I’m deep in editing The Oldest Person in the World with Aaron Wickenden. We’ve been filming each person who holds the title of oldest person in the world for 10 years now, and we’re now making a first version of the movie. I will continue to film the oldest person in the world for the rest of my life and every decade or so will put out a new film. I’m thinking of this one as “The Oldest Person in the World 10” or maybe “The Oldest Person in the World X”. Aaron and I are in the index card stage at the moment – trying to figure out a structure and flow for the movie – how it can actually work. This is a part of the process that is super hard work but that I also really love. 

I’m thrilled that 32 SOUNDS is now on the Criterion Channel for the next year. I’ve always been a fan of the curation, so it’s a real honor to share a platform with many of my film heros. I’m also tickled that they chose the cat as the thumbnail. I guess animals get the clicks! 

I was over the moon that Lincoln Center did a retrospective of some of my live cinema greatest hits!! This might be the only time this’ll ever happen. 32 SOUNDS with JD Samson. A THOUSAND THOUGHTS with the Kronos Quartet. And THE LOVE SONG OF R BUCKMINSTER FULLER with Yo La Tengo. Actually this is the only time this will ever happen – two of the members of Kronos Quartet retired and this was one of the last screenings of ATT. Definitely a career highlight for me. 

Thrilled that 32 SOUNDS is on several Oscar prediction lists! Thanks Variety and Indiewire.

32 SOUNDS just finished a 9-week run at the Film Forum in NYC!!! We were scheduled to play the film there for one week, and it just kept getting extended. It’s an honor to have premiered the film at Film Forum, which is a beacon of artistic vision, independence, and excellence in the sea of mediocrity that is the film distribution landscape these days. The film has since opened at dozens of other theaters around the country and is currently the 6th-highest grossing documentary of the year! 

I have gone on and on here (and elsewhere) about Annea Lockwood — in fact, my own mother asked me recently if Annea had replaced her in my heart (the answer of course was ‘no way!’). But at the risk of going overboard, I did want to mention that I wrote an essay recently for Pioneer Works about Annea that I’m pretty excited about. It’s called “Learning to Listen with Annea Lockwood.” It has lots of pictures and sounds and also recounts the story of our friendship. I could not have done it without the great editing powers of Joshua Jelly-Schapiro! Read the essay here: https://pioneerworks.org/broadcast/sam-green-annea-lockwood

There was a lot of Philly kismet at last weekend’s screening of 32 SOUNDS. It was a pleasure to perform at University of the Arts on Saturday night and to be in the city that’s home to Yoni Brook (the great cinematographer who shot the film), our post team at All Ages Productions, plus our EP Jen Westphal! And on top of all of that, Annea Lockwood — the star of the film — simultaneously had a show at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. She’s taking over the city! 

I don’t take for granted the chance to be in a room with an audience these days, and I’m grateful to everyone who came… and to The Philadelphia Inquirer for the huge spread on 32 SOUNDS. That’s a lot of ink!

I’m thrilled to be heading to Columbus, OH where we’ll be performing 32 Sounds as part of a retrospective of my work at the Wexner Center for the Arts!

The retrospective starts on Wednesday, September 28 with a screening of The Rainbow Man/John 3:16. This was my first film, and I finished as a resident  at the Wexner’s Film/Video Studio (my first of several residencies at the Wex!). I’m very excited to bring the film back to Columbus and to celebrate my long relationship with the great folks at the Wexner.

We perform 32 Sounds the next night (with free popcorn before and a Q&A after!), and then later in October there are screenings of The Weather Underground and The Universal Language and other shorts.

You can read more about the program here.