The Whole Shebang: Celebrating Ken and Flo Jacobs
As part of a multi-venue memorial event at theaters across New York City throughout April, FLC hosts Azazel Jacobs’s Momma’s Man, starring parents Ken and Flo, and Ken Jacobs’s seminal The Sky Socialist.
Azazel Jacobs
2008|
U.S.|
94 minutes
Azazel Jacobs’s comic and melancholic tale about the allure (and drawbacks) of escaping into nostalgia follows a thirtysomething man (Matt Boren) with no apparent urge to leave his parents’ (Ken and Flo Jacobs) Manhattan loft. Followed by the world premiere of Ken Jacobs’s Downtown Loft with Skylights.
Ken Jacobs
1965|
U.S.|
96 minutes
One of the most essential American avant-garde films of the 1960s, Ken Jacobs’s transfixing meditation on the post-Holocaust world stars Flo Jacobs and was filmed entirely on their rooftop in pre-gentrification lower Manhattan.
I Walked Into My Shortcomings, a new monumental compendium that brings together the writings, teachings and interviews of legendary American filmmaker Ken Jacobs, is on sale at the concession stand in the lobby of the Walter Reade Theater for $45 while supplies last!
Ticket Information
Tickets are $18; $15 for students, seniors (62+), and persons with disabilities; and $13 for FLC Members. See both films and save ($15 for GP; $12 for students, seniors (62+), and persons with disabilities; and $10 for FLC Members.). Discount applied in cart.
About the Series
Momma’s Man (35mm) – Azazel Jacobs’s comic and melancholic portrait of the parent-child relationship (starring his own parents, Ken and Flo Jacobs) will be followed by the world premiere of Ken Jacobs’s short film, Downtown Loft with Skylights. Monday, April 20 at 6:00pm (Q&A with Azazel Jacobs)
The Sky Socialist – Ken Jacobs’s transfixing meditation on the post-Holocaust world, starring Flo Jacobs, is one of the most essential American avant-garde films of the 1960s. Monday, April 20 at 8:45pm (introduction by Azazel Jacobs)
Spanning the entire month of April, The Whole Shebang: Celebrating Ken and Flo Jacobs is a 14-venue cinema salute to two of experimental cinema’s most beloved icons. Ken (1933–2025) and Flo (1941–2025) were inseparable sweethearts and creative partners from the day they met in 1962, and while their passing last year left cinephiles bereft, it also provides a welcome opportunity to survey their enormous and extraordinary film and digital oeuvre. The Whole Shebang represents an unprecedented aligning of venues across the city, all of whom presented and championed the Jacobs’ uncompromising output during the last six-plus decades. Featuring key works, many theatrical and world premieres, and plenty of deep cuts, this sweeping festival serves as both a remembrance and an introduction to the duo’s remarkable achievements and impossible-to-categorize genius.
Organized by Andrew Lampert, this collective tribute will unfold over April with screenings at: L’Alliance New York, Anthology Film Archives, BAM Cinema, Film-Makers’ Cooperative, Film at Lincoln Center, Light Industry, Metrograph, Millennium Film Workshop, The Museum of Modern Art, Museum of the Moving Image, Rockaway Film Festival, The Roxy Cinema, Spectacle Theater, and UnionDocs. Visit here for programming info.
Special thanks to Azazel Jacobs and Andrew Lampert.
