JAKE PERLIN

Film curator JAKE PERLIN
Cinephilia doesn’t begin to describe Jake Perlin’s affection for movies. Passionately nuts is the phrase he uses, which seems fitting, given that he once saw some 800 films in a year. (“Was I bathing?” he deadpans.) Perlin, 30, is the scarily smart assistant curator at BAMcinématek, and together with a staff of five, he programs the Fort Greene theater’s diverse, often surprising repertory program.

Born in Manhattan and raised on Long Island, Perlin grew up attending Sunday matinees every weekend with his dad. After studying at Bard College (where he shot his own 16mm silent work), he moved to the city and began programming series around town. For the Lower East Side’s Collective Unconscious, he assembled movies—from newsreels to experimental shorts—about the JFK assassination. For the French Institute, he cocurated a delirious Joan of Arc extravaganza, with versions of the story by Carl Dreyer, Victor Fleming and Otto Preminger. Since coming to BAM in 2004, Perlin has masterminded the annual horror fest and a wide-ranging tribute to Susan Sontag, which he recently took to the Human Rights Film Festival in Zagreb, Croatia. “Maybe someone else is as interested in cinema as I am, but has other things going on that prevent them from seeing a billion movies,” says Perlin, who, for all his expertise, downplays his role. “I just anticipate what our audience may want.”—Tom Beer