Sonbert’s montage works were meticulously constructed in the selection and sequencing of individual shots. Language poet Alan Bernheimer wrote, “Narrative concerns pervade his films on at least three levels, all working with and against each other: nano narrative within the shot, ‘collisional’ montage, and the metanarratives or themes running through each film.” Film theorist Noël Carroll gave the term “polyvalent montage” to Sonbert’s working style, in which each shot “can be combined with surrounding shots along potentially many dimensions.” Sonbert himself wrote that “the ambition might be seen as an attempt to hold finely balanced series of tensions in which one can read images a variety of ways, sometimes in contradictory stances so that there are many possibilities of interaction.”
Rude Awakening. 1976. USA. Directed by Warren Sonbert. 36 min. 16mm.
Sonbert said Rude Awakening is about “Western civilization and its work; activity ethic and the viability of performing functions and activities.” His vivid color palette enhances the ritualistic nature of each action observed. Set against this lush panorama, he subverts the expectation of classic cinematography with a liberal sprinkling of avant-garde techniques.
Honor and Obey. 1981. USA. Directed by Warren Sonbert. 21 min. 16mm.
The film questions all forms of male-dominated authority, particularly familial, religious, political, and military. Critic Caryn James wrote “In Warren Sonbert’s Honor and Obey soldiers march in formation, a tiger stalks through the snow, religious processions wind through the streets, and palm trees wave in a tropical breeze. As brightly colored images of authority figures blend into scenes of cocktail parties, this…silent film flows along with the grace of a musical score … ‘Whose authority will you obey?’ the film seems to ask, as it deftly avoids simple-mined juxtapositions.”
14 STANDARD 8mm REELS. 1981-1988. 2018. USA. Directed by Jeff Preiss. 10 min. DCP.
Preiss had the rare chance to salvage a selection of 8mm reeled from his archive; 30 years after it was first shot, this lovingly refashioned material returns as…a luminescent ode to the friends, filmmakers and artists with whom Preiss lived and worked during this time including an homage to Warren Sonbert, shown here.
Program approx. 67 mins.