Program 1: Queer Identity

This program spotlights Sonbert’s documentation of the gay communities of New York in the late 60s and San Francisco in the late 70s. The provocative and playful Amphetamine depicts life during the sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll era, while Noblesse Oblige shows a masterfully edited depiction of the Bay Area protests in the wake of Harvey Milk’s assassination. The program concludes with the posthumously completed Whiplash, a powerful tribute to life and mortality made as Sonbert was dying from AIDS-related complications. (60 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.