Jack Sargeant (born 1968) is a British writer specialising incult film,underground film, andindependent film, as well assubcultures,true crime, and other aspects of the unusual. In addition he is a film programmer,curator, academic and photographer. He has appeared in underground films and performances. He currently lives in Australia.[1][2]
Since 1995 Sargeant has written and contributed to numerous books onunderground film, including:Deathtripping: The Cinema of Transgression, aboutCinema of Transgression filmmakers such asRichard Kern andNick Zedd,Naked Lens: Beat Cinema, andCinema Contra Cinema, a collection of essays on alternative film. In 2007Deathtripping was republished bySoft Skull Press,[3] this was followed by a re-printing ofNaked Lens: Beat Cinema in 2008.[4]
Sargeant is the editor of the journalSuture, and has co-edited the booksLost Highways: An Illustrated History of the Road Movie (with Stephanie Watson) andNo Focus: Punk on Film (with Chris Barber). In 2014 his collection of essays on the world ofWilliam Burroughs and associated artists such asBrion Gysin was published asAgainst Control by Swedish publisher Eight Millimetre.[5][6]
In 2016 Amok Books publishedFlesh and Excess: On Underground Film.[7][8]
Sargeant has contributed to numerous books on subjects ranging fromAndy Warhol movies toroad rage andcar crash songs. His work has been included in collections such asMikita Brottman'sCar Crash Culture, Mendick & Harper'sUnderground USA, Wollen & Kerr'sAutopia, among others.
He has also authored and editedtrue crime books includingBorn Bad,Death Cults,,Bad Cop Bad Cop, andGuns, Death Terror. These books have featured contributions fromMonte Cazazza, Michael Spann, Andrew Leavold, John Harrison, Simon Whitechapel, Chris Barber, and others.
Sargeant has written introductions forJoe Coleman'sBook of Joe and photographer Romain Slocombe'sTokyo Sex Underground.
He has contributed to publications such as Headpress as well as Panik,Electric Sheep,The Wire,Fortean Times andBizarre magazine, as well as academic journals such asSenses of Cinema andM/C. Since 2008 he has written film reviews and a regular column for the Australian film magazineFilmInk focusing on unusual areas of film culture. He has also appeared as an occasional guest on ABC Radio National's MovieTime.
As a public speaker Jack Sargeant has given numerous talks on a variety of subjects including the work of JG Ballard, William Burroughs, and many other subjects often related to subjects he has written about.[9][10][11]
Sargeant has appeared in numerous film and TV documentaries on culture and film, as well as having cameos in underground films. He has also appeared on a recording by the experimental group I/O.
Sargeant has been a frequent collaborator of art and theory groupmonochrom and founderJohannes Grenzfurthner. He got invited toVienna asQ21/MQ artist in residence by monochrom in winter 2018.[16]
"Rope of Flesh:Mudhoney Deconstructed",Necronomicon Book Two, ed. Andy Black, London: Creation Books, 1998.
"Towards The Medical",Body Probe, ed. David Wood, London: Velvet Books, 1999.
"Bringing Out The Dead",Addicted: The Myth and Menace of Drugs in Film, ed.Jack Stevenson, London: Creation Books, 2000.
Introduction toButchershop in the Sky, James Havoc, London: Creation Books, 2000.
Introduction toTokyo Sex Underground, Romain Slocombe, London: Creation Books, 2001.
"Violence and Vinyl: Car Crashes in 1960s Pop",Car Crash Culture, ed. Mikita Brottman, New York: Palgrave / St Martins Press, 2001.
Introduction toWilliam S Burroughs' Unforgettable Characters:Lola la Chata and Bernabe Jurado, Brisbane: Xochi Press, 2001.
"Voyeurism, Sadism and Transgression: Screen Notes and Observation on Warhol's Blow Job and I, A Man",Underground USA: Filmmaking Beyond the Hollywood Canon, ed. Xavier Mendick & Steven Jay Schneider, London: Wallflower, 2002.
"Squealing Wheels and Flying Fists",Autopia, eds. Peter Wollen and Joe Kerr, London: ReAktion Books, 2002.
"Knee Deep in the Mud, Blood and Tears",The Book of Joe, Joe Coleman, San Francisco: Last Gasp / Los Angeles: La Luz de Jesus Gallery, 2003.
"Sticks & Bones: Weapons Training",Search & Destroy: the Vietnam War & Film, ed. Jack Hunter, London: Creation Books, 2003.
"Harry Crosby",Straight to Hell: 20th Century Suicides, ed. Namida King, London: Creation Books, 2004.
The Headpress Guide to Modern Culture, ed. David Kerekes, Stockport: Critical Vision, 2004.
Introduction toThe Gun Is Loaded,Lydia Lunch, Black Dog, London, 2008.
"Revealing and Concealing: Notes and Observations on Eroticism and Female Pubic Hair", inHair Styling, Culture and Fashion, eds Geraldine Biddle-Perry & Sarah Cheang, Berg, 2008.
"This Is Hardcore"' inCinematic Folds: The Furling and Unfurling of Images, ed Firoza Elavia, Pleasure Dome, 2008.
"In Celebration of Going Too Far: Waterpower" inFrom the Arthouse to the Grindhouse, eds Rob Weiner & John Cline, Scarecrow, 2010
Sargeant, Jack (March–April 2015). "No escape!". Keeping it Reel.FilmInk.10 (1): 35.
"Hot, Hard Cocks and Tight, Tight Unlubricated Assholes: Transgression, Sexual Ambiguity and “Perverse” Pleasures in Serge Gainsbourg's Je t’aime moi non plus", in:monochrom #16-24, 2010.
