Bob Dylan as Filmmaker

Michael Glover Smith is a Chicago-based filmmaker, author and teacher. Michael's most recent movie, Hekla, starring Elizabeth Stam, will have it's festival premiere in early 2026. Michael is also the director of four award-winning feature films, the most recent of which, Relative, stars Wendy Robie (Twin Peaks) and is distributed by Music Box Films. It was the 23rd highest-grossing movie in the U.S. in its first week of release in 2022. His previous book, Flickering Empire: How Chicago Invented the U.S. Film Industry (co-written with Adam Selzer), was published by Columbia University Press to acclaim in 2015. He has seen Bob Dylan 100 times in concert.

'Michael Glover Smith's Bob Dylan as Filmmaker isthe most compelling reconsideration of Bob Dylan's work as a filmmaker writtento date. Building on previous analyses of Dylan's films, Smith combines his ownexperiences as a filmmaker with his extensive research and deft analysis ofDylan's films to prove how Dylan's process is similar regardless of the genrehe creates in - grounded in tradition, innovative, and true to his artisticvision. In this way, Smith successfully challenges the paradigm that Dylanfailed as a filmmaker by methodically chronicling the films that influencedDylan and how those films shaped the movies Dylan made. Smith's approachpositions Dylan as an artist working in the medium of film rather than, as hehas been previously understood, a musician making movies. Bob Dylan asFilmmaker: No Time to Think advances the conversation of Dylan as anholistic artist and is an essential addition to anyone's Dylan library.' Erin C. Callahan, author of The Politics and Powerof Bob Dylan's Live Performances'Despite the vast literature on Bob Dylan, his work as afilmmaker remains critically underexplored. Michael Glover Smith, himself aninnovative and thought-provoking filmmaker, remedies this gap with a perceptiveand rigorously informed study of Dylan's cinematic output...Insightful, unique,and long overdue, this book is an essential addition to Dylan studies.'Andrew Muir, author of The True Performing of It: Bob Dylan and WilliamShakespeare'This is an excellent read that shines a light on anunderappreciated aspect of Bob Dylan's creativity, which reflectively alsoilluminates the rest of his work.'Laura Tenschert, host of the Definitely Dylan podcast 'I didn't ask to be dubbed the 'Dean of Dylanologists'-itwas the unintended byproduct of my deep, intense study of the work of BobDylan. I've long told anyone who will listen that Dylan's films and interest infilm are essential to gaining a better understanding of his art. In an era ofperformative hot takes, I recognize a kindred spirit in Michael GloverSmith. Bob Dylan as Filmmaker reflects that rare combinationof the director's eye and the curator's exactitude (the appendices arestupendous). Bob Dylan is already studied like Shakespeare and Smith's book isa foundational text on Dylan and cinema.'Scott Warmuth, writer and disc jockey'I can't wait for everyone else to read this brilliant,insightful, engaging, and fascinating book.'Matthew Ingate, author of Together Through Life: MyNever Ending Tour with Bob Dylan‘From the influence of everyone from John Ford toRainer Werner Fassbinder to his own fascinating forays into filmmaking, BobDylan's deep and abiding love of cinema is a fascinating prism through which tocontemplate his kaleidoscopic career. In his wonderful new overview BobDylan As Filmmaker: No Time To Think, Michael Glover Smith takesus on an immersive journey through the duality between Dylan's music and thescreen imagery that clearly preoccupies so much of his mind. A delightful andrigorous read, and a crucial contribution to the canon of Dylan literature.’ Elizabeth Nelson, singer-songwriter forgarage-punk band the Paranoid Style, and a regular contributor to the Ringer, the Oxford American, the NewYork Times Magazine, and Pitchfork, among others‘Even among fans, Bob Dylan's work as a filmmakeris easy to mock or ignore. In Bob Dylan as Filmmaker: No TimeTo Think, Michael Glover Smith persuasively defends Dylan'sartistic vision (if not always his acting). Through meticulous analysisaugmented by his own original research in the Dylan archives, Smith explainswhat the movies mean and what other films Dylan drew inspirationfrom. I'll give it the highest praise possible: It made me want to watchRenaldo and Clara again.’Ray Padgett, author of PledgingMy Time: Conversations with Bob Dylan Band Members