After studying poetry at Columbia under Kenneth Koch and a transformative period in Paris soaking in the offerings of the Cinémathèque Française, Jarmusch enrolled in film school at NYU. In his senior year, he made what would become his debut feature: 75 minutes of frayed downtown cool. Aloysius Parker (Chris Parker) is the prototype for many of Jarmusch’s subsequent loner heroes: he loafs aimlessly around his scuzzy apartment and crumbling New York streets reading French poetry, flirting with cute girls at Nicholas Ray screenings, stealing cars and obsessing over his half-punk, half-dandy image. For all its youthful self-seriousness (or maybe in part because of it), Permanent Vacation is a touching vision of what it was like to be head over heels with art, love, and oneself in late-1970s New York.

Screening with:

Talking Heads – The Lady Don’t Mind
Jim Jarmusch | 4m