curatorial
Dylan on Film
September 2016
Curated first public event in Tulsa after the announcement that the city would become the permanent home of the Bob Dylan Archive. Hosted by Tulsa’s Circle Cinema in September 2016, the series included documentaries, archival concert footage and in person conversations with Dont Look Back and ’65 Revisited directors D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.
Semper, Roi, Semper:
Amiri Baraka (1934 – 2014)
May 2014
Series at Anthology Film Archives in honor of poet, playwright and political activist Amiri Baraka. Combining films, documentaries and television interviews, the series debuted Baraka’s re-discovered film The New Ark that he wrote and directed for NET Television in 1968.
"Semper, Roi, Semper: Amiri Baraka" by Nick Pinkerton in Artforum
The White Album: Joan Didion
February 2013
On the invitation of the Louis B. James Gallery in Manhattan, curated a series of films and videos in February 2013 dedicated to author Joan Didion and her acclaimed essay collection The White Album. The program presented films, television programs and newscasts centered around Los Angeles between the years 1968–72 and included work by Paul Ferrara, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Julian Cooper, Will Hindle, Reyner Banham and Agnes Varda, among others.
Minding the Gap:
The Films of Dick Fontaine
2011-2012
Organized the first retrospective of pioneering British documentarian Dick Fontaine whose groundbreaking body of work includes films on the controversial election to Parliament of Alec Douglas-Home, The Beatles before Beatlemania, the Battle of Tonkin and the escalation of the war in Vietnam, Norman Mailer at his 1967 arrest at the Pentagon, Ornette Coleman and the New Wave of American jazz, James Baldwin along the path of the Civil Rights movement, the funeral of Black Panther George Jackson and, years before they were lionized as progenitors of a new global culture, the South Bronx originators of hip hop. This series premiered at Anthology Film Archives in February 2011 and traveled to Paris for the 2012 Cinéma du Réel festival at the Centre Pompidou.
Michael Joshua Rowin on "The Films of Dick Fontaine" in Artforum
The Films of Pierre Clémenti
May 2010
In collaboration with Anthology Film Archives in May 2010, organized the first American retrospective of actor and filmmaker Pierre Clémenti.
"Pierre Clementi, Handsome Devil, Sacred and Profane" by Nick Pinkerton in the Village Voice
Norman Mailer on Film
July 2007
In collaboration with New York City’s Anthology Film Archives and Film at Lincoln Center, curated a series of programs in July 2007 dedicated to author Norman Mailer, screening all four of his directorial efforts alongside several of Mailer’s television appearances and documentaries.
"Norman Mailer: Unbound and On Film" by A.O. Scott in the New York Times
"Mailer Gets Hammered" by Gerald Howard in the New York Times
The Maysles Brothers: A Retrospective at the British Film Institute Southbank
May 2007
In May 2007, curated the first complete UK retrospective of the films of Albert and David Maysles. The series also highlighted archival and unseen material from the Maysles Films Archive.
Seven Comedies:
The Films of Luc Moullet
January 2006
Organized the first retrospective in America of Cahiers du cinéma writer turned filmmaker Luc Moullet. Opening at International House Philadelphia in January 2006, the retrospective traveled to venues in New York, Boston, Chicago, Seattle, and Los Angeles.
Sam Adams on "The Films of Luc Moullet" in the Philadelphia City Paper
Program Director Film @ International House Philadelphia
2000-2005
Curator of film and video at Philadelphia’s longest running non-profit arts center. IHouse Philadelphia screened a mix of repertory, new and independent world cinema. During the time Chaiken curated their film program, he hosted numerous visiting filmmakers and writers including Albert Maysles, Ousmane Sembene, Richard Hell, and Amiri Baraka.