man (& woman!) with a movie camera

While in New York filming some stuff on Monday we  stopped by the studio space of a fellow filmaker friend to make use of her projectors to finally get a peek at Jem Cohen's footage he shot for Gravity Was Everywhere Back Then. Martha Colburn, who ever so graciously let us take over her studio space, is an animator/artist/filmaker who is probably one of the most influential moving collage artists working out there today! She shoots her animations frame by frame on actual film, manipulating paper cut out puppets or self solving jigsaw puzzle characters or altered photographs usually positioned in front of beautifully hand painted layered glass backgrounds- all coming together to make wonderfully stilted storyscapes. Thank you Martha for letting us woodsy goobers come over and teaching us a thing or two about film!

 As for Jem's footage...As for Jem's footage! Jem, are you reading this? Can I follow you around for awhile and try to undertand how you see the world so beautifully? Jem? JEM!? Really though. I don't think I have ever seen anyone so talented as to seriously convey what it means to live through mere pictures, isn't that what art is supposed to do? Especially film? Absolutely wonderful. **Note: These stills of Jems really don't do what he filmed justice since they were shot in between bursts of mouth gaping amazement and from a flickering film image.