Street Documentary as a Right and a Journey.

Presented by Jem Cohen

Jem Cohen will show short works and excerpts from over 2 decades of shooting on the street. As this is the last week for public comment on the newly revised city regulations governing street photography and filmmaking, he will also lead a forum on what’s right, and what’s seriously wrong, with the rules. Information will be available on how to make your own official input to The Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre, and Broadcasting.

Cohen’s tour of his working life making unconventional street documentaries will range from excerpts of early works such as THIS IS A HISTORY OF NEW YORK and LOST BOOK FOUND, to the recent short, NYC WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. He’ll also show SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT (made with Patti Smith to accompany her cover of the Nirvana song) and an excerpt from BUILDING A BROKEN MOUSETRAP (on Dutch activist musicians, the Ex). Cohen also promises some unreleased surprises.

Suggested Donation $5

Jem Cohen is a New York-based film and videomaker. Often shooting in hundreds of locations with little or no additional crew, Cohen collects street footage, portraits, and sounds. The projects built from these archives defy easy categorization, thriving on the collision between documentary, narrative, and experimental approaches. Some of the projects are personal/political city portraits made on travels around the globe. Many center around daily life and ephemeral moments: things seen out of the corner of the eye and pulled into the center. Cohen has made two feature-length documentaries: INSTRUMENT (with and about Fugazi) and BENJAMIN SMOKE (co-directed by Peter Sillen) and a feature-length narrative/documentary hybrid, CHAIN. He has worked with musicians including Godspeed You Black Emperor!, Vic Chesnutt, Terry Riley, Sparklehorse, Blonde Redhead, R.E.M., Elliott Smith, Jonathan Richman, Stephen Vitiello, and Gil Shaham with the Orpheus Orchestra. Cohen’s work has been broadcast by PBS, the BBC, Planete, and the Sundance Channel. Awards include first prizes at Locarno International Film Festival, Bonn Videonale, Festival Dei Popoli, Doubletake Documentary Festival, San Francisco Film Festival, Film + Arc, Graz, and an Independent Spirit Award. Cohen is a Guggenheim, Rockefeller, and Creative Capital Foundation Fellow.

More information on the issue…

PHOTOGRAPHY IS NOT A CRIME