Jem Cohen
Directing
Biography
Born in Afghanistan, Jem Cohen is an American experimental filmmaker and photographer, especially known for his observational portraits of urban landscapes, blending of media formats, and collaborations with musicians.
Cohen has worked extensively with musicians including Patti Smith, Fugazi, Terry Riley, R.E.M., Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Xylouris White, DJ Rupture, the Ex, Elliott Smith, Vic Chesnutt, Mary Margaret O’Hara, Matana Roberts, Jessica Moss, Jonathan Richman, T.Griffin/Catherine McRae, White Magic, and the Orpheus Orchestra with Gil Shaham, and has collaborated with writers Luc Sante and Sam Stephenson, and graphic artist Ben Katchor.
As actor 1
On the crew 62
At Close Range
1986
Matewan
1987
Instrument
1999
20 Little Films
2012
Little, Big, and Far
2026
Museum Hours
2012
R.E.M.: In View 1988-2003 (The Best of R.E.M.)
2003
Drink Deep
1991
Black Hole Radio
1992
Chinatown Film Project
2009
Lucky Three: An Elliott Smith Portrait
1997
The Foxx and Little Vic
2002
R.E.M. - This Film Is On
1991
Lost Book Found
1996
Robert and June (and All the Time in the World)
2025
Chain
2004
Benjamin Smoke
2000
Makeshift (for Mekas)
2019
Sonic Cinema: Sparklehorse
2001
The Film That Buys the Cinema
2014
Le bled (Buildings in a Field)
2009
World Without End (No Reported Incidents)
2016
Glueman
1989
Evening's Civil Twilight in Empires of Tin
2008
Long for the City (Patti Smith in New York)
2009
Real Birds
2011
The Passage Clock: For Walter Benjamin
2008
Little Flags
2000
Buried in Light
1994
Vox Populi
2018
Light Years
1989
Just Hold Still
1989
Bury Me Not
2016
Amber City
1999
Spirit (Smells Like Teen Spirit)
2007
Counting
2015
4:44 (from her house home)
1989
Helianthus Corner Blues
2013
Half The Battle
2008
This Is a History of New York
1987
NYC Weights and Measures
2018
Ballad of Philip Guston
2022
Nice Evening, Transmission Down
2001
Peter Hutton
2016
Sketches for Late City Final
1991
Birth of a Nation
2017
Blood Orange Sky
1999
Anne Truitt, Working
2010
June Leaf
2024
Or Nothing (The Double)
2022
Robert and June (Cape Breton and NYC)
2024
Gravity Hill Newsreels: Occupy Wall Street
2011
Night Scene New York
2009
Crossing Paths with Luce Vigo
2010
Blessed are the Dreams of Men
2006
Museum
1997
Gravity Hill Newsreels-Bella ciao
Building a Broken Mousetrap
2006
We Have an Anchor
2015
A Tale of Two Cities (Viennale Trailer 2007)
2007
On Essex Road
2016
This Climate
2018