Film Categories: Work about Women

  • Through and Through

    The film is silent except for four short segments of sync sound, interviews with a man and a woman, which touch on two areas: control and anger, and the pressure of history on one’s identity – how do I identify myself as “I”, how as part of a “We”? The film is visual, perceptual; it was made in awe of the world that goes on with and without us and of our personal, human struggles. It is a film about life and death; a film of discrete units of the eternal and a film of living here and now. It…

  • Big Deal, So What

    Set in the polyester 70s, “Big Deal, So What” is a deceptively simple look at the social dislocation of Rachel – a skeptical teen whose discontent sets the story in motion. Rachel leaves home and endures a number of subtle miscues, mild mishaps, and astrological misfortunes. Much to her chagrin, it is an unexpected gesture of goodwill from mother to daughter that brings her to the threshold of post-suburban independence. This is a playfully poignant film about what life is not supposed to be like.

  • Trials of Eve, The

    This poetic and provocative film uses art, drama, and original music to address the complex issues of women’s place in society, including the relationship between men and women, the oppression of women, and the role of religion and other cultural institutions in the victimization of women. These issues are explored in a historical as well as contemporary context. Myth and story-telling combine Canadian West Coast Native imagery with the Adam and Eve story to create a positive vision of change and transformation for both women and men.

  • Trilogy, A

    “In 1986 Sternberg completed ‘A Trilogy’ – a moving and complex work which philosophically narrates the separation of mother and son. Composed of a number of apparently separate and discrete elements – Sternberg brings them together in a masterful weave of archaic ritual, home movie, dramatic interlude and speculative address. At the heart of this intertextual weave is the filmmaker herself and her teenaged son. As he reaches the age of consent, and prepares to make his final deposition of leave taking, this film is a reminder of all that has passed between them, and hints at what might lie…

  • Two/Doh

    “Two/Doh” is an evocative poetic pastiche exploring the public and private spaces of desire, and its intersection with the cultural and erotic connections between two women of different origins: Persian/Armenian and South Asian/Sri Lankan.

  • BINGO

    How is it that bingo has such a hold on people? What does it take to be a winner? What does luck have to do with it? “Bingo” is an exploration of these questions from the inside out. The “bingo mind” is formed with the belief that there isn’t enough to go around and you’re lucky if you get some. The social and ritual elements of the game are captured in the textures of the images and sounds created to explore the themes of winning and losing. The stylized dramatizations of childhood memories provide the backdrop for the “script” of…

  • UR Lucky

    I placed a medallion on the sidewalk and filmed whoever happened along to pick it up. The film is about not being able to have control over the event, and the acceptance of this fact. This is the first film in my Performance Trilogy, a series of films which also include “Snow Search” and “Making a Scene.” (MD)

  • Bird that Chirped on Bathurst, The

    The intermittently heard voice-over talks about a woman’s self-awareness – being unable to know if she has really changed or not. The images are esoteric and hard to interpret: young women in black in various urban settings, something moving rhythmically. A personal, yet intriguing film.

  • Birds at Sunrise

    The film was originally photographed in 1972. Birds from my window were filmed during the winter, through to the spring, with the early morning light. I became caught up in their frozen world and their ability to survive the bitter cold. I welcomed their chirps and their songs which offered life and hope for spring. In 1984 I was part of a cultural exchange between Canada and Israel. During my visit my unfinished movie came to mind. A connection was established in my mind – so that the suffering of the birds became, in a sense, symbolic of the Jews…

  • Water Sark

    I decided to make a film at my kitchen table, there is nothing like knowing my table. The high art of the housewife. You take prisms, glass, lights and myself to it. “The Housewife is High.” “Water Sark” is a film sculpture, being made while you wait. (JW)