John Porter

John Porter has been a filmmaker, performer, photogapher and writer in Toronto for 35 years. Often called the “King of Super 8,” he has made 300 films, mostly Super 8, and has performed 50 solo shows internationally. John studied photography and 16mm film production at Ryerson University (1969-74), worked as a letter carrier (1976-81) and bicycle courier (1987-98), and has received five Film and Multi-Disciplinary “B” or “Creation” Grants from the Canada Council for the Arts since 1984. He has been actively involved with several artist-run centres in Toronto since 1978, most consistently with The Funnel and Pleasure Dome. Throughout the 1980s he organized many Open Film Screenings at The Funnel and A Space, and made and projected Super 8 films with the band Fifth Column. His on-going community activism includes photography and writing about local underground film activity; advocating Super 8 film and $50 film budgets; and resisting the dominance of the film industry, the Ontario Censor Board, video, and e-mail. In 1998 Pleasure Dome published a book about him, “The John Porter Film Activity Book,” and he was included in Scott MacDonald’s “A Critical Cinema 3: Interviews with Independent Filmmakers” (University of California Press). For more information, visit www.super8porter.ca.