Sid Fiore Branca
film studies; live performance in film; horror; clowns in cinema; North American masculinity; film and theatre production; circus studies; queer and trans theory; the 1970s-1980s
Sid Fiore Branca is an experimental filmmaker, moving image scholar, and time-based artist based in Montr茅al and Chicago. Drawing on a background in experimental theatre and video, their artistic practice and scholarly research primarily focus on the intersection of cinema and live performing arts. Formerly film/video faculty at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Branca is now a PhD student in the Department of English at 涩里番, with an emphasis in film studies. Their dissertation research examines depictions of clowns in North American and British cinema, particularly their function as symbols of emasculation and their shifting relationship to genre over the 20th century.
Branca holds degrees from the University of Chicago (with a thesis on ensemble-devised physical theatre) and Columbia College Chicago (a thesis on new media art, the music video, and Greek tragedy). Recent and forthcoming creative work includes mid-length experimental non-fiction film A Real Inverted Person, and psychological horror feature film Quiet in the House. See for more.
M.F.A. Columbia College Chicago, 2015
B.A. (Honors) University of Chicago, 2009
Creative Work
Film/Video Works as Director
Quiet in the House (forthcoming) 鈥� a narrative fiction feature-length film currently in post-production.
In the Absence of Devotion (2026) - experimental short. 17:24; VHS-C, MRI, and digital video with sound.
A Real Inverted Person (2025) - mid-length poetic non-fiction film adapted from the stage performance by Bree Dani Parman. 47:41; digital video with sound.
Deep Embarrassment Is Sometimes Necessary (2024) - an improvisational semi-narrative short film developed collaboratively with the actors. 29:51; digital video with sound. Includes within it the standalone manifesto film A Cinema Against Naturalism and For Desire, 3:57; 16mm and digital video with sound.
Defeat (2022) - music video for 鈥淒efeat鈥� by Macie Stewart. 3:11; digital video with music.
Guided Meditation for Fantasies of Violence (2022) - experimental short. 23:40; digital video with sound.
鈥淲ash Me Clean鈥� and 鈥淲oodstock鈥� sequences in the music anthology film Andrew in Anotherland (2021)
Sauna (2020) - experimental short, adapted from a reading given at Iceberg Projects. 6:38; digital video with sound.
My Father鈥檚 Name (2018) - experimental short. 2:58; digital video with sound.
Lemons (2018), with Max Perenchio - experimental short. 6:22; digital video with sound.
The Feminine Touch (2017) - experimental short. 3:49; digital video with sound.
But Who Will Be Famous, When We Are Dead? (2016) - experimental short. 4:54; reappropriated footage, digital video with sound.
Elektra Day - Last Nights (2015) - multimedia project in both website and installation form, including multiple video works alongside texts, musical compositions, and photographs.
Penelope (2015) - experimental short. 2:24; digital video with sound.
A Suppliant of Glamour (2014) - experimental short. 6:29; digital video, silent.
Hit (2014) - experimental short. 5:19; reappropriated footage, digital video with sound.
Inter (2013), with Piper Caldwell - experimental short. 9:56; VHS, digital photography, and digital video with sound.
Theatrical Design Credits
Projection Designer, Floor Show (remount), the Chopin Theatre (2023)
New Media Designer, Always Nothing Else, First Floor Theater (2021)
Projection Designer, Floor Show, the Chopin (2020)
VJ, Desert Liminal, the Empty Bottle (2019)
Contributing Video Artist, The Grelley Duvall Show III, Theater on the Lake (2019)
Projection Designer, Hooded; Or Being Black for Dummies, First Floor Theater (2018)
Video Production Manager, (Not) Another Day, Curious Theatre Branch (2018)
Projection/Video Designer, 搁别蹿谤颈驳别谤补迟辞谤鈥�, First Floor Theater (2018)
Projection Designer, The Grelley Duvall Show II, the Hideout (2018)
VJ, Muvves, the Empty Bottle (2018)
Projection Designer, Daddy's Girl, First Floor Theater (2016)
Projection Designer, The Distance to the Moon, First Floor Theater (2013)
Projection Designer, Slaughter City, Prop Thtr (2013)
Props Designer/Pantomime Coach, Powerless, Society of Young Superheroes (2011)
Lighting Designer, Mirror City: A Phantom Experiment,鈥� Laboratory for the Development of Substitute Materials (2011)
Assistant Set Designer, Let Them Eat Cake鈥�, About Face Theater with Holly Hughes (2010)
Props Designer, Top Girls,鈥� University of Chicago with Sean Graney (2008)
- Karen and Jim Frank Excellence in Teaching Award, 2023
- Artist in Residence Nieder枚sterreich, Kunstmeile Krems, 2023
- School of the Art Institute of Chicago Diversity Infusion Grant, 2016
- Arteles Creative Center Neo Future Residency, 2016
- Finlandia Foundation Cultural Project Grant, 2016
- Swarm Artist Residency, 2015
- Rosenblum Award, 2014
- Columbia College Chicago Graduate Opportunity Award, 2014
- Logan Center for the Arts Performance Lab Residency (with First Floor Theater), 2013
- University of Chicago鈥ㄢ�ㄢ�� Thesis Honors, 2009
- University of Chicago鈥� Festival of the Arts Grant, 2007
- University of Chicago Odyssey Scholarship, 2005-2009