My Name Is Andrea

A film by Pratibha Parmar

A hybrid feature documentary about controversial feminist writer and public intellectual Andrea Dworkin, who offered a revolutionary analysis of male supremacy with iconoclastic flair. Decades before #MeToo, Dworkin called out the pervasiveness of sexism and rape culture, and the ways it impacts every woman’s daily life.

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SYNOPSIS

MY NAME IS ANDREA, directed by award-winning filmmaker Pratibha Parmar (ALICE WALKER: BEAUTY IN TRUTH, WARRIOR MARKS, A PLACE OF RAGE, KUSH, and more) is a hybrid feature documentary about one of the most controversial figures of the 20th century. Andrea Dworkin offered a revolutionary analysis of male supremacy with a singular urgency and iconoclastic flair. Decades before #MeToo, Dworkin called out the pervasiveness of sexism and rape culture, and the ways it impacts every woman’s daily existence. The film focuses on key moments in the life of this fearless fighter who, shaped by the values of justice and equality learned in the civil rights movement, demanded that women be seen as fully human. Woven in with rare, electrifying archival footage of Dworkin are performances by Ashley Judd, Soko, Amandla Stenberg, Andrea Riseborough, and Christine Lahti, who bring Dworkin’s powerful words to life. An important contribution to women’s studies and history, MY NAME IS ANDREA weaves together a compelling narrative that resonates with contemporary feminist issues and offers a poignant reflection on Dworkin's enduring legacy.

PRESS

“This is a film like no other — lyrical and journalistic, placed in time and also timeless. And now that Andrea Dworkin’s words are turning out to predict headlines, from TIMES UP! to the gender of terrorism, this film will illuminate what’s going on and help us know what to do.”

Gloria Steinem

"As a pro-pornography feminist of the 70s and 80s, I had reservations about seeing My Name Is Andrea, which were quickly dispelled by Parmar's sensitive handling of Andrea's life - her oratorical power, rage counterbalanced by genuine love for people, her staunch support of activist movements, the personal tragedies that shaped her life, the loss and regaining of her voice. I hadn't expected to be so deeply moved. Parmar's skillful weaving of Andrea's story with the history of the time is especially powerful. Andrea’s call for change was courageous, searing and especially important since #Metoo. "

Lizzie Borden, Filmmaker

“Augmenting Dworkin’s voice with a selection of her texts read and reenacted by Ashley Judd, Soko, Amandla Stenberg, Andrea Riseborough, and Christine Lahti, Parmar reveals Dworkin’s work to be fundamentally literary as well as political; the movie’s portrait of Dworkin is briskly sketched but deeply moving.”

Richard Brody The New Yorker Magazine

“Parmar etches a sympathetic profile that acknowledges the complexity and divisiveness of her subject and argues for the continued relevance of her work. Enacted scenes are tender, exuberant, shattering. With their quiet ferocity and recognizable predicaments, the dramatic vignettes in MY NAME IS ANDREA find the Everywoman in a singular figure, and the film as a whole connects Dworkin’s concerns about class and race and gender to the present moment.”

Sheri Linden The Hollywood Reporter

“I love the film. It is brilliant and searing and timely as hell. It is original and deep and moving and tender. This film is connected to everything our movement is and because Andrea was such a brave visionary warrior VDay supports the film in honor of you and her. Susan and I feel thrilled to join you with the deepest solidarity and love.”

V (Eve Ensler)

SCREENING HIGHLIGHTS AND AWARDS

Jury Award for Best Documentary Feature Film, Raindance Film Festival
Jury Prize, Nashville Film Festival
Jury Prize, Image & Nation Film Festival
Audience Award, Provincetown Film Festival
2022 JFI/JSP Momentum Award, Jewish Film Institute

Tribeca Film Festival
Sheffield DocFest
Raindance Film Festival
BFI Flare Film Festival
Berkeley Arts Museum
Boston Jewish Film Festival
Denver Film Festival
Provincetown International Film Festival
San Francisco Jewish Film Festival -
Way Out West
OutSouth
Atlantic International Film Festival
Nashville Film Festival
DocsMX
Santa Cruz Commission For the Prevention of Violence Against Women
Cineffable Film Festival
Berlin Porn Festival
Spokane Jewish Film Festival

ABOUT FILMMAKER(S)

Pratibha Parmar

Pratibha Parmar is an award-winning British filmmaker – a writer, director and producer with a track record of bringing deeply compelling stories into the mainstream media, stories that resonate beyond the margins. She has worked across multiple genres – feature documentaries, short dramas, music videos, a narrative feature, and is a recent director of episodic television, LAW & ORDER SUV and Ava DuVernay’s QUEEN SUGAR. Her work has appeared in a variety of broadcast and theatrical platforms.

Pratibha’s documentary A PLACE OF RAGE, on African American women and the civil rights movement, which focused on June Jordan and Angela Davis, received international critical acclaim and was named Best Historical Documentary at the National Black Programming Consortium in the US. Her other documentaries include the award-winning KHUSH, the first film to document the lives and experiences of South Asian lesbian and gay people in UK, Canada and India. KHUSH was the recipient of multiple international awards and became a cult classic in India where bootlegged copies created community screenings and opportunities for Indian LGBT people at a time when homosexuality was still illegal in India. Pratibha’s debut narrative feature, NINA’S HEAVENLY DELIGHTS, a rom-com set in Scotland, was released in the UK and US. Her documentary ALICE WALKER: BEAUTY IN TRUTH is the definitive film on this Pulitzer Prize-winning author and was broadcast on American Masters (PBS) and BBC.

A globally recognized filmmaker and human rights activist, Pratibha Parmar's films WARRIOR MARKS and KHUSH helped gain much-needed rights for women and girls as well as contributing to the visibility of marginalized LGBT communities. Her accomplishments have been recognized with multiple awards. In 2017, Pratibha was awarded the ICON award presented by Bagari London Indian Film Festival in Association with the British Film Institute for Outstanding Contribution to Indian and World Cinema. In 2016 she was included in the BBC’s list of 100 inspirational and influential women. Pratibha was awarded the Pink Peacock Award in recognition of exemplary Service to the South Asian Queer Community. She is the proud recipient of the Frameline Film Festival’s Lifetime Achievement Award (US), presented to an individual who has made a significant and outstanding contribution to lesbian and gay media. Pratibha is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Directors Guild of America. (2/24)

Shaheen Haq

PRODUCER
Shaheen Haq is a Sundance Institute alumna and CEO at Kali8 Productions and Kali Films, where she produced the documentary ALICE WALKER: BEAUTY IN TRUTH (2014) for ITVS and PBS | American Masters and the BBC. The film won several awards including the Napa Valley Film Festival Jury Award and the Newark Black Film Festival Paul Robeson Award. It premiered at The Grand Lake Theatre, Oakland, CA, and had its UK premiere at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London. Shaheen is both a creative and hands-on producer, involved in structuring international co-productions and raising finance, to all aspects of production, post-production and distribution.[Text Wrapping Break][Text Wrapping Break]Shaheen was born in East London to Pakistani parents who had left Pakistan as economic refugees. She has collaborated with Pratibha Parmar as Production Designer on her films, notably EMERGENCE, SARI RED, KHUSH, A PLACE OF RAGE, WARRIOR MARKS, and MY NAME IS ANDREA. (2/24)

Credits

Written and Directed by

Pratibha Parmar Based on the writings of Andrea Dworkin

Produced by Shaheen Haq Director of Photography Kartik Vijay ISC Music by Nitin Sawhney Edited by Anne Fabini Pratibha Parmar Executive Producers Regina K. Scully V (formerly Eve Ensler) Gloria Steinem Kimberly Agnew Jenny Warburg Ruth Ann Harnisch Abigail E. Disney S. Mona Sinha Amy Scholder Geralyn White Dreyfous Simon Kilmurry James Costa Matthew Perniciaro Shelly Leslie

Subject Areas

Body Image Cinema Studies Feminism Gender Performing Arts Poetry Sexuality Mass Media & Popular Culture Women's Movement Young Women Visual Arts

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OUR CATALOG

My Name Is Andrea

SYNOPSIS

PRESS

SCREENING HIGHLIGHTS AND AWARDS

ABOUT FILMMAKER(S)

Subject Areas

RELATED LINKS

YOU MIGHT ALSO BE INTERESTED IN

Regarding Susan Sontag

Who's Afraid of Kathy Acker?

Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth

The Poetry Deal: A Film with Diane di Prima

A Place of Rage

Warrior Marks

The Righteous Babes

Khush

Jodie: An Icon

Sari Red

Flesh and Paper

Emergence

Double the Trouble, Twice the Fun