Defiance and Documentation: Four Films by Roger Jacoby

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Defiance and Documentation: Four Films by Roger Jacoby

Roger Jacoby (1944—1985) was a pioneering experimental filmmaker whose wildly improvisational, hand-processed works showcased a painterly and diaristic approach and, in his last films, a fervent political consciousness. His filmmaking career spanned from 1972 until his untimely death due to complications from AIDS in 1985, during which he completed eight films. Gartenberg Media is pleased to distribute four of these films — 1974’s DREAM SPHINX OPERA, 1976’s L’AMICO FRIED’S GLAMOROUS FRIENDS, 1980’s HOW TO BE A HOMOSEXUAL PART I, and Jacoby’s final film, 1982’s HOW TO BE A HOMOSEXUAL PART II — as Digital Site Licenses to academic and cultural institutions worldwide. These titles were recently restored by the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive through the National Film Preservation Foundation’s Avant-Garde Masters Grant.

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HOW TO BE A HOMOSEXUAL PART II (US, 1982, Roger Jacoby)

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HOW TO BE A HOMOSEXUAL PART II (US, 1982, Roger Jacoby)

Like its predecessor, HOW TO BE A HOMOSEXUAL PART II sees Roger Jacoby fuse his distinctive hand-processed visual style with a newfound political consciousness. This film in particular, made shortly following Jacoby’s HIV diagnosis, exemplifies the adage “the personal is political.” It is undoubtedly his most intimate and moving work.

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HOW TO BE A HOMOSEXUAL PART I (US, 1980, Roger Jacoby)

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HOW TO BE A HOMOSEXUAL PART I (US, 1980, Roger Jacoby)

”HOW TO BE A HOMOSEXUAL began, said Jacoby, as ‘excerpts from a compilation journal work begun in 1979. It is an ironic title — there's nothing sexually explicit about the film.’ But the film is richly sensual... In every scene, the emulsion captures the images, enhances, then betrays, overpowers and destroys them, as the patterns and color reshape the filmed reality into a different landscape.” —Kathleen Tyner, Cinematograph

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L'AMICO FRIED'S GLAMOROUS FRIENDS (US, 1976, Roger Jacoby)

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L'AMICO FRIED'S GLAMOROUS FRIENDS (US, 1976, Roger Jacoby)

"In L'AMICO FRIED'S GLAMOROUS FRIENDS, which is built around a pas de deux by Ondine and Sally Dixon... the relationship to traditional dramatic narrative is rather obvious; the actors are in well-defined roles and are recognizable in them, and the films are as such accessible. More or less. And it is this more or less quality in which I am most interested; because the drama isn't the main object of his presentation, rather a component in Jacoby's total formal approach to film." —Carmen Vigil, Museum of Modern Art program notes, Field of Vision

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DREAM SPHINX OPERA (US, 1974, Roger Jacoby)

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DREAM SPHINX OPERA (US, 1974, Roger Jacoby)

Ondine and Sally Dixon “star” as ecstatic 19th century lovers in Roger Jacoby’s first home-processed film. Nickelodeon imagery, school children of Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Botanical Conservatory are seen throughout.

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THE LOVES OF PHARAOH (Germany, 1922, Ernst Lubitsch)

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THE LOVES OF PHARAOH (Germany, 1922, Ernst Lubitsch)

Gartenberg Media is pleased to present Ernst Lubitsch's landmark work of German silent cinema, 1922's THE LOVES OF PHARAOH, as a Digital Site License, now available to North American academic institutions. To inquire about purchasing this title for institutional use, please contact sales@gartenbergmedia.com.

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DAYS IN SINTRA (Brazil, 2008, Paula Gaitán)

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DAYS IN SINTRA (Brazil, 2008, Paula Gaitán)

In 2008, GME President Jon Gartenberg programmed Paula Gaitán’s experimental documentary DAYS IN SINTRA at the Tribeca Film Festival. 18 years later, GME is pleased to distribute Gaitán’s landmark film as a Digital Site License to academic and cultural institutions in the United States.

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FRAGMENT (Southeast Asia, 2015, Various Directors)

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FRAGMENT (Southeast Asia, 2015, Various Directors)

GME is pleased to distribute the new omnibus film FRAGMENT, commissioned by the Asian Film Archive. This release is an important expansion of GME's deeper reach into Asian cinema and contemporary short and experimental films, including works from Singapore, Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines, among other countries.

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THE SUBURBAN TRILOGY (US, 2004—11, Abigail Child)

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THE SUBURBAN TRILOGY (US, 2004—11, Abigail Child)

In THE SUBURBAN TRILOGY (2011), Abigail Child brings together three separately created films – CAKE AND STEAK (2004), THE FUTURE IS BEHIND YOU (200—5), and SURF AND TURF (2011). These three films provide a multifaceted and incisive commentary on female identity.

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WHIPLASH (US, 1995—97, Warren Sonbert)

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WHIPLASH (US, 1995—97, Warren Sonbert)

WHIPLASH is the final film by Warren Sonbert, a globe-spanning collage haunted by themes of mortality. Sonbert made WHIPLASH in the years following his HIV diagnosis; his vision and motor skills impaired, he gave his companion, Ascension Serrano, detailed instructions about the assembly of specific shots and the music to be used as a counterpoint to the images. Before his death in 1995, he asked filmmaker Jeff Scher (a former student of Sonbert's at Bard) to complete the film. WHIPLASH was also completed with assistance from the Film Preservation Project of the Estate Project for Artists with AIDS, of which GME President Jon Gartenberg was Program Director. The film premiered posthumously at the New York Film Festival in 1997.

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SHORT FUSE (US, 1992, Warren Sonbert)

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SHORT FUSE (US, 1992, Warren Sonbert)

Warren Sonbert described DIVIDED LOYALTIES as a film “about art versus industry and their various crossovers.” According to film critic Amy Taubin, “there is a clear analogy between the filmmaker and the dancers, acrobats and skilled workers who make up so much of his subject matter.”

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FRIENDLY WITNESS (US, 1989, Warren Sonbert)

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FRIENDLY WITNESS (US, 1989, Warren Sonbert)

Curator Jon Gartenberg writes: “In FRIENDLY WITNESS, Sonbert returned, after 20 years, to sound. 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).”

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HONOR AND OBEY (US, 1988, Warren Sonbert)

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HONOR AND OBEY (US, 1988, Warren Sonbert)

In Warren Sonbert's HONOR AND OBEY, soldiers march in formation, a tiger stalks through the snow, religious processions wind through the streets, and palm trees wave in a tropical breeze. As brightly colored images of authority figures blend into scenes of cocktail parties, this 21-minute silent film flows along with the grace of a musical score built on complex tensions hidden among notes.

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THE CUP AND THE LIP (US, 1986, Warren Sonbert)

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THE CUP AND THE LIP (US, 1986, Warren Sonbert)

Warren Sonbert’s THE CUP AND THE LIP screened in the 1987 Whitney Biennalie, where it was described as “continu[ing] his series of cinematic diaries, composed of sequences and shots recorded during his travels. One of his most striking color films, THE CUP AND THE LIP portrays people at ease as private individuals and at attention as representatives of state. Although personal in tone, it is a political text with mediates on the nature of authority.”

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A WOMAN'S TOUCH (US, 1983, Warren Sonbert)

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A WOMAN'S TOUCH (US, 1983, Warren Sonbert)

A WOMAN’S TOUCH demonstrates the evolution of Sonbert's work from an in-camera editing style to the perfection of a montage strategy. The film is also inspired by Alfred Hitchcock’s MARNIE (1964), which features a number of motifs; most notably, the color red. In A WOMAN’S TOUCH, the color red is seen throughout much of the film.

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NOBLESSE OBLIGE (US, 1981, Warren Sonbert)

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NOBLESSE OBLIGE (US, 1981, Warren Sonbert)

NOBLESSE OBLIGE is masterfully edited work featuring imagery Sonbert filmed of protests in San Francisco following the murders of Mayor George Moscone and Councilman Harvey Milk at the hands of Dan White. Sonbert modeled the structure of this film on Douglas Sirk’s TARNISHED ANGELS (1957). Sirk himself appears at the end of the film, engaging in conversation, over coffee, with filmmakers Nathaniel Dorsky and Jerome Hiler.

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DIVIDED LOYALTIES (US, 1978, Warren Sonbert)

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DIVIDED LOYALTIES (US, 1978, Warren Sonbert)

Warren Sonbert described DIVIDED LOYALTIES as a film “about art versus industry and their various crossovers.” According to film critic Amy Taubin, “there is a clear analogy between the filmmaker and the dancers, acrobats and skilled workers who make up so much of his subject matter.”

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RUDE AWAKENING (US, 1976, Warren Sonbert)

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RUDE AWAKENING (US, 1976, Warren Sonbert)

Warren Sonbert described his 1976 polyvalent montage film RUDE AWAKENING as being “about Western civilization and its work; activity ethic and the viability of performing functions and activities.”

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The Warren Sonbert Collection

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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 as Digital Site Licenses (DSLs). Sonbert’s montage films will become available from GME later in 2025.

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