Jem Cohen
Jem Alan Cohen (born 1962 in Kabul, Afghanistan) is a New York City-based U.S. film-maker, especially known for his observational portraits of urban landscapes, blending of media formats (16mm, Super 8, videotape) and collaborations with musicians.[1]He is the recipient of the Independent Spirit Award for feature film-making. “Cohen’s films have been broadcast in Europe by the BBC and ZDF/ARTE, and in the United States by the Sundance Channel and P.B.S. They are in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, The Whitney, and Melbourne’s Screen Gallery.”[2] He also makes multichannel installations and still photographs and had a photography show at Robert Miller Gallery in 2009. He has received grants from the Guggenheim, Creative Capital, Rockefeller and Alpert Foundations, the National Endowment for the Arts, and other organizations.
![Blessed are the Dreams of Men](http://sheffieldfringe.com/wp/../content/uploads/Blessed-are-the-Dreams-of-Men-Jem-Cohen-400x288-1.jpg)
Blessed are the Dreams of Men | USA 2003 | 16mm to digital | 9 min 15s
Moving towards an unknown destination, a group of anonymous passengers float through an unidentified landscape. Built from Cohen’s archive documenting his travels, the film can be seen as a curious parable. The film’s subheading refers to the Old Testament, Daniel chapter 11, verse 40:
“And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.”