Anthology Film Archives

Film Screenings / Programs / Retrospectives

MICHAEL ROEMER, FAREWELL

August 1 – August 7

August 1-7, 2025

Filmmaker Michael Roemer lived a rich and long life, long enough to make several indisputable cinematic masterpieces, to endure decades of neglect at the hands of critics and audiences alike, and ultimately – beginning when he was in his sixties, and continuing through his seventh and eighth decades on the planet – to see his body of work rediscovered, restored, and justifiably celebrated as encompassing some of the greatest and most distinctive independent films in American cinema. Happily, Roemer – who passed away in May, at the age of 97 – was, up until the very end, able not only to witness the rapturous reception afforded to his films, but to present and discuss them in person, appearances that were suffused with all the (undiminished) grace, candor, empathy, and searching intelligence that defines his films.

Roemer’s first feature film, NOTHING BUT A MAN (1964) – a classic of American neorealism which narrates the experiences of a Black railroad worker in the segregated South who attempts to live and love with dignity in the face of racial and class prejudice – was an exceptionally moving and beautifully acted corrective to the tone deafness of Hollywood movies that addressed race at the time. NOTHING BUT A MAN would not receive its due until many years later, but it was at least released theatrically, which was more than could be said of his follow-up, THE PLOT AGAINST HARRY (1969), which wouldn’t be screened publicly for almost twenty years following its production. A similarly culturally specific film – this time set in the world of Jewish smalltime gangsters in NYC – THE PLOT AGAINST HARRY was eventually recognized as an equally extraordinary film.

It beggars belief that two films of such value by a single filmmaker could suffer the same fate. But in more recent years – thanks to the efforts of Jake Perlin, who has been instrumental in rediscovering, restoring, and promoting Roemer’s films – we’ve learned that Roemer’s body of work encompasses yet another lost masterpiece – VENGEANCE IS MINE (1984) – as well as one of the finest documentaries ever made about mortality – DYING (1976) – and a fourth fiction feature – PILGRIM, FAREWELL (1982) – that represents both a kind of fictional remake of DYING and a fascinating study for VENGEANCE IS MINE.

To pay tribute to Roemer in the wake of his death, Anthology presents screenings of all five of his features, as well as his two early short films. This is neither the first, nor surely the last, Roemer retrospective to grace NYC screens, but his deeply moving, note-perfect films can’t be screened enough.

Unless otherwise noted, the film descriptions are by Jake Perlin, the Founder of The Film Desk, which distributes Roemer’s work.

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