Film Screenings / Programs / Series
PRESENTED BY LIZZIE BORDEN: UNRAVELING WOMEN
November 15 – November 20
November 15-20, 2024
“Unraveling Women” comprises four films by female independent filmmakers, all of them too-little-seen when released, and one actively reviled. All are about angry, raging women: in COMMITTED, Frances Farmer is sent to a mental institution for her radical political ideas; in I SHOT ANDY WARHOL, Valerie Solanas is destined for such an institution after a shocking but inevitable act of revenge; the “Girl” of A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT is a lonely, chador-wearing, Persian-speaking vampire whose purpose is destroying men who have raped or assaulted women; and Jennifer – in JENNIFER’S BODY, the once-reviled film – is a boy-eating succubus whose best friend (Needy) breaks out of a mental institution to avenge Jennifer after destroying her. In a society in which empowered women present a danger to the norm, all of these characters are “monstrous” women, and all have been “othered”. Neither a vampire nor a succubus is human, especially those with sexual appetites, while Valerie Solanas is set apart by her lesbianism and extreme sexual politics, and Frances Farmer by her radical left-wing politics. All have violated codes of patriarchal morality. Even walking alone at night is construed as sexual – a solitary woman on the streets is perceived by men as either prostitute or potential victim. Women who challenge the virgin-whore dichotomy are seen as dangerous, as are those who undermine masculine authority by challenging their political beliefs. These iconoclastic women – two based on actual figures – animate a quartet of films directed by women filmmakers who were each ahead of their time: Sheila McLaughlin and Lynne Tillman (COMMITTED); Mary Harron (I SHOT ANDY WARHOL); Ana Lily Amirpour (A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT); and Diablo Cody and Karyn Kusama (JENNIFER’S BODY).
Guest-programmed by Lizzie Borden, who will be here to present selected screenings.
Special thanks to Jennifer Cohen (WGBH); Amanda Larney (Killer Films); Elena Rossi-Snook (New York Public Library); Sheila McLaughlin; George Schmalz (Kino Lorber); and Lynne Tillman.
