We’re continuing our Staff Picks series with an absolutely vital member of the Kino Film Collection team: Jameson Oyer, Senior Director of Direct to Consumer Distribution and Digital Sales. Or as Jameson sums up her title: “That's a very fancy way of saying I curate and market our Kino Film Collection Prime Video channel, as well as our direct consumer site.” In other words, she arguably knows the library better than anyone at Kino Lorber, because she’s the one who programs it. Each month, Jameson carefully selects the best of the best in indie, arthouse, and documentaries from around to add to the Kino Film Collection.
So when it came time to choose her top five picks, it was a bit like choosing five favorite children. But that also means her recommendations are full of love, sincerity, and unadulterated enthusiasm. With each film description, she creates a distinct vibe that will make you want to start watching these right away.
Get to know Jameson a bit more and see her top five staff picks—and get ready to start streaming!
How and when did your love of film begin?
“I think I've always been very attracted to the art of storytelling and I've always been very interested in artwork itself. And I think film is a really good combination of those two. I originally got interested in film because it was something that I just liked as a kid. I grew up with a little Panasonic in my bedroom and I used to drive 45 minutes out very far away from my house on a million different highways just to go get VHS tapes of very strange obscure European films—a few of which we’ve distributed at Kino Lorber. And I was also very lucky to be in that environment with friends and mentors growing up who were able to introduce me to film and introduce me to this world outside of commercial cinema.”
Jameson’s Top 5 Picks (in no particular order)
The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye by Marie Losier (2011)
“I'll start with The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye, which sort of combines some of my favorite, strange things in the world of cinema: New York City punk icons, performance art, and LGBTQ cinema. It's a very fascinating documentary that I don't think gets as much love as it deserves. I'm always very fascinated by these documentaries that are able to take so many different parts of these people's lives in terms of materials. It’s interviews, voiceovers, pieces of artwork, found or actual footage of this couple, all blended together to create its own separate work of art, which is the documentary itself.
It is the story of someone who was born male, and then through meeting this woman, they developed a relationship and created their own gender. They love each other so much they try to become one another through plastic surgery, emotional connection, through their art. They dress the same, they look the same, they get the same breast implant surgery. They just basically morph into one single entity. It's an exploration of gender. The film is not only a fascinating look into non-binary conversations and how we identify, but also what love is and what a partnership is and what a relationship can look like and be. [It takes the idea of ] couples costumes to a different level.”
The Chambermaid by Lila Avilés (2019)
“Then we have The Chambermaid, which is from Lila Avilés, who's a very up-and-coming Latin American female director, which is amazing. I feel like we're in a historical period of almost second wave new Mexican cinema. The Chambermaid is a fascinating look at the life of a young woman who works cleaning hotels. The film is just a gorgeous point of view of this woman's life and her struggles.
Where it becomes a work of art is the film itself is quite quiet. The only sounds in the film are those that are naturally created. The way that it's shot is incredibly fascinating—these sort of wide shots where you really get the full view of the hotel itself. I would say the hotel is a character within the film. Then there’s her relationship with a few other people that work there and how she sort of maintains and interacts with the people around her and the way that she quietly develops into this level of frustration that I think she is allowed to have. I think she has the agency to be frustrated with how she’s being respected. The ending is just magnificent, I think.
I really look forward to seeing what this director has in store for the rest of her career. I think she's my age, maybe even younger. I wouldn't be surprised if she truly blows up and becomes one of these ginormous Latin American directors in the next few years.”
Hold Me Tight by Mathieu Amalric (2022)
“Hold Me Tight is another fascinating form of storytelling. I would say this is definitely one that has…I don't even want to call it a twist ending because that makes it sound so commercial, but as the film goes on, you slowly understand what is happening.
It is an absolutely ingenious method of storytelling, but it basically is the point of view from a woman who is—you can tell she's maybe running away from something. Her getting in the car and driving away is juxtaposed with images of her husband and children who are dealing with the fact that she's missing. [The film interweaves] their lives— her family trying to adjust to her not being in the house and her trying to adjust from running from whatever it is that seems to affect her in such an emotional and mental and even physical way. The film stars Vicky Krieps, who is from Phantom Thread. She does an incredible job. I highly recommend you watch this film. It is a drama, it is heartbreaking, but the way that the story is told is incredible. And I would also add that it has a touch of magical realism.”
Jazz on a Summer’s Day by Bert Stern (1959)
“I went into it thinking, ‘OK, it's just going to be footage of a music festival’…not so. This is a story. This is a little capsule. This is a youth film in a way. You get this point of view of a summer in 1959 and exactly how that summer's day was. It's a mix of the performances, the people-watching, and the party afterwards. There's this gorgeous scene in which you see a bunch of young kids dancing on a roof, and there are some hanging out the window drinking Cokes and smoking cigarettes and just looking like the coolest kids you've ever met. It's a very Americana film in a way. I think it's also very fascinating that the audience is both white and Black in 1959, so it really gives this idea that the music itself was transcendent of race within its time. You get people just genuinely enjoying the moment and the day. I think this film will [inspire viewers to ] remember a day in their youth when it was summer and the nights were long and you can hear the cicadas. Music and nature and youth and togetherness all come together in this documentary about a music festival. Coachella could never.”
Editor’s note: Jameson sold me on this film without even mentioning the iconic musicians featured in it, which include Louis Armstrong, Thelonius Monk, Anita O’Day, and Dinah Washington.
Marriage Italian Style by Vittorio De Sica (1964)
“I think sometimes this film is overshadowed by some of Sophia Loren’s sexier titles or, you know, more classic Italian films like La Dolce Vita or 8 ½. But this film itself is such a classic Italian fun little comedy starring the iconic Marcello Mastroianni and Sophia Loren. The reason I put it on this list is because not only is it hilarious, but it's also stylistically [evocative] of ‘70s, late ‘60s Italian cinema.
The film is about a young…we’ll call her a call girl, who has a friend and client and lover who she grows attached to over the history of her youth, and over two decades. But she slowly realizes he's going away from her and he's engaged to another woman, and she thinks, ‘I'm gonna get this man back.’ And that's exactly what she does. And of course it involves all sorts of hijinks and fights—these fights are classic fights if you've ever seen any of Sophia Loren or Marcella Mastroianni’s films, or even Lina Wertmüller’s films, then you know these classic little spats that couples have. You get a ton of those in this film. I think it's actually a really fun date movie. It’s really just cute and feel-good in its own silly little way because at the end, it does have a happy ending for this crazy, back-and-forth, casually toxic, super stylish couple.”