May 2025 Roundup Related to GME Titles, Artists, and Colleagues
/Today we recap screenings, events, and celebrations from May related to GME titles, artists, and colleagues. Notably, four films by Warren Sonbert screened at Shotgun Cinema in Missouri, and stills from Sonbert’s debut film AMPHETAMINE were featured in Maurice Nagington’s book The Moral Lessons of Chemsex: A Critical Approach, now available in print. In terms of GME’s photography collections, we publicly announced our co-exclusive partnership with Getty Images to license Raimondo Borea’s photographs of The Today Show and The Tonight Show. GME also continued programming in the Adrienne Mancia Streaming Room last month with a double bill of films by King Vidor and Henry King.
KING VIDOR’S THE JACK-KNIFE MAN (1920).
May 1st — GME
During her time as a curator in MoMA's Department of Film, Adrienne Mancia was a major proponent of unearthing important and often overlooked treasures from film history. As noted by her close friend and colleague Jon Gartenberg, “[Adrienne] celebrated American directors of a bygone era who had worked within the Hollywood studio system.” King Vidor's THE JACK-KNIFE MAN (1920) and Henry King's THE SEVENTH DAY (1922) are among the early Hollywood films Mancia championed. Both films, which were featured in MoMA's 2023 In Memoriam tribute to Mancia, streamed last month, beginning on May 1st, in the Adrienne Mancia Streaming Room.
WARREN SONBERT’S AMPHETAMINE (1966).
May 2nd — GME
Dr. Maurice Nagington’s book The Moral Lessons of Chemsex: A Critical Approach was published by Routledge on December 23, 2024, and is now available to own in print and digital editions. Two stills from Warren Sonbert’s debut film AMPHETAMINE (1966) were licensed by GME to appear in the pages of Nagington’s book. Those stills, which depict young gay men using intravenous drugs, are well-suited for Nagington’s book, which “explores how gay and bi men’s lived experiences of chemsex intersect with its cultural representations.”
WARREN SONBERT’S FRIENDLY WITNESS (1989).
May 8th — Shotgun Cinema
On May 8th, Shotgun Cinema in Columbia, Missouri, presented the program Full Aperture: Films of Warren Sonbert, which consisted of Sonbert’s early New York films AMPHETAMINE (1966) and HALL OF MIRRORS (1966), as well as his later montage films FRIENDLY WITNESS (1989) and SHORT FUSE (1991). As noted in Shotgun Cinema’s program note: “[Sonbert] is an American independent filmmaker whose work is near to our heart. As Columbia realigns itself for summer, these films may send off travelers with an expanded spirit.”
JACK WATERS’ BERLIN / NY (1984).
May 12th — Anthology Film Archives
On May 12th, Anthology Film Archives presented the second program in their three-night tribute to the nonprofit arts organization ABC No Rio. This program, titled Performance, Film, and Queer Expression, highlighted the work of artists and activists Jack Waters and Peter Cramer, and their numerous friends, who “brought performance and cinema to the fore in this era of ABC No Rio.” Waters’ film BERLIN / NY (1984) screened on 16mm in this program. GME President Jon Gartenberg, a longtime friend and colleague of both Waters’ and Cramer’s, was the Film Program Director for the Estate Project for Artists with AIDS and worked directly with Waters to preserve and restore BERLIN / NY, as well as Waters’ films THE MALE GAYZE (1989) and DIOTIMA (1993).
POSTER FOR THE PARIS THEATRE’S SERIES HITCH!: THE ORIGINAL CINEMA INFLUENCER.
May 16th — Paris Theatre
Beginning on May 16th, the Paris Theatre presented HITCH!: The Original Cinema Influencer, a six-week series featuring nearly 60 films, “36 directed by the Master of Suspense himself, along with many that trace the stylistic influences behind Hitchcock’s filmmaking, and more than a dozen others that stand as homages to his legacy.” GME distributes five early features that Hitchcock made in his native England, prior to his success in Hollywood. These features — THE RING, THE FARMER’S WIFE, CHAMPAGNE, THE MANXMAN, and THE SKIN GAME — are available as individual DSL files, and together in the Blu-Ray and DVD boxset HITCHCOCK: BRITISH INTERNATIONAL PICTURES COLLECTION, to academic institutions in North America.
JOHNNY CARSON ON THE TONIGHT SHOW, CIRCA 1962. © THE ESTATE OF RAIMONDO BOREA.
May 22nd — GME
Gartenberg Media Enterprises has partnered with Getty Images to make Raimondo Borea's behind-the-scenes photographs of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson available for licensing. GME and Getty have entered into a co-exclusive agreement to more widely share these historically significant images with the public. On May 22nd, GME publicly announced this partnership, and collaborated with the Getty Images Archive on Instagram to share selections of Borea’s Tonight Show photographs. To license Borea's photographs of The Tonight Show via Getty Images, click here.
FROM THE SET OF THE TODAY SHOW, CIRCA 1950s. © THE ESTATE OF RAIMONDO BOREA.
May 29th — GME
Gartenberg Media Enterprises has partnered with Getty Images to make Raimondo Borea's on-set photographs of The Today Show available for licensing. GME and Getty have entered into a co-exclusive agreement to more widely share these culturally significant images with the public. On May 29th, GME collaborated with the Getty Images Archive on Instagram to share selections of Borea’s Today Show photographs. To license Borea's photographs of The Today Show via Getty Images, click here.