October 2025 Roundup
/Today we recap screenings, events, and celebrations from October related to GME titles, artists, and colleagues. Notably, GME announced a number of new titles for distribution, including: five silent short films from Undercrank Productions, three unsung classics of Cantonese cinema recently rediscovered by the Asian Film Archive, five early British films by Alfred Hitchcock, and two overlooked New Hollywood “bookends” restored and re-released by Vinegar Syndrome. GME also announced the distribution of Warren Sonbert’s early films — for rental on digital formats — through The Film-Makers’ Cooperative, where they were originally distributed on 16mm beginning in the 1960s.
October 2nd — GME
In celebration of Silent Movie Day, Gartenberg Media announced our new partnership with Undercrank Productions to distribute rare silent films to North American academic institutions on digital formats. Undercrank Productions was founded in 2013 by silent film historian and composer Ben Model. Undercrank works with archives and private collectors to bring undiscovered classics of silent cinema from film cans to film fans. Each digital restoration has been spearheaded by Model and is presented in new digital scans in either HD or 2K, and features new musical scores on piano or theatre organ.
October 7th — New York Public Library
On October 7th, the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts screened experimental works from the Reserve Film and Video Collection that explored the history of queer filmmakers. The program, titled What’s Happening? Affirmations: A Celebration of the LGBTQ+ Gaze, included rare 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 was 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 featured films that carve out creative queer identities from an historically heteronormative society in celebratory fashion.
October 8th — GME
Beginning October 8th, GME was pleased to make available three rediscovered classics of Cantonese cinema for exhibition rental and sale to cultural institutions worldwide. 南洋三部曲 (THE NANYANG TRILOGY) is a triptych of films filmed in Singapore and Malaysia that was produced by the Kong Ngee Company in 1957. The titles contained within this trilogy are 椰林月 (MOON OVER MALAYA), 血染相思谷 (BLOOD STAINS THE VALLEY OF LOVE), and 唐山阿嫂 (CHINA WIFE). These films were notable in their time for jumpstarting the careers of teen idols Patrick Tse Yin, Pasty Kar Ling, and Nam Hung. Long elusive, the digital restoration of these films was spearheaded by the Asian Film Archive beginning in 2017.
October 14th — GME
Gartenberg Media Enterprises mourned 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. In homage to both Ken and Flo Jacobs, GME offered Ken’s film CYCLOPEAN 3D: LIFE WITH A BEAUTIFUL WOMAN for viewing, beginning on October 14th, in the Adrienne Mancia Streaming Room. CYCLOPEAN 3D was produced by GME in 2012 through the Experimental Filmmakers Production Fund, and later presented at the International Film Festival of Rotterdam by GME President Jon Gartenberg.
October 15th — GME
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. 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.
October 22nd — GME
On October 22nd, GME celebrated Hitchcocktober with five lesser-known, early films by Alfred Hitchcock, made in his native England prior to his relocation to Hollywood in the early 1940s. These features, distributed by GME as Digital Site Licenses (as well as on DVD and Blu-Ray) in conjunction with Kino Lorber, find the director working in various genres outside of the thriller territory that eventually made him a household name and earned him the moniker “The Master of Suspense.”
October 23rd — GME
On October 23rd, GME and The Film-Makers’ Cooperative announced that the new digital restorations of Warren Sonbert's early films will screen at the FMC on December 5th, where they were originally distributed on 16mm beginning in the 1960s. These digitizations are now available to rent from the Coop, both individually and as a touring package. Tickets for this event are now available at filmmakerscoop.ecwid.com. Note: seating is limited.
MARK STREET’S FILM CITY WALK SCREENING On 16mm AT THE NEW YORK FILM-MAKERS’ COOPERATIVE ON OCTOBER 28th, 2025.
October 28th — The Film-Makers’ Cooperative
On Tuesday October 28th, The Film-Makers’ Cooperative presented a program of recent city-themed films by Mark Street, as well as an accompanying program of older city-themed works from the Coop’s collection co-curated by Street and GME associate Matt McKinzie. While working as a programmer at the Tribeca Film Festival from 2003 to 2014, GME President Jon Gartenberg curated numerous films by Street, including FULTON FISH MARKET, A YEAR, and ROCKAWAY. Gartenberg later joined Street on a day of filming in New York City, as part of an experience with a filmmaker that he won at an auction at The Film-Makers’ Cooperative. The resulting 16mm work — which Street titled CITY WALK — is a unique, one-of-a-kind item in GME’s archive of experimental filmmakers’ work. CITY WALK was included as a surprise addition to Street’s program at the Coop. Gartenberg was unable to attend, but wrote a heartfelt note about the experience of making CITY WALK with Street, which McKinzie read on his behalf.
October 30th — GME
Beginning on October 30th, GME was pleased to distribute new 4K restorations by Vinegar Syndrome of two seminal New York City thrillers — Joseph Cates’ WHO KILLED TEDDY BEAR? and Paul Morrissey’s MIXED BLOOD — to North American cultural institutions as Digital Site Licenses. Released in 1965 and 1984 respectively, WHO KILLED TEDDY BEAR? and MIXED BLOOD both bookend and typify the "New Hollywood" era of the late 1960s and 1970s. Their transgressive explorations of violence, sexuality, social taboos and urban dysfunction emulate such better-known films as MIDNIGHT COWBOY (1969), THE PANIC IN NEEDLE PARK (1971), and TAXI DRIVER (1975).
TOP: MARILYN MAYE, PERFORMING AT 54 BELOW, FLANKED BY TV MONITORS DISPLAYING RAIMONDO BOREA’S PHOTO OF JOHNNY CARSON AND STEVE ALLEN. BOTTOM: BOREA’S PHOTO.
October 30th — 54 Below
On Thursday, October 30th, GME President Jon Gartenberg, GME Fine Arts Curator David Deitch, and GME Associate Matt McKinzie attended a live musical performance by celebrated singer Marilyn Maye at 54 Below. Maye is a Grammy-nominated performer who was discovered by Steve Allen in 1963. She went on to appear on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson a record 76 times, the most of any other musical guest. She also recorded a number of successful albums for RCA in the 1960s, and at the age of 97, continues to perform live. Throughout her show at 54 Below, Maye shared clips from her appearances on The Tonight Show as well as stills from the show itself. One of the stills is an on-set photo taken by Raimondo Borea. Borea, a freelance photographer, was afforded exclusive behind-the-scenes access to The Tonight Show, where he captured candid portraits of the show’s hosts and celebrity guests. The Borea photo featured in Maye’s show is from the mid-1960s and captures host Johnny Carson and guest Steve Allen sharing a laugh. GME represents Borea’s photographic oeuvre and is committed to resurrecting the career of this important yet overlooked artist. GME recently partnered with Getty Images to make Borea’s photographs of The Today Show and The Tonight Show available for licensing. Please contact info@gartenbergmedia.com for all inquiries related to the Borea photography collection.