Warren Sonbert's FRIENDLY WITNESS Screens at NYU

OFFICIAL FLYER AND PROGRAM NOTES FOR NYU MIAP STUDENT ANDREW REICHEL’S 9/22/2023 PROGRAM “THREE BY THREE BY THREE HUNDRED: RARE 16MM FILMS.” SOURCE: NYU TISCH SCHOOL OF THE ARTS.

On Friday, September 22nd, 2023, at 7pm, Warren Sonbert’s 1989 “musical montage” film FRIENDLY WITNESS will screen at New York University, at 721 Broadway Room 674, as part of Moving Image Archiving and Preservation (MIAP) student Andrew Reichel’s program Three by Three by Three Hundred: Rare 16mm Films.

This screening “is an opportunity to view titles that can currenlty only be seen in their original analog medium. Six of the films come from NYU’s collection… [but] the program also features rarities from outside NYU’s collection in the form of the single scene filmed for Willard Maas’ unfinished St. Teresa project, Owen Land’s final evangelical film,” and Sonbert’s film.

Sonbert’s FRIENDLY WITNESS is described by GME President Jon Gartenberg as follows:

Sonbert returned, after 20 years, to sound [with this film]. In the first section of the film, he deftly edits a swirling montage of images — suggestive of loves gained and love lost — to the tunes of four rock songs. ‘At times the words of the songs seem to relate directly to the images we see... at other times words and images seem to be working almost at cross-purposes or relating only ironically. Similarly, at times the image rhythm and music rhythm appear to dance together, while at others they go their separate ways’ (Fred Camper).”

STILL: FROM WARREN SONBERT’S FRIENDLY WITNESS (1989). SOURCE: TATE MODERN.

GME represents the work and legacy of Warren Sonbert, and currently distributes five of his films as DSL downloads: AMPHETAMINE (1966), THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL (1967), HALL OF MIRRORS (1966), THE TENTH LEGION (1967), and WHERE DID OUR LOVE GO? (1966). FRIENDLY WITNESS, along with the rest of Sonbert’s montage films, will become available for institutional acquisition and rental through GME in the near future.

Reichel’s NYU program featuring Sonbert’s FRIENDLY WITNESS is free and open to the public, with refreshments provided after the screening. Visit NYU Tisch’s website to RSVP for this exciting event, and to read Reichel’s program notes in their entirety!