Jeff Preiss is a filmmaker and cinematographer living in New York. His work has run the gamut from 8mm experimental cinema, television commercials, music videos, narrative filmmaking, documentary cinematography, and more!. This program shows us three distinct sides of the filmmaker through three of his major works. Together, these films give us a unique perspective on fatherhood, music, and living a life as an artist. Preiss and guests will be appearing for Q&As over the course of the month. The series concludes with “An Evening With Jeff Preiss,” where the filmmaker will show a selection of rare and under-seen short films.
THREE SIDES OF JEFF PREISS from Spectacle on Vimeo.
LOW DOWN
Dir. Jeff Preiss, 2014.
United States, 114 min.
In English
FRIDAY, APRIL 8 – 10PM w Q&A (THIS EVENT IS $10)
SUNDAY, APRIL 10 – 5PM
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20 – 10PM
SATURDAY, APRIL 30 – 7:30PM
Based on the memoir by Amy-Jo Albany, LOW DOWN is a compassionate, tender look at the complex relationship between Amy-Jo (Elle Fanning) and her father Joe (John Hawkes), a man torn between his musical ambition, his devotion to his teenage daughter, and his suffocating heroin addiction. Set against a sensuously textured 1970s Hollywood, the film beautifully evokes a colorful, seedy world of struggling musicians, artists, and vagabonds, in which Joe and Amy-Jo strive to live the lives they want against seemingly insurmountable odds.
STOP
Dir. Jeff Preiss, 2012.
United States, 120 min.
In English
SATURDAY, APRIL 9 – 7PM w Q&A (THIS EVENT IS $10)
THURSDAY, APRIL 14 – 10PM
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20 – 7:30PM
SATURDAY, APRIL 30 – 10PM
STOP is a feature-length chronicle distilled from 2,500 100-ft camera rolls (354 assembled lab rolls) of 16mm film that was shot between 1995 and 2011 and finished editing in 2012. Organized sequentially into four half-hour programs, it operates around the conventions of home movies: the images are of Preiss’ own life and as home-movie form dictates: the alternating subjects of family, friends and travel are set by the filmstrip with absolute chronological certainty. The film is anchored by his child’s heroically decisive transformation of gender expression.
CHET BAKER: LET’S GET LOST
Dir. Bruce Weber, 1988.
United States, 120 min.
In English.
FRIDAY, APRIL 8 – 7PM w Q&A (THIS EVENT IS $10)
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13 – 10PM
SATURDAY, APRIL 23 – 10PM
SUNDAY, APRIL 24 – 5PM
Jazz legend Chet Baker gets the limelight in Bruce Weber’s documentary CHET BAKER: LET’S GET LOST, an ultra-stylish look back on the musician’s tragedies, triumphs, and moments of musical bliss. The silky somber tones for which Baker was famous is captured in stark black & white by cinematographer Jeff Preiss, images that all-at-once deliver frenetic moments of youth, jagged edges of drug-use and age, and sultry shadows of euphoric melancholy. This iconic documentary is one nomination the Academy got right, and for Documentary Now! completionists, it is the source material for 2019’s episode, “Long Gone.”
AN EVENING WITH JEFF PREISS
Dir. Jeff Preiss, ???, ????-2022.
United States, 85 min.
In English.
SATURDAY, APRIL 16 – 7PM
Join us for a one of a kind event in which filmmaker Jeff Preiss screens a selection of rare and underscreened works from his rich filmography. The specific films will not be announced beforehand but the selection will include rare Bruce Weber shorts, freshly completed restorations and films that have never played in a theatrical setting. Preiss will also offer insight into his filmmaking process and take questions from the audience.