
Amos Poe
Biography
Amos Poe, born Amos Jay Porges, was a quintessential New York independent filmmaker, a key figure in the emergence of the No Wave cinema movement that evolved from the punk music scene and flourished from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s on New York's Lower East Side.
Known For & Full Filmography13 Titles

Drama Series - 1975, 16 episodes • as Self
A talk show presented by Michel Drucker

Movie - 2005, 2h 15m • as Self
From 1978 to 1982, Glenn O'Brien hosted a New York city public access cable TV show called TV Party. Co-hosted by Chris Stein, from Blondie, and directed by filmmaker Amos Poe, the hour long show took television where it had never gone before: to the edge of civility and "sub-realism" as Glenn would put it. Walter Steding and his TV Party "Orchestra" provided a musical accompaniment to the madness at hand, and many artists and musicians, from The Clash, Nile Rodgers, Jean-Michel Basquiat, David Bryne and Arto Lindsey were regular guests. It was the cocktail party that could be a political party. With 80 hours of disintegrating 3/4 inch videotape as a starting point, we tracked down the trend setting participants still living today and found out what they remember of the period and how the show influenced their lives. This, combined with clips from the orginal show, became the documentary "TV Party.

Movie - 2025, 2h 15m • Main Cast Role
"Shortly after Amos went into home hospice he began filming ‘Adios’, a short film, compiled of 16mm and Super 8 footage, to premiere at his memorial, chronicling all the family and friends who have come to visit. Even Courtney our absolutely wonderful hospice nurse is in it. […] Only twice have we forgotten to film a visitor. Amos designated me the Director of Photography. Since I have to focus and shoot using my bad left eye the joke in our home is that it’s a film by a dying director and a blind DP." – Claudia Summers

Drama Series - 1978, 16 episodes • Main Cast Role
TV Party was a public-access television cable TV show in New York City that ran from 1978 to 1982. Glenn O'Brien was the host. Chris Stein, the co-founder of the pop band Blondie, was the co-host and Walter "Doc" Steding was the leader of the TV Party orchestra. Amos Poe was the director. Guests included Mick Jones, David Byrne, Debbie Harry, James Chance and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Brink Films has re-released some of the best of the 80 plus episodes on DVD, as well as a documentary about the TV show.

Movie - 1981, 2h 15m • as Writer Ant
A psychotic saxophone player lures victims to deserted spots with his music and then guns them down.

Movie - 2024, 2h 15m • as The Priest
During a visit to New York from Egypt, Mark, a 32-year-old Orthodox Christian, decides to lose his virginity, facing all the cultural and religious restrictions that have shaped his character. After a failed blind date, Mark is persuaded by his friends to seek something other than a soul mate. Their solution? A prostitute.

Movie - 1982, 2h 15m • as Hustler in Bar
A narcissistic runaway engages in a number of parasitic relationships amongst members of New York's waning punk scene.

Movie - 2013, 2h 15m • as Felix
Two friends vie for the attention of a stranger who passes out at their doorstep.

Movie - 1981, 2h 15m • Main Cast Role
A woman, Nadja, searches for her sister's murderer. This search goes through differing moments of reality, or unreality, that overlap within facets of a broken-up time sense. In this emulation of film noir, the investigative structure does not create suspense; the dialectic murderer/victim does not exist. The crime is fabricated bit by bit, like the staging of a spectacle, and it is in the traditional tools of seduction (the spiked heels) that the weapons will be hidden. Ultimately, the crime Nadja achieves makes her neither a triumphant heroine nor a victim.

Movie - 2001, 2h 15m • as Conversationalist at Mudd Club
The film is a day in the life of a young artist, Jean-Michel Basquiat, who needs to raise money to reclaim the apartment from which he has been evicted. He wanders the downtown streets carrying a painting he hopes to sell, encountering friends, whose lives (and performances) we peek into.

Movie - 2011, 2h 15m • as Self
In the years before Ronald Reagan took office, Manhattan was in ruins. But true art has never come from comfort, and it was precisely those dire circumstances that inspired artists like Jim Jarmusch, Lizzy Borden, and Amos Poe to produce some of their best works. Taking their cues from punk rock and new wave music, these young maverick filmmakers confronted viewers with a stark reality that stood in powerful contrast to the escapist product being churned out by Hollywood.

Movie - 2021, 2h 15m • as Self
Shot on the streets of New York City, an intimate portrait of the legendary No Wave cinema pioneer.
