Andrew Repasky McElhinney


Andrew Repasky McElhinney is an American film and theater producer, writer and director born in Philadelphia in 1978. McElhinney's cinema work is in the permanent collection of MoMA-The Museum of Modern Art, New York.
McElhinney is an active theater and film director as well as a scriptwriter specializing in rewrites and dialogue polishes.
McElhinney holds advance degrees from The New School for Social Research and The European Graduate School in Switzerland. In 2011, McElhinney defended his PhD dissertation, "Second Takes—Remaking America: A Psychoanalytic Reading of English Language Cinema, 1931–1998," which was subsequently published by McFarland and Company as,. He has been an instructor at Rutgers, Rowan and Temple Universities, among others, teaching Screenwriting, Cinema and American Studies.
In addition, McElhinney is the film programmer who administers the non-profit screening series The Chestnut Hill Film Group at Woodmere Art Museum. He is also a multimedia video installation performance artist and director specializing in burlesque and cabaret in addition to cinema and theater.

Early works

In 1994, while in high school, he formed "ARMcinema25.com", a company devoted to producing movies.
In 1994, McElhinney released the short films, The Scream and Her Father’s Expectancy". A baroque tale of incest and mutilation, Her Father’s Expectancy caused controversy upon its release.
In 1995, McElhinney made a silent musical entitled A Maggot Tango. It won Best Short at the Chestnut Hill Film Festival.

Feature films

McElhinney’s first feature Magdalen was well-reviewed in 1998 for its fresh concept, black and white camerawork from cinematographer Abe Holtz and its cast led by Alix D. Smith.
In 2000, McElhinney' sophomore feature was released. It was an 1807 period thriller A Chronicle of Corpses starring soap opera diva Marj Dusay. Jeremiah Kipp of Filmcritic.com gave A Chronicle of Corpses four stars and remarked: "What's most impressive about McElhinney's highbrow period film is its ability to satisfy snobbish cultural aesthetes while simultaneously fulfilling slasher film conventions.... Think of it as a caveat to those who secretly wished that Jack Nicholson had wandered into The Remains of the Day wielding a mallet. the art film from hell."
His next film was Georges Bataille's Story of the Eye released in 2003. Dennis Harvey, reviewing Georges Bataille's Story of the Eye in Variety said the film was "A punk-pornocopia equivalent to Last Year at Marienbad."
McElhinney's fourth feature film, Animal Husbandry is a word-for-word modern dress production of a romantic comedy from the 1930s with the subtext reexamined to explore issues of race, class gender/sexual identity in contemporary America.
McElhinney's fifth feature film is Christmas Dreams. A children's holiday musical fantasy, the movie was a shot over six weeks entirely on a soundstage and features extensive special effects and CGI, making it the largest, independent movie ever produced in Philadelphia.
McElhinney epic new film project "Casual Encounters: Philadelphia True Crime Confessions"'' is in post-production.

Publications

McElhinney has contributed to publications such as Ritz Film Magazine, Filmmaker Magazine; San Francisco Bay Guardian; The Chestnut Hill Local; and Philadelphia Weekly.
Between 2004 and 2009 McElhinney wrote hundred of unsigned liner notes, essays and back cover blurbs for "Gotham Collectibles".
In 2009, McElhinney contributed the monograph, "A World Destroyed By Gold: Shared Allegories of Capital in Wagner’s ‘Ring’ and Ulmer’s ‘Isle of Forgotten Sins’" to Scarecrow Press’ anthology, "The Films of Edgar G. Ulmer".
In November 2013, "McFarland and Company" published McElhinney's monumental book-length survey of 20th Century English Language Cinema, "."
McElhinney can be heard delivering scholarly remarks on audio commentaries on several GarageHouse Pictures special edition blu-rays.

Other Short Movies and Documentaries

October 6, 2006, McElhinney shot the ten-minute short, at the Cinemagic 3 movie theater, Walnut Street, just prior to the multiplex's demolition.
McElhinney chronicled the European Graduate School's tenth anniversary in residence in Saas-Fee, Switzerland in the hour-long direct cinema documentary, "".

Installation Work

In 2003, McElhinney used footage from his feature film, "Georges Bataille's Story of the Eye" to create, direct and design "Untitled Video Installation#1" for the Philadelphia Live Arts and Fringe Festival.
In 2003-4, McElhinney's eight-part multimedia juxtaposition of musical theater and motion pictures called "Jukebox/Peepshow" is installed in monthly sequences at The 700 Club and then The Werepad.
In 2009, McElhinney created the video projections for Brat Production's Haunted House, "Haunted Poe" and created two short films for the event, "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "Poe's Last Train Ride". The Philadelphia Inquirer praised his work as "Hitchcockian" on October 13, 2009.

Theater Work

Since 1993, McElhinney has directed theater productions including "The Visitor" – 1993, "Oleanna" – 1996, "The Artificial Jungle" – 1997, "The Malady of Death" – NYC 1999, "The Peek-A-Boo Revue Burlesque Show" – 2003–2007, "Who Milk Dat Was?" – 2007, "Death and Devil" – 2009, "" – 2010, "Macbeth" – 2010, "The Cowen Bridge Girls" – 2011, "Rent" – 2011, "Timon of Athens" – 2011, "Q+C" – 2012, "Titus Andronicus" – 2013, "Troilus and Cressida" – 2015.
McElhinney is the Producing Artistic Associate at Torn Out Theater which produces and promotes theatrical productions that inspire and challenge audiences to explore the questions of modern sexuality, gender, and the body politic in public spaces.
McElhinney is the director of Shakespeare in Harrowgate Park, a theater company committed to free, outdoor performances of classic theater, live music and children's theater in Harrowgate Park.