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ZEITGEIST FILMS AT 35

Founded in New York City in 1988 by film lovers Nancy Gerstman and Emily Russo, Zeitgeist Films would quickly distinguish itself as a distribution company that would both take big risks in acquisitions and provide hands-on care in its release rollout. Now in its 35th year, and with five Academy Award-nominated films, including one winner, to their name, Zeitgeist is well-established as an incubator of emerging talents (Todd Haynes, Guy Maddin, Laura Poitras, and Olivier Assayas) and standard-bearer of curatorial curiosity and excellence—a tradition we salute in this anniversary celebration that reviews the highlights of a remarkable collection of films.

Stream NANCY GERSTMAN AND EMILY RUSSO ON 35 YEARS OF ZEITGEIST FILMS at homeZeitgeist Films co-founders Nancy Gerstman and Emily Russo discuss their retrospective at Metrograph.

NANCY GERSTMAN AND EMILY RUSSO ON 35 YEARS OF ZEITGEIST FILMS

Metrograph | 4 min | 2023

Stream A ZED & TWO NOUGHTS at homeA queasily comic meditation on sex and death, in which two zoologist widowers become obsessed with decomposition, experimenting on animals and crafting time-lapse films of decaying flesh.

A ZED & TWO NOUGHTS

PETER GREENAWAY | 115 min | 1985

Stream ACASA, MY HOME at homeA nonfiction group portrait of a family of nine who find themselves evicted from their home in the wild and forced to adapt to life in the capital.

ACASA, MY HOME

Radu Ciorniciuc | 86 min | 2020

Stream ACT OF GOD at homeBachwal’s visually ravishing investigation into just what happens when you get hit by lightning.

ACT OF GOD

Jennifer Baichwal | 75 min | 2009

Stream BEYOND THE VISIBLE: HILMA AF KLINT at homeA revealing examination of the Swedish painter and mystic Hilma af Klint.

BEYOND THE VISIBLE: HILMA AF KLINT

Halina Dyrschka | 94 min | 2019

Stream BLUE at homeA vibrant work of courage and clarity in which voices read a poetic text by Jarman—who was dying of AIDS, and would be gone within a year— over an unceasing, monochromatic blue frame.

BLUE

Derek Jarman | 79 min | 1993

Stream FAMILY VIEWING at homeEgoyan’s second film tells the story of one man’s dissolution and reunion through a variety of video images

FAMILY VIEWING

Atom Egoyan | 86 min | 1987

Stream FILM ABOUT A WOMAN WHO... at homeRainer’s landmark second feature tells the story of a woman whose sexual dissatisfaction masks an enormous anger.

FILM ABOUT A WOMAN WHO...

Yvonne Rainer | 90 min | 1974

Stream IN THE MIRROR OF MAYA DEREN at homeKudlacek’s film provides a penetrating insight into the mind of its legendary subject, artist and filmmaker Maya Deren.

IN THE MIRROR OF MAYA DEREN

Martina Kudlacek | 103 min | 2001

Stream JOURNEYS FROM BERLIN / 1971 at homeIlluminated by a lead performance from critic Annette Michelson, Rainer’s revelatory fourth feature was inspired by her experiences living in West Berlin in the late ’70s.

JOURNEYS FROM BERLIN / 1971

Yvonne Rainer | 125 min | 1980

Stream LAST TRAIN HOME at homeLixin Fan’s moving documentary traces the mass phenomenon that is the annual homecoming journeys of Chinese migrant workers to celebrate Lunar New Year.

LAST TRAIN HOME

Lixin Fan | 85 min | 2009

Stream LET IT COME DOWN: THE LIFE OF PAUL BOWLES at homeAn intimate portrait of the peripatetic American writer Paul Bowles, shot in New York and his adopted home of Tangier.

LET IT COME DOWN: THE LIFE OF PAUL BOWLES

Jennifer Baichwal | 75 min | 1999

Stream LIVES OF PERFORMERS at homeRainer’s debut feature film announced her shift from the world of dance towards avant-garde cinema, and what would become a career-long interest in “women’s stories” and the teasing machinations of melodrama.

LIVES OF PERFORMERS

Yvonne Rainer | 90 min | 1972

Stream LOUISE BOURGEOIS: THE SPIDER, THE MISTRESS... at homeSculptor Louise Bourgeois often turns cryptic in interviews, but thanks to Wallach’s patient, observant approach to her sometimes spiky subject, Bourgeois reveals much.

LOUISE BOURGEOIS: THE SPIDER, THE MISTRESS...

Marion Cajori | 99 min | 2008

Stream MURDER AND MURDER at homeRainer’s last feature is also one of her most personal, inspired by the lows and highs of a breast cancer diagnosis in the early 1990s, and the surprise of a burgeoning lesbian relationship.

MURDER AND MURDER

Yvonne Rainer | 113 min | 1997

Stream PAYBACK at homeA lyric documentary about the nature of debut, inspired by Margaret Atwood’s vital nonfiction book Payback.

PAYBACK

Jennifer Baichwal | 82 min | 2012

Stream POISON at homeA landmark of New Queer Cinema, Todd Haynes’s first feature is a trio of intercut stories inspired by the patron saint of all queer outlaw art, Jean Genet.

POISON

Todd Haynes | 85 min | 1991

Stream PRIVILEGE at homeA delightfully anarchic autobiographical meta-film exploring the power dynamics underpinning experience, memory, and the manner in which women’s stories are told.

PRIVILEGE

Yvonne Rainer | 103 min | 1990

Stream RECORDER: THE MARION STOKES PROJECT at homeA sensitive portrait of an African American left-wing activist who was also a tireless media watchdog.

RECORDER: THE MARION STOKES PROJECT

Matt Wolf | 87 min | 2019

Stream SOPHIE SCHOLL: THE FINAL DAYS at homeRothemund’s riveting historical drama features Julia Jentsch in an award-winning performance as the most member of anti-Nazi German student group the White Rose.

SOPHIE SCHOLL: THE FINAL DAYS

Mark Rothemund | 120 min | 2005

Stream SORRY WE MISSED YOU at homeWorking-class family man Ricky is struggling with debt after the 2008 financial crisis in Ken Loach’s deeply empathetic drama exploring the dark side of the gig economy.

SORRY WE MISSED YOU

Ken Loach | 101 min | 2019

Stream SPEAKING PARTS at homeA coruscating kaleidoscope tangled relationships, the confusion of life, and its filmed reflection.

SPEAKING PARTS

Atom Egoyan | 93 min | 1989

Stream THE DRAUGHTSMAN’S CONTRACT at homeGreenaway’s breakthrough, a 17th-century murder mystery in which an aristocratic wife commissions a young artist to sketch her husband’s seemingly idyllic property while he is away.

THE DRAUGHTSMAN’S CONTRACT

PETER GREENAWAY | 108 min | 1982

Stream TULPAN at homeDvortsevoy’s debut feature is a charming, vivacious depiction of an ancient way of life with an uncertain future.

TULPAN

Sergey Dvortsevoy | 100 min | 2008