Program 3: 60s New York

These early films, some of which were made while Sonbert was a film student, capture Andy Warhol’s Superstars, including Gerard Malanga and Rene Ricard, amidst the New York art and club scenes. Hall of Mirrors intersperses these scenes with footage from an old Hollywood film to create a circular melodrama, forming, according to critic Paul Arthur, the “cool-eyed subcultural observations on the private rituals of budding Superstars” that make these works such a treat. (55 mins., 16mm)

The Warren Sonbert Legacy Project has been developed by archivist Jon Gartenberg. Preservation of Sonbert’s films by the Academy Film Archive with financial support from the Estate Project for Artists with AIDS. 16mm distribution prints courtesy of Light Cone, Paris.