• Philip Cartelli is a filmmaker, producer, and researcher whose work has been exhibited at Locarno Film Festival, Edinburgh International Film Festival, Visions du Réel, Torino Film Festival, FID Marseille, and Film at Lincoln Center’s Art of the Real, among others; distributed by Grasshopper Film, Kinoscope, and Tënk; and published in Ethnologie française, Ethnologia Europaea, Film International and Cinema Scope, among others.

    He holds a PhD in Media Anthropology from Harvard University (where he was a member of the Sensory Ethnography Lab), a PhD in Sociology from the Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales (Paris), and he was a participant in the Whitney Independent Study Program - Studio Program. He has been a resident at MacDowell, Camargo Foundation, and Iméra - Institute for Advanced Study.

    He is currently Associate Professor in the Department of Visual Arts at Wagner College in New York City and head producer at Nusquam LLC.


      Recent Writing

      "The Filmmaker as Producer"

      "In Search of Ambiguity"


      Portfolio

    • THE SECOND DEATH (work in progress) | trailer
      A filmmaker stumbles upon an online rumor about a bizarre act of political vengeance, widely dismissed as a hoax. In an era where truth is increasingly a partisan affair, “The Second Death” follows his tragicomic investigation into this story and the often-contradictory interpretations of reality that ensue.
    • HIS MORTAL REMAINS... (2025)
      Solo exhibition | Union Gallery, 1 Campus Road, New York City
      By assembling materials that resemble, but do not replace, evidence, “His mortal remains...” explores the perennial relevance of myths and how we assign meaning to the past. Whether a true story or an urban legend, the exhibit examines how a narrative can be brought to life without concrete proof, providing insight into this uneasy essence of political belief.
    • THE GUIDE (2023) | video
      Multi media installation | "No Necessary Correspondence," 100 Lafayette Street, New York City "Experimental filmmaker Philip Cartelli wanted to test the limits of the chatGPT system by proposing an artistic project and requesting the help of the generative machine. The installation demonstrated that the collaboration desired by the director according to his stated criteria could not be established. Thus, the limitations of chatGPT were trapped/revealed, leading 'by default' to the production of a work of art." (Demosthenes Agrafiotis)
    • FRANCE (with Mariangela Ciccarello, 2022) | excerpt
      6 minutes | Super 8mm | 1.33:1 | Stereo | Greece, Italy, USA
      The hexagon as a perfect shape appearing in nature and architecture and at the same time a metaphor for historical processes and colonial oppression. This cinematic essay explores the hexagon from multiple perspectives, using archival and original footage to create provocative parallels between seemingly unrelated phenomena.
    • SLOW RETURN (2021) | trailer
      80 minutes | HD video | 1.85:1 | 5.1 Sound | USA, France
      A river flows out to sea through a network of wetlands, salt marshes, and petrochemical plants. A melting glacier, its surface covered in protective cloth, still attracts tourists. "Slow Return" bridges the Rhone River’s extremities, where the natural environment is a resource and commodity, exploring shared legacies of dependence and exploitation embedded in their landscapes.
    • SUBLUNARY (with Mariangela Ciccarello, 2019) | excerpt
      21 minutes | HD video & Super 8mm | 1.85:1 | 5.1 Sound | Italy, Malta, USA
      A young woman investigates an island’s geologic specificity, discovering hidden strata where history and memory meet barely submerged narratives of displacement and imaginaries of possible futures.
    • PROMENADE (2016) | excerpt
      31 minutes | HD video | 1.77:1 | Stereo | USA, France
      A reflection on the near and the far, the past and present, "Promenade" observes a series of movements and interactions on a renovated section of the Marseille waterfront.
    • LAMPEDUSA (with Mariangela Ciccarello, 2015) | trailer
      14 minutes | HD video & Super 8mm | 1.85:1 | 5.1 Sound | USA, Italy, France
      In late 1831, a volcanic island suddenly erupted from the sea a few kilometers off the southern coast of Sicily. An international dispute ensued, during which a number of European powers laid claim to this newfound “land.” The island receded below sea level six months later, leaving only a rocky ledge under the sea...
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