Chick Strand
Mildred "Chick" Strand (December 3, 1931 – July 11, 2009) was an American experimental filmmaker, "a pioneer in blending avant-garde techniques with documentary".[1] Chick Strand contributed to the movement of women's experimental cinema in the early 1960s–1970's.[2] Strand's film making and directing approach incorporates personal elements from her own life experiences and societal forces and realities. The film Elasticity (1976) is an example of Strand's attempts at autobiographical work that also incorporates Strand's specific standpoint on certain social issues.[3] Feminist issues and anthropological inquiries about the human condition are frequent themes in Strand's films. However, because Strand's films and work were often deeply personal and subjective, they were often rejected from male-dominated academic circles of anthropologists and critiqued for being non-academic works.[4]
Biography
Born Mildred D. Totman in
Strand met her second husband,
Though Chick Strand often incorporated female characters and narratives in her film, she denies being a part of the Women's Movement.[11] Instead, she posits that her work is more about human experience in general, and not necessarily explicitly about female experience.
Career
Chick Strand's work during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s influenced the subsequent era of subjectivity and ethnographic film in the 1990s.[2] The films that she produced during the 1960s and 1970s reflected the cultural and political atmosphere of the United States during that time, resulting in the films expressing liberal and radical overtones evidenced in the exploratory nature of her films. Strand used images in film to project her belief of cultural relativity and the importance of context.[2]
Mosori Monika (1969) is a documentary about colonialism in Venezuela, told from the points of view of an elderly Warao woman, a Franciscan nun and the filmmaker herself. Other films on Latin America include Cosas de mi Vida (1976), Guacamole (1976) and Mujer de Milfuegos (Woman of a Thousand Fires) (1976).[1] Strand's ethnographic films are distinctive for their complex layering of sound and image, and the juxtaposition of found footage and sound with original images.[5] Later works include Cartoon le Mousse (1979), Fever Dream (1979) and Kristallnacht (1979).[12] Fake Fruit Factory (1986) is included on the National Film Preservation Foundation's 2009 DVD Treasures IV: American Avant-Garde Film, 1947-1986.[13]
Soft Fiction (1979)[14][15] is a short film that includes various personal narratives, told from the points of view of 5 women, mostly about their sexual and sensual experiences.[11][16]
Preservation
Her films have been screened at the
Legacy
Chick Strand is best known for her unique use of camera and film editing techniques to portray metaphorical meaning through image. Strand often used camera techniques such as image overlapping and superimposed images in her films. Sound and image are relied upon to convey meaning through Strand's films.[3]
Strand used film as an ethnographic method for investigating the lived experiences of various communities. She believed that traditional anthropological research methods of ethnography could be fused with art through film making.
Chick Strand's aesthetic style and editing techniques is of interest to film scholars. Her work has been reappraised by film scholars and continues to be studied for its influence in women's experimental cinema. In 2023, a profile of Strand was featured in the New York Times' Overlooked section, celebrating the impact of historical figures whose deaths went previously unreported by the newspaper.[6][2]
Filmography
Year | Title |
---|---|
1964 | Eric and the Monsters |
1966 | Angel Blue Sweet Wings |
1967 | Anselmo |
1967 | Waterfall |
1970 | Mosori Monika |
1976 | Cosas de mi Vida |
1976 | Elasticity |
1976 | Guacamole |
1976 | Mujer de Milfuegos (Woman of a Thousand Fires) |
1979 | Cartoon le Mousse |
1979 | Fever Dream |
1979 | Kristallnacht |
1979 | Loose Ends |
1979 | Soft Fiction |
1986 | Anselmo and the Women |
1986 | Artificial Paradise |
1986 | By the Lake |
1986 | Coming up for Air |
1986 | Fake Fruit Factory |
1995/2011 | Señora con Flores / Woman with Flowers |
References
- ^ ISBN 0-520-23066-3
- ^ a b c d e f g h Blaetz, Robin, ed. (2007). Women's Experimental Cinema Critical Frameworks. Durham: Duke University Press. p. 189.
- ^ a b Peterson, V. Z. (1978). "Two Films by Chick Strand". Millennium Film Journal. 2: 110–113.
- ^ a b c Brunner-Sung, V. (2015). "Sensuous Ethnography". Sight and Sound: 53 – via FIAF.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8223-4044-7.
- ^ ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-11-17.
- ^ "Chick Strand - REDCAT". Archived from the original on 2018-09-27. Retrieved 2018-09-26.
- ^ It’s not just the direction that makes Donnie Darko creepy|AV Club
- ^ O'Neil, P. (2009). "Chick Strand 1931-2009: A Memoir by Pat O'Neil". Millennium Film Journal. 52: 88–89.
- ^ "History and Today". Canyon Cinema. Archived from the original on December 15, 2014. Retrieved January 4, 2015.
- ^ S2CID 167332273.)
{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link - ^ a b Willis, Holly (November 23, 2006). "Canyon Lady". LA Weekly. p. 1.
- ^ Dave Kehr, Marching Backward Into the Avant-Garde, The New York Times, February 27, 2009.
- ^ Nellie Killian and Jenny Slate on Tell Me: Women Filmmakers, Women’s Stories on Vimeo
- ^ Tell Me: Women Filmmakers, Women's Stories - Criterion Channel
- ^ Soft Fiction - Tell Me: Women Filmmakers, Women's Stories - Criterion Channel
- ^ moma.org
- ^ tate.org.uk Archived April 20, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ oscars.org Archived July 14, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Preserved Projects". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
- ^ "Complete National Film Registry Listing". Library of Congress. Retrieved January 2, 2017.
External links
- Chick Strand at IMDb
- Chick Strand (filmography) at Canyon Cinema
- Willis, Holly (July 14, 2009). "Goodbye, Chick Strand". Burbank, California: KCET. Archived from the original on January 24, 2018. Retrieved January 24, 2018.