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