Ministry of Culture, and the Italian city governments of Florence, Lecce, and Certaldo. She is Professor Emerita of Film and Video at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts.