The Ken Jacobs Collection 5 Sets Available
Ken Jacobs is one of the most wildly creative and influential film artists and teachers in the history of the medium. Jacobs, born in Brooklyn, NY in 1933, studied Abstract Expressionism with Hans Hofmann before turning to filmmaking – where he became a prolific member of the underground scene, along with contemporaries Jonas Mekas, Jack Smith, and Stan Brakhage.
Ken Jacobs "Tom Tom" Bundle 3 Films
In 1969 Ken Jacobs rephotographed the 1905 Billy Bitzer one-reeler Tom, Tom, The Piper’s Son, creating a landmark of structuralist cinema. Jacobs would revisit this experiment in the digital age with A Tom, Tom, Chaser (2002) and Return to the Scene of the Crime (2008).
Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son
Ken Jacobs started experimenting with found footage, expanding a five-minute fragment of Billy Bitzer’s TOM, TOM, THE PIPER’S SON (1969, 115 minutes) to feature length. Restored in 2K by Museum of Modern Art.
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Return to the Scene of the Crime
Bonus film exclusive to Kino Now; not featured on the Ken Jacobs Collection disc set.
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Ken Jacobs Early Shorts Bundle 5 Films
Ken Jacobs’ early work were shot around his neighborhood in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. This includes his lyrical portrait of Orchard Street (1955) to his playful DIY street scene melodramas made with his muse – the unclassifiable Jack Smith (The Whirled, Little Stabs at Happiness, Blonde Cobra). Also included is his abstract treatment of his apartment window, the aptly titled Window.
Orchard Street
Ken Jacobs' early films use NYC as a poetic landscape as seen in ORCHARD STREET (1955, 27 minutes).
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Little Stabs at Happiness
Jacobs early films use NYC as a setting for contemporary Jack Smith’s carnivalesque performances. LITTLE STABS AT HAPPINESS (1963, 15 minutes) is preserved by Anthology Film Archives.
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Blonde Cobra
Ken Jacobs' early films use NYC as a poetic landscape and as a setting for contemporary Jack Smith's carnivalesque performances. BLONDE COBRA (1963, 34 minutes) is preserved by Anthology Film Archives.
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Ken Jacobs The Sky Socialist Bundle 2 Films
The most ambitious work from Ken Jacobs’ first decade of filmmaking, 'The Sky Socialist' began shooting in 1964 and was not completed until 2019, an allegorical narrative shot on the roof of 25 Ferry Street, his first Manhattan home. Film Comment magazine called the follow-up 'The Sky Socialist: Environs and Outtakes' a masterpiece – it quickly abandons the narrative for a portrait of the neighborhood that “has transformed the act of seeing.”
The Sky Socialist: Environs and Outtakes
THE SKY SOCIALIST: ENVIRONS AND OUTTAKES (1964-‘66/2019, 47 minutes)
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Ken Jacobs 1990s & 2000s Bundle 4 Films
In the 1990s and 2000s Ken Jacobs embraced digital technologies for further manipulation of the image. He used stroboscopic effects to turn silent shorts and Victorian stereoscopic photographs into mind-expanding investigations of depth. Warning: these films include throbbing light not for persons afflicted with epilepsy.
Capitalism: Child Labor
Ken Jacobs started experimenting with found footage, and went on to embrace digital tools - using stroboscopic effects to turn silent shorts and Victorian stereoscopic photographs into mind-expanding 3D investigations in CAPITALISM: CHILD LABOR.
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Capitalism: Slavery
Ken Jacobs started experimenting with found footage, and went on to embrace digital tools - using stroboscopic effects to turn silent shorts and Victorian stereoscopic photographs into mind-expanding 3D investigations.
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Razzle Dazzle: The Lost World
Bonus film exclusive to Kino Now; not featured on the Ken Jacobs Collection disc set.
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Ken Jacobs 2010s and Beyond 6 Films
Ken Jacobs’ most recent work continues to use digital tools to transform reality and investigate the political calamities of our age. Warning: these films include throbbing light not for persons afflicted with epilepsy.
Seeking the Monkey King
Bonus film exclusive to Kino Now; not featured on the Ken Jacobs Collection disc set.
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Reichstag 911
Bonus film exclusive to Kino Now; not featured on the Ken Jacobs Collection disc set.
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Failure
Bonus film exclusive to Kino Now; not featured on the Ken Jacobs Collection disc set.
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Things to Come
Bonus film exclusive to Kino Now; not featured on the Ken Jacobs Collection disc set.
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The Whole Shebang
Bonus film exclusive to Kino Now; not featured on the Ken Jacobs Collection disc set.
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Movie that Invites Pausing
Ken Jacobs continues to push the boundaries of the art form – as you can see with his hypnotically abstract MOVIE THAT INVITES PAUSING (2021, 20 minutes).
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