I was pleasantly surprised by our speaker Hisham Bizri. This is the first visiting artist we have in two years who shows us art instead of the usual nonsense talk about theory and the subsequent mediocre works shown by these so-called artists. His work is informed by real experience, a love for his subjects, and is of the highest artistic craft. It shows a mature understanding of art in general. His cinema is series of poems and meditations. One begins to belief again in the beauty of cinema upon seeing his films. He was also clear in his presentation and extremely generous in sharing his thoughts. He seems to come from a different planet that has nothing to do with the charlatan artists who have come to our sesminar to exalt themselves and contemporary theory.

I am not a student of USC, however, I did study and work under Hisham for my last year of college. Through his art and teaching of art history he has single-handedly changed my life. He has given me hope in achieving goals through art and has shown me how important art has been to the history of mankind. Hisham is a man of great depth and integrity, USC is very lucky to have him in the Dept. of Art History. If you are interested in film or new media I would start to get to know him and his work immediately!!

I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me.

i attended an informal presentation Hisham gave last year at our Interactive Media division here at USC. unfortunately, i was unable to attend this one. i too was very touched and encouraged when i saw him last time. he was full of generosity and sincerity and made me believe all over again (i must say, easy to forget around here unfortunately) in art and its import and potential significance. thank you Hisham! but, is he at USC's art history dept or at UC Davis'?

Hisham Bizri´s work can be difficult and invite multiple viewings and discussion, but this is not out of some hermetic tendency, but rather because he is, in a combinatorial effort, taking up different and ultimately classical problems in filmmaking language, such as the construction of point of view, the nature of representation and of time in the film medium, the role of archetypes and of the clash of different kinds of historical or mythical consciousness in drama--to name only a few. Hisham´s work is then like a good book, only closed to those that won´t travel through the different journeys offered on its pages, a constant invitation to conversation, and paradoxically this may be because it is an exercise in communication which we can never easily put into categories or into words.

I visited the Bernard Toale Gallery last April in Boston to celebrate the opening of his new space. It was there that I saw Bizri's astonishing film for three screens, VERTICES. I have never heard of this filmmaker before and did not expect to see a great work of film art in a gallery. My experience of films shown in galleries has been disappointing. They are usaully clever, cynical, political, fast, but removed from contemplative aspect of great cinema and art. With VERTICES I was truly fascinated by its complex filmic sructure, both sound and image, and love for the three cities: Beirut, Dublin, and I think Seoul. I did watch most of this demanding work of art and left the gallery with a contemplative mood but also joy, a mood that was very similar to the one I experienced after seeing the great film by Sokurov in the Hermitage. Bizri's film is very different from the Russian, but both have a profound understanding of cinema and its power to reflect inner life and capture melancholy and loss. Thank you for this beautiful work. If you read this please let me know what you are doing and where I can see your new work. Yours truly.