J. Hoberman

J. Hoberman
Born	James Lewis Hoberman March 14, 1948 (1948-03-14) (age 63) New York City, New York, U.S.[1]
Pen name	J. Hoberman
Occupation	Film critic, journalist, author
Nationality	American
Subjects	Film
Influences Jonas Mekas, Andrew Sarris[2]
Influenced Nathan Lee[3]

James Lewis Hoberman (born March 14, 1948),^[4] also known as J. Hoberman, is an American film critic. He is currently the senior film critic for The Village Voice, a post he has held since 1988.

Contents 1 Education 2 Career 3 Partial bibliography 3.1 As author 3.2 As co-author 4 References 5 External links

Education

Hoberman completed his B.A. at Binghamton University and his M.F.A. at Columbia University. At Binghamton, prominent experimental filmmaker Ken Jacobs both instructed and influenced him.

Career

After completing his MFA Hoberman worked for The Village Voice as third-stringer under Andrew Sarris. There, he specialized in examining experimental film. Indeed, his first published film review appeared in 1977 for David Lynch's seminal debut film Eraserhead. Since 2009 Hoberman remains senior film editor at the Village Voice. In addition, he contributes regularly to Film Comment, The New York Times, and The Virginia Quarterly Review.

Hoberman appears in the 2009 documentary film For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism, recalling his first movie memory, going with his mother to see Cecil B. DeMille’s The Greatest Show On Earth, and how he was mesmerized by a scene in that film depicting a train crash.

In addition to his academic and professional career, Hoberman is the author of several important books on cinema, including a collaboration with prominent film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum, entitled Midnight Movies, published in 1983.

In the 2002 Sight & Sound film poll, Hoberman indicated that Flaming Creatures is his choice for best film ever made. Other films included in his top five, listed by ranking, are The Girl from Chicago, Man with a Movie Camera, Pather Panchali, and La Règle du jeu.

In 2008, at the San Francisco International Film Festival, Hoberman was honored with the prestigious Mel Novikoff Award: an annual award "bestowed on an individual or institution whose work has enhanced the filmgoing public’s knowledge and appreciation of world cinema."

Since 1990 Hoberman has taught cinema history at Cooper Union. Additionally, he's lectured on film at Harvard University and continues to lecture at New York University.

Partial bibliography

As author

• An Army of Phantoms: American Movies and the Making of the Cold War. The New Press, New York, 2011.
• The Magic Hour: Film at Fin de Siècle. Temple University Press, Philadelphia, 2003.
• The Dream Life: Movies, Media, and the Mythology of the Sixties. The New Press, New York, 2003.
• On Jack Smith's Flaming Creatures:(and Other Secret-flix of Cinemaroc). Granary Books/Hips Road, 2001.
• The Red Atlantis: Communist Culture in the Absence of Communism. Temple University Press, Philadelphia, 1999.
• 42nd Street. BFI Publishing, London, 1993.
• Bridge of Light: Yiddish Film Between Two Worlds. New York: The Museum of Modern Art/Schocken Books, 1992.
• Vulgar Modernism: Writing on Film and Other Media. Temple University Press, Philadelphia, 1991.
• Dennis Hopper: From Method to Madness. Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 1988.
• Home Made Movies: Twenty Years of American 8Mm & Super-8 Films. Anthology Film Archives, New York, 1981.

As co-author

• Midnight Movies (with Jonathan Rosenbaum)

References

External links

• Senses of Cinema interview
• Gothamist interview
• J. Hoberman's Top Ten Lists, 1977-2005
• An interview with J. Hoberman on The Marketplace of Ideas

Persondata
Name	Hoberman, Jim
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	March 14, 1948
Place of birth	New York City, New York, U.S.
Date of death
Place of death