Directed by Barbara Hammer
United States
SOUTH FLORIDA PREMIERE
In her latest documentary extravaganza, rebel visionary Barbara Hammer
finds lesbians everywhere in the shadows of cinema history, and they're
doing a lot more than lurking.Ý A delirious stream of clips from newsreels,
medical films, early pornography and Hollywood cinema gives us a side-splitting
survey of Sapphic imagery, from the very first on-screen portrayals
of girl-love in 1896 to pre-Stonewall lesbian anguish, ý la The
Children's Hour.Ý Since moviemaking's earliest days, those behind
the camera have crafted and perpetuated stereotypes of women-loving-women
as mannish and frigid.Ý But Hammer fights back with filmic pranks,
re-editing and reclaiming these cinematic misrepresentations and transforming
lesbian visual history in the process.Ý Creative voice-morphing makes
Eleanor Roosevelt into the outspoken lesbian we wish she were.Ý Hardcore
girl-on-girl action intercut with a high school health film on same-sex
friendships slyly exposes the fear that's really on educators' minds.Ý
And inventfully re-written Tin Pan Alley tunes bring lesbians into
music history as well.Ý This is an archaeology of our community, as
re-envisioned by an award-winning filmmaking pioneer, and it's far
more provocative than any history class you've ever taken.Ý It's also
more sexually graphic, so be warned:Ý History Lessons is for
fun-loving adults only.Ý
A 2001 Sundance Film Festival selection.ÝÝ Director Barbara Hammer
will attend the screening and discuss her work with the audience.
Preceded by Weeki Wachee Girls, Dir. Kim Cummings,
United States, SOUTH FLORIDA PREMIEREÝÝ Katie, Maura and Emily
are sexually-confused teenage rivals in the Florida summer of 1979.Ý
Underwater, in a backyard pool, they are glamorous mermaid ballerinas
who call themselves the “Weeki Watchi Girls.”Ý Above the
surface, they face a life-altering revelation and a subsequent act
of betrayal that tests their loyalty, and their love.
11:00 AM Screening only $10
Complete afternoon package of History Lessons, Lethal Lesbians,
plus The Ladies Who Lunch $30
History
Lessons