WHIPLASH (US, 1995—97, Warren Sonbert)

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WHIPLASH is the final film by Warren Sonbert, a globe-spanning collage haunted by themes of mortality. Sonbert made WHIPLASH in the years following his HIV diagnosis, and passed away before the film could be completed.

STILL: WARREN SONBERT’S WHIPLASH (1995—97). SOURCE: GARTENBERG MEDIA ENTERPRISES.

As noted by Jon Gartenberg: “During the years preceding his death, Sonbert channeled his energy into making WHIPLASH. His vision and motor skills impaired, he gave his companion, Ascension Serrano, detailed instructions about the assembly of specific shots and the music to be used as a counterpoint to the images. Before his death in 1995, he asked filmmaker Jeff Scher (a former student of Sonbert's at Bard) to complete the film.”

WHIPLASH was also completed with assistance from the Film Preservation Project of the Estate Project for Artists with AIDS, of which GME President Jon Gartenberg was Program Director. The film premiered posthumously at the New York Film Festival in 1997.

WHIPLASH is elegiac meditation on [Sonbert’s] own mortality. Sonbert projected into the film evidence of the deterioration of his physical and motor skills: for instance, the roller skater stumbles and the shots of the bullfight through curved arches of the arena parallel his own retina’s narrowing field of vision. —Jon Gartenberg

STILL: WARREN SONBERT’S WHIPLASH (1995—97). SOURCE: GARTENBERG MEDIA ENTERPRISES.

WHIPLASH
(US, 1995—97)

Director: Warren Sonbert

  • 20 minutes
  • 16mm
  • Color and B&W
  • Sound
Distribution Format/s: DSL/Downloadable 1080p .mp4 file on server

Published By: GME

Institutional Price: $250

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