William Farley is an American film director, based in San Francisco.
He directed Whoopi Goldberg in her first screen role, in the ensemble
piece Citizen : I'm Not Losing My Mind, I'm Giving It Away
(1981-2).William Farley was raised in Braintree, Massachusetts, on
Boston's south shore in a working-class family. His early life
included training as a commercial artist and as a sculptor. Drafted by
the U.S. Army, Farley worked as an illustrator for an intelligence
unit.Farley's first film was made in 1970. As a graduate student
majoring in sculpture he took a class on the history of film. At the
end of the semester, he had the choice to either write a paper about
the films he saw or make a film. The film was a hit on the film
festival circuit and Farley was hooked. When he received his MFA a
year and a half later he had more credits in filmmaking than
sculpture.His first feature film, Citizen: I'm Not Losing My Mind, I'm
Giving It Away, made on maxed-out credit cards, premiered at the
Sundance Film Festival in 1983. The film is an anarchic look at
society as a group of anonymous youths roam the San Francisco
cityscape. Featured at the Whitney Museum of American Art, Citizen
included, among other West Coast performance artists, playwright John
O'Keefe and Whoopi Goldberg in her first screen performance.
He directed Whoopi Goldberg in her first screen role, in the ensemble
piece Citizen : I'm Not Losing My Mind, I'm Giving It Away
(1981-2).William Farley was raised in Braintree, Massachusetts, on
Boston's south shore in a working-class family. His early life
included training as a commercial artist and as a sculptor. Drafted by
the U.S. Army, Farley worked as an illustrator for an intelligence
unit.Farley's first film was made in 1970. As a graduate student
majoring in sculpture he took a class on the history of film. At the
end of the semester, he had the choice to either write a paper about
the films he saw or make a film. The film was a hit on the film
festival circuit and Farley was hooked. When he received his MFA a
year and a half later he had more credits in filmmaking than
sculpture.His first feature film, Citizen: I'm Not Losing My Mind, I'm
Giving It Away, made on maxed-out credit cards, premiered at the
Sundance Film Festival in 1983. The film is an anarchic look at
society as a group of anonymous youths roam the San Francisco
cityscape. Featured at the Whitney Museum of American Art, Citizen
included, among other West Coast performance artists, playwright John
O'Keefe and Whoopi Goldberg in her first screen performance.
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