Sarah Jacobson
Encyclopedia
Sarah Jacobson was an independent filmmaker who wrote, produced, and filmed her own movies.
, Jacobson began making her first film while in her early twenties. Jacobson's two major releases were I Was a Teenage Serial Killer
and Mary Jane's Not a Virgin Anymore
. Both were well-received at film festivals across North America such as the New York Underground Film Festival
, the Chicago Underground Film Festival
and Sundance
. I Was a Teenage Serial Killer featured songs by Heavens to Betsy
. She was listed in Spin
Magazine as one of the "Top Influences on Girl Culture". Also outspoken in their praise were film critic Roger Ebert
, filmmaker Allison Anders
and Kim Gordon
of Sonic Youth
. Ed Halter, writing in the Village Voice, considered I Was A Teenage Serial Killer,"...a key film of that decade's angrily subversive underground cinema."
Sarah Jacobson was interviewed, reviewed and written about in such national publications as The New York Times
, Village Voice, Spin
, Bust
and Film Threat
among others.
and Mudhoney, is featured in the film. Jello Biafra
also appears in a cameo role. Film Threat Magazine
, in its Film Threat Video Guide labelled it as one of the "25 Underground Films You Must See". Following the release of this film Jacobson directed videos for the bands Man or Astroman and Fluffy
.
As a result of the success of her films, Jacobson was an important champion of the DIY approach to filmmaking and wrote for several publications, including Punk Planet
, Grand Royal
, San Francisco Bay Guardian
and Indiewire
on the topic. She was a contributor to the film zine
, Joanie4Jackie, a project created by Miranda July
to showcase women's independently made and DIY films. Jacobson was also a participant in DiY Fest, a do-it-yourself travelling film festival.
Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains
and soon after presented the film at the Chicago Underground Film Festival. In 2000 she collaborated with filmmaker Sam Green on a short documentary about the film for the IFC
television channel's show Split Screen. The same year Sarah Jacobson was featured in a cameo role in the independent film GodAss by Esther Bell, which starred Fred Schneider
of the B-52's
.
in 2004, aged 32.
"There's no doubt in the minds of anyone...that she greatly helped stoke the flames of the guerilla and indie filmmaking movement while becoming a voice for grrrl-positive cineastes everywhere".
at New York University
.
Career
After studying with George KucharGeorge Kuchar
George Kuchar was an American underground film director, known for his "low-fi" aesthetic.-Early life and career:...
, Jacobson began making her first film while in her early twenties. Jacobson's two major releases were I Was a Teenage Serial Killer
I Was A Teenage Serial Killer
I Was a Teenage Serial Killer is an underground no budget film written and directed by "The Queen of Underground Film", Sarah Jacobson. It is a short black-and-white film of a 19-year-old girl who is sick of sexist men and kills them. It was Jacobson's first film and it was released through her own...
and Mary Jane's Not a Virgin Anymore
Mary Jane's Not a Virgin Anymore
Mary Jane's Not a Virgin Anymore is an independent film written, directed and produced by the self anointed "Queen of Underground Film", Sarah Jacobson. It's a film about a teenage girl named Mary Jane who is curious about sex and thinks that by having sex she will become "cool". It focuses on the...
. Both were well-received at film festivals across North America such as the New York Underground Film Festival
New York Underground Film Festival
Founded in 1994 by filmmakers Todd Phillips and Andrew Gurland, the New York Underground Film Festival was an annual event that occurred each March at Anthology Film Archives in New York City from 1994 through 2008...
, the Chicago Underground Film Festival
Chicago Underground Film Festival
Chicago Underground Film Festival, founded in 1994, occurs each spring at various venues in Chicago, Illinois in the USA.Over the last 18 years it has become one of the most respected festivals in the USA and is today well attended by critics and programers. The festival's stated goal is "to focus...
and Sundance
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
. I Was a Teenage Serial Killer featured songs by Heavens to Betsy
Heavens to Betsy
Heavens to Betsy was an American indie-punk band formed in Olympia, Washington in 1991. They were part of the DIY riot grrrl movement in the punk rock underground in the early 1990s, and were the first band of Sleater-Kinney vocalist/guitarist Corin Tucker....
. She was listed in Spin
Spin (magazine)
Spin is a music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr.-History:In its early years, the magazine was noted for its broad music coverage with an emphasis on college-oriented rock music and on the ongoing emergence of hip-hop. The magazine was eclectic and bold, if sometimes haphazard...
Magazine as one of the "Top Influences on Girl Culture". Also outspoken in their praise were film critic Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
, filmmaker Allison Anders
Allison Anders
Allison Anders is an American film and television director. Anders has directed many independent films, on which she frequently collaborates with fellow UCLA film school graduate Kurt Voss.-Biography:...
and Kim Gordon
Kim Gordon
Kim Althea Gordon is an American musician, vocalist, artist, record producer, video director and actress. She has sung and played bass and guitar in the alternative rock band Sonic Youth, and in Free Kitten with Julia Cafritz...
of Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth is an American alternative rock band from New York City, formed in 1981. The current lineup consists of Thurston Moore , Kim Gordon , Lee Ranaldo , Steve Shelley , and Mark Ibold .In their early career, Sonic Youth was associated with the No Wave art and music scene in New York City...
. Ed Halter, writing in the Village Voice, considered I Was A Teenage Serial Killer,"...a key film of that decade's angrily subversive underground cinema."
Sarah Jacobson was interviewed, reviewed and written about in such national publications as The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, Village Voice, Spin
Spin (magazine)
Spin is a music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr.-History:In its early years, the magazine was noted for its broad music coverage with an emphasis on college-oriented rock music and on the ongoing emergence of hip-hop. The magazine was eclectic and bold, if sometimes haphazard...
, Bust
Bust (magazine)
Bust is a bi-monthly United States-based women's lifestyle magazine. It was founded in 1993 by Debbie Stoller, Laurie Henzel, and Marcelle Karp.-Content:...
and Film Threat
Film Threat
Film Threat is a former print magazine and, now, webzine which focuses primarily on independent film, although it also reviews DVDs of mainstream films and Hollywood movies in theaters. It first appeared as a photocopied zine in 1985, created by Wayne State University students Chris Gore and André...
among others.
Mary Jane's Not a Virgin Anymore
Her novel and feature film Mary Jane's Not a Virgin Anymore and the grassroots manner in which Jacobson promoted the film garnered her much recognition in her specific field. Mary Jane's Not a Virgin Anymore starred Lisa Gerstein and Beth Roman Allen of the band The Loudmouths, whose music along with that of Babes In ToylandBabes in Toyland (band)
Babes in Toyland was an American alternative rock band formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1987. The band was formed by Oregon native Kat Bjelland , with Lori Barbero and Michelle Leon , who was later replaced by Maureen Herman in 1992...
and Mudhoney, is featured in the film. Jello Biafra
Jello Biafra
Jello Biafra is an American musician, spoken word artist and leading figure of the Green Party of the United States. Biafra first gained attention as the lead singer and songwriter for San Francisco punk rock band Dead Kennedys...
also appears in a cameo role. Film Threat Magazine
Film Threat
Film Threat is a former print magazine and, now, webzine which focuses primarily on independent film, although it also reviews DVDs of mainstream films and Hollywood movies in theaters. It first appeared as a photocopied zine in 1985, created by Wayne State University students Chris Gore and André...
, in its Film Threat Video Guide labelled it as one of the "25 Underground Films You Must See". Following the release of this film Jacobson directed videos for the bands Man or Astroman and Fluffy
Fluffy (band)
Fluffy was an all female punk rock band from London active between 1994 and 1998.-Origins:The band formed in 1994 after classmates, Amanda Rootes and Angie Adams were inspired by a jazz-blues singer in one of Old Compton Street's gay cafes. They were attending college in London at the time,...
.
As a result of the success of her films, Jacobson was an important champion of the DIY approach to filmmaking and wrote for several publications, including Punk Planet
Punk Planet
Punk Planet was a 16,000 print run punk zine, based in Chicago, Illinois, that focused most of its energy on looking at punk subculture rather than punk as simply another genre of music to which teenagers listen. In addition to covering music, Punk Planet also covered visual arts and a wide...
, Grand Royal
Grand Royal
Grand Royal was the Los Angeles, California based vanity record label set up in 1992 by the Beastie Boys in conjunction with Capitol Records after the group left Def Jam Recordings....
, San Francisco Bay Guardian
San Francisco Bay Guardian
The San Francisco Bay Guardian is a free alternative newspaper published weekly in San Francisco, California. The paper is owned mostly by its publisher, Bruce B...
and Indiewire
IndieWire
indieWIRE is a daily news site for the independent film community. It covers indie, documentary and foreign language films, as well industry news, film festival reports, filmmaker interviews and movie reviews...
on the topic. She was a contributor to the film zine
Zine
A zine is most commonly a small circulation publication of original or appropriated texts and images. More broadly, the term encompasses any self-published work of minority interest usually reproduced via photocopier....
, Joanie4Jackie, a project created by Miranda July
Miranda July
Miranda July is a performing artist, writer, actress and film director. Born Miranda Jennifer Grossinger, she works under the surname of "July," which can be traced to a character from a "girlzine" Miranda created with high school friend Johanna Fateman, called Snarla.- Background :Miranda...
to showcase women's independently made and DIY films. Jacobson was also a participant in DiY Fest, a do-it-yourself travelling film festival.
Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains
In 1999, she wrote an article for Grand Royal about the cult filmCult film
A cult film, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a highly devoted but specific group of fans. Often, cult movies have failed to achieve fame outside the small fanbases; however, there have been exceptions that have managed to gain fame among mainstream audiences...
Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains
Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains
Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains is a 1981 film about three teenage girls, played by Diane Lane, Laura Dern and Marin Kanter, who start a punk band. Shot in British Columbia, Canada, the film also featured Ray Winstone, Christine Lahti, ex-Sex Pistols Steve Jones and Paul Cook, along with...
and soon after presented the film at the Chicago Underground Film Festival. In 2000 she collaborated with filmmaker Sam Green on a short documentary about the film for the IFC
Independent Film Channel
The Independent Film Channel is an American cable TV network that airs independent film and related programming. IFC programming includes commercially interrupted feature-length films, original documentaries, shorts, animated series, original series, acquired series, and content exclusively for...
television channel's show Split Screen. The same year Sarah Jacobson was featured in a cameo role in the independent film GodAss by Esther Bell, which starred Fred Schneider
Fred Schneider
Frederick William "Fred" Schneider III is an American rock singer, best known as the frontman of the rock band The B-52's, of which he is a founding member. Schneider is well-known for his sprechgesang which he developed from reciting poetry over guitars.-Early life:Schneider was born in Newark,...
of the B-52's
The B-52's
The B-52's are an American rock band, formed in Athens, Georgia in 1976. The original line-up consisted of Fred Schneider , Kate Pierson , Cindy Wilson , Ricky Wilson , and Keith Strickland . Following Ricky Wilson's death in 1985 Strickland switched to guitar...
.
Death
Jacobson had just completed writing the screenplay for her next film when she died from endometrial cancerEndometrial cancer
Endometrial cancer refers to several types of malignancies that arise from the endometrium, or lining, of the uterus. Endometrial cancers are the most common gynecologic cancers in the United States, with over 35,000 women diagnosed each year. The incidence is on a slow rise secondary to the...
in 2004, aged 32.
Posthumously
After her death, Marc Savlov wrote in the Austin ChronicleAustin Chronicle
The Austin Chronicle is an alternative weekly, tabloid-style newspaper published every Thursday in Austin, Texas, United States. The paper is distributed through free news-stands, often at local eateries or coffee houses frequented by its targeted demographic...
"There's no doubt in the minds of anyone...that she greatly helped stoke the flames of the guerilla and indie filmmaking movement while becoming a voice for grrrl-positive cineastes everywhere".
Legacy
The Sarah Jacobson Film Grant was set up and annually awards grants to young female directors. The Sarah Jacobson Papers are located in the Fales LibraryFales Library
New York University's Fales Library and Special Collections is located on the third floor of the Elmer Holmes Bobst Library at 70 Washington Square South between LaGuardia Place and the Schwartz Plaza, in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It houses nearly 200,000...
at New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
.
Filmography
- I Was a Teenage Serial KillerI Was A Teenage Serial KillerI Was a Teenage Serial Killer is an underground no budget film written and directed by "The Queen of Underground Film", Sarah Jacobson. It is a short black-and-white film of a 19-year-old girl who is sick of sexist men and kills them. It was Jacobson's first film and it was released through her own...
(1993) - Mary Jane's Not a Virgin AnymoreMary Jane's Not a Virgin AnymoreMary Jane's Not a Virgin Anymore is an independent film written, directed and produced by the self anointed "Queen of Underground Film", Sarah Jacobson. It's a film about a teenage girl named Mary Jane who is curious about sex and thinks that by having sex she will become "cool". It focuses on the...
(1997) - The Making of Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains (2000)
Sources
- Dixon, Wheeler Winston. The Second Century of Cinema: The Past and Future of the Moving Image (The Suny Series, Cultural Studies in Cinema/Video). State University of New York Press March 2000 ISBN 0791445151
External links
- NYU's Fales Library and Special Collections Guide to the Sarah Jacobson Papers
- Sarah Jacobson at the Internet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...
- Sarah Jacobson Remembered on IndiewireIndieWireindieWIRE is a daily news site for the independent film community. It covers indie, documentary and foreign language films, as well industry news, film festival reports, filmmaker interviews and movie reviews...
- Sarah Jacobson in the Austin Chronicle
- The Sarah Jacobson Film Grant