Jon Gartenberg Interviewed for Article on "The Preservation And Censorship Of Johnny Minotaur, A Queer Cinema Classic"

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Published by Afterimage, "The Preservation And Censorship Of Johnny Minotaur, A Queer Cinema Classic" by Kyle Harris. Jon Gartenberg was interviewed for article about his time at MoMA and the screening of challenging work.

Here is a link to the afterimage website with excerpt from the article and video of Charles Henri Ford by Ronnie Birk:

http://vsw.org/afterimage/2014/10/28/a-short-silent-by-ronnie-burk/

 
 

GME DVD Distribution - Fall 2014 Academic Recap

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GME Logo
GME DVD Distribution - Fall 2014 Academic Recap

 

 

"The superb dedication of such entities as the Criterion Collection, Milestone Films, and Gartenberg Media Enterprises, to name key players, are making possible access to a wealth of cinematic history, ephemera, and value-added materials." 

         - B. Ruby Rich, Film Quarterly Winter 2013

 

RAMEAU'S NEPHEW

CHAPLIN'S MUTUAL COMEDIESNOTES ON NOTES ON FILMMACK SENNETT VOLUME 1GUNS OF THE TREESHANS RICHTER EARLY WORKSTHE SIXTIES QUARTETDIE VERRUFENEN & DIE UNEHELICHENDREAMINIMALISTMENSCHEN UNTEREINANDER & UNTER DER LATERNE


Charles Chaplin

Tony Conrad & Marie Losier

 Jonas Mekas

Hans Richter

Mack Sennett

Gerhard Lamprecht

Norbert Pfaffenbichler
Michael Snow

As the winter break approaches, Gartenberg Media is pleased once again to provide a recap of the DVD and Blu-ray publications that we've offered throughout the fall academic semester.  Carefully selected from boutique publishers, these releases span more than a century of motion picture history, from slapstick comedy producer Mack Sennett's The Curtain Pole (1909) to contemporary Austrian artist Norbert Pfaffenbichler's Intermezzo (2012).

 

In our Film History section, we previously featured a multi-volume DVD publication that comprises 200 films (dating from 1896-1913) made by Georges Méliès, the pioneer French producer-director of trick films (GEORGES MÉLIÈS: FIRST WIZARD OF CINEMA  and GEORGES MÉLIÈS: ENCORE).  We now offer THE MACK SENNETT COLECTION, VOLUME ONE (published by Flicker Alley), comprising a compilation of 50 films (dating from 1909-1933) from the pre-eminent slapstick comedy producer (and director) of the silent and early sound era.  These films featured a star-studded array of a the leading comics of the time, including Roscoe "Fatty' Arbuckle, Harold Lloyd, Gloria Swanson, Harry Langdon, W.C. Fields, Mabel Normand, and Charlie Chaplin.

 

Of all these comedians, Charlie Chaplin, of course, was the most famous global icon.  Augmenting our previous release of the multi-volume CHAPLIN AT KEYSTONE, we now offer a further in-depth study of his artistry with CHAPLIN'S MUTUAL COMEDIES (also from Flicker Alley).  These accomplished productions date from 1916-17, a period when the Chaplin was further refining his Tramp character, perfecting his impeccable comic timing, and introducing pathos into his films.

 

Gerhard Lamprecht is most well known in film history circles for his multi-volume compilation of German film productions, Deutsche Stummfilme, dating from 1903-1931.  In 1963, he founded the Deutsche Kinemathek (Berlin). During the intervening period (1920-1958) he directed more than 60 films, and is best remembered today for his 1931 film version of Emil and the Detectives, scripted by Billy Wilder.  Now, the film archive which Lamprecht founded and Edition Filmmuseum have published four of his silent features from the years 1925-1928, in two separate DVD editions: DIE VERRUFENEN (DER FÜNFTE STAND) & DIE UNEHELICHEN and MENSCHEN UNTEREINANDER & UNTER DER LATERNE.  Each volume re-presents long-unavailable work by this legendary, yet overlooked, master of early German cinema, an artist due for rediscovery in North America.

 

Paralleling the first decade of Lamprecht's moviemaking career in Germany, artist Hans Richter was creating movies in the abstract and Dadaist vein, while also increasingly turning to social critique in his later films.  Here, for the first time, we offer HANS RICHTER: EARLY WORKS (1921-1929), published by Re:Voir Vidéo.

 

The European avant-garde artists of the 1920's inspired experimental filmmakers in postwar America.  Tony Conrad's seminal abstract film, The Flicker (1966), can be seen in this context through comparison with Richter's Rhythmus films. The Re:Voir DVD publication, DREAMINIMALIST, couples Conrad's film with Marie Losier's contemporary cinematic portrait of the artist, Tony Conrad: DreaMinimalist (2008), which focuses on a performative representation of his creative work and individual identity.

 

In this cycle of releases, we are especially proud to feature, for the first time, work by Michael Snow, Canada's pre-eminent filmmaker and photographer.  His film 'Rameau's Nephew' by Diderot (Thanx to Dennis Young) by Wilma Schoen investigates the meaning of a "Talking Picture", i.e., the relationship between recorded speech and image in cinema. The DVD publication of RAMEAU'S NEPHEW, from Re:Voir, comprises not only this film, but also a 184-page bilingual book of essays, preparatory scripts for the film, and analysis of the 25 sequences of the film. 

 

Jonas Mekas is the most significant force behind the evolution and promotion of the American Avant-Garde film movement, as well as one of its most prolific independent filmmakers and pre-eminent cinema poets.  Following up on our release last semester of JONAS MEKAS: THE MAJOR WORKS, we now offer both his rarely seen first feature length film, GUNS OF THE TREES, a fictional narrative of the Beat Generation, as well as, in a more poetic vein, THE SIXTIES QUARTET, that features portraits of Andy Warhol, George Maciunas, John Lennon, and the Kennedy family at Warhol's compound in Montauk, just several years after the assassination of President Kennedy.  All Jonas Mekas titles are published by Re:Voir.

 

Last, but not least, in the vein of found footage filmmaking, we complement our previous release of GUSTAV DEUTSCH - FILM IST. (1-12), with the recent work (2002 - 2012) of NORBERT PFAFFENBICHLER - NOTES ON NOTES ON FILM, both published by Sixpack Films/INDEX DVD. 


For a complete list of DVD and Blu-ray publications from our entire library of distribution titles, as a printable PDF, click here.  Please note that all of these titles are currently available for order processing.

 
These DVDs are currently being made available to universities, libraries, museums, and other educational organizations in North America (US and Canada), and include public performance rights. Public performance rights extend to use in classrooms and in other non-commercial settings where no admission is charged.

 

Please Note:

Many of our DVDs are published in PAL format Region 0.  

PAL DVDs require a PAL or Multi-system DVD player for playback.

 

Order by Phone @ 212.280.8654 or by Fax @ 212.280.8656

 

For inquiries and to order by e-mail, contact: sales@gartenbergmedia.com

 

For our entire DVD catalogue, please visit: www.gartenbergmedia.com/dvd/

 

J. Hoberman's review of the DVD release of Michael Snow's "Rameau's Nephew"

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Here's J. Hoberman's review of the DVD release of Michael Snow's RAMEAU'S NEPHEW, now available from GME for North American institutional sale (for which Hoberman points to GME as the institutional distributor!)

GME Celebrates Jonas Mekas's Birthday with the Release of Two New Publications of His Films Now Available on DVD for Institutional Sales

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GME Logo
GME Celebrates Jonas Mekas's Birthday


 

 With the Release of 2 New Publications of His Films

Now Available on DVD for Institutional Sales


 

On the occasion of Jonas Mekas's 92nd birthday (on XMAS eve of this year), Gartenberg Media Enterprises (GME) is pleased to announce the release of two new DVD publications by this monumental and consequential artist.  Published on DVD by Re:Voir Vidéo -- GUNS OF THE TREES and THE SIXTIES QUARTET -- are now available for institutional sales in North America.  

 

Jonas Mekas is the most significant force behind the evolution and promotion of the American Avant-Garde film movement, as well as one of its most prolific independent filmmakers and pre-eminent cinema poets. Following up on our release last semester of JONAS MEKAS: THE MAJOR WORKS, we now offer both his rarely seen first feature length film, GUNS OF THE TREES, a fictional narrative of the Beat Generation, as well as, in a more poetic vein, THE SIXTIES QUARTET, that features portraits of Andy Warhol, George Maciunas, John Lennon, and the Kennedy family at Warhol's compound in Montauk, just several years after the assassination of President Kennedy.

 

 

 

     

 

 

 


"Four young people are trying to understand why their friend, a young woman, committed a suicide. A film made up of disconnected scenes weaving between past and present. The title of the film comes from a poem by Stuart Perkoff which tells that some young people felt (around 1960) that everything is against them, so much that even the trees in the parks and streets seemed to them like guns pointing at their very existence."
- Jonas Mekas

Grand Prize / Grand prix (Najade d'oro) 
Mostra Internazionale del Cinema Libero di Porretta Terme, 1962

 


  GUNS OF THE TREES

Jonas Mekas   USA (1961)

DVD-PAL   Region 0
No Regional Code

 

Institutional Sale Price: $ 200.00 plus shipping & handling.


 


 
 THE SIXTIES QUARTET


Scenes From The Life Of Andy Warhol: Friendships And Intersections (1990)
"This film is made up of my film diaries relating to Andy Warhol from the years 1965-1982."                                                                       - Jonas Mekas

Zefiro Torna Or Scenes From The Life Of George Maciunas (1992)
"Bits of Fluxus events and performances, and picnics with friends (Almus, Andy Warhol, John Lennon, Yoko Ono, etc.), George's wedding and footage I took of him in Boston hospital three days before he died."          - Jonas Mekas

Happy Birthday To John (1995)
"On October 9th, 1972, half of the music world gathered in Syracuse, N.Y., to celebrate the opening of John Lennon/Yoko Ono Fluxus show, designed by George Maciunas.  Same day, a smaller group gathered in a local hotel room to celebrate John's birthday."                                                     - Jonas Mekas

This Side Of Paradise (1999)
with Jackie, Caroline and John Kennedy Jr.
"Unpredictably, as most of my life's key events have been, for a period of several years in the late 60s and early 70s, I had the fortune to spend some time, mostly during the summers, with Jackie Kennedy's and her sister Lee Radziwill's families and children. Cinema was an integral, inseparable, as a matter of fact, a key part of our friendship. The time was still very close to the untimely, tragic, death of John F. Kennedy. Jackie wanted to give something to her children to do, to help to ease the transition of life without a father. One of her thoughts was that movie camera would be fun for the children. Peter Beard, who was at that time tutoring John Jr. and Caroline in art history, suggested to Jackie that I was the man to introduce the children to cinema. Jackie said yes. And that's how it all began. I bought them a very easily operable 16mm movie camera, and even wrote a "mini-textbook" suggesting some simple movie exercises...

 

The images in the exposition, with a few exceptions, they all come from the summers Caroline and John Jr. spent in Montauk, with their cousins Anthony and Tina Radziwill, in an old house Lee rented from Andy Warhol, for a few summers. Andy himself spent many of his weekends there, in one of the cottages, as did Peter Beard, whom the children had adopted almost like their older brother or a father they missed. There were summers of happiness, joy and continuous celebrations of life and friendships. These are 'Little Fragments of Paradise.' "                                                   -Jonas Mekas
 


Jonas Mekas   USA (1990-1999)

DVD-PAL   Region 0
No Regional Code

 

Institutional Sale Price: $ 200.00 plus shipping & handling. 

 

 

 

 

Works of Related Interest from GME:



Adolfas Mekas    USA (1963)

Jonas Mekas    USA (1964-2002)
7-Disc DVD Collection


For a complete list of DVD and Blu-ray publications from our entire library of distribution titles, as a printable PDF, click here.


 
These DVDs are currently being made available to universities, libraries, museums, and other educational organizations in North America (US and Canada), and include public performance rights. Public performance rights extend to use in classrooms and in other non-commercial settings where no admission is charged.

 

Please Note:

Many of our DVDs are published in PAL format Region 0.  

PAL DVDs require a PAL or Multi-system DVD player for playback.

 

Order by Phone @ 212.280.8654 or by Fax @ 212.280.8656

 

For inquiries and to order by e-mail, contact: sales@gartenbergmedia.com

 

For our entire DVD catalogue, please visit: www.gartenbergmedia.com/dvd/

 

GME Announces 3 New Releases of Avant-Garde Films Now Available on DVD for Institutional Sales

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GME Logo
Gartenberg Media Announces
3 New Releases
of

Avant-Garde Films

Now Available on DVD for Institutional Sales


 

Gartenberg Media Enterprises (GME) is pleased to announce the release of three new DVD publications spanning a century of avant-garde filmmaking practice (1921-2012).  These DVD publications -- HANS RICHTER: EARLY WORKS, DREAMINIMALIST: TONY CONRAD AND MARIE LOSIER, and NORBERT PFAFFENBICHLER: NOTES ON NOTES ON FILM -- are now available for institutional sales in North America.  

 

 

HANS RICHTER EARLY WORKS   DREAMINIMALIST   NOTES ON NOTES ON FILM

 

 

During the period in the 1920's that Gerhard Lamprecht was directing narrative films based on working class life in postwar Berlin (see DIE VERRUFENEN (DER FÜNFTE STAND) & DIE UNEHELICHEN and MENSCHEN UNTEREINANDER & UNTER DER LATERNE), also available from GME), his German compatriot Hans Richter was creating movies in the abstract and Dadaist vein, while also increasingly turning to social critique in his later films.  Here, for the first time, we offer HANS RICHTER: EARLY WORKS (1921-1929), published by Re:Voir Vidéo.

 

About his filmmaking practice, Richter himself wrote in 1924 that "By film I mean visual rhythm... to see movement, organized movement, wakes us up, wakes up resistance, wakes up the reflexes, and perhaps wakes up our sense of enjoyment as well."

 

Richter emigrated to the United States in 1940 and taught in the Institute of Film Techniques at City College in New York City; his teachings would influence many of the "New American Cinema" filmmakers.


 HANS RICHTER: EARLY WORKS

Hans Richter   Germany

Rhythmus 21 (1921)
Rhythmus 23 (1923)
Filmstudie (1926)
Ghosts Before Breakfast (Vormittagsspuk) (1927-28)
Race Symphony (1928-29)
Two Pence Magic (Zweigroschenzauber) (1928-29)
Inflation (1927)
Everything Turns Everything Revolves (1929) 

 

DVD-PAL   Region 0
No Regional Code

 

Institutional Sale Price: $ 200.00 plus shipping & handling.


 


 

The Re:Voir DVD publication, DREAMINIMALIST couples Tony Conrad's film The Flicker (1966) with Marie Losier's contemporary cinematic portrait of the artist,  entitled Tony Conrad: DreaMinimalist (2008).

 

Tony Conrad was born in 1940, the year that Hans Richter emigrated to the United States.  His groundbreaking minimalist and structural film, The Flicker (1966), comprising alternating black and white frames, can be seen, on one level, as an outgrowth of Richter's Rhythmus films, and, from another perspective, as distinctly different from that filmmaker's approach.

 

"in The Flicker, Tony Conrad uses cinematographic devices to develop relationships between impossible harmonic frequencies using an ordinary stroboscope. At the root of this film are a musical, a visual and a psychological interest."                                                           - Victor Gresard

 

Marie Losier has, over the course of her career, made cinematic portraits of noteworthy underground figures, including Richard Foreman, the Kuchar Brothers, Guy Maddin, Genesis P-Orridge and Lady Jaye.  In Tony Conrad: DreaMinimalist, she turns her gaze on Tony Conrad, and foregrounds a contemporary, performative representation of his creative universe.

Tony Conrad & Marie Losier    USA

The Flicker (1966) Tony Conrad
DreaMinimalist (2008) Tony Conrad & Marie Losier
  
DVD-PAL   Region 0
No Regional Code

 

Institutional Sale Price: $ 200.00 plus shipping & handling. 

 

 

 

 

Also in the vein of contemporary experimental cinema, GME is proud to present the DVD publication (published by Sixpack Films/Index DVD) entitled NORBERT PFAFFENBICHLER: NOTES ON NOTES ON FILM.  Comprising recent work produced by the artist between 2002 and 2012, his found footage films manipulate images ranging from Charlie Chaplin to Lon Chaney, and from Fräulein Else to Adolph Hitler.

 

As film historian Chrisoph Huber has written in the booklet accompanying this DVD publication, "Pfaffenbichler's unique sensibility finds expression in a growing emphasis upon the comic and the uncanny, whereby his avant-garde and often structuralist approach is coupled with an ever-increasing pleasure in playful experimentation. The source material is simultaneously de- and re-constructed, ... It is impossible to come away from a Pfaffenbichler film without an altered and enriched sense of cinema, its history and possibilities." 

 

Norbert Pfaffenbichler   Austria

Notes On Film 01 Else (2002)
Conference (Notes On Film 05) (2011)
Intermezzo (Notes On Film 04) (2012)
A Messenger From The Shadows (Notes On Film 06A/Monologue 01) (2012)
36 (2001) Norbert Pfaffenbichler & Lotte Schreiber 
   
DVD-PAL   Region 0
No Regional Code

 

Institutional Sale Price: $ 200.00 plus shipping & handling. 

 

 

 

 

Additional Abstract, Dada & Surrealist, Structural, and Found Footage Films

of Related Interest from GME

Hans Richter, Viking Eggeling, Man Ray, René Clair & Francis Picabia, 
Fernand Léger & Dudley Murphy    Germany & France (1921-1927)

Gustav Deutsch    Austria (2004)

George Maciunas, John Cale, Yoko Ono, Nam June Paik, Paul Sharits, 
Benjamin Vautier, Robert Watts, and more    USA (1962-1970)

Paul Sharits    USA (1966-1968)

Germaine Dulac    France (1927)

PETER TSCHERKASSKY: ATTRACTIONS, INSTRUCTIONS & OTHER ROMANCES

Peter Tscherkassky    Austria (1982-2010)

 

PETER TSCHERKASSKY: FILMS FROM A DARK ROOM

Peter Tscherkassky   Austria (1983-2002)



For a complete list of DVD and Blu-ray publications from our entire library of distribution titles, as a printable PDF, click here.

 
These DVDs are currently being made available to universities, libraries, museums, and other educational organizations in North America (US and Canada), and include public performance rights. Public performance rights extend to use in classrooms and in other non-commercial settings where no admission is charged.

 

Please Note:

Many of our DVDs are published in PAL format Region 0.  

PAL DVDs require a PAL or Multi-system DVD player for playback.

 

Order by Phone @ 212.280.8654 or by Fax @ 212.280.8656

 

For inquiries and to order by e-mail, contact: sales@gartenbergmedia.com

 

For our entire DVD catalogue, please visit: www.gartenbergmedia.com/dvd/