Philip Hoffman (born December 10, 1955) is a Canadian experimental filmmaker and a member of the faculty of York University.
While a student at Sheridan College he became associated with a group of filmmakers known as the Escarpment School,[2][3] other members of which included Richard Kerr[4] and Mike Hoolboom.
[8] As Martha Rosler maintains Hoffman's work "provides a bridge to the classical themes of death, diaspora, memory, and finally, transcendence.
[9] Of Hoffman's 1988 film "passing through/torn formations, Stan Brakhage said the film "accomplishes a multi-faceted experience for the viewer—it is a poetic document of Family, for instance—but Philip Hoffman's editing throughout is true to thought process, tracks visual theme as the mind tracks shape, makes melody of noise and words as the mind recalls sound.
A book, entitled Rivers of Time[14] and consisting of an interview with Hoffman, "essays and reflections" on the filmmaker and his work, and images from his films, was issued to coincide with the retrospective.