A true hero of DIY cinema, Jem Cohen has been pursuing his own brand of defiantly independent artistry for more than four decades across films of many shapes and sizes, including city symphonies, collaborations with musicians, artist portraits, and semiscripted features. A poetic chronicler of ur...

Directed by Jem Cohen • 1999 • United States
Starring Fugazi

Filmed over the course of more than ten years, from 1987 to 1998, INSTRUMENT is director Jem Cohen’s visceral, fittingly unconventional portrait of legendary DC punk band Fugazi from their origins through their electrifying prime. Capt...

Directed by Jem Cohen and Peter Sillen • 2000 • United States

Far from a standard music documentary, Jem Cohen and Peter Sillen’s loving portrait of underground musician Benjamin Smoke—speed freak, drag queen, and a true outsider artist in every sense of the word—captures his singular personalit...

Directed by Jem Cohen • 2004 • United States
Starring Miho Nikaido, Mira Billotte, Minda Martin

As regional character disappears and corporate culture homogenizes our surroundings, it’s increasingly hard to tell where you are. In Jem Cohen’s mesmerizing blend of narrative and documentary observa...

Directed by Jem Cohen • 2012 • Austria, United States
Starring Mary Margaret O’Hara, Bobby Sommer, Ela Piplits

Acclaimed experimental filmmaker Jem Cohen applies his singular vision to narrative in this mesmerizing tale of two adrift strangers who find refuge in Vienna’s grand Kunsthistorisches ...

Directed by Jem Cohen • 2015 • United States

In fifteen linked chapters shot in locations ranging from Moscow to New York to Istanbul, Jem Cohen merges city symphony, diary film, and personal/political essay to create a vivid portrait of contemporary life. Perhaps the most personal of Cohen's fi...

Directed by Jem Cohen • 1997 • United States
Starring Elliott Smith

This intimate portrait of singer-songwriter Elliott Smith features him performing three songs.

Directed by Jem Cohen • 1996 • United States

Inspired by Walter Benjamin and director Jem Cohen’s time working as a pushcart vendor in downtown Manhattan, LOST BOOK FOUND compiles five years worth of Super 8 and 16 mm footage into a multilayered New York city symphony.

Directed by Jem Cohen • 2009 • United States
Starring Anne Truitt

Jem Cohen’s portrait of sculptor Anne Truitt features an interview with the artist and footage shot in and around her studios at the Yaddo artist colony and in Washington D. C. Rather than an attempt to depict the art itself, whic...

Directed by Jem Cohen • 2008 • United States

Jem Cohen’s homage to Walter Benjamin and other expat artists blends narration by Patti Smith with footage of Paris’s Bibliothèque nationale, where Benjamin found refuge from fascism in a sanctuary of books.

Directed by Jem Cohen • 2008 • United States
Starring Patti Smith

Patti Smith recites the first poem-song she ever wrote in this portrait of the artist and her New York City neighborhood.

Directed by Jem Cohen • 2010 • Spain

A portrait of the film critic, educator, and daughter of legendary filmmaker Jean Vigo combines her memories with footage shot in Northern Spain.

Directed by Jem Cohen • 2017 • United States

BIRTH OF A NATION is Jem Cohen’s record of Donald Trump’s 2017 presidential inauguration and the protests that followed it.

Directed by Jem Cohen • 2022 • United States

An unconventional exploration of the life and art of the singular painter grapples with his work’s radical legacy.

Directed by Jem Cohen • 2019 • United States

Jem Cohen compiles footage from New York and Lithuania in a tribute to the titan of avant-garde cinema Jonas Mekas.

Directed by Jem Cohen • 2001 • United States

Jem Cohen directs an extended music video for Sparklehorse’s song “Maxine.”

Directed by Jem Cohen • 2020 • United States

Jem Cohen directs this video for the post-rock song “Opened Ending” by Jessica Moss.

Directed by Jem Cohen • 2019 • United States

Jem Cohen directs a music video for the song “Tree Song” by the experimental Greek folk outfit Xylouris White.

Directed by Jem Cohen • 2018 • United States

Hardcore punk legend Ian MacKaye (Fugazi, Minor Threat) discusses memorable experiences from the many live shows he’s played.

Directed by Jem Cohen • 2005 • United States

Jem Cohen’s ever-observant camera finds flashes of dreamy lyricism on the streets of New York City—and also confronts the realities of the post-9/11 surveillance state.

Directed by Jem Cohen • 2024 • United States

Jem Cohen directs a music video for the post-rock song “Aerie” by drummer Jim White (of Dirty Three) and guitarist Marisa Anderson.

Directed by Jem Cohen • 2007 • United States

Jem Cohen captures a minute-long slice of New York City street life.

Directed by Jem Cohen • 2000 • United States

Footage of an early-1990s military ticker-tape parade in lower Manhattan takes on an increasingly unsettling tone.