Screening

About Bette Gordon

Year Released:

2012

Genres:

Lecture title forthcoming

Bette Gordon’s films have reached cult status, and with a reissue of her 1983 film Variety, she has been the subject of recent retrospectives around the country. As writer Evangeline Morphos noted, “Bette’s work explores themes of sexuality, power, and fragility. Because of the boldness of her subject matte —pornography, obsession, violence— her work is often shocking, but always truthful. We can never look away” (Bomb Magazine, April 2010).

Bette Gordon premiered her new feature Handsome Harry at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival in the world narrative competition section. The film stars an ensemble cast including Campbell Scott, Steve Buscemi, Aidan Quinn, John Savage, and Karen Young. A pioneer in the American Independent Film world, Gordon is best known for her bold explorations of themes related to sexuality. Her early short films, most notably Empty Suitcases, won numerous awards and festival acclaim worldwide, including showings at the Berlin International Film Festival, New York's Museum of Modern Art and The Whitney Biennial.

Variety (1984) marked her debut as a feature film director, particularly in light of the film's invitational showing at The Cannes Film Festival's Director's Fortnight. Luminous Motion, based on the acclaimed novel History of Luminous Motion, was produced by Ted Hope and Anthony Bregman of Good Machine.