Zeitgeist Films Collection

Starting from a closet-sized office in New York City, Zeitgeist Films was founded by Nancy Gerstman and Emily Russo in 1988 with a focus on American independent feature films and documentaries. Prior to Zeitgeist, Gerstman had delved into all aspects of film distribution and exhibition—including working for Landmark Theatres, one of the largest independent theater chains in the United States. Emily Russo began her work in the film industry as a television production coordinator in Munich, Germany. From there, she led theatrical sales at Interama, a distribution company that specialized in French language releases.

As American films became harder to acquire due to growing industry competition among smaller distribution companies, Zeitgeist reallocated its efforts to the distribution of foreign language films, which at the time—around 1991—were not as popular within the American market. Since that transition, Zeitgeist has continually devoted its efforts to the cinematic arthouse experience, taking acquisition risks, many of which have proven successful.

Since its launch, Zeitgeist Films has acquired and distributed over 200 titles by directors such as distinguished British-American filmmaker Christopher Nolan, New Queer Cinema pioneer Todd Haynes, lauded Haitian documentary and feature filmmaker Raoul Peck, French auteurs Agnes Varda and Philippe Garrel, and legendary Iranian poetic-minimalist filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami. Zeitgeist Films has received five Oscar nominations throughout its tenure, and won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 2001 for Caroline Link’s Nowhere in Africa, which is featured within the Harvard Film Archive’s Zeitgeist Films Collection.

In 2017, Zeitgeist entered into a multi-year alliance with the major film distribution company, Kino Lorber. Through this calculated and deliberate partnership, Kino Lorber and Zeitgeist co-acquire four to five theatrical film titles per year, which are marketed and released by Zeitgeist. Additionally, through this arrangement Kino Lorber has become the sole distributor of all Zeitgeist titles for the home video, educational and digital media markets. – Alexandra Vasile

ABOUT THE COLLECTION

The Harvard Film Archive’s Zeitgeist Films Collection consists of a diverse assortment of contemporary short, feature and documentary 16mm and 35mm films from around the globe.

All titles are catalogued in HOLLIS.