John Wilson
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How Ridgewood Became New York City’s Communal Cinema Hub
A white, windowless storefront in Ridgewood, Queens, has the distinction of being the neighborhood’s first new cinema in nearly 100 years. Co-founded last year by filmmaker John Wilson alongside collaborators Davis Fowlkes and Cosmo Bjorkenheim, Low Cinema features 42 seats (sourced second-hand), digital and 16mm projection, and even a papier-mâché E.T. Handmade by Wilson, the cheerful alien hovers beneath the ceiling by the front door. The day I visited the microcinema in late February, I was greeted by a veritable cinematic symphony. Corn was freshly popping, ticket holders poured in for an afternoon showing of Nirvanna the Band the Show […]
by Natalia Keogan on Apr 21, 2026 -
“Fake Stuff Makes Me Feel Sick”: John Wilson on The History of Concrete
The History of Concrete, John Wilson’s first feature-length film, is far stranger and more compelling than the title suggests—and a perfect continuation of his oft-meandering, always philosophical practice. Yes, there are novel factoids about Ancient Rome, the removal of gum from city sidewalks and the oldest concrete road in America, but the plot often shifts and transmogrifies, in true Wilsonian fashion, before circling back to the topic at hand. For some, this constant zooming—out, in, away entirely—can be frustratingly disorienting. For those who enjoy the visual approximation of falling down a (preferably weed-induced) Wikipedia rabbit hole, this is non-fiction at […]
by Natalia Keogan on Jan 24, 2026 -
Trailer Watch: Carpet Cowboys Doc Executive Produced by John Wilson
Having its world premiere at the inaugural edition of the New/Next Film Festival in Baltimore later this month, a trailer arrives for Carpet Cowboys, the feature debut of co-directors Emily MacKenzie and Noah Collier. The doc, executive produced by John Wilson (who appeared on our 25 New Faces of Film list in 2016 before embarking on his excellent How To HBO series, which just kicked off its third and final season) and released by MEMORY, takes a sprawling look at the “Carpet Capital of the World” located in Dalton, Georgia before tackling a worldwide exploration of expat culture and American […]
by Natalia Keogan on Aug 2, 2023 -
“I Don’t Have the Prosthetics Team Sacha Baron Cohen Does”: John Wilson on his HBO Show How To with John Wilson
In his short films, compulsive shooter John Wilson combines a nervous voiceover with impossible amounts of nonfiction footage; the joke often alternates between the unexpected metaphorical/pun juxtaposition of dialogue with shots selected from his vast archives and sometimes nerve-wracking encounters with assorted eccentrics. That seemingly free-form structure, in which Wilson’s voice ties many disparate elements together, was established in shorts with titles like How to Walk to Manhattan and How to Keep Smoking. Now it’s been expanded in the six episodes of the first season of his HBO series, How to With John Wilson. Nathan For You’s Nathan Fielder is an executive producer, and the […]
by Vadim Rizov on Oct 22, 2020 -
“The Future of Content”
[The following guest post is from director John Wilson. Click here to watch his short film Escape from Park City.] I was recently editing a commercial for a popular footwear company and my client kept referring to “the future of content” to his colleague. I had a hard time telling if this was just another bit of ad jargon or a sinister prophecy about the future of media. When I finally asked him what he thought “the future of content” was, he delivered a flippant “you are!” and asked me to reposition their logo. The advertiser’s role in culture reminds me […]
by John Wilson on Apr 18, 2017 -
Watch: John Wilson’s Escape from Park City
Filmmaker John Wilson — profiled this past year in our 25 New Faces series — covers the Sundance Film Festival for Vimeo with his inimitable lo-fi insight. Here, the glitz and pageantry of the ’17 festival are captured in sludgy grey tones and with a commentary that underscores Park City’s economic divide. The six-minute short, watchable above, is the latest — or, at least, latest publicly available — work of what Wilson calls “documentary memoir.”
by Scott Macaulay on Apr 12, 2017
