Angles: Women Working in Film and Video (2003)

NGLES WAS FOUNDED in the spring of 1991. It evolved out of talks with film and video makers, curators, festival organizers and writers who had gathered at the Women in the Director’s Chair Film & Video Festival. Although women produced important work in alternative and independent media, they were, and are still, under-represented in the mainstream press. With the help of Gretchen Elsner-Sommer and Dan Sargeant I launched Angles to recognize and document the work being done by women from all ethnic, cultural and socio/economic backgrounds. Our mission was to provide space for discussion of films and videos by women and to help build an information network about the work. In the last 12 years, we've covered women in media at all levels from producing to directing to exhibiting and distributing to programming to camera and sound work. One of our first interviews was with Barbara Trent about the making of Te Panama Deception, which later won an Academy Award. Mira Nair, Camille Billops, Shrikiana Aina, Ingrid Sinclair, Clara Law, Julie Dash, Cauleen Smith, Maggie Greenwald, Stacy Cochran, Christine Choy, Ellen Bruno and Allie Light are among the women who appeared on our pages. We've featured women from Latin America, China, India, Russia, Poland, Mexico, Africa and Cuba. In our commemorative issue, we've compiled a representative collection of interviews that have been published in Angles. From the beginning Angles has been a volunteer endeavor. We have been able to publish the magazine and show films over the years through the generosity of editors, writers, filmmakers, businesswomen, artists and organizers, who volunteered their time and talents to keep the magazine going. Because of financial and personal concerns we are no longer able to publish after this issue. We encourage you to keep making films, writing about them and showing them in classrooms, theaters and community centers. Heartfelt thanks goes to all who have helped with the magazine —Jennifer Wilson for her editorial contributions to this issue, and especially to board members Dan Sargeant for his dedication to Angles from the beginning and for his impeccable editing and Gretchen Elsner-Sommer for her support, ideas and editorial contributions. The most rewarding aspect of publishing the magazine has been the opportunity to see the wide range of work by women and to learn through their work about the lives of women all over the world. We've seen a tremendous amount of growth in the numbers and types of films by women. We are proud to have had a small part in bringing that work to a wider audience. ia am The editors Elfrieda Abbe was the arts and entertainment editor and film critic for The Milwaukee Sentinel when she began publishing Angles. Her interest in women’s issues led to writing about women filmmakers and their role in the development of the film industry. Combining 20 years experience writing and editing and her love of film, she left the newspaper in 1993 to devote more time to Angles. “| was fortunate to see work by women from all over the world and wanted to help bring it to a wider audience,” she says. During that time she also taught courses about women filmmakers at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design and helped organize screenings of women’s work. In addition to publishing Angles, she was a freelance writer and film critic and became publications editor for the University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee College of Letters and Science. She lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and is now editor of The Writer magazine. Contact: eabbe@wi.rr.com Gretchen Elsner-Sommer’s interest in women’s media began with her graduate studies in the late 1970s at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, where she received a master’s degree in film. Through the 1980s, she worked in various aspects of distribution and exhibition of women’s work. She helped edit Jumpcut; wrote film criticism for Off Our Backs and started.a small film distribution company, Foreign Images. Later, as program director of Women in the Director’s Chair (WIDC), she worked with others to build an annual festival, to start a yearly tour of festival work and to increase the number of venues for work by independent women film and video makers. In this capacity, she also served on funding panels that supported independent media. “My association with Angles was a natural outcome of my respect for and involvement with women’s media,” she says. She now lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where her writing and research continue to focus on women’s lives. Contact: elsnersom@ameritech.net Dan Sargeant has been one of the editors and a supporter of Angles since its inception. He applied his copy editing skills to every issue and helped with many Angles events. A film aficionado, he has long been a supporter of alternative media. Dan is a lawyer and lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Jennifer Wilson is a writer and independent producer who has worked on everything from corporate training videos to feature films. She is a founding member of the Milwaukee Independent Film Society. Jennifer says she was drawn to volunteer for Angles after interviewing Elfrieda for an article. Jennifer is currently at work on a collection of short stories and, of course, a script or two. She lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Contact: jennifer@bartolifilm.com VOLUME 4. NUMBERS 2&3 @ 3