Portrait of Jason

“The most extraordinary film I’ve seen in my life.”—Ingmar Bergman

The painstakingly restored Portrait of Jason might be this year’s most essential rerelease. The great independent filmmaking pioneer Shirley Clarke went to New York City’s historic Hotel Chelsea to film the self-described gay hustler Jason Holliday as he unraveled stories, sang, donned costumes, and reminisced about good times and bad behavior. The resulting film is a mesmerizing portrait of a remarkable, charming, and tortured man and a potent reminder of the lives of gay black men in the midst of the civil rights movement and before the Stonewall uprising. (105 mins., 35mm)