Amos Poe

From 1978 to 1982, Glenn O'Brien hosted a New York city public access cable TV show called TV Party. Co-hosted by Chris Stein, from Blondie, and directed by filmmaker Amos Poe, the hour long show took television where it had never gone before: to the edge of civility and "sub-realism" as Glenn would put it. Walter Steding and his TV Party "Orchestra" provided a musical accompaniment to the madness at hand, and many artists and musicians, from The Clash, Nile Rodgers, Jean-Michel Basquiat, David Bryne and Arto Lindsey were regular guests. It was the cocktail party that could be a political party. With 80 hours of disintegrating 3/4 inch videotape as a starting point, we tracked down the trend setting participants still living today and found out what they remember of the period and how the show influenced their lives. This, combined with clips from the orginal show, became the documentary "TV Party.

A documentary about the influential independent film production company The Shooting Gallery.

A narcissistic runaway engages in a number of parasitic relationships amongst members of New York's waning punk scene.

A psychotic saxophone player lures victims to deserted spots with his music and then guns them down.

During a visit to New York from Egypt, Mark, a 32-year-old Orthodox Christian, decides to lose his virginity, facing all the cultural and religious restrictions that have shaped his character. After a failed blind date, Mark is persuaded by his friends to seek something other than a soul mate. Their solution? A prostitute.

In the years before Ronald Reagan took office, Manhattan was in ruins. But true art has never come from comfort, and it was precisely those dire circumstances that inspired artists like Jim Jarmusch, Lizzy Borden, and Amos Poe to produce some of their best works. Taking their cues from punk rock and new wave music, these young maverick filmmakers confronted viewers with a stark reality that stood in powerful contrast to the escapist product being churned out by Hollywood.

"Shortly after Amos went into home hospice he began filming ‘Adios’, a short film, compiled of 16mm and Super 8 footage, to premiere at his memorial, chronicling all the family and friends who have come to visit. Even Courtney our absolutely wonderful hospice nurse is in it. […] Only twice have we forgotten to film a visitor. Amos designated me the Director of Photography. Since I have to focus and shoot using my bad left eye the joke in our home is that it’s a film by a dying director and a blind DP." – Claudia Summers

Two friends vie for the attention of a stranger who passes out at their doorstep.

A woman, Nadja, searches for her sister's murderer. This search goes through differing moments of reality, or unreality, that overlap within facets of a broken-up time sense. In this emulation of film noir, the investigative structure does not create suspense; the dialectic murderer/victim does not exist. The crime is fabricated bit by bit, like the staging of a spectacle, and it is in the traditional tools of seduction (the spiked heels) that the weapons will be hidden. Ultimately, the crime Nadja achieves makes her neither a triumphant heroine nor a victim.

The film is a day in the life of a young artist, Jean-Michel Basquiat, who needs to raise money to reclaim the apartment from which he has been evicted. He wanders the downtown streets carrying a painting he hopes to sell, encountering friends, whose lives (and performances) we peek into.

A French special op suffers an existential crisis as he wanders New York City in search of a mission and the requisite connections.

Shot on the streets of New York City, an intimate portrait of the legendary No Wave cinema pioneer.

the connections and energy flow between the various artists populating the 1980s sub-cultures of New York and Berlin. Features Jim Jarmusch, Lydia Lunch, Blixa Bargeld, Alex Hacke, Gudrun Gut, Nick Cave, and others. An important film. Bravo, Mr. Dreher.

Reel 17 of Gérard Courant's on-going Cinematon series.

A New York City drug dealer decides to get out of the business, but has to flee from mobsters.

A New York City drug dealer decides to get out of the business, but has to flee from mobsters.

The life of a woman is transformed after she is diagnosed with a terminal disease, fired from her job and abandoned by her boyfriend. Given two months to live, she throws caution to the wind to pursue her dreams.

The life of a woman is transformed after she is diagnosed with a terminal disease, fired from her job and abandoned by her boyfriend. Given two months to live, she throws caution to the wind to pursue her dreams.

A man's family comes for his 77th birthday and while he loves all of his children and their children, he and his children don't exactly connect. However, he connects with his grandchildren. And he tells them what he wants for his birthday and they do what they can to give it to him.

A psychotic saxophone player lures victims to deserted spots with his music and then guns them down.

A psychotic saxophone player lures victims to deserted spots with his music and then guns them down.

A psychotic saxophone player lures victims to deserted spots with his music and then guns them down.

"Shortly after Amos went into home hospice he began filming ‘Adios’, a short film, compiled of 16mm and Super 8 footage, to premiere at his memorial, chronicling all the family and friends who have come to visit. Even Courtney our absolutely wonderful hospice nurse is in it. […] Only twice have we forgotten to film a visitor. Amos designated me the Director of Photography. Since I have to focus and shoot using my bad left eye the joke in our home is that it’s a film by a dying director and a blind DP." – Claudia Summers

A group of unemployed theater actors survive by working as illegal money collectors. The loan shark they are working for owns an Off-Broadway theater. As he decided to play "American Buffalo" there, a bloody battle for the favorite roles begin.

A group of unemployed theater actors survive by working as illegal money collectors. The loan shark they are working for owns an Off-Broadway theater. As he decided to play "American Buffalo" there, a bloody battle for the favorite roles begin.

The cream of the New York new wave/punk crop, filmed live at CBGB when the scene was just beginning. Includes performances by Patti Smith, Blondie, Television, the Ramones, Talking Heads, the Heartbreakers, the Shirts, Wayne County, the Marbles, the Dolls, Miamis, Harry Toledo, and the Tuff Darts (w/Robert Gordon).

The cream of the New York new wave/punk crop, filmed live at CBGB when the scene was just beginning. Includes performances by Patti Smith, Blondie, Television, the Ramones, Talking Heads, the Heartbreakers, the Shirts, Wayne County, the Marbles, the Dolls, Miamis, Harry Toledo, and the Tuff Darts (w/Robert Gordon).

Joey is a player, a hot-shot movie agent in New York. If a deal can be made, he'll make it. If a rising talent can be snapped up, he'll be the first in line. And when it comes to luring Hollywood in a bidding war for a script nobody's read, Joey is your man. Joey's definitely cruising in the fast lane. Bu there's one thing Joey has never taken the time to do... live. Joey's programmed life is turned topsy-turvy by a series of unexpected events which culminates in a serendipitous romance with a throughly remarkable young Jamaican woman.

This is Poe and Král's first effort, shot on small-gauge stock, before their more well-known endeavor The Blank Generation (1976) came to be. A "DIY" portrait of the New York music scene, the film is a patchwork of footage of numerous rock acts performing live, at venues like Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, the dive bars of Greenwich Village and, of course, CBGB.

In the midst of an evacuation effort, True World Forces agent Weed must secure an alien spacecraft suspected to have crashed somewhere in the city. But after Weed meets the ship's beautiful, shape-shifting pilot, he finds himself falling for her. As the two grow close, Weed struggles to determine where his true loyalties lie.

A tribute to the bustling beauty of Manhattan, inspired by Andy Warhol's 1964 film "Empire".

A tribute to the bustling beauty of Manhattan, inspired by Andy Warhol's 1964 film "Empire".

Sketched loosely, the narrative of Poe's first feature is as scrappy and paper-thin as its protagonist Rico, a self-styled loner in New York City circa 1976 who longs to inhabit the "New Wave" scene of mid-60s Paris. In Rico's day-to-day life as an unsuccessful photographer, he wearily searches for authentic connection-- even as he spouts the most inauthentic prose imaginable.

Sketched loosely, the narrative of Poe's first feature is as scrappy and paper-thin as its protagonist Rico, a self-styled loner in New York City circa 1976 who longs to inhabit the "New Wave" scene of mid-60s Paris. In Rico's day-to-day life as an unsuccessful photographer, he wearily searches for authentic connection-- even as he spouts the most inauthentic prose imaginable.

Sketched loosely, the narrative of Poe's first feature is as scrappy and paper-thin as its protagonist Rico, a self-styled loner in New York City circa 1976 who longs to inhabit the "New Wave" scene of mid-60s Paris. In Rico's day-to-day life as an unsuccessful photographer, he wearily searches for authentic connection-- even as he spouts the most inauthentic prose imaginable.

A French special op suffers an existential crisis as he wanders New York City in search of a mission and the requisite connections.

A French special op suffers an existential crisis as he wanders New York City in search of a mission and the requisite connections.

A French special op suffers an existential crisis as he wanders New York City in search of a mission and the requisite connections.