LEF continues the New England Legacy Screenings series, highlighting early documentary film work being made in Boston in the 1970-80s. The third program in the series takes place this upcoming Wednesday, May 14th, at the Coolidge Corner Theatre, showing seminal work made by women filmmakers.
The screening includes short works by Liane Brandon, Joyce Chopra, and Miriam Weinstein. They were in their 20s and 30s at the time of making their films, coming into their own at the height of the feminist movement. They believed that the “personal is political”, and that the challenges they faced as women were a result of larger forces at play within a patriarchal culture. For them, film seemed to be a way to validate and share this truth, particularly with other women, as the creation of a shared reality was at the heart and soul of the women’s movement.
Technological innovations were also happening during this time that led to “sync-sound”— shorthand for being able to capture picture and sound simultaneously— and led to portable rigs that allowed for a more intimate method to filmmaking. These advances resulted in a new and radical approach to documentary filmmaking.
As it happened, women filmmakers adopted these tools early on and used them to facilitate making personal essay films. In their early films, Chopra and Weinstein each unapologetically explored the conflict between becoming mothers and continuing to be filmmakers. Their films bravely explore the ambivalence they felt as new mothers— something their own mothers would not have felt free to voice—and the myriad adjustments they had to make; changes that impacted them more than the men in their respective lives.
Brandon, in turn, was an influential figure in the emerging women’s movement of the 1960s, and she first came to film as an activist. Her two films from the early ’70s are precursors to the work made by Weinstein and Chopra, and are groundbreaking and radical films for the taboo issues they brought to light. Like Weinstein and Chopra, Brandon’s films stemmed from a passionate desire to illuminate the brave socio-political work that still needs to be done in order for women to not have to conform.
Both Liane Brandon and Miriam Weinstein will be in-person.
Lyda Kuth
Executive Director
LEF Foundation
Wednesday, May 14, 7pm, Coolidge Corner Theatre
Sometimes I Wonder Who I Am
dir. Liane Brandon 1970, 5min
Betty Tells Her Story
dir. Liane Brandon 1972, 20min
Call Me Mama
dir. Miriam Weinstein 1977, 14min
Clorae and Albie
dir. Joyce Chopra 1976, 36min
Joyce at 34
dir. Joyce Chopra 1972, 20min
Discussion to follow screenings: Two of the filmmakers, Liane Brandon and Miriam Weinstein, will be in-person.
Liane Brandon is a filmmaker, photographer, and Professor Emeritus, UMass/Amherst. Brandon is considered an influential figure in the Women’s Movement of the 1970s. She is a co-founder of New Day Films, a filmmakers’ distribution cooperative. She has also been an advocate for media artists and won a 1977 landmark case securing copyright protection for filmmakers. The screening showcases two of her films, Sometimes I Wonder Who I Am, and Betty Tells Her Story, each groundbreaking in form and the taboo issues for women they bring to light.
Miriam Weinstein is a filmmaker,painter, and author of numerous books. Her work in film from the 1970s includes My Father the Doctor, Living With Peter, and We Get Married Twice. The screening showcases her 4th film, Call Me Mama, which follows her previous films chronologically and thematically. The film, which chronicles Weinstein having her first child, bravely explores the ambivalence she felt as a new mother and the adjustments she was required to make along the way.
Joyce Chopra is a producer and director of documentary and narrative film, as well as work for television. Her breakout fictional film, Smooth Talk, won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance for Best Dramatic Feature (1985). She is also an early member of New Day Films, a filmmakers’ distribution cooperative. The screening showcases Joyce at 34, her early autobiographical film, known for being the first portrayal of a live birth on television. The film was also radical for its unapologetic take on the conflict between becoming a mother and continuing to be a filmmaker. The other film, Chlorae and Albi, is a portrait of the friendship between two young black women in Boston who have known each other since childhood, and whose lives are taking different paths.
New England Legacy Screenings Program Notes
New England has a rich history in documentary filmmaking that continues today. Beginning in the 1960s–’80s, filmmakers in the Boston area were pioneering technical innovations that allowed for radical new approaches to documentary that influenced the genre’s directions. Their early cinema vérité work set the trajectory of documentary filmmaking in the US and created landmark works posing questions of politics, gender, and social norms and rituals.
These screenings will highlight the variety of styles developed amidst this ever-evolving cinematic legacy, from the journalistic to first-person autobiographical storytelling. Each evening we will examine multiple artists whose stories created impact and whose artistic lens sparks dialogue to the present day.
