Transcendent formalism meets messy humanism in the work of East Coast independent Rob Tregenza. His audacious first feature, Talking to Strangers—nine 10-minute sequences, each shot in a single take—galvanized the 1988 Berlin International Film Festival, gathering admirers including Jean-Luc Godard, who helped Tregenza make his third feature, Inside/Out (1997). In his essay “Cinq Lettres a et sur Rob Tregenza,” Godard described Tregenza’s work as “remarkable and at times astonishing, that is, softly imbued with the marvelous.” This retrospective will include all four of Tregenza’s features, along with a sampling of his work as a cinematographer (for Bela Tarr, Alex Cox, Claude Miller, and others). As a testament to Tregenza's multidisciplinary approach (director, writer, cinematographer and editor), Thinking with Cinema will include the world premiere of a new 35mm print of Inside/Out in addition to North American premieres for brand new prints of Talking to Strangers and The Arc, made directly from the original 35mm camera negatives and supervised by the filmmaker.
Organized by Dave Kehr, Curator, Department of Film.
Film at MoMA is made possible by CHANEL.
Additional support is provided by the Annual Film Fund. Leadership support for the Annual Film Fund is provided by Debra and Leon D. Black, with major contributions from The Contemporary Arts Council of The Museum of Modern Art, Jo Carole and Ronald S. Lauder, the Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP), The Junior Associates of The Museum of Modern Art, and Karen and Gary Winnick.
