Kathleen Quillian works across the spectrum of still and moving imagery, including pre-cinematic devices, 35mm slides, stop-motion animation and 16mm film. Triangulating between natural phenomena, metaphysics and speculative reasoning her work explores liminal spaces and the collective and individual ways humans understand and engage with the unknown. She has exhibited in venues and festivals internationally including International Film Festival Rotterdam, Ann Arbor Film Festival, San Francisco International Film Festival, Antimatter Film Festival, Animasivo, REDCAT, the Exploratorium and Pacific Film Archive, among others. She is also the co-founder and Programming Director of Shapeshifters Cinema in Oakland, CA.
Exhibition History
2026
CROSSROADS Film Festival, Grey Area, San Francisco, CA
sugar cloud seance, Winslow House Project, Vallejo, CA
Roxie Mixtape #9, The Roxie, San Francisco, CA
Extremely Shorts Film Festival, Aurora Picture Show, Houston, TX
Against All Odds, Close Up Cinema, London, England
2025
Other Cinema, Sisters' Pictures, Artists' Television Access, San Francisco, CA
Uncanny Cabaret II, Shapeshifters Cinema, Oakland, CA
Night Soil Seance, Winslow House Project, Vallejo, CA
Other Cinema, New Experimental Works, Artists' Television Access, San Francisco, CA
After Dark: Play of Light, Exploratorium, San Francisco, CA
2024
Kin Salt Seance, Winslow House Project, Vallejo, CA
This Room is Nothing Without You, Shapeshifters Cinema, Oakland, CA, CA
Other Cinema, X~PERI~MENTAL ANIMATION, Artists' Television Access, San Francisco, CA
2023
Other Cinema, New Experimental Works, Artists' Television Access, San Francisco, CA
A History of Collage Animation IV, Animateka Film Festival, Ljubljana, Slovenija
Roxie Mixtape: Music Videos, The Roxie, San Francisco, CA
Vallejo Art Walk, Bay Area Cinema, Vallejo, CA
2022
Alternative Visions, Pacific Film Archives, Berkeley, CA
Collage In Motion, Kolajfest, New Orleans, LA
Oakland Secret Film Festival, Oakland, CA
Ann Arbor Film Festival, Ann Arbor, MI
2021
Kathmandu World Film Festival, Kathmandu, Nepal
Trip the Light Fantastic, The Exploratorium, San Francisco, CA
LIGHT YEAR 80: Natural Rhythms, Manhattan Bridge, Brooklyn, NY
Terra Femme, Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, CA
Other Cinema, Optronica Program, Artists' Television Access, San Francisco, CA
9th International Video Poetry Festival, Athens, Greece
Other Cinema, Shapeshifters Benefit, Artists' Television Access, San Francisco, CA
Extremely Shorts Film Festival, Aurora Picture Show, Houston, TX
2020
STILL/MOVING: The Tenuous We, Shapeshifters Cinema, Oakland, CA
Videoex Film Festival, Zurich, Switzerland
Tunnels of the Mind, Times Square, New York, NY
Collage in Motion, 516 Arts, Albuquerque, NM
Extremely Shorts Film Festival, Aurora Picture Show, Houston, TX
SFMOMA Artists Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2019
Gaze Animation Showcase IV, Artists' Television Access, San Francisco, CA
Antimatter Media Art Festival, Victoria, BC, Canada
Aggregate Animated Shorts, Oakland, CA
Bravemaker Film Festival, Redwood City, CA
Other Cinema: Souveillance program, ATA, San Francisco, CA
Experiments in Cinema, Albuquerque, NM
San Francisco International Film Festival, San Francisco, CA
Other Cinema: X~peri~MENTAL Animation program, ATA, San Francisco, CA
Ann Arbor Film Festival, Ann Arbor, MI
2018
ExCinema, Seattle, WA
Supersymmetry, Peephole Cinema, San Francisco, CA
Antimatter Media Art Festival, Victoria, BC, Canada
Ottowa International Animation Festival, Ottowa, ON, Canada
Out of Focus Video Party, New Parkway Theatre, Oakland, CA
Kolajfest, New Orleans, LA
Other Cinema: X~peri~MENTAL Animation program, ATA, San Francisco, CA
2017
Experiments In Cinema, Albuquerque, NM
2016
Other Cinema: Optronica Program, Artists' Television Access, San Francisco, CA
Mill Valley Film Festival, Mill Valley, CA
The Speed of Disembodiment, solo exhibition, Royal Nonesuch Gallery, Oakland, CA
Experiments In Cinema, Albuquerque, NM
Shapeshifters Cinema, Oakland, CA
After Dark: Extended Cinemas, The Exploratorium, San Francisco, CA
Timeless Motion, SOMArts Cultural Center, San Francisco, CA
2015
Other Cinema: Media Archeology Program, Artists' Television Access, San Francisco, CA
Strange Beauty Film Festival, Shadowbox Studio, Durham, North Carolina
Glorious Ravage, Brava Theater, San Francisco, CA
Glorious Ravage, Angel City Jazz Festival, REDCAT, Los Angeles, CA
Other Cinema: Animation Program, Artists' Television Access, San Francisco, CA
Haxan Film Festival, Omni Space, Oakland, CA
Temescal Street Cinema, Oakland, CA
Squeaky Wheel Animation Festival, Albright Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY
Southern Exposure Monster Drawing Rally, San Francisco, CA
Out of Focus TV Video Party, The New Parkway Theatre, Oakland, CA
Extremely Shorts Film Festival, Aurora Picture Show, Houston, TX
EX#3: EXquisite Corpse Cinema, Artists' Television Access, San Francisco, CA
EX#3: EXquisite Corpse Cinema, Dom Kulture Studentski Grad, Belgrade, Serbia
EX#3: EXquisite Corpse Cinema, Ruma, Serbia
EX#3: EXquisite Corpse Cinema, Star and Shadow Cinema, Newcastle, UK
2014
EX#3: EXquisite Corpse Cinema, Grand Illusion Cinema, Seattle, WA
ATA 30th Anniversary - Staff Screening, San Francisco, CA
2013
Animasivo, Mexico City, Mexico
Experimental Film Festival Portland, Portland, OR
2012
Swedenborg Short Film Festival, London, UK
Chamber Music Day, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
Food Shift, Interface Art Gallery, Oakland, CA
Antimatter Film Festival, Victoria, BC, Canada
Crystal Palace: ArtSpace Experimental Film and Video Festival, New Haven, CT
Oakland Underground Film Festival, Oakland, CA
San Francisco International Film Festival, San Francisco, CA
Experiments in Cinema, Albuquerque, NM
Big Muddy Film Festival, Carbondale, IL
2011
Other Cinema: New Experimental Works, Artists' Television Access, San Francisco, CA
Mission Eye + Ear, Artists’ Television Access, San Francisco, CA
What I Don’t See Can’t Hurt Me: The Aesthetics of Resistance, PØST Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
DIY Meets Dirt, Temescal Street Cinema, Oakland, CA
International Women’s Film Festival, Dortmund and Cologne, Germany
International Film Festival Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
2010
ATA Film & Video Festival, San Francisco, CA
Other Cinema: Spoils of the Spill, Artists' Television Access, San Francisco, CA
T-10 Video Festival, Oakland, CA
Extremely Shorts Film Festival, Aurora Picture Show, Houston, TX
Oakland Underground Film Festival Local Shorts Showcase, Oakland, CA
One Night Stand film/video screening, SITE Santa Fe Biennial, Santa Fe, NM
SICK, Root Division Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2009
Cinema By the Bay, San Francisco, CA
Outsound New Music Summit, San Francisco, CA
Illuminated Corridor: Middle Harbor Shoreline Park, Oakland, CA
2008
Road Trip, San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA
Chance Operations, Climate Theatre, San Francisco, CA
Illuminated Corridor: NOVA, Gansevoort Plaza, New York, NY
2007
Total Participation/Radical Relaxation, arttransponder gallery, Berlin, Germany
Alternate City Soundtrack Tour, Southern Exposure, San Francisco, CA
Music By the Eyeful, The Luggage Store, San Francisco, CA
Close Calls 2007, Headlands Center for the Arts, Marin, CA
2006
MicroCineFest, G Spot Gallery, Baltimore, MD
Illuminated Corridor: Mobility, Oakland, CA
O.K. Quoi?! Drive-In Video, Struts Gallery, New Brunswick, Canada
Death By Tealight, Artists' Television Access, San Francisco, CA
Esoteric Mapping, 21 Grand Gallery, Oakland, CA
Illuminated Corridor: Perambulare, San Francisco, CA
T-10 Video Festival, Oakland, CA
2005
Illuminated Corridor: Civil Twilight, Oakland, CA
Form/Reform, Oakland Art Gallery, Oakland, CA
2004
This Way Please: Tours of the Everyday, POND Gallery, San Francisco, CA
The Element of Temporary 5, San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Wandering Rocks, Revolving Doors, Dublin, Ireland
2003
Space Available, Walter and McBean Galleries, San Francisco, CA
group show, John Natsoulas Gallery, Davis, CA
Sympathetic Vibrations, Pacific Film Archives, Berkeley, CA
Awards
2019 San Francisco International Film Festival, Golden Gate Award: Bay Area Short, Second Prize
Education
2003 - MFA, New Genres, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
1996 - BA, English; minor in studio art, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA
Teaching Experience
Workshop Instructor, Pre-Cinema Optics and Multimedia Poetry, Shapeshifters Summer Youth Media Makers Camp, Shapeshifters Cinema, Oakland, CA, 2026
Substitute Instructor for Undergraduate Pre-Cinema History Class, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA, 2025
Workshop Instructor, Pre-Cinema Optics, Shapeshifters Summer Youth Media Makers Camp, Oakland, CA, 2025
Collage Animation Workshop Instructor, Exploratorium, San Francisco, CA, 2017
Collage Animation Workshop Instructor, Prelinger Library, San Francisco, CA, 2016
Collage Animation Workshop Instructor, Diablo Valley College, Pleasant Hill, CA, 2010
Collage Animation Workshop Instructor, Diablo Valley College, Pleasant Hill, CA, 2009
Community Engagement
Director of Programming, Shapeshifters Cinema, Oakland, CA (2012 - present)
Co-Curator, Temescal Street Cinema, Oakland, CA (2011 – 2015)
Board Member, San Francisco Cinematheque, San Francisco, CA (2011 – 2014)
Board Member, Artists’ Television Access, San Francisco, CA (2005 – 2012)
Co-Director, Royal Nonesuch Gallery, Oakland, CA (2011 – 2012)
2026
Panellist, SFAI Memory Collection, Alumni-run Art Spaces, et al Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Guest Speaker, California College of the Arts, Lydia Greer's Puppets, Props & Performing Objects class, San Francisco, CA
Guest Speaker, Grinnell College, Nicky Tavares's Experimental Filmmaking class, Grinnell, IA
Co-Curator, Gravitational Lensing: Feminist Film Dialogues film series, Shapeshifters Cinema, Oakland, CA
2025
Co-Curator, Gravitational Lensing: Feminist Film Dialogues film series, Shapeshifters Cinema, Oakland, CA
2024
Co-Curator, Gravitational Lensing: Feminist Film Dialogues film series, Shapeshifters Cinema, Oakland, CA
2023
Guest Speaker, California College of the Arts, Genevieve Quick's Junior Seminar film class, San Francisco, CA
2022
Artist Review Panellist, San Francisco Arts Commission, San Francisco, CA
Guest Speaker, SF State University, Asali Echols' Cinematheque Management class, San Francisco, CA
Guest Speaker, UC Santa Cruz, Christina Corfield's DIY Experimental Video class, Santa Cruz, CA
2021
Panelist, "Creating Together Apart: Remote Material Film Workshops During the COVID-19 Pandemic," The Shifting Ecologies of Photochemical Film in the Digital Era Conference, Aberystwyth University, Wales, UK
2020
Guest Artist/Speaker, California College of the Arts, Lydia Greer's Experimental Animation class, San Francisco, CA
2017
Guest Artist/Speaker, Pacific Northwest College of Art, Carl Diehl's Time Art and Video Art classes, Portland, OR
2016
Co-Curator, Timeless Motion group exhibition, SOMArts Cultural Center
Juror, San Francisco International Film Festival, New Visions category, San Francisco, CA
2015
Guest Speaker, SF State University, Courtney Fellion's Cinematheque Management class, San Francisco, CA
2014
Curator, Curious Collage program for ATA's 30th Anniversary, 30 hour marathon screening, San Francisco, CA
2013
Juror, San Francisco International Film Festival, New Visions category, San Francisco, CA
2011
Juror, Artists’ Television Access 2011 Film and Video Festival, San Francisco, CA
2010
Juror, Headlands Center for the Arts 2011 Artists in Residence Program, Film/Video/New Media, Marin, CA
Juror, Artists’ Television Access 2010 Film and Video Festival, San Francisco, CA
Director of Photography, single channel film/video directed by Cassie Riger, San Francisco, CA
Juror, City Shorts Film Festival, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA
2009
Juror, San Francisco International Film Festival, New Visions category, San Francisco, CA
Juror, Artists’ Television Access 2009 Film and Video Festival, San Francisco, CA
Guest Artist, live mic performance and interview, KFJC 89.7FM, Los Altos, CA
2008
Juror, Artists’ Television Access 2008 Film and Video Festival, San Francisco, CA
Guest Speaker, artist talk and performance, Climate Theatre, San Francisco, CA
2007
Juror, Artists’ Television Access 2007 Film and Video Festival, San Francisco, CA
Juror, San Francisco International Film Festival, New Visions category, San Francisco, CA
2006
Juror, Artists’ Television Access 2006 Film and Video Festival, San Francisco, CA
2005
Guest Speaker, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
Juror, Artists’ Television Access Film and Video Festival, San Francisco, CA
Bibliography
Robinson, Chris, Earmarked for Collision, CRC Press, 2023, pp. 102-103
Brian Darr, "SFFILM 62, Day 7: Confidence Game" Hell On Frisco Bay, April 2019
Sarah Hotchkiss, "Artful Dodger: Oodles of Art to Observe this October," KQED, October 3, 2016
Brian Darr, "Ten Great Expanded Cinema Performances of 2016," Hell on Frisco Bay, January 30, 2017
Brian Darr, "Fin de Siècle," Hell on Frisco Bay, September 2014
Mark Wilson, "The Two Eyes of Mark Wilson," Hell on Frisco Bay, January 2013
Eli Andersen, "TGIM! Swedenborg International Short Film Festival 2012," Best for Film, November 2012
David Finkelstein, "Fin de Siecle," Film Threat, September 2012
Yanan Wang, "Avant-Garde, Crystalized," Yale Daily News, September 2012
Jackson Scarlett, "7 Picks from Week Two of the San Francisco International Film Festival," 7x7, May 2012
JD Beltran, “Meditations on Life, on Film,” SFGate.com, City Brights, October 2010
Mike Everleth, “2010 ATA Film & Video Festival: Film Reviews,” BadLit: The Journal of Underground Film, October 2010