Mike Gordon

By the time nine-year-old Mike Gordon planned out his first band, he had already written a movie script. "Mighty Man" never got off the ground, but his teenage years proved more fruitful. Video vignettes were taped on a black and white reel-to-reel unit using half broken surveillance cameras from his dad's stores. By college it was Super 8 with a film class at Emerson, then at UVM, inspired by his mentor, Ted Lyman. "He taught me that film doesn't have to be linear - that it can be about juxtaposition, creating tension and release. He made film-making feel like making music, like improvisation." Mike created "Stewart" and "TVF" during college just as Phish's career was budding. By the time Phish became a top touring act, he had created a smattering of short films, including an MTV music video, and published a book of short, quirky stories. In 1996, Gordon started his first feature. "Outside Out", an experimental narrative about a guitar student, won an Audience Award at South By South