Posted on January 25, 2018 by Devon Beck

Albright Filmmaker Selected to Present at Berlin Film Festival

Albright Filmmaker Selected to Present at Berlin Film Festival

Reading, Pa. – Albright College faculty member/filmmaker Jerry Tartaglia, has been selected to present his 2017 film, Escape From Rented Island: The Lost Paradise of Jack Smith, at the 68th annual Berlin International Film Festival in February. The 10-day festival, which takes place from February 15 to 25, is a leading international platform for creative filmmakers.

Escape From Rented Island: The Lost Paradise of Jack Smith will be screened as part of the FORUM section for films that explore new forms and genres. “During the 20 years that I worked on restoring Smith’s (legendary 60s film artist) work, I had to remain painstakingly true to his vision,” says Tartaglia. “With the completion of my film, I’ve been able finally to express my own critical analysis of his work, using cinema rather than written language as the medium.”

As an experimental filmmaker, writer and archivist, Tartaglia’s work mainly explores gay identity and AIDS representations. His films have been screened at museums and festivals around the world. He founded Franklin Media Distribution, an organization which brings experimental film to the public in a home video format, and Berks Filmmakers, Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to the creation and exhibition of alternative film and video.

Tartaglia, of Fleetwood, Pa., has been a lecturer in Albright’s English Department since 2003. He has won numerous awards for his work including the Director’s Choice at the 2000 Black Maria Film Festival for the film Amnesia; the Special Jury Award at the 1996 Berlin International Film Festival in recognition of his work in restoring and preserving the film legacy of Jack Smith; and the Golden Gate Award at the 1992 San Francisco Film Festival for the film 1969.

Tartaglia earned a bachelor’s degree in English and German from Albright and a master’s degree in English from San Francisco State University.

Escape From Rented Island: The Lost Paradise of Jack Smith, premiered at Anthology Film Archives, New York, N.Y., in April 2017. 

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