Manger follows a street prophet as he interprets the Book of Genesis and contemplates salvation in front of an abandoned strip mall. It is a short film, but also a proof-of-concept for a more ambitious feature, Bad Head, currently in development (see below), a meditation on the fractured zeitgeist of 21st century America and an attempt to channel the trauma of living in a "post-truth" age. 

"I grew up in Tallahassee, Florida, but I have lived in Baltimore most of my adult life. I have always been surrounded by wild, contradictory, confusing people, full of eccentricity, free-spirited with a fervent anti-authoritarian vein. I’ve had no shortage of larger-than-life personalities among my immediate family and close friends. Often labeled by mainstream, capitalist culture as outsiders or freaks, or disregarded completely, these folks contain precarious truths about America, which vibrate through their words. Listening can be a radical act. So can seeing. Through an immersive approach to camera, sound, and production design, I hope to create intimate contact between the audience and my characters, inspiring empathy, as well as a deep questioning of dominant narratives, Western exceptionalism, and the normalcy of a hegemonic, individualistic, or nihilistic, worldview."

-- Jimmy Joe Roche 

Jimmy Joe Roche and Allen Cordell’s High Speed Internet follows a street prophet on the verge of a complete psychological breakdown as he proselytizes the dangers of the internet. Shot in a single day, Roche screamed, crawled and preached through the streets of Los Angeles as cinematographer Richard Kim captured the chaos via Cordell’s collage-like direction. The whiplash editorial style not only brings cohesion to the ensuing pandemonium, it perfectly complements Roche’s raw, no-holds-barred performance.The score by Huxley Anne embodies the protagonist’s internal turmoil, making auditory the battle between paranoia and divine inspiration. High Speed Internet weaves together thematic threads from They Live, HyperNormalisation. Jaron Lanier, AM talk radio and the Bible. This video posits the question: Is the internet actually dangerous? Or is this man just a raving lunatic?

"I made this film during an intense bout of insomnia. In those months I felt myself trickling out as if I was slowly being embalmed. While the prolonged inability to sleep caused immense psychological strain something else also began to occur. The more out of sync I became with the world around me, the more a hidden world of light began to reveal itself. I watched light crawl in the silence. Shadows and reflections passed through empty space and into my waking fever dreams, closed-eye visions and memories. Somewhere deep inside was a fire none could see. Like all the characteristics of fire it warmed, it burned, and it both illuminated and cast illusions. This film is an attempt to communicate my inner life during that most difficult time. Much of the film is shot through homemade lenses. I choose to keep the soundtrack silent to accentuate the rhythmic structure of the images and communicate the trance like space between waking and sleeping."

-- Jimmy Joe Roche

Bad Head is Roche's feature film debut, currently in development. It follows a group of irreverent outcasts as they share their views on history, theology, and society. We travel alongside them, from sunrise to sunrise, as they prepare for the apocalypse: collecting garbage and consumer waste for a toxic stew they will drink at the culmination of the night while awaiting the arrival of an alien deity. As the film progresses, tensions build as to what exactly will transpire. Is it all a mass delusion? A cult suicide? Or have they really found a portal to pass through space and time and reach a higher realm? We, the camera eye, bear witness to it all, as an anonymous first-person cipher without agency or voice.

We meet each of these mesmerizing and iconoclastic characters via a non-stop, rapid-fire series of monologues. The Preacher opens the film with his warped retelling of The Book of Genesis’ creation story, The Professor compares the present moment to the eruption of the Bubonic Plague in Europe, and Bob boasts of his ability to locate valuables hidden in the trash using only his sense of smell, while also struggling with fears that he’s wasted his unique talent. Annie-Jane envisions a new matriarchal society, while Undercover Jim confides to us that he is a CIA operative scheming to obliterate the mission and throw the others in prison. Each believes themselves to be the ruler of their own domain and master of their personal reality; each stands tall, confident in what they know to be true, as they vehemently offer their own history and personal philosophy directly to the camera. 

This film is an allegory about the fractured zeitgeist of 21st century America and an attempt to channel the trauma of living in a post-truth age. As our culture becomes more volatile and “truth” becomes more elusive and weaponized, people across the ideological spectrum oscillate between fascism and nihilism, convinced that the government and media lie, that those with differing views are evil or insane, and that history is malleable. Bad Head will offer a tableau of marvelously unhinged characters, each assured of their moral and intellectual superiority, woven together into a surrealist tapestry teeming with dark comedy, formal audacity, and lots of love.

"The mirrored forms of Jimmy Joe Roche’s sculptures resemble the symmetrical inkblots used in Rorschach psychological tests  - images also explored by Andy Warhol in the 1980s. The Rorschach test asks subjects to free associate with a sequence of non-representational shapes as part of a carefully structured process for analyzing the human psyche. 

The great complexity of Roche’s composition suggests a highly labyrinthine and fluid evocation of individual psychology. With its intricate layers of color and interwoven passengers, this obsessively handcut piece is in keeping with the diverse, colorful, and interrelated network of personalities that the artist creates and embodies in his photographs and videos. The distortions of self image that Roche cultivates when performing his alter egos have an almost psychedelic quality, possibly reflected in the in the intense, doubled patterns and pulsating hues of his sculpture."

-- Kristen Hilman, writing as curator of Contempary Art at the Baltimore Museum of Art in 2013

Jimmy Joe Roche began performing noise and sound pieces at house shows and DIY warehouse spaces in Baltimore in 2010. He built his first synthesizer on the west side at the legendary home and performance space Tarantula Hill. His early electronic performances used homemade electronics, microphones, cymbals and repurposed bio-feedback devices from the 1970’s. Later, Roche learned the visual programing software Max/MSP and developed performances that manipulated sound and video with the muscles in his face. After a decade focusing on live performance, Roche now primarily focuses on recording and releasing material on Ultraviolet Light, the record label he has run since 2015.   

“I love making noise. It’s a great pleasure, a sense of play and discovery. Sound is freeing and beautiful in the sense that it can tell complex stories without images. For an image-maker this is a great release. While this may seem paradoxical at first blush, I find a narrative quality in non-idiomatic, ambient sounds and noise that traditional song forms lack.”  

-- Jimmy Joe Roche  

Ultraviolet Light is a music label established in 2015 in Baltimore, MD. The label is founded, operated, and curated by Jimmy Joe Roche. UVL is dedicated to releasing work by artists who push sonic boundaries, emphasize experimentation, conceptualize sound as invisible sculpture, and radiate mysterious energies. Roche creates almost all of the design and visual art for the releases. He uses the medium of risograph and silkscreen printing for the editions. UVL is about to release its 31st album. Here are a collection of releases with art and design created by Roche. 

New Works is a screening series dedicated entirely to showcasing the work of film and video artists based in Baltimore, MD. Typically, there are two central stipulations for artists invited to participate: they must be based in Baltimore and they must attend the screening. The mission of New Works is to foster community among local image makers and promote, support, and grow the local scene. The series was founded by Jimmy Joe Roche in 2016.