Jilann Spitzmiller ’89 to Screen ‘Meow Wolf’ at Hopkins Center

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The award-winning documentary filmmaker will speak at the screening of her film.

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Jilann Spitzmiller
The alumna’s previous works include Shakespeare Behind Bars, Still Dreaming, and Homeland. (Photo courtesy of Dartmouth Alumni Relations)
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Read the full story by Rachel Hastings, published by Dartmouth Alumni Relations.

How do you make a movie about an art collective that even most critics struggle to describe? That’s the latest challenge for award-winning documentary filmmaker Jilann Spitzmiller ’89, who will speak at the Hopkins Center for the Arts on Sunday, Aug. 5, after a special screening of her new project, Meow Wolf: Origin Story.

The film, produced by Hanover native Alexandra Renzo, traces the journey of an eclectic group of creators that began their collective in a basement and have now attained international acclaim and the financial backing of Game of Thrones creator George R. R. Martin. Their massive new immersive Santa Fe art complex straddles the line between amusement park and art exhibit, and similar installations are in the works in Denver and Las Vegas. The collective’s success, however, has challenged its scrappy ethos—a conflict Spitzmiller explores in her film.

To Spitzmiller, the Meow Wolf story is a natural fit within her broader body of work, which she explains tends to focus around the idea that “community and creative engagement are essential to our lives and well-being.”

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