Angles: Women Working in Film and Video (1992)

by Saundra Sharp, is a poetic search for quiet, replenishment. Janice Tanaka uses video imagery in “Amnesia” as she searches for her mother’s life and death. @Susan Emerling uses her own experiences to create a drama exploring the bond between a child and her alcoholic mother in “The Wounding.” Rape victims tell their stories in Meri Weingarten’s documentary “Waking Up to Rape,” which invites women to step forward — and fight back. In Allyn Stewart’s “A Desperate Woman,” trying to get a simple haircut drives a woman to desperation. “Dear Lisa: A Letter to My Sister” is J. Clements’ collection of interviews with women of all ages and backgrounds interwoven into a work about the hopes, dreams, expectations and realities of women’s lives. Mother and daughter Vicki and Caitlin Kelch produced and directed “The Three Marriages of Scarlett Scarlet,” an experimental drama about wife abuse. ® Mako Idemitsu’s “Kiyoka’s Situation” explores the role creativity plays in the lives of women. Iman Uqdah Hameen’s “Unspoken Conversation” explores the lives of a young couple, both of whom seek to follow their creative urges. “Trumpetistically Clora Bryant” by Zeinabu irene Davis is a short work a about trumpet-playing, scat-singing woman, and Suvane Myers’ “Paper House” is an animated piece. @In “The Blue Men,” by Denise McKenna, a woman, her son and grandson come face to face with the tragedy of the son’s impending execution on Death Row. In her experimental “A Knowledge They Cannot Lose,” Nina Fonoroff uses her medium to explore her father’s death and the emotions it evoked. @Five short films address the age-old question: How do women really feel about their bodies? “Wanda” by Ruth Hayes; “Cycles” by Zeinabu irene Davis; “Betty Tells Her Story” by Liane Brandon; “Cold Stories” by Margo Starr Kernan; and “I Ride a Pony Named Flame” by Peggy Ahwesh answer the question in many different ways. e“One Banana, Two Bananas” by Natalie Sternberg chronicles her own efforts and those of her family to care for, and ultimately face the death of, her invalid mother. Fawn Yacker celebrates the courage and creativity of a woman who became a dancer at the age of 40 and later faces the anguish of a mastectomy. She recovers to embrace life with enthusiasm and joy in “Can You See Me Flying.” In case you missed the series, we are told there is a good chance it will run again after the first of the year. For more information about the schedule, call The Learning Channel, 301/9860444. For more information about distributors of these works contact: Judith K. Ballangee, ACSN Productions, One Thomas Circle, Suite 750, Washington, DC 20005. 202/457-5353. Or, Angles, PO Box 11916, Milwaukee, Wis. 53211. 414/963-8951. Study shows women, minorities work less Asses to the trade papers earlier this year, “Wayne’s World,” directed by Penelope Spheeris, generated $114 million dollars at the box office;“‘Prince of Tides,” Barbra Streisand, $72 million; “Point Break,” Kathryn Bigelow, $41 million, $32.7 million in video rentals; “The Doctor,” Randa Haines, $38.1 million, $24.4 million in video rentals; “Little Man Tate,” Jodie Foster, $25 million, $17 million in video rentals. Figures such as these don’t necessarily mean more opportunities are likely to open up for women, however. A study released by the Director’s Guild of America shows that the doors still are largely closed to women and minorities. The study found that the total days women worked has increased from 3% of all the work done by guild members in 1983 to 8% in 1991. Minority directors fell from 5% in 1983 to 3% in 1991. Actress/director Jodie Foster (top) Of the guild’s 9,759 members, 1,875 are women, 260 are African-American and 167 are Latino. Martha Coolidge, who directed “Rambling Rose,” said in a Los Angeles Times interview, “Did we think it was getting enormously better over the last few years? It just sounds like business as usual to me.” AFI Film Festival Out of 158 films in the American Film Institute film festival, only 13 were directed by women. They included: Doris Dorrie’s “Happy Birthday!”’(Germany) is the story of a Turkish private eye who is hired by a woman and gets involved in scandal, intrigue and murder. Brigitte Krause’s “The Knife Behind the Fan” (Germany) documents the life of Japanese performance artist Genshyu Hanayagi, who lives by radical standards amid elitist Japanese cultural traditions. Marion Hansel’s “On Earth as in Heaven” (Belgium), a feminist science fiction film, features Carmen Maura portraying a hyperactive TV journalist who becomes pregnant. VOLUME 1, NUMBER 4 @ 5