Whether one was auditing Peter Wollen’s classes at UCLA, reading his essays, or watching the films he wrote and/or directed, one was always persuaded by what Tilda Swinton calls his “dazzling prophetic genius.”

Wollen—director of Friendship’s Death and co-director with Laura Mulvey of Riddles of the Sphinx and Crystal Gazing—was born in London in 1938 and died earlier this month in England. He is survived by his wife, the writer and artist Leslie Dick.

He co-wrote Michelangelo Antonioni’s The Passenger, authored several books—including Signs and Meaning in the Cinema and Paris Manhattan: Writings on Art—and was professor emeritus of film, television and digital media in the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television.

From top: Peter Wollen, photograph by Karen Knorr; Wollen, Paris Manhattan: Writings on Art; Wollen, Paris Hollywood: Writings on Film; Michelangelo Antonioni, The Passenger (1975); Laura Mulvey and Wollen, Riddles of the Sphinx (1977); Wollen, Friendship’s Death (1987), with Tilda Swinton and Bill Paterson; Wollen, photograph by Leslie Dick. Images courtesy and © the filmmakers, the author, the photographers, and Verso books.