September 2025 Roundup Related to GME Artists, Titles, and Colleagues
/Today we recap screenings, events, and celebrations from September related to GME titles, artists, and colleagues. At the beginning of the month, GME announced our shift to focusing on the distribution of moving image works available as Digital Site Licenses (DSLs). As part of this transition, we announced our distribution of Steve Bilich’s experimental short documentary NATIVE NEW YORKER as well as the early films of Warren Sonbert and films directed by Pierre Clémenti.
September 3rd — GME
On September 3rd, GME announced our shift to distributing moving image works that are only available as digital files, including the early films of Warren Sonbert (1966—73) and the films of Pierre Clémenti (1967—88), as well as the Kong Ngee Company’s Nanyang Trilogy (1957). This announcement followed our 20% sale on all DVD and Blu-Ray titles, including a number of titles that are rare, out-of-print editions for which GME still retains copies.
September 5th — Anthology Film Archives
On September 5th, Anthology Film Archives screened the Charlie Chaplin classics MODERN TIMES (1936) and THE GREAT DICTATOR (1940) as part of their Essential Cinema repertory series. GME distributes Chaplin’s films in the collections CHAPLIN’S ESSANAY COMEDIES, CHAPLIN’S MUTUAL COMEDIES, and CHAPLIN AT KEYSTONE. These collections are published by Flicker Alley and cover work produced during Chaplin’s time under contract to the Essanay Film Manufacturing Company, the Mutual Film Corporation, and his rise to fame and the establishment of his iconic “Tramp” character at Mack Sennett’s Keystone Studios.
September 6th — Anthology Film Archives
On September 6th, Anthology Film Archives screened four key films by Maya Deren as part of their Essential Cinema series: 1943’s MESHES OF THE AFTERNOON, 1944’s AT LAND, 1945’s A STUDY IN CHOREOGRAPHY FOR CAMERA, and 1946’s RITUAL IN TRANSFIGURED TIME. GME distributes, to North American universities, Deren’s MESHES OF THE AFTERNOON, AT LAND, and RITUAL IN TRANSFIGURED TIME in the Re:Voir DVD collection MAYA DEREN: EXPERIMENTAL FILMS. GME also distributes RITUAL IN TRANSFIGURED TIME and A STUDY IN CHOREOGRAPHY FOR CAMERA in the Re:Voir DVD collection MAYA DEREN: DANCE FILMS.
September 10th — GME
On the occasion of the 24th anniversary of the the September 11th attacks, GME announced our exclusive, worldwide distribution of Steve Bilich’s experimental short documentary NATIVE NEW YORKER. Shot before, during, and after 9/11, Bilich’s film took several years of filming with a 1924 hand-cranked Cine-Kodak camera. NATIVE NEW YORKER follows Shaman Trail Scout “Coyote” as he takes a journey that transcends time, from Inwood Park (where the islands as traded for beads and booze), down a native trail (now “Broadway”), and into lower Manhattan (a sacred burial ground, now including the newest natives of this island empire).
September 17th — GME
On September 17th, GME announced the release of new 2K digital restorations of Warren Sonbert’s early films, spanning 1966’s AMPHETAMINE through to 1973’s CARRIAGE TRADE. Sonbert was one of the seminal figures working in American experimental film, and since his untimely passing in 1995, GME has worked as the custodian of his legacy to to preserve, distribute and curate career retrospectives of his films on an international basis, as well as publish original documents from the paper archive of his writings, which are now housed at Harvard University. These early Sonbert films are now available for acquisition by universities, museums, and other cultural institutions worldwide.
September 24th — GME
On September 24th, GME announced our distribution of the films of Pierre Clémenti as new 2K digital restorations, spearheaded by Clementi’s son Balthazar, which are now available for acquisition by North American academic institutions. Though best known as an actor in films by Luchino Visconti, Luis Buñuel, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Bernardo Bertolucci, and Glauber Rocha, Clémenti’s directorial work constitutes a fascinating and long overlooked chapter in 1960s avant-garde film history.
September 27th — Anthology Film Archives
On September 27th, Anthology Film Archives honored the late, great P. Adams Sitney with a program of short films by Jonas Mekas (WALDEN), Sitney’s late wife Marjorie Keller (THE FALLEN WORLD and PRIVATE PARTS), and Stan Brakhage (AN AVANT-GARDE HOME MOVIE). Sitney was the former professor at NYU of GME President Jon Gartenberg and had an incalculable influence on his career. GME distributes Mekas’ WALDEN both as a digital site license, and in the DVD boxset JONAS MEKAS: THE EARLY WORKS. (A number of Mekas’ films are available from GME as DSLs; click here to view the entire collection). GME also distributes Brakhage’s 1958 film ANTICIPATION OF THE NIGHT as a DSL file and DVD/Blu-Ray combo pack.
September 28th — The Paris Theater
Beginning on September 28th, The Paris Theater celebrated the forthcoming release of Richard Linklater’s NOUVELLE VAGUE — which chronicles the making of Jean-Luc Godard’s BREATHLESS — with a series of Godard’s 1960s films presented on 35mm. The films showcased in this month-long celebration are BREATHLESS (1960), A WOMAN IS A WOMAN (1961), VIVRE SA VIE (1962), BAND OF OUTSIDERS (1964), PIERROT LE FOU (1965), and WEEKEND (1967). In conjunction with Kino Lorber, GME distributes one of Godard’s seminal works from this period — 1965’s ALPHAVILLE (1965) — to the North American university market as a Blu-Ray, DVD, and digital file. Bonus material on this release includes an interview with the film’s star, Anna Karina, and audio commentary by film historian Tim Lucas.