Recent
Review in Cineaste Magazine
Creative Quarantine Interview, Esthetic Lens
Cine-file review, 2021 Oberhausen retrospective
Today in the Culture, New City, 2021 Oberhausen retrospective
Artadia Awardee Spotlight: A Dialogue with Melika Bass
Melika Bass named one of 2018 Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 NEW FACES OF INDEPENDENT FILM
Melika Bass named one of New City Chicago’s FILM 50: SCREEN GEMS 2018
Creature Companion garners Special Mention of the 2018 International Jury, Oberhausen Film Festival
Press for The Latest Sun is Sinking Fast
“Secret stories of faith and fear . . . a truly enveloping media experience . . . a sensory haunting.”
(The Chicagoist)
2015 Fall Film Preview (New City)
“One of the most exciting film events happening in Chicago . . . Beautiful, yet vaguely terrifying.”
(Time Out Chicago)
“By super-imposing image, sound, and story, Bass spawns sensory pleasures which guide viewers around the mesmeric space.”
(Gapers Block)
#1 Weekend Pick
(Bad at Sports: Contemporary Art)
“Time to catch the thriving local experimental-video-art scene”
(Chicago Reader)
“Film 50 Follow: Melika Bass in the Modern World”
(New City)
Interviews
Filmmaker Interview (Michael Smith, White City Cinema)
Inner and Outer Landscapes: A Conversation with Melika Bass
(Monica Westin, Bad at Sports: Contemporary Art Talk)
Journey through the past (or something like it) with Melika Bass
(Ben Sachs, Chicago Reader)
Melika Bass on Shoals and Waking Things
(Matt Fagerholm, Indie Outlook)
Conversation with film critic Ben Sachs and filmmaker Lori Felker
on Claire Denis‘s The Intruder and Bastards (Chicago Reader)
A filmmaker interview on Shoals (White City Cinema)
A filmmaker interview on Shoals MCA exhibition (FNewsmagazine)
Best-of Lists
Film 50 2016: Chicago’s Screen Gems (New City)
Best New Video Installation (Chicago Reader)
“I was fortunate enough in 2014 to catch Melika Bass’s quiet prairie art/horror film Shoals … Her latest film project The Latest Sun is Sinking Fast was one of the most fascinating film experiences of the year, and I can’t wait to see what Bass does next.”
(Jason Hoffman, Medium)
“No Imax 3D presentation could be as fully immersive as Chicago artist Melika Bass’ haunting, multi-screen installation at the Hyde Park Art Center. An oblique, troubling narrative takes shape as you watch each of the separate films.”
(The Chicagoist)
“Film 50 2014: Chicago’s Screen Gems” (New City)
Press for installation NANTY
“A remarkable group exhibition . . . A rich viewing experience and also a rare one. Bass’s short film focuses unwaveringly . . . intimately projected . . . A fragmentary character study, intense, repetitive and unguarded.”
(Chicago Tribune)
“A show about invisible forces in the world. One of the best art gallery shows in Chicago right now.” (Chicago Magazine)
“The space is gorgeous, the art solid, challenging, yet accessible. This is a wonderfully odd, powerful, thoughtful show.” (Huffington Post)
Press for Sigur Ros film VARÐELDUR
Feature article and interview (Connecticut Post)
Q & A with Valtari filmmakers, BFI London Film Festival
Press for solo exhibition SLIDER
“Top 5 art shows to see now” (New City Chicago)
“Recommended! Perhaps more anticipated is the premiere of filmmaker Melika Bass’s new video installation, Slider.” (Time Out Chicago)
Press for solo exhibition NOCTURAMA
Critics’ Pick (Time Out Chicago)
Art Critic’s Choice (Chicago Reader)
“The videos’ quiet tone and their unusual setting creates a mood like that of a musical nocturne: meditative, gloomy and haunted by the shadows of half-formed dreams.” (Time Out Chicago)
Press for film WAKING THINGS
“American filmmaker Melika Bass . . . an amazing talent yet to be discovered in Europe, author of a unique cinema of atmosphere and historical reminiscences . . . one of the possible revelations of [the Torino Film Festival].” (Roberto Manassero)
“Waking Things [creates] cyclical time dilated to the maximum . . . loaded with details of Nature as memento mori, reminding us of the transience of this and of life itself.” (Sentieri Selvaggi, Italy)
“Filmmaker Melika Bass . . . one of the most promising emergent practitioners in Chicago right now.” (Chicago Tribune)
Press for film and solo exhibition SHOALS
“[A] strangely compelling—almost mesmerizing—work . . . like Malick meets David Lynch, if you want a comparison, but in a deeper sense, Shoals is pretty much its own beast . . .” (Mountain Xpress)
“A lulling, singular peculiarity . . .” (Chicago Tribune)
“Moving from shorts to longer works, Chicago filmmaker Melika Bass is establishing a distinctive style: shooting on 16mm color film, she casts arresting figures who do opaque errands in lyrical landscapes . . . Bass mystifies the work of these plain folk with her own filmic magic. ”
(Chicago Sun-Times)