Lynne Sachs

Lynne Sachs

Directing · Born 1961-08-10 · Memphis, Tennessee, USA

Lynne Sachs makes films, performances, installations and web projects that explore the intricate relationship between personal observations and broader historical experiences by weaving together poetry, collage, painting, politics and layered sound design. Since 1994, her five essay films have taken her to Vietnam, Bosnia, Israel and Germany — sites affected by international war–where she tries to work in the space between a community’s collective memory and her own subjective perceptions. Strongly committed to a dialogue between cinematic theory and practice, Lynne searches for a rigorous play between image and sound, pushing the visual and aural textures in her work with each and every new project.  Since 2006, she has collaborated with her partner Mark Street in a series of playful, mixed-media performance collaborations they call The XY Chromosome Project. In addition to her work with the moving image, Lynne co-edited the Millennium Film Journal issue on “Experiments in Documentary”. Supported by fellowships from the Guggenheim, Rockefeller and Jerome Foundations and the New York State Council on the Arts, Lynne’s films have screened at the New York Film Festival, the Sundance Film Festival and Toronto’s Images Festival as well as a five-film survey at the Buenos Aires Film Festival.  The San Francisco Cinematheque recently published a monograph with four original essays in conjunction with a full retrospective of Lynne’s work.  In 2012, Lynne began a series of live film performances of  Your Day is My Night at St. Nick’s Alliance in Greenpoint, at Proteus Gowanus in Brooklyn, at Maysles Cinema and at the University Settlement. She then screened the completed hour-long hybrid video at the Museum of Modern Art, the Vancouver Film Fest, Union Docs, the New Orleans Film Fest and other venues in Mexico, Argentina and Ecuador.  Lynne teaches experimental film and video at New York University and The New School and lives in Brooklyn.

As cast

As director

Every Contact Leaves a Trace
Every Contact Leaves a Trace 2025
Director
No poster
This Side of Salina 2024
Director
Contractions
Contractions 2024
Director
No poster
The Jitters 2023
Director
Swerve
Swerve 2022
Director
Figure and I
Figure and I 2021
Director
Maya at 24
Maya at 24 2021
Director
E•pis•to•lar•y: letter to Jean Vigo
E•pis•to•lar•y: letter to Jean Vigo 2021
Director
Girl Is Presence
Girl Is Presence 2020
Director
Film About a Father Who
Film About a Father Who 2020
Director
A Month of Single Frames
A Month of Single Frames 2019
Director
¡Despertar!
¡Despertar! 2018
Director
A Morning with Jack Waters
A Morning with Jack Waters 2018
Director
The Washing Society
The Washing Society 2018
Director
Carolee, Barbara and Gunvor
Carolee, Barbara and Gunvor 2018
Director
And Then We Marched
And Then We Marched 2017
Director
Tip of my Tongue
Tip of my Tongue 2017
Director
A Year in Notes and Numbers
A Year in Notes and Numbers 2017
Director
Day Residue
Day Residue 2016
Director
Starfish Aorta Colossus
Starfish Aorta Colossus 2015
Director
Drift and Bough
Drift and Bough 2014
Director
Your Day Is My Night
Your Day Is My Night 2014
Director
Same Stream Twice
Same Stream Twice 2012
Director
Sound of a Shadow
Sound of a Shadow 2011
Director
Wind in Our Hair
Wind in Our Hair 2010
Director
The Task of the Translator
The Task of the Translator 2010
Director
No poster
Cuadro por cuadro 2009
Director
Georgic for a Forgotten Planet
Georgic for a Forgotten Planet 2009
Director
The Last Happy Day
The Last Happy Day 2009
Director
XY Chromosome Project
XY Chromosome Project 2007
Director
The Small Ones
The Small Ones 2006
Director
Atalanta: 32 Years Later
Atalanta: 32 Years Later 2006
Director
Noa, Noa
Noa, Noa 2006
Director
States of UnBelonging
States of UnBelonging 2006
Director
Investigation of a Flame
Investigation of a Flame 2002
Director
First Steps in a Terra Incognita
First Steps in a Terra Incognita 2002
Director
Tornado
Tornado 2002
Director
Photograph of Wind
Photograph of Wind 2001
Director
Window Work
Window Work 2000
Director
A Biography of Lilith
A Biography of Lilith 1997
Director
Which Way Is East: Notebooks from Vietnam
Which Way Is East: Notebooks from Vietnam 1994
Director
The House of Science: A Museum of False Facts
The House of Science: A Museum of False Facts 1991
Director
Sermons and Sacred Pictures
Sermons and Sacred Pictures 1989
Director
The Randy Band Film
The Randy Band Film 1988
Director
Following the Object to Its Logical Beginning
Following the Object to Its Logical Beginning 1987
Director
Fossil
Fossil 1986
Director
Drawn and Quartered
Drawn and Quartered 1986
Director
Still Life with Woman and Four Objects
Still Life with Woman and Four Objects 1986
Director
The Tarot
The Tarot 1983
Director
Visit to Bernadette Mayer’s Childhood Home
Visit to Bernadette Mayer’s Childhood Home
Director