Hotel Diaries: John Smith Compilation  01:11:18  Hotel Diaries is an ongoing series of video recordings made in hotel rooms, all of which relate personal experiences to contemporary world events. Works in the series currently include Frozen War (Ireland, 2001), Museum Piece (Germany, 2004), Throwing Stones (Switzerland, 2004), B & B (England, 2005), Pyramids/Skunk (The Netherlands, 2006/7), Dirty Pictures (Palestine, 2007) and Six Years Later (Ireland, 2008). They can be shown individually (apart from Six Years Later) or as a chronological group. "...These deceptively unassuming works consist of single takes from the point of view of Smith's camcorder as he explores the nocturnal spaces of hotels he is staying in and delivers monologues on his thoughts and observations. At once politically concerned and very funny, these brilliantly structured ramblings connect the observations of his surroundings with the horror of world events in consistently surprising ways." --Maximilian Le Cain, Film Ireland Magazine Running time 1:20:38

Frozen War   John Smith 00:11:00 2002 A disorientating experience while attempting to watch the TV news in an Irish hotel room triggers a spontaneous response to the bombing of Afghanistan. Museum Piece   John Smith 00:12:23 2004 While the Iraq war continues, a day's sightseeing and the features of a German hotel provoke a stream of thoughts about events large and small. Best International Short Film, Cork Film Festival, 2005 Throwing Stones   John Smith 00:10:55 2004 As the camera looks out through a barred window and the clock strikes four in a Swiss city, the death of Yasser Arafat provides the starting point for a journey back in time. B & B   John Smith 00:06:00 2005 The perception of an Anglo-American hotel room is colored by new revelations about 'The War on Terror' and 'The Special Relationship' that exists between Britain and the USA. Pyramids/Skunk   John Smith 00:16:00 2007 Hamas have just won the Palestinian elections and a chocolate bar in a Rotterdam hotel room eventually reminds the filmmaker that there are more important things going on in the world outside. Exactly one year later he returns to the same city and checks in at a very different hotel. Grand Prix (Best Short Film), International Festival of New Film, Split, Croatia, 2007 Grand Prix (ex aequo), Lucca Film Festival, Italy, 2007 Dirty Pictures   John Smith 00:14:00 2007 Moving from one hotel in Bethlehem to another in East Jerusalem, the filmmaker encounters a series of problems involving a ceiling, a video camera and the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Honorarable Mention for an Outstanding Documentary Film, Leipzig International Festival for Documentary and Animated Film, Germany 2007 Six Years Later   John Smith 00:09:20 2007 The filmmaker returns to the city where he made the first video in the series and looks back at the events of the past six years.