Ben Creech and Michael Glover Smith Announce World Premiere of ‘Bob Dylan as Filmmaker’ in NYC

2026 is shaping up to be a banner year for Chicago filmmaker and author Michael Glover Smith. His latest feature film, HEKLA, began its festival run last month and has already won two awards for its co-writer/co-producer/star, Elizabeth Stam (at the George Lindsey UNA Film Festival and the Covellite International Film Festival, respectively). The local premiere of HEKLA will take place at the Music Box Theatre on Sunday, May 10, followed by a Q&A with Smith, Stam, and the rest of the cast, moderated by Cinema Femme magazine’s Rebecca Martin Fagerholm. Smith’s second non-fiction book, Bob Dylan as Filmmaker: No Time to Think, was also released to acclaim last month by the UK-based publisher McNidder & Grace.

Now, SCREEN has the exclusive story of the world premiere of NO TIME TO THINK: BOB DYLAN AS FILMMAKER, a video essay adaptation of Smith’s book by Chicago-based experimental filmmaker Ben Creech (AMERICAN ALTERNATIVE: KURT HEYL). The 25-minute short film, billed as “a freewheeling elaboration” on Smith’s book, will have its first public unveiling at a book-signing event at Gallery 198 in Brooklyn on Saturday, May 16. Creech, who is credited as director, editor, producer and writer, will be on hand for a Q&A along with Smith, who is credited as co-writer and co-producer. The event, hosted by Non Films’ Brian Ratigan, is free and open to the public.

In a new interview with SCREEN, Smith said that the premise of his book is that Dylan’s work as a filmmaker, which consists of movies like EAT THE DOCUMENT (1972), RENALDO AND CLARA (1978) and MASKED AND ANONYMOUS (2003), has been “tragically underexamined” and constitutes an important part of the artist’s legacy. According to Smith, Creech heard that he was working on the book last year and asked to read an advanced copy of the manuscript to see if he could adapt it. “I’m a fan of Ben’s work,” Smith said, “a lot of which consists of repurposing archival footage, so I thought it was a splendid idea for him to do this.” The resulting film consists of clips from dozens of movies, including not only those that Dylan made but also those that influenced him.

For more information about the video essay screening and book signing, visit Gallery 198’s official website: https://www.gallery198.com/. For information on future screenings and book signings, visit Smith’s website: https://www.michaelgloversmith.com/

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