PROGRAMMING & CURATING

Gartenberg Media Enterprises anchors its expertise in both film history and contemporary film, and has a long track record in programming a wide range of works, from major studio and independent cinema to international and experimental films, at a variety of international venues.

As the head of GME Jon Gartenberg regularly consults on  programming initiatives with various institutions in the US and Europe, that have included the BAMcinématek (Brooklyn), the Centre Pompidou (Paris), the Austrian Film Museum (Vienna), Cinemateca Portuguesa (Lisbon), Cinema Ritrovato (Bologna, Italy) and the Pesaro (Italy) and Locarno (Switzerland) Film Festivals. Projects have included tributes to filmmakers and production entities, including  Allan Dwan and Douglas Fairbanks, Jean-Gabriel Périot and Andy Warhol, and the Vitagraph Company, as well as thematic exhibitions centered around New York City Symphony Films and American Experimental Cinema. These projects augment the myriad exhibitions that Gartenberg initiated while working as a film curator for nearly two decades in The Museum of Modern Art (New York).

 

WARREN SONBERT

 
Warren Sonbert with his Bolex camera.

Warren Sonbert with his Bolex camera.

Following Warren Sonbert’s untimely death in 1995, Jon Gartenberg has served as the exclusive representative for the filmmaker’s estate in all matters concerning his creative career. He has devised and executed a comprehensive plan for furthering this artist’s legacy. All of Sonbert’s films are preserved at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and Harvard University has acquired a complete set of master prints of Sonbert’s films, in addition to his 16mm work reels and papers.

An international touring show retrospective of Sonbert’s films is available from Light Cone, the European distributor of his films. Posthumous retrospectives of Sonbert’s films have been presented at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York), SFMOMA (San Francisco), the Centre Pompidou (Paris), the Austrian Filmmuseum (Vienna), Anthology Film Archives (New York), Harvard University (Cambridge, Mass.), the Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto), the Cinemateca Portuguesa (Lisbon), International House (Philadelphia), the Tate Modern (London), the CINEMATEK (Brussels), The Wexner Center for the Arts (Columbus, Ohio), and the Jerusalem and Tel Aviv Cinémathèques (Israel). 


 

TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL

 
 

Jon Gartenberg was the experimental film programmer for the Tribeca Film Festival from 2003 - 2014, where he built a legacy of curating a strong representation of cutting-edge moving image works, a number of which garnered festival prizes.

 

 

"a pANORAMA OF AMERICAN EXPERIMENTAL NARRATIVES
IN THE NEW MILLENNIUM"

 
 

Gartenberg recently curated a centerpiece retrospective for the 50th anniversary of the Pesaro Festival of New Cinema, entitled “A Panorama of American Experimental Narratives in the New Millennium." This exhibition has also toured to the 8th Athens Avantgarde Film Festival in Greece, as well as to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. 

 

Jon Gartenberg interviewed at 8th Athens Avant-garde Film Festival (Athens, Greece).

 
 

 
 
 

THE FRAGILE EMULSION

 
DECASIA (Bill Morrison, 2002)

DECASIA (Bill Morrison, 2002)

 

Curator Jon Gartenberg provides an in-depth analysis of the ephemeral nature of the experimental filmmaking enterprise, focusing in particular on moving image works produced in 16mm celluloid format.  Both literally and metaphorically, these artists ingrain the fragility of human existence onto the sensitive nature of the film emulsion. Drawing from his extensive experience in archiving, distribution, and curating, Gartenberg articulate ways in which these ephemeral materials have been brought back to life for future generations.

 

ANDY WARHOL

 

At The Museum of Modern Art in the mid-1980’s, Jon Gartenberg spearheaded the first round of preservation of Andy Warhol’s films, in conjunction with an exhibition series at the Whitney Museum in 1988. This project led to Gartenberg's presentation of Warhol’s movies in France, Italy, Japan and Portugal in the early 1990’s. For an exhibition of Warhol’s films organized at BAM in 2003, Gartenberg authored an essay reflecting on his experiences in archiving Warhol’s films.

 

HOWL! ARTS PROJECT

Wholly Communion (1965), Peter Whitehead, featuring Allen Ginsberg

Wholly Communion (1965), Peter Whitehead, featuring Allen Ginsberg

 

For the 2009 edition of the Howl! Arts Festival, Gartenberg curated a special 7 part film series that linked film and video to the various underground creative movements transpiring in the East Village in fact and in spirit: poetry, music, theater, performance, and fine art painting as well as protests affirming sexuality, opposing gentrification, and supporting the flourishing of a subversive culture.

 

BROOKLYN ON FILM: THEN AND NOW

Little Fugitive (1953), Morris Engel, Ruth Orkin, and Ray Ashley, starring Richie Andrusco

Little Fugitive (1953), Morris Engel, Ruth Orkin, and Ray Ashley, starring Richie Andrusco

 

For the inauguration of the BAMcinématek, Jon Gartenberg curated a one time, exclusive multimedia event (comprising film, video clips, slides and audio) of a tribute to the Borough of Brooklyn spanning a century of cinema, organized around such icons as the Brooklyn Bridge and Coney Island, and such themes as the Brooklyn Dodgers and Integration, and Art and Industry – Pride and Disaster.

 

RELATED ARTICLES AND INTERVIEWS

 
 
 
  • Jon Gartenberg discussing experimental documentary Native New Yorker, TFF '06 prize winning film.