This compilation features several of Cohen’s pieces from the late 1980s and early 1990s: a paean to both the physical and mental aspects of the New York City landscape, an exploration of cinematic genres from narrative to music video, a sensual and romantic portrait of swimmers at a water hole, and a sound and image piece inspired by a telephone confession line.
Total running time 1:15:00.
| # | Title | Artists | Run Time | Year | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  |
This is a History of New York | Jem Cohen | 00:22:36 | 1988 | United States |
| 2 |  |
Just Hold Still | Jem Cohen | 00:31:50 | 1989 | United States |
| 3 |  |
Drink Deep | Jem Cohen | 00:10:00 | 1991 | United States |
| 4 |  |
Black Hole Radio | Jem Cohen | 00:08:00 | 1992 | United States |
A history of New York City from Prehistoric times through the Space Age, composed entirely from documentary street footage.
"The richness of Cohen's vision is found in his haunting imagery and the perception that the thriving city of New York is really the accumulation of humanity's failures, as well as its triumphs."
-- Steve Seid, Seduced and Abandoned: The Homeless Video by Sachiko Hamada & Scott Sinkler and Jem Cohen (Berkeley: Pacific Film Archive, 1989)
This title is also available on Jem Cohen: Early Works.
In his New York City landscape, Cohen finds inspiration in disturbance. Looking to life for rhythm and to architecture for state of mind, he locates simple mysteries. Just Hold Still is comprised of an interconnected series of short works and collaborations that explore the gray area between documentary, narrative, and experimental genres.
The first part concerns a personal, poetic approach to narrative and includes 4:44 (From Her House Home), Never Change (with Blake Nelson), Love Teller (with Ben Katchor), and Light Years. The second part involves hybridized use of verité footage and the confrontation of documentary concerns with the music video format and includes Selected City Films, Glue Man (with Ian MacKaye), and Talk about the Passion (with R.E.M). The work can be considered as a whole, or each piece in the project can be viewed (and rented) as a separate entity.
This title is also available on Jem Cohen: Early Works.
Drink Deep is a lyrical vision of friendship, hidden secrets, and desires. Cohen uses several types of film image to add texture to the layered composition. Beautiful shades of grey, silver, black and blue echo the water, reminiscent of early photography and silverprints. Cohen says, "The piece was constructed primarily from footage I’d shot of skinnydippers at swimming holes in Georgia and rural Pennsylvania. It’s about water and memory and stories just submerged. It is also, in part, a response to thinking about censorship. I would say that Drink Deep is both unabashedly and deceptively romantic. Surface, flow, and undertow. What looks like paradise is always paradise lost."
Music composed by Stephen Vitiello and performed with Gabriel Cohen and Mary Wooten.
This title is also available on Jem Cohen: Early Works.
"In the late 1980s I saw ads in New York for a telephone 'Confession Line'. To call in and 'confess' was free; listening in incurred a by-the-minute charge. The soundtrack was built from a collection of these actual, anonymous calls. Adultery, theft, and regret; ghosts spun through phone wires and televisions. An installation version was created for the 1992 Worldwide Video Festival (Amsterdam).
Soundtrack: Jem Cohen with Ian MacKaye.
This title is also available on Jem Cohen: Early Works.