FRIENDLY WITNESS (US, 1989, Warren Sonbert)

/

STILL: WARREN SONBERT’S FRIENDLY WITNESS (1989). SOURCE: DUKE UNIVERSITY.

 

Warren Sonbert was the supreme Romantic diarist of the cinema —Wheeler W. Dixon

Curator Jon Gartenberg writes: “In FRIENDLY WITNESS, Sonbert returned, after 20 years, to sound. In the first section of the film, he deftly edits a swirling montage of images — suggestive of loves gained and love lost — to the tunes of four rock songs. “At times the words of the songs seem to relate directly to the images we see... at other times words and images seem to be working almost at cross-purposes or relating only ironically. Similarly, at times the image rhythm and music rhythm appear to dance together, while at others they go their separate ways.” (Fred Camper).”

As noted in a 2023 program note by the Tate Modern: “Sonbert traveled extensively in his capacity as a professional music critic. FRIENDLY WITNESS marked his return, after 20 years of making films, to incorporating music tracks back into his work. In doing so, he selected specific recordings from his firsthand knowledge of a vast repertoire of classical, pop, and world music idioms… Sonbert accompanied the closing imagery with a music underscore from Gluck’s operatic overture to Iphigénie en Aulide. The filmmaker observed: ‘Spectacle, public domain, objective (God’s eye) point of view is the aesthetic approach with the constant idea that all this activity is perhaps occurring simultaneously.’ Here as Sonbert weaves together an extraordinary palette of synchronous activity worldwide, he places himself firmly in the pantheon of the great montage theorists in film history.”

FRIENDLY WITNESS
(US, 1989)

Director: Warren Sonbert

  • 22 minutes
  • 16mm
  • Color and B&W
  • Sound
Distribution Format/s: DSL/Downloadable 1080p .mp4 file on server

Published By: GME

Institutional Price: $500

To order call: 212.280.8654 or click here for information on ordering by fax, e-mail or post.