Sonbert Comes Home to the Film-Makers' Cooperative: The Early Films (1966—1973) Now Available for Rental

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Sonbert Comes Home to the Film-Makers' Cooperative: The Early Films (1966—1973) Now Available for Rental

Gartenberg Media Enterprises previously announced the sale of new 2K digital restorations of Warren Sonbert’s early films for acquisition by universities, museums, and other cultural institutions worldwide.

Sonbert’s early films — spanning 1966’s AMPHETAMINE through to 1973’s CARRIAGE TRADE — are also now available for rental on digital formats for the first time from The Film-Makers’ Cooperative, where the artist originally distributed his films on 16mm beginning in the 1960s. The return of these films to this historic organization will therefore be a “homecoming” for Sonbert. Stay tuned for the launch of this touring package, premiering at The Film-Makers' Cooperative on November 15th.

These seven early films can be rented from the Film-Makers’ Cooperative individually. Five of those films (AMPHETAMINE, WHERE DID OUR LOVE GO?, HALL OF MIRRORS, THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL, and CARRIAGE TRADE) can also be rented together as a touring package.

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Ken Jacobs (1933—2025)

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Ken Jacobs (1933—2025)

Gartenberg Media Enterprises mourns the loss of legendary filmmaker Ken Jacobs, who passed away on October 5th, 2025, at the age of 92. A founding member of The Film-Makers' Cooperative, Millennium Film Workshop, and the Film Department at Binghamton University, Jacobs was a titan of the New York and global avant-garde filmmaking community for over 60 years.

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September 2025 Roundup Related to GME Artists, Titles, and Colleagues

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September 2025 Roundup Related to GME Artists, Titles, and Colleagues

Today we recap screenings, events, and celebrations from September related to GME titles, artists, and colleagues. At the beginning of the month, GME announced our shift to focusing on the distribution of moving image works available as Digital Site Licenses (DSLs). As part of this transition, we announced our distribution of Steve Bilich’s experimental short documentary NATIVE NEW YORKER as well as the early films of Warren Sonbert and films directed by Pierre Clémenti.

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TONIGHT: Queer Avant-Garde Films Screen at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, co-curated by Jon Gartenberg and Elena Rossi-Snook

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TONIGHT: Queer Avant-Garde Films Screen at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, co-curated by Jon Gartenberg and Elena Rossi-Snook

Tonight, October 7th, at 5:30pm in the Bruno Walter Auditorium, the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts will screen experimental works from the Reserve Film and Video Collection that explores the history of queer filmmakers. The program, titled What’s Happening? Affirmations: A Celebration of the LGBTQ+ Gaze, includes 16mm prints from Jack Smith and Gregory Markopoulos as well as an important selection of films by women filmmakers (such as Barbara Hammer and Sadie Benning) and a seminal work by African-American artist Marlon Riggs.

This event is being held in recognition of LGBTQ+ History Month and is part of a larger series that looks at “deep cuts” from the Reserve Film and Video Collection's historic 16mm film and video holdings. Co-curated by GME President Jon Gartenberg and RFVC Film Collection Specialist Elena Rossi-Snook, this screening features films that carve out creative queer identities from an historically heteronormative society in celebratory fashion.

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GME Presents The Pierre Clémenti Collection

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GME Presents The Pierre Clémenti Collection

Gartenberg Media Enterprises is pleased to announce our distribution of the films of Pierre Clémenti as new 2K digital restorations to North American academic institutions.

Though best known as an actor, Clémenti's directorial work constitutes a fascinating and long overlooked chapter in 1960s avant-garde film history. To inquire about the institutional acquisition of Clémenti's films, click here.

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GME Presents The Warren Sonbert Collection

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GME Presents The Warren Sonbert Collection

Warren Sonbert (1947—1995) was one of the seminal figures working in American experimental film. His early films — from 1966’s AMPHETAMINE through to 1973’s CARRIAGE TRADE — are currently available from GME on an exclusive basis as new 2K digital restorations for acquisition by universities, museums, and other cultural institutions worldwide.

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GME Presents Steve Bilich's NATIVE NEW YORKER as a Digital Site License

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GME Presents Steve Bilich's NATIVE NEW YORKER as a Digital Site License

Shot before, during and after 9/11,  Steve Bilich's experimental short documentary Native New Yorker took several years of filming with a 1924 hand-cranked Cine-Kodak camera. It follows Shaman Trail Scout 'Coyote' as he takes a journey that transcends time, from Inwood Park (where the island was traded for beads and booze), down a native trail (now “Broadway”), and into lower Manhattan (a sacred burial ground, now including the newest natives of this island empire). 24 years since the 9/11 attacks,  Bilich's film remains as powerful and relevant as ever.

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Cool Off with SWISS TOUR, Now Playing in the Adrienne Mancia Streaming Room

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Cool Off with SWISS TOUR, Now Playing in the Adrienne Mancia Streaming Room

Over the past several months, GME has paid homage to Adrienne Mancia by showcasing films in the Adrienne Mancia Streaming Room that she championed throughout her prolific career as a film exhibitor and curator. We now turn our focus to one of our company’s major projects: the excavation of libraries of celluloid films that have been abandoned in warehouses which GME has subsequently repatriated to archives for preservation and exhibition. For lighter, end-of-summer fare, we present Leopold Lindtberg's SWISS TOUR (1949) — a project that cuts across the various facets and activities of our company, including film archiving, distribution, and exhibition.

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Walther Ruttmann's Silent Classic BERLIN: SYMPHONY OF A CITY Opens MoMA's Silent Movie Week

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Walther Ruttmann's Silent Classic BERLIN: SYMPHONY OF A CITY Opens MoMA's Silent Movie Week

From July 30th to August 5th, The Museum of Modern Art will present its third annual Silent Movie Week. This year’s programming is comprised of seven recent silent film restorations screened over seven consecutive evenings. MoMA’s week-long celebration commences with the Museum’s digital restoration of Walther Ruttmann’s BERLIN: SYMPHONY OF A CITY (1927), which will be shown with live musical accompaniment in the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden. GME distributes BERLIN: SYMPHONY OF A CITY to North American universities as a DVD publication that also includes Ruttmann’s 1929 feature MELODY OF THE WORLD, and 12 short films by Ruttmann as bonus features. Also included in this release are a selection of Ruttmann’s paintings and drawings, lobby cards and original artwork for BERLIN: SYMPHONY OF A CITY, and an 86-minute long radio feature from 1987 about Ruttmann’s life and career.

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Jim McBride's BREATHLESS Screens at the Roxy Cinema Tomorrow; McBride's DAVID HOLZMAN'S DIARY Screens This Month in the Adrienne Mancia Streaming Room

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Jim McBride's BREATHLESS Screens at the Roxy Cinema Tomorrow; McBride's DAVID HOLZMAN'S DIARY Screens This Month in the Adrienne Mancia Streaming Room

Tomorrow, July 5th, at 5pm, Jim McBride’s controversial 1983 remake of Jean-Luc Godard’s 1960 French New Wave classic BREATHLESS screens at the Roxy Cinema in Tribeca. McBride co-wrote the screenplay for BREATHLESS with L.M. Kit Carson, who starred in McBride’s feature directorial debut, the groundbreaking 1967 “mockumentary” DAVID HOLZMAN’S DIARY. Adrienne Mancia, a longtime friend and colleague of GME President Jon Gartenberg, championed McBride’s debut during her time as a curator in the The Museum of Modern Art’s film department, wherein she redefined the field of film programming by showcasing new and innovative works by emerging artists.

DAVID HOLZMAN’S DIARY streams this month in the Adrienne Mancia Streaming Room. Click here to view McBride’s film and read an excerpt from Gartenberg’s program note about DAVID HOLZMAN’S DIARY, written for the occasion of the film’s inclusion in MoMA’s 2023 Adrienne Mancia tribute.

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