Film Screenings / Programs / Retrospectives
THE FILMS OF BETTE GORDON
April 14 – April 17
FILMMAKER IN PERSON!
Personal, playful, subversive, and obsessively constructed, Bette Gordon’s early films are a wonder, and for this reason Anthology rightfully celebrates our restoration of these phenomenal works with this well-deserved retrospective series. An MFA graduate of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Gordon first received notice alongside her former boyfriend, James Benning, in the mid-1970s. Their collaborative films combined the formal concerns and optical printing strategies of the avant-garde structuralist film movement with an abiding interest in landscape, the urban environment, and the erotic touch. Upon moving to NYC in 1979, Gordon somewhat switched paths and began pursuing more long-form, narrative-based works. Called “an independent filmmaker with a penchant for unorthodox subjects” by critic David Sterritt, Gordon’s films have been widely noted for their willingness to tackle topics like pornography and motherhood from a decidedly feminist point of view. Today, Gordon teaches at Columbia University and recently released her latest feature, HANDSOME HARRY, starring Steve Buscemi, Jamey Sheridan, Campbell Scott, and Aidan Quinn.
Special thanks to Bette Gordon and Gary Palmucci (Kino).
