"A Portrait of Jason"

On the night of December 2, 1966, Clarke and a tiny crew convened in her apartment at the Hotel Chelsea to make a film. There, for twelve straight hours they filmed the one-and-only Jason Holliday as he spun tales, sang, donned costumes and reminisced about good times and bad behavior as a gay hustler, sometime houseboy and aspiring cabaret performer. The result is a mesmerizing portrait of a remarkable, charming and tortured man, who is by turns hilarious and heartbreaking.

So when Milestone decided to re-release PORTRAIT OF JASON as part of its series of restored films by Shirley Clarke, co-founder Dennis Doros had his work cut out for him: the film’s original elements were untraceable and existing 35mm prints were worn and scratched. And at times, the restoration of this seminal LGBT documentary looked like it might end up to be an extended wild goose chase. 

Thankfully, after a two-year search, and with the cooperation of archivists, researchers and writers from around the world, Doros was finally able to identify mislabeled “outtakes” as the film’s original 16mm interpositive.