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Four Women (1975 film)

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1975 American film
Four Women
Directed byJulie Dash
Produced byWinfred Tennison
StarringLinda Martina Young
CinematographyRobert Maxwell
Music byNina Simone
Release date
  • 1975 (1975)
Running time8 minutes
CountryUnited States

Four Women is a 1975 short experimental film produced and directed by Julie Dash featuring music by Nina Simone.

Summary

Dancer Linda Martina Young captures the spirit of four women: Aunt Sarah, Saffronia, Sweet Thing and Peaches to the Nina Simone ballad Four Women. The women represent stereotypes of black women as they attempt to survive in America.

Production

Linda Martina Young choreographed the dance performance, which Dash refers to as a "choreopoem".

The film is celebrated as one of the first experimental films by a black woman filmmaker. The film, unlike others that portrayed the positive aspects of black womanhood, explored the negative realities many black women face in America.

Restoration

In addition to the original 16mm rolls, a new print was created from the color negative A/B rolls and original track negative.

Screenings

  • Cinema Remixed and Reloaded Exhibit, Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, 2007
  • One Way or Another: Black Women's Cinema, BAMcinematek, 2016
  • L.A. Rebellion: Creating a New Black Cinema Exhibit
  • We Wanted a Revolution: :Black Radical Women, 1965-1985, Brooklyn Museum, 2017.

References

  1. Foster, Gwendolyn Audrey (1995). Women Film Directors: An International Bio-critical Dictionary. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 99. ISBN 9780313289729. four women.
  2. "Four Women | UCLA Film & Television Archive". www.cinema.ucla.edu.
  3. "May 2, 2017 – Saltwater Stories".
  4. "::cinenova catalogue:: detail for Four Women". www.cinenova.org.
  5. "Julie Dash | The HistoryMakers". www.thehistorymakers.org.
  6. Dozier, Ayanna (4 July 2017). "No happy returns: aesthetics, labor, and affect in Julie Dash's experimental short film, Four Women (1975)". Feminist Media Studies. 17 (4): 616–629. doi:10.1080/14680777.2017.1326561. S2CID 148678504.
  7. "Four Women | UCLA Film & Television Archive". www.cinema.ucla.edu.
  8. "Four Women". www.twn.org.
  9. "Brooklyn Museum: Julie Dash Film Marathon April 2017". www.brooklynmuseum.org.
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