Writes Ken Jacobs: "Louis-Aimé-Augustin Le Prince was the first person to create, in 1885, a single recording apparatus that photographed images in quick succession on George Eastman's new paper roll film. Le Prince applied for patents but the fix was in, leaving Edison and the Lumière Brothers...
"Waiting, waiting, for a bus to carry us a mile downtown. We often give up and walk. When we commit ourselves to waiting the bus usually appears with a second bus, empty, trailing by a block. We assume the drivers feel free to stop and gab between rounds; not nice, but then the job is impossible...
Description by Ken Jacobs: Along the Elevated is an expanse of city architecture in delicious depth (depth is not only what things exist in, its ins and outs speak to us). We follow a speedy lunch wagon (fast food) until it turns in another direction. With such near-nothing incidents do I keep my...
A stroboscopic train ride along a jungle stream. Asian military men appear with their pith-helmets, keeping the ferns, trees, monkeys, natives in line. The master of the stroboscopic depth illusion changes.
A stereo-photo of an ocean wave slowly turns and churns. The hidden forces of Cinema conspire with an instant of history to produce actions that never were or could be. 3D for everyone (one eye will do). Regarding the title, one hears on all sides (doing battle) that “God is great”. I donʼt...
In NERVOUS KEN, experimental film legend Ken Jacobs is "interviewed" by my urbane 12-year old M.C., Emma Bernstein. Envisioning an exploration of the nature of listening (of apprehending or not, remembering or not, and creating meaning) and of the repetitions & variations of verbal expression and...
"2013. USA. Directed by Ken Jacobs. With technical assistance by Nisi Jacobs. Part two of four. “Joys…began on the corner of Broadway and Spring but it was the next night waiting on Bleecker that it was understood a movie of sorts was underway, depicting a general waiting for the bus rather...
A story told by director Ken Jacobs but without conventional storyline. Using a modified magic lantern, an early type of image projector developed in the 17th century, he morphs, flickering images that look like photo-negatives.
