SHE SAID, SHE SAID
Experimental women's film festival MadCat coughs up a new kind of fur ball.

San Francisco Bay Guardian

By Susan Gerhard

HARVESTING WOMEN'S EXPERIMENTAL movies has got to be hard work. From the looks of the 2001 MadCat Women's International Film Festival, curator Ariella Ben-Dov has seen as many decapitated dolls ñ tortured and twisted and remade into cloned gender machines ñ as one person can sanely bear. But the mostly low-budget, labor-intensive projects seen here do exhibit a fascinating range in content and form, from meditative and political personal projects to wildly technical manipulations. Over the past five years Ben-Dov has helped the festival grow from three days of screenings at the Roxie to a monthlong program at venues all over the Bay Area. She spoke with us about the process.

Bay Guardian: You've been curating this festival of experimental women's work for five years now. If you had to judge the world of women's subconsciouses by the films here, what would you find?

Ariella Ben-Dov: Many women are telling their stories formally, using the elements of filmmaking ñ sound, color, shadow, structure ñ in their rawest of forms. Perhaps this means women's subconscious thoughts are more abstract or nonlinear. We are thinking as sculptors and in more sophisticated ways.


BG: How did you first come up with the idea of exhibiting these movies?

ABD: It was clear to me as I attended festivals and film screenings in general that women were not being exhibited to a wide range of audiences. The work was not being selected. Whether that was ñ is ñ misogyny or lack of outreach, it's unacceptable. I knew women were making work, and that work should be shown. Who knows what goes on in a screening committee's room, but I felt there needed to be a forum solely for women and primarily for women making more experimental work.

I had also been disappointed in the quality of "experimental" work being exhibited. Many films that were having technical difficulties were being labeled as "experimental," and I feared audience members were going away from those screenings saying, "Oh, I get it. 'Experimental filmmakers' are experimenting with a new medium they know nothing about." For me experimental filmmakers are making conscious decisions about how they use sound and image. If you see a person talking and do not hear the words, that is a deliberate choice. As artists there are always happy mistakes, but mistakes do not make up an entire film. I wanted to create a venue that allowed audience members who might not normally seek out nontraditional modes of moviemaking access to these films and videos. I wanted to curate in a way that would entice the Joe Moviegoer and the academic or more "well-read" movie watcher.

I had also been leafing through the [Association of Independent Video and Filmmakers'] guide to film festivals, and there were only a handful of women's fests internationally. I was shocked.


BG: You've chosen interesting venues over the years ñ moving from the first MadCat at the Roxie to outdoor locales like El Rio, a bar. Why?

ABD: El Rio's outdoor screening venue is a great place to see experimental films. It is always wonderful to see how the elements ñ wind, rain, etc. ñ affect the films and the screen itself; it almost adds another layer to the films. ATA is dear to my heart because they too are an all-volunteer organization that exists because of its members' love of film. This year we are going to be including live music before each ATA show. And of course the Pacific Film Archive ñ I am in awe of their space, their curating, and their resources. It's an honor to screen at the PFA.


BG: Barbara Hammer was quoted in last year's program saying, "This is the revolution!" Which needs no explanation, but just for the record, can you explain it ñ what you think she meant?

ABD: I think she meant we're doing something not many other fests are able to do: screening work that's consistently asking viewers to be active participants. We are staying true to our artistic vision of thematically curated evenings of film.


BG: What, really, can an experimental filmmaker expect from the world in the year 2001? Where are these films being shown, watched, and made?

ABD: The downside is that most experimental filmmakers can expect to be rejected from mainstream fests or ghettoized into one of the few experimental screenings they might have. The upside is that there are many fests and screening venues popping up that are interested in an alternative to the Hollywood independent.


BG: Where do you go from here?

ABD: I want to maintain and sustain MadCat and get more folks involved in the planning and producing of our events locally and nationally. I want venues to trust our programming and book shows programs unseen! Ahh, what a dream.