Get to know Jem Cohen, the unclassifiable independent filmmaker whose work explores art, music, and the cities that shape our lives. In the following interview, Cohen describes how he moves between different formats (Super 8, 16 mm, digital) and modes of filmmaking (documentary, collage, street photography, city symphony, semiscripted fiction) in his search for artistic freedom.
Up Next in Directed by Jem Cohen
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Instrument
Directed by Jem Cohen • 1999 • United States
Starring FugaziFilmed 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...
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Benjamin Smoke
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...
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Chain
Directed by Jem Cohen • 2004 • United States
Starring Miho Nikaido, Mira Billotte, Minda MartinAs 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...
