—— Forwarded Message
From: "Intern3, Film" <fmintrn3@moma.org>
Date: Fri, 28 Mar 2003 14:15:22 -0500
To: "Intern3, Film" <fmintrn3@moma.org>
Subject: MoMA PRESENTS RECENT WORKS OF FILMMAKER JEM COHEN


MoMA PRESENTS RECENT WORKS OF FILMMAKER JEM COHEN
Includes the Premiere Three-Projector Theatrical Presentation of Chain Times
Three
Jem Cohen: Recent Work
April 4 and 13, 2003
MoMA Film at The Gramercy Theatre
NEW YORK, March 19, 2003-The Museum of Modern Art presents an exhibition of
recent work by New York-based filmmaker Jem Cohen. Four of the director's
films will be screened, including the premiere three-projector theatrical
presentation on April 4 of his latest work, Chain Times Three (2002). The
filmmaker will be present to introduce each of his screenings, followed by a
question-and-answer session. Jem Cohen: Recent Work is organized by Joshua
Siegel, Assistant Curator, Department of Film and Media.
The centerpiece of this exhibition is Chain Times Three (2002), a
three-projector panoramic triptych, copresented with Eyebeam Atelier, which
creates a "superlandscape" of malls, highways, franchises, and corporate
centers across the globe. Shot over six years in locations ranging from
Florida and Dallas to Berlin and Melbourne, the project weaves together
documentary and narrative and includes original music by Godspeed You Black
Emperor!, the Montreal-based band that will perform live with Cohen's film
projections in New York City (bowery Ballroom) and Brooklyn (Warsaw) in
April. Preceding Chain Times Three is the short film Little Flags (2000), in
which celebrants at a war victory parade in lower Manhattan are seen through
Cohen's discriminating lens.
Accompanying this special event are screenings on April 13 of Cohen's two
other recent feature films: Benjamin Smoke (2000, codirected by Peter
Sillen), the portrait of an underground musician, speed freak, and
occasional drag queen living in an offbeat Atlanta neighborhood known as
Cabbagetown and playing in a band called Smoke; and Instrument (1998), a
collaboration with the Washington, D.C.-based band Fugazi that incorporates
concert footage, studio sessions, interviews, multiple film formats, and
archival artifacts to evoke the band's radical music-making practices. Cohen
has worked extensively with other musicians including R.E.M., Elliott Smith,
Jonathan Richman, Mark Linkous (Sparklehorse), and Vic Chesnutt, and is the
recipient of Rockefeller and Guggenheim Fellowships and many international
film festival prizes.
Cohen has evolved an identifiable style during his more than fifteen years
of filmmaking. Shooting primarily in Super 8 and 16mm and editing most of
his own work, he painstakingly manipulates fragments of image, sound, and
music and draws out the tactile qualities of the medium. As Mr. Siegel
observes, "Cohen's work, like that of Dziga Vertov, Jean Vigo, and Chris
Marker, transcends traditional boundaries of narrative, diaristic, and
nonfiction filmmaking. An image of a bustling city street or a desolate
landscape can seem at once intimate and expansive-an expression of private
contemplation that is also politically engaged."
The Department of Film and Media thanks John Vanco, Cowboy Pictures;
Melanie Crean, Eyebeam Atelier; ACMI; and Gravity Hill for their loan of
prints and equipment.

No. 24
Press Contact: Paul Power, (212) 708-9847, or paul_power@moma.org
MoMA Film at The Gramercy Theatre, 127 East 23 Street, between Lexington and
Park Avenues, closer to Lexington.
Box Office Hours: Monday and Thursday, 1:30-8:30 p.m.; Friday,
1:30-9:30 p.m.; Saturday, 12:30-9:30 p.m.; Sunday, 12:30-7:30 p.m.; closed
Tuesday and Wednesday.
Daily Admission: $12, $8.50 seniors and students with valid ID. For
screenings after 4:00 p.m. on Fridays, admission is pay-what-you-wish. A
MoMA Gramercy film ticket stub may be used for one admission to MoMA QNS for
up to 30 days from the date on the ticket. Likewise, a MoMA QNS ticket stub
may be used for one day of films at The Gramercy Theatre. Please note that
during Matisse Picasso (February 13-May 19), a MoMA Gramercy ticket stub
must be exchanged for a timed ticket to this exhibition, which also involves
an exhibition surcharge. Pay-what-you-wish admission cannot be applied to
the price of a Matisse Picasso ticket.
Ticketing: MoMA film tickets will be available only at The Gramercy
Theatre box office during box office hours. Film tickets will not be
distributed at MoMA QNS. A limited number of advance tickets for each film
will be available to all MoMA members one week in advance for a 50 cent
service charge. For information on ticket availability call The Gramercy
Theatre box office during box office hours at (212) 777-4900.
Subway: ? 6 Local train to 23 St station; N or R train to 23 St station.
Walk east on 23 St for MoMA Gramercy.
Bus: ? M23 to Lexington Avenue; M1 to Park Avenue and 23 St.; M101,
M102, or M103 to Third Avenue and 23 St.
The public may call the box office at (212) 777-4900 for detailed program
information. Visit us on the Web at www.moma.org
JEM COHEN: RECENT WORK
SCREENING SCHEDULE

Friday April 4
6:00 p.m. Little Flags. 2000. USA. Directed by Jem Cohen.
Celebrants at a war victory parade in lower Manhattan are seen through
Cohen's discriminating lens. With a haunting soundtrack by Fugazi. 7 min.
Chain Times Three. 2002. USA. Directed by
Jem Cohen.
A premiere, three-projector, theatrical
screening of Cohen's latest work, a panoramic triptych in which highways,
franchises, and corporate centers across the globe are joined into a
"superlandscape." Documentary merges with narrative as stories and current
events filter into the landscapes. Shot over six years in locations ranging
from Florida and Dallas to Berlin and Melbourne, the project includes
original music by Montreal's Godspeed You Black Emperor! Introduced by the
filmmaker. 41 min.

Sunday, April 13
4:00 p.m. Benjamin Smoke. 2002. USA. Directed by Jem Cohen and Peter
Sillen. With a special appearance by Patti Smith and still photographs by
Michael Ackerman.
Cohen was first introduced to the Atlanta-based speed freak, drag queen, and
underground music legend Benjamin (no last name) by R.E.M.'s lead singer,
Michael Stipe, in 1989, and was so captivated by this "scrawny little
powerhouse in a sun dress" that he and codirector Sillen would spend the
next ten years capturing Benjamin's life and music on whatever 16mm, 8mm and
video material they could scrounge up. The result is a tender, raunchy, and
ultimately beautiful portrait of a true original. Introduced by the
filmmaker. 75 min.
6:00 p.m. Instrument. 1999. USA. Directed by Jem Cohen.
Cohen's portrait of the politically charged band Fugazi has become a true
cult film, playing with equal success at the 2002 Whitney Biennial and in
Antarctica. Cohen avoids the cliches of the conventional musical documentary
by mixing multiple film and video formats, weaving together ten years' worth
of concert footage, studio sessions, and interviews with the musicians and
their fans to capture the hard-edged, hallucinatory quality of Fugazi's
sound in his imagery. Introduced by the filmmaker. 115 min.


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