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Shannon Plumb

Shannon Plumb has shot over 200 short films, which have been exhibited in museums, galleries, and on international screens. She started by shooting herself as various characters, acting out three-minute situations using humor and silence as her vehicles for storytelling. In 2013, her first feature film, Towheads, premiered at MoMA as part of New Directors / New Films; it is now streaming on the Criterion Channel. You can see her short films at shannonplumb.com and Towheads is available on Netflix and iTunes. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband, director Derek Cianfrance, and their two sons.

The Year Stories Brought Us Together

Filmmaker Shannon Plumb looks back on what she watched and how she observed the world during the trauma and upheaval of 2020.

December 17, 2020

Derek Cianfrance in Quarantine Finishing I Know This Much Is True

Under lockdown, filmmaker Shannon Plumb talks to her husband Derek Cianfrance as he completes his new HBO show with Mark Ruffalo.

April 28, 2020

A New Beauty

Shannon Plumb on The Disappearance of My Mother, an intimate portrait of ex-model Benedetta Barzini, and her own brush with the fashion world.

December 18, 2019

Rolling Thunder Revue and Memories of the Road

Watching Scorsese's new Bob Dylan documentary takes filmmaker Shannon Plumb back to the time she left her life behind to go look for America.

July 16, 2019

The Man with the Brimmed Hat: Remembering Jonas Mekas

Shannon Plumb looks back on the impact the late filmmaker and Anthology Film Archives founder had on her life and career.

January 28, 2019

The Quiet Magic of Buster Keaton

As a Quad retrospective and a new documentary celebrate Buster Keaton, fellow screen clown Shannon Plumb also pays tribute to the silent master.

October 8, 2018

Cathy

For Shannon Plumb, watching Hannah Gadsby's Nanette brings up poignant memories of a teenage friendship.

August 13, 2018

Dear Hollywood

Shannon Plumb writes a letter to the men running the film industry. She’s got some things to say.

June 4, 2018

I Went to Black Panther With My Son, and Saw the Future

Shannon Plumb on the world now, and the world that can be glimpsed in Ryan Coogler's paradigm-shifting box-office behemoth.

March 2, 2018

I’ve Been a Clown and I’m Terrified of Scary Movies, So Of Course I Saw It

Shannon Plumb braves her first horror movie in two decades, and ponders how a beloved comic figure became an icon of evil.

September 19, 2017

Marjorie Prime and Memories of My Father (Still-Living)

Shannon Plumb pens a beautiful, idiosyncratic response to Michael Almereyda's movie about love, death and memory.

August 23, 2017

Physical Comedy is Thrillingly Alive in Lost in Paris

Shannon Plumb finds kindred spirits in the comedy double act of Fiona Gordon and Dominique Abel, whose delightful new movie is out this week.

June 14, 2017