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U-M North Quad Programming
This program comprises one film by Su Friedrich and four others by women who have informed her filmmaking, though not necessarily directly. These films deal with aesthetic and technical concerns which are somewhat or sometimes different than her own. But each shares a fierce spirit that inspired Friedrich when she first saw them, and the inspiration continues to today. Whether using analog video to create otherworldly worlds, putting a little girl through some strange paces, “rewriting” a video game, or sharing playful moments with some young women, these films are admired by Friedrich because they are made from the hearts, minds, eyes, and bodies of some very observant, thoughtful, clever, and playful women.
Hand Tinting
Joyce Wieland
New York, NY | 1967 | 6 | digital
A study of poor Black and white girls at a Job Corps center, brought from rural areas to be “educated” in typing. Here you see displaced creatures… swimming, sitting, and mostly dancing, who express what’s happening to themselves through their bodies, their hands, and their faces.
The Drift of Juicy
Ursula Pürrer
Vienna, Austria | 1989 | 10 | digital
The Drift of Juicy looks like it was made with high-tech digital effects—but Pürrer made it in 1989 with analog video. It was unique then and is literally inimitable today. Whether it takes place in outer or inner space, is dystopian or utopian, is for you to decide.
Jennifer, Where Are You?
Leslie Thornton
New York, NY | 1981 | 11 | digital
In Jennifer, Where Are You? a girl sloppily applies lipstick while an unseen man repeatedly calls out her name. Her image is intercut with black leader, bursts of light, and meditative shots of domestic spaces. With “Jennifer” hiding in plain sight, Thornton presents a carefully structured comment on the formation of female identity.
She Puppet
Peggy Ahwesh
New York, NY | 2001 | 15 | digital
Re-editing footage collected from months of playing Tomb Raider, Ahwesh transforms the video game into a reflection on identity and mortality. Moving beyond her implicit feminist critique of the problematic female identity, she enlarges the dilemma of Lara Croft’s entrapment to that of the individual in an increasingly artificial world. Courtesy of Peggy Ahwesh and Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI), New York.
Seeing Red
Su Friedrich
New York, NY | 2005 | 28 | digital
In Seeing Red, three elements run parallel, overlap, diverge, lock horns, and in various other ways give voice to the notion that a color, a melody, or a person has multiple characteristics that cannot be grasped by, or understood within, a simple framework.