Jon Gartenberg To Present Jim McBride's DAVID HOLZMAN'S DIARY At MoMA As Part of Adrienne Mancia Tribute

STILL: L.M. KIT CARSON IN JIM MCBRIDE’S DAVID HOLZMAN’S DIARY (1967). SOURCE: SCREEN SLATE.

On November 24th, 2023, at 1pm, GME President Jon Gartenberg will introduce Jim McBride’s DAVID HOLZMAN’S DIARY (1967) at the Museum of Modern Art, as part of their Adrienne Mancia tribute, which runs from November through December 2023.

Gartenberg was a close friend and colleague of Mancia’s and worked with her in MoMA’s film department in the 1970s and ‘80s. During this time, Mancia helped revolutionize the job of the film curator by cultivating cutting-edge programs that highlighted international, independent, and experimental filmmakers, as well as little-seen cinematic and archival treasures from around the globe. DAVID HOLZMAN’S DIARY — an idiosyncratic satire of diaristic, cinéma vérité documentaries — was among the many daring and unconventional titles Mancia championed. As noted in Gartenberg’s program notes for this film:

Adrienne Mancia was instrumental in the creation of the “Cineprobe” series at MoMA in 1968, a forum for experimental and independent filmmakers to show their films and interact with the audience in Q&A sessions. The films presented ranged from mesmerizing abstract movies by experimental filmmakers to the artful independent gay sexploitation films of Fred Halstead. The first film shown in this series was DAVID HOLZMAN’S DIARY, by first-time director Jim McBride… This ostensible documentary stars an aspiring filmmaker named David, who lives on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. With his 16mm camera in tow, he creates a film diary in his apartment and on the city streets. Only during the film’s credits is it revealed that an actor (L. M. Kit Carson) plays David, the film’s cinematography is by Michael Wadleigh… and McBride is the director. [The film] is a deft hybrid of documentary and fiction, and one of the most inventive movies about the act of filmmaking. As evidence of Mancia’s close professional and personal relationship with film directors worldwide, McBride would later cast [her]… in his 1974 sex comedy A HARD DAY FOR ARCHIE.

In this excerpt from DAVID HOLZMAN’S DIARY, courtesy of Lorber Films, the protagonist, David, takes the viewer on a journey through his TV watching habits over the course of one night:

All tickets for this screening will become available on November 17th, and can be accessed by clicking on this link.