In conjunction with the retrospective of artist - filmmaker Jonas Mekas at the Jewish Museum, films originally programmed at the Jewish Museum by Mekas in 1969 are being shown through the end of this month. Not shown in the current series, but screened back in 1969 was Warren Sonbert’s THE TUXEDO THEATRE. Beginning in 1968, Sonbert abandoned his earlier filmmaking style, which had brought him such notoriety in the public press while he was still a teenager. He began using his hand-held Bolex camera to enlarge his field of vision beyond New York, recording footage as he traveled around the world. THE TUXEDO THEATRE offers evidence of Sonbert’s first steps in developing his unique style of montage, which subsequently resulted in his magnum opus, CARRIAGE TRADE. Attached is the original program note about THE TUXEDO THEATRE that was written by P. Adams Sitney, noted author and professor of experimental cinema. Also include is a clip from the opening of the film, showing different modes of movement and transportation, thematically underscoring this stylistic shift.

The Estate of Warren Sonbert has previously named GME as the custodian of the legacy of experimental filmmaker Warren Sonbert (1947-1995). Since his untimely passing, GME has worked on an extensive project to preserve, distribute and curate career retrospectives of his films on an international basis, as well as publish original documents from the paper archive of his writings, which are now housed at Harvard University.

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