 Film
Fatales : Independent Women Directors by Judith M.
Redding,
Victoria A. Brownworth (Contributor)
"Why do
women become independent directors?" asks columnist Victoria
Brownworth in her introduction to the informative and compelling Film
Fatales. The limitations of the Hollywood studio system, in
large part, influence the choice (i.e., women filmmakers are
traditionally denied access to financial support). In any country
with a thriving film industry, vital funding has been withheld
from women. Facts are cited and examples are drawn from the long
history of women in film, but don't fancy this an ode to wishful
thinking. Film Fatales celebrates a distinguished roster of
outstanding independent filmmakers and documents the rich
historical legacy of female directors.
Unless you're a true independent-film devotee,
you won't have heard of many of these brilliant, iconoclastic,
independent film directors--a fact that does little to diminish
their place in the history of film. What is the value of seeing
the world through the "female lens?" Take, for example,
the work of Lizzie Borden, perhaps best known for her critically
acclaimed Working Girls (1986). In the book's provocative
essay on Borden, she is quoted as saying, "We are living in a
very anti-sexual time; lack of sexual desire is epidemic," a
comment made, ironically, after the sexually graphic Working
Girls that brought her to Hollywood in the first place. The
characterization of contemporary Hollywood as a victim to the
de-sexing of the 1990s is certainly not a common one, but the
points of view represented in this volume are anything but common.
Independent does not equal invisible, though. Fargo,
a powerful example, only reinforces the trademark vitality of many
independent films and their great contribution to culture. For
fans and film buffs, Film Fatales is an outstanding
resource that beautifully serves this marginalized, maverick, and
wildly diverse population of independent women directors.
Organized by category ("Documentary;"
"Experimental;" "Narrative;" and "Beyond
the Director's Chair," a profile of pioneers in the areas of
film distribution and production), Film Fatales catalogs
and critiques the work of 29 independent female filmmakers.
 Night
Bites : Vampire Stories by Women by
Victoria A. Brownworth (Editor)
Based largely on the murderous late-medieval
figures Elizabeth of Bathory and Vlad the Impaler--both infamous
for sucking or drinking their victims' blood--vampires seem to
have become twentieth-century icons. Despite the plethora of
vampire yarns and studies, Brownworth's is the first collection of
vampire stories all by women. Particularly interesting are Toni
Brown's "Immunity," set against a background of
Afrocentric supernatural folklore, Judith M. Redding's
"Unexpurgated Notes from a Homicide Case File," in which
detective Teresa Dash considers the unusual case notes about four
young black urbanites, Meredith Suzanne Baird's "They Have No
Faces," which returns us to the original turf of the vampire
in Eastern Europe, as does Judith Katz's chillingly funny and
grotesque "Anita, Polish Vampire, Holds Forth at the Jewish
Cafe of the Dead," in which the first Jewish vampire
entertains a fascinated visiting scholar. Wonderfully
broad-ranging, this anthology will find an appreciative audience
among both vampire aficionados and just plain adventurous readers.
-- Whitney Scott, Booklist
 Too
Queer : Essays from a Radical Life by
Victoria A. Brownworth
This collection of essays, most of which have
previously appeared in major lesbian and mainstream periodicals,
begins with an account of Victoria Brownworth's development as a
radical child. A white girl standing up for civil rights, an out
lesbian speaking her mind in a Catholic high school, Brownworth
went on to wrestle with the controversies of queer culture:
passing as straight, economic class consciousness, lipstick
lesbians, lesbian chic, same-sex marriage, and why queers are
pushing for service in the military. An early, extremely
principled proponent of selective outing, Brownworth's voice
remains provocative and intelligent. Too Queer is a Lambda
Literary Award finalist for Lesbian Studies and Small Press.
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