Amos Poe
Directing
Biography
Amos Poe, born Amos Jay Porges, was a quintessential New York independent filmmaker, a key figure in the emergence of the No Wave cinema movement that evolved from the punk music scene and flourished from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s on New York's Lower East Side.
Born: January 1, 1949
Place of Birth: Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel
Known For
Blank City
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.
TV Party
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.
Downtown '81
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.
Subway Riders
A psychotic saxophone player lures victims to deserted spots with his music and then guns them down.
Smithereens
A narcissistic runaway engages in a number of parasitic relationships amongst members of New York's waning punk scene.
Les Rendez-vous du dimanche
A talk show presented by Michel Drucker
The Foreigner
A French special op suffers an existential crisis as he wanders New York City in search of a mission and the requisite connections.
Hunter
Two friends vie for the attention of a stranger who passes out at their doorstep.
HoLEY
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.
Stiletto
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.
Filmography
as The Priest
as Self
as Felix
as Self
as Self
as Conversationalist at Mudd Club
as Hustler in Bar
as Writer Ant
as Amos Nitrate
as Self