Tom Kalin (born 1962) is an award-winning screenwriter, film director, producer, and professor of experimental film at European Graduate School in Saas-Fee. His debut feature, Swoon, is considered an integral part of the New Queer Cinema. In addition to his feature work, Kalin has created a number of short films, many of which are collected in the compilations Behold Goliath or The Boy With the Filthy Laugh, Third Known Nest and Tom Kalin Videoworks: Volume 2. Much of Kalin's work touches on issues of homosexuality (both modern-day and historical) and AIDS. He was a member of two AIDS direct action groups, ACT UP and Gran Fury. His work has won much critical acclaim and garnered a number of awards and nominations, including honors from the Berlin International Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, Tribeca Film Fest and a number of gay and lesbian film festivals. Kalin won the Gotham Awards Open Palm Award (for Swoon) and has been nominated for two Independent Spirit Awards. Kalin's last project was Savage Grace, Savage Grace tells the story of the 1972 Barbara Daly Baekeland murder case and stars Julianne Moore as Baekeland. Tom Kalin has taught graduate-level filmmaking classes at Columbia University School of the Arts, and is currently lecturing at the European Graduate School in Switzerland. He is a 2011 Guggenheim Fellow. Description above from the Wikipedia article Tom Kalin, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Read moreShow less
Biography from TMDB.
- March 4, 1962 (64)
- Chicago, Illinois, USA
- Director, writer, producer and editor, also actor
- 7 on MovieCove · 19 credits in all
What are Tom Kalin's films like?
Across their 8 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Power and Self.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 1 · Wry 0 · Earnest 6
A split, not a type: Light 3 · Serious 1 · Dark 3
Grounded 1 · Stylized 5 · Heightened 1
Gentle 2 · Charged 3 · Intense 2
A split, not a type: Steady 4 · Shifting 2 · Whiplash 1
A split, not a type: Straight-faced 3 · Some laughs 4 · Funny 0
Slow burn 6 · Even-paced 1 · Relentless 0
Casual 2 · Engaged 5 · Full focus 0
A split, not a type: Easy watch 3 · Affecting 1 · Heavy 3
Resolved 2 · Open-ended 4 · Ambiguous 1
Moods and endings
- Happy1
- Bittersweet4
- Tragic2
- Ambiguous1
AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.
Where can I watch Tom Kalin's films?
As of October 24, 2026, 4 of their 7 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service.
Subscription and free streaming for Tom Kalin's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.
Filmography
19 credits, 7 with a MovieCove page; 3 appearances as themselves are hidden until asked for.
Pride(2021)
Midcredits score: 43rd percentile of all shows
Midcredits score: 19th percentile of all films
FAKE! (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2017)
True Believer (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2016)
Ashes (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2014)
Sublime Objective, Mirror Mirror (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2013)
Savage Grace(2007)
Midcredits score: 31st percentile of all films
Third Known Nest (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1999)
Tree Shade (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1998)
Office Killer(1997)
Midcredits score: 27th percentile of all filmsI hung back, held fire, danced and lied (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1997)
I Shot Andy Warhol(1996)
Midcredits score: 68th percentile of all films
Confirmed Bachelor (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1994)
Go Fish(1994)
Midcredits score: 53rd percentile of all filmsGeoffrey Beene 30 (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1993)
Swoon(1992)
Midcredits score: 66th percentile of all films
Nation (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1992)
finally destroy us (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1991)
They Are Lost to Vision Altogether (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1989)
Career shape
A full career of 19 titles from 1989 to 2021.
How do Tom Kalin's films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 42nd percentile, the median of all 6; across their 7 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 61st percentile for acclaim.
- 50th to 74th3
- 25th to 49th3
- Below 25th1
Shape of the crowd
5 of their 7 titles are Mixed.
- Crowd Pleaser2
- Mixed5
Reviewers score the atmosphere 69/100 and the pacing 39/100 in their films, across 6 reviewed titles. The element that speaks to their work as a director.
Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.
Who does Tom Kalin work with?
People who share at least 2 of Tom Kalin's MovieCove titles, grouped by what they did on them; Christine Vachon shares the most, 6.
Directors
- Andrew AhnShared titles: Pride (2021), 30/30 Vision: 3 Decades of Strand Releasing (2019)See all 2 shared titles with Andrew Ahn
- Cindy ShermanShared titles: 30/30 Vision: 3 Decades of Strand Releasing (2019), Office Killer (1997)See all 2 shared titles with Cindy Sherman
- Rose TrocheShared titles: 30/30 Vision: 3 Decades of Strand Releasing (2019), Go Fish (1994)See all 2 shared titles with Rose Troche
Cinematographers and editors
- Ellen KurasShared titles: Pride (2021), I Shot Andy Warhol (1996), Swoon (1992)See all 3 shared titles with Ellen Kuras
- John F. LyonsShared titles: Pride (2021), Savage Grace (2007)See all 2 shared titles with John F. Lyons
Producers
- Christine VachonShared titles: Pride (2021), Savage Grace (2007), Office Killer (1997), I Shot Andy Warhol (1996), Go Fish (1994), Swoon (1992)See all 6 shared titles with Christine Vachon
- Pamela KofflerShared titles: Savage Grace (2007), Office Killer (1997), I Shot Andy Warhol (1996), Swoon (1992)See all 4 shared titles with Pamela Koffler
Mixed roles
- James SchamusShared titles: 30/30 Vision: 3 Decades of Strand Releasing (2019), Office Killer (1997)See all 2 shared titles with James Schamus
- Todd HaynesShared titles: Office Killer (1997), Swoon (1992)See all 2 shared titles with Todd Haynes
