October 02, 2024

ZANZIBAR Film Collective

October 02, 2024/ Jon Gartenberg

During the volatile late 1960s in Paris, the filmmaking collective known as Zanzibar began creating outsider movies, many of which are now lost or neglected. Though all members were cinephiles, they had only modest filmmaking experience. Still, the Zanzibar films are infused with the countercultural energy and restlessness of the times, thanks to the group’s refreshing lack of experience and regard for cinematic convention. GME distributes a number of films that emerged from the Zanzibar collective on DSL and DVD to the North American institutional market. These films have continued relevance among cinephiles today; notably, Metrograph mounted the series One More Time: The Cinema of Daniel Pommereulle last month, which featured a number of Zanzibar titles that we also distribute.

September 18, 2024

Naughty Films at the Library: Avant-Garde Works in the NYPL's Reserve Film and Video Collection

September 18, 2024/ Jon Gartenberg

Thursday, September 19th, at 5:30pm at the Bruno Walter Auditorium in the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. Curator Jon Gartenberg, in collaboration with NYPL Film Collection Specialist Elena Rossi-Snook, will present a program of avant-garde films from the Library's Reserve Film and Video Collection that deals with sex and censorship. After the screening, Gartenberg and Rossi-Snook will discuss the history and interpretation of these rarely-screened works. This event is free to attend and can be RSVPed here.

September 12, 2024

August 2024 Roundup Related to GME Titles, Artists, and Colleagues

September 12, 2024/ Jon Gartenberg

As the summer season winds down, we reflect on screenings, events, and celebrations from August related to GME titles, artists, and colleagues. Notably, GME President Jon Gartenberg curated a program of politically-trenchant New York city symphony films that screened at Allied Productions Artist Space, while GME associate Matt McKinzie included two films by Warren Sonbert in a program of 1960s queer avant-garde shorts featuring Motown music at Spectacle Theater.

August 28, 2024

Two Warren Sonbert Films Screen in "The Motown Sound and the Queer Underground," curated by GME associate Matt McKinzie

August 28, 2024/ Jon Gartenberg

On Friday, August 30th, at 7:30pm, Warren Sonbert’s first two films AMPHETAMINE (1966) and WHERE DID OUR LOVE GO? (1966) will screen at Spectacle Theater (124 S. 3rd St.) in the program The Motown Sound and the Queer Underground, curated by GME associate Matt McKinzie as part of the series Sonic Visions: Experiments in Cinema and Music, presented by the Film-Makers’ Cooperative. Sonbert’s Estate has previously named GME as the custodian of his legacy, and since the artist’s 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.

August 16, 2024

Watch Jon Gartenberg Introduce His Program of Politically-Trenchant New York City Symphony Films at Allied Productions Project Space

August 16, 2024/ Jon Gartenberg

On August 9th, 2024, at 7pm, GME President Jon Gartenberg presented a program of politically-trenchant New York city symphony films, spanning 1984 to 2006, at Allied Productions Project Space (368 East 8th Street). The program featured Steve Bilich’s NATIVE NEW YORKER (2005) and Jem Cohen’s NYC WEIGHTS AND MEASURES (2006) digitally, and Jack Waters’ BERLIN/NY (1984), Abigail Child’s B/SIDE (1996), and Jim Hubbard’s ELEGY IN THE STREETS (1989) on 16mm. To view Gartenberg’s introduction to the program — and to hear artist and co-founder of Allied Productions, Jack Waters, introduce Gartenberg — watch the video here.

August 13, 2024

July 2024 Roundup Related to GME Titles, Artists, and Colleagues

August 13, 2024/ Jon Gartenberg

It may be the dog days of summer, but that hasn’t stopped GME from keeping busy. Today, we reflect on screenings, events, and celebrations from July related to our multifaceted projects. Notably, an archival gem relevant to MoMA’s month-long Powell and Pressburger retrospective was unearthed from GME President Jon Gartenberg’s papers, and a true crime film by James Benning (whose films we exclusively distribute to North American universities) screened at Anthology Film Archives.

August 09, 2024

REMINDER: Jon Gartenberg's "Politically-Trenchant New York City Symphony Films (1984-2006)" screens TONIGHT at 8pm at Allied Productions Project Space

August 09, 2024/ Jon Gartenberg

REMINDER: Jon Gartenberg's program Politically-Trenchant New York City Symphony Films (1984-2006) screens TONIGHT at 8pm at Allied Productions Project Space (368 East 8th Street, Storefront West). Read on to learn about Gartenberg's commitment to excavating and exhibiting city symphony films, dating back to the early 1970s.

August 06, 2024

Jon Gartenberg Presents a Suite of Politically-Trenchant New York City Symphony Films at Allied Productions Project Space on August 9th

August 06, 2024/ Jon Gartenberg

On Friday, August 9th, 2024, at 8pm, curator Jon Gartenberg will present five politically-trenchant New York city symphony films at Allied Productions Project Space (368 East 8th Street, Storefront West, near Avenue C, on the ground floor). To RSVP to this event, click here.

July 30, 2024

Powell, Pressburger, and Sonbert: How RUDE AWAKENING Was Influenced by The Archers

July 30, 2024/ Jon Gartenberg

On the occasion of Cinema Unbound: The Creative Worlds of Powell and Pressburger, a month-long retrospective at The Museum of Modern Art showcasing the work of directors Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, GME reflects on Warren Sonbert’s 1976 polyvalent montage film RUDE AWAKENING, which was directly inspired by the legendary British filmmaking duo. Powell and Pressburger — the creative partnership behind such classics as THE RED SHOES (1946) and BLACK NARCISSUS (1947) — produced and distributed their work under their company “The Archers,” which was denoted at the beginning of their films with a logo featuring an arrow landing in the center of a bullseye. Sonbert explicitly echoes Powell and Pressburger’s logo in RUDE AWAKENING by starting the film with a brief shot of a young man shooting a bow and arrow, prior to his montage footage commencing.

July 23, 2024

James Benning's LANDSCAPE SUICIDE Screens at Anthology Film Archives Later This Month

July 23, 2024/ Jon Gartenberg

On July 24th, at 9pm, and August 2nd, at 6:30pm, James Benning’s LANDSCAPE SUICIDE (1986) — which GME distributes to North American universities as both a DVD and DVD/DSL bundle — screens at Anthology Film Archives in the series Verbatim. A preeminent formalist filmmaker whose lengthy and distinguished career dates back to the early 1970s, GME is proud to be the sole distributor of Benning’s films to the North American institutional market. In addition to LANDSCAPE SUICIDE, GME distributes the following Benning titles as both DVDs and DVD/DSL bundles: 11 X 14, ONE WAY BOOGIE WOOGIE, 27 YEARS LATER (1977—2012), GRAND OPERA (1979), AMERICAN DREAMS (LOST & FOUND) (1984), O PANAMA (1985), DESERET (1995), FOUR CORNERS (1997), his CALIFORNIA TRILOGY (1999—2001), CASTING A GLANCE (2007), RR (2007), NATURAL HISTORY (2009), and RUHR (2014).

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