Two Warren Sonbert Films Screen in "The Motown Sound and the Queer Underground," curated by GME associate Matt McKinzie

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Two Warren Sonbert Films Screen in "The Motown Sound and the Queer Underground," curated by GME associate Matt McKinzie

On Friday, August 30th, at 7:30pm, Warren Sonbert’s first two films AMPHETAMINE (1966) and WHERE DID OUR LOVE GO? (1966) will screen at Spectacle Theater (124 S. 3rd St.) in the program The Motown Sound and the Queer Underground, curated by GME associate Matt McKinzie as part of the series Sonic Visions: Experiments in Cinema and Music, presented by the Film-Makers’ Cooperative. Sonbert’s Estate has previously named GME as the custodian of his legacy, and since the artist’s untimely passing, GME has worked on an extensive project 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.

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GME Celebrates International Jazz Day with Hugh Bell: Jazz Portraits and Album Covers

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GME Celebrates International Jazz Day with Hugh Bell: Jazz Portraits and Album Covers

April 30th was declared International Jazz Day by UNESCO in 2011, and has since become the world’s largest celebration of jazz. In honor of International Jazz Day, GME highlights photographs from the Hugh Bell collection that capture a number of jazz legends from the 1950s through the 1980s.

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Warren Sonbert's FRIENDLY WITNESS Plays in Chicago In "Tone Glow Presents Pop Music as Prismatic Utopia"

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Warren Sonbert's FRIENDLY WITNESS Plays in Chicago In "Tone Glow Presents Pop Music as Prismatic Utopia"

This Friday, April 19th, at 7pm, writer and programmer Joshua Minsoo Kim will screen Warren Sonbert’s FRIENDLY WITNESS in the second film program presented by his experimental music newsletter Tone Glow, titled Pop Music in Prismatic Utopia. The program will play at Chicago’s Sweet Void Cinema, a production company and microcinema located in Humboldt Park. GME is proud to represent the work and legacy of Sonbert, whose films — as evidenced by Kim’s program and a number of other screenings and retrospectives within recent years — have been experiencing a renaissance. FRIENDLY WITNESS, in particular, is a significant title in Sonbert’s oeuvre, as it demarcates his return to sound after many years of making silent montage films.

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GME Remembers Mary Weiss, Lead Singer of The Shangri-Las

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GME Remembers Mary Weiss, Lead Singer of The Shangri-Las

GME remembers singer Mary Weiss, best known as the frontwoman of the 1960s girl group The Shangri-Las, who passed away on January 19th, 2024, at the age of 75. The cover photo for The Shangri-Las’ first album, Leader of the Pack, was taken by photographer Hugh Bell, whose vast collection GME represents. Notably, GME licensed Bell’s Leader of the Pack cover art for the 2022 film Call Jane, a 1970s-set abortion drama directed by Phyllis Nagy and starring Elizabeth Banks, which features the LP in one of its scenes.

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GME Notes Critically Acclaimed New and Notable Bandcamp Release by William Susman

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GME Notes Critically Acclaimed New and Notable Bandcamp Release by William Susman

American composer William Susman has created a distinctively expressive voice in contemporary classical music, with a catalog that includes orchestral, chamber, and vocal music, as well as numerous film scores. He is the composer of the haunting score for Steven Bilich’s 2006 award winning NATIVE NEW YORKER, a film that reflects on the enormity of the 9/11 attack on New York…

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