Suzy Lake: Playing with Time

WATCH CLIP 1

Suzy Lake: Playing with Time

A film by Annette Mangaard

2014 | 62 minutes | Color | DVD | Order No. 151155

License:

Format:

PRICE:

Host a screening

SYNOPSIS

Photographer Suzy Lake is one of the formative feminist artists to evolve out of the heyday of the 1960’s and the Second Wave. A master of the art of self-portraiture, Lake influenced Cindy Sherman as well as a host of other female artists. Lake makes art that address politics, gender, youth, beauty and aging while reflecting on her own journey through time. SUZY LAKE: PLAYING WITH TIME tells the story of how much has changed in the worlds of feminism and art, and yet how much things remain the same.

Filming for almost 4 years, filmmaker Annette Mangaard weaves a powerful portrait of the complex artist by juxtaposing powerful archival footage, still photography and interviews with Lucy Lippard, Mary Beth Edelson and Martha Wilson among others. SUZY LAKE: PLAYING WITH TIME delves into Lake’s legacy as she continues to explore the politics of gender with work that deals with the aging woman, countering notions of consumer beauty with a different and real image, celebrating stamina, maturity and experience. An essential companion piece to any discussion on the Second Wave, feminism and art.

PRESS

"A moving portrait of the artist as a speaking subject. Lake speaks directly to the messy negotiation of identity in a culture obsessed with narrow definitions of beauty."

Georgiana Uhlyarik Associate Curator, Art Gallery of Ontario

"Mangaard’s luminous new documentary on the life and career of Suzy Lake plays like a cross between a well-scripted, jam-packed biography program and a dreamy, experimental film."

R.M. Vaughn Canada Art

ABOUT FILMMAKER(S)

Annette Mangaard

Annette Mangaard has written, and directed sixteen films in more than a decade as an independent filmmaker. She was nominated for a Gemini for Best Director of a Documentary for her one hour documentary, GENERAL IDEA: ART, AIDS, AND THE FIN DE SIECLE (for TVO, Bravo, SCN, Knowledge) about the celebrated Canadian artists collective which premiered at Hot Doc’s in Toronto then went on to garner accolades at the Vancouver International Festival, DOCSDF Mexican Documentary Film Festival and Asolo International Art Film Festival in Italy and continues to tour the festival circuit.

Mangaard has just completed a documentary about the history of feminist art as seen through the photography of Suzy Lake. Projects in development include ZERO FOOTPRINT a personal journey documentary about community, indigenous peoples and climate change and A WALK IN THE WOODS a full length documentary about the hard science benefits to human beings derived from direct access to nature.

Her one hour documentary KINNGAIT: RIDING LIGHT INTO THE WORLD, about the changing face of the Inuit artists of Cape Dorset for Bravo, TVO and APTN premiered at the Art Gallery of Ontario and was invited to Australia for a special screening celebrating Canada Day with the Canadian High Commission.

Other films include INTO THE NIGHT, a film noir of the night produced by the National Film Board of Canada, as well as THE MANY FACES OF ARNAUD MAGGS, a one hour documentary on the celebrated Canadian artist/photographer Arnaud Maggs for TVOntario. In 2009 Mangaard was lauded with a retrospective of her films at the Cinemateque Palais de Kino in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

FISH TALE SOUP (1997) starring Remy Girard marked her debut as a feature film writer and director. FISH TALE SOUP screened theatrically at the Carlton Cinemas in Toronto and in a number of other theatres across Canada. The 1998 City TV premiere garnered much critical praise.

In 1990 Mangaard was invited to present solo screenings of her films at the Pacific Cinematheque in Vancouver, Canada and in 1991 at the Kino Arsenal Cinematheque in Berlin, West Germany. Mangaard was invited to attend the Canadian Film Centre in 1992, as a writer/director resident, where she directed the short film 94 ARCANA DRIVE.

Her short film titles include: LET ME WRAP MY ARMS AROUND YOU, 94 ARCANA DRIVE, NORTHBOUND CAIRO, THE ICONOGRAPHY OF VENUS, THE TYRANNY OF ACHITECTURE and A DIALOGUE WITH VISION: THE ART OF SPRING HURLBUT AND JUDITH SCHWARZ.

Mangaard’s films have screened extensively on Canadian television and at Festivals and Cinematheques around the world including: GENERAL IDEA: ART, AIDS, AND THE FIN DE SIECLE (for TVO, BRAVO, Knowledge, SCN) which continues to screen at Festivals and cinematheques internationally, KINNGAIT: RIDING LIGHT INTO THE WORLD (TVO, BRAVO, Knowledge, APTN), THE MANY FACES OF ARNAUD MAGGS has shown on TVOntario, and BRAVO. FISH TALE SOUP aired on CITY TV, Radio Canada and the Woman's Television Network. LET ME WRAP MY ARMS AROUND YOU, NORTHBOUND CAIRO, and A DIALOGUE WITH VISION have all been broadcast by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and a number of other networks. Most of Mangaard’s short films have been screened by SHOWCASE - CITY TV, BRAVO, TVO, The WOMEN'S TELEVISION NETWORK as well as Knowledge and Access Networks and VISION TV, among others. (1/15)

Clips

Clip 2

Subject Areas

Art Feminism Visual Arts Women's Movement

Ana Mendieta

This beautiful film is a portrait of the life and work of Cuban-born American artist Ana Mendieta. Mendieta used her own body, the raw materials of nature, and Afro-Cuban religion to express her feminist political consciousness and poetic vision. Interview footage with Mendieta and her own filmed records of her earthworks and performances are incorporated to render a vivid testament to her energy and extraordinary talent after her tragic, untimely death in 1985. Spanish language version available.

Learn more

Womanhouse

WOMANHOUSE is an historic documentary about one of the most important feminist cultural events of the 1970s. Judy Chicago (best-known as the creator of THE DINNER PARTY) and Miriam Shapiro rented an old Hollywood mansion and altered its interior through decor and set-pieces to "search out and reveal the female experience...the dreams and fantasies of women as they sewed, cooked, washed and ironed away their lives." WOMANHOUSE is a fascinating historical look at feminism, its reception in the 1970s, and the ever-important relationship between art and social change.

Learn more

Sphinxes Without Secrets

Since its inception, performance art provided a forum for those artists whose work challenges the dominant aesthetic and cultural status quo. In SPHINXES WITHOUT SECRETS, performers, curators and critics unravel the mysteries of performance art and ponder the world women confront today. Performers featured in this stylish program include Diamanda Galas, Holly Hughes (one of the 'NEA Four'), Robbie McCauley and Rachel Rosenthal; intercut with appearances by many others such as Laurie Anderson, Annie Sprinkle and Reno.

Learn more

Guerrillas In Our Midst

GUERRILLAS IN OUR MIDST presents a savvy exploration of the machinations of the commercial art-world during its boom in the 1980s, and brings the Guerrilla Girls to the screen. This anonymous group of art terrorists has succeeded in putting racism and sexism on the agenda in the art-world since 1985, and their witty and creative tactics have changed the face of political and cultural activism. Interviews with key figures in the Manhattan art scene, record-breaking auction sales, exhibition openings and interviews with the Guerrillas Girls themselves combine to highlight how the myth of the heroic male painter is perpetuated.

Learn more

Artist on Fire

A pioneer of feminist avant-garde cinema, Joyce Wieland has explored the crux of nationalism, feminine sexuality and ecology for more than thirty years in films such as her influential RAT LIFE AND DIET AND REASON OVER PASSION. This richly suggestive portrait surveys Wieland's involvement in structural filmmaking with Michael Snow and Hollis Frampton in the 1960s and her reinvention of women's crafts in her artwork.

Learn more

Up in the Sky: Tracey Moffatt in New York

"UP IN THE SKY scans the universe created by the provocative and talented photographer and filmmaker Tracey Moffatt, Australia's answer to Cindy Sherman and with even more of an edge, if that's possible. An important figure in the Australian postcolonial avant-garde, Moffatt started out with visually compelling (and often disturbing) photographs and films such as NICE COLOURED GIRLS, NIGHT CRIES, and BEDEVIL that explore her own Aboriginal heritage and the complex ways that power, race and gender intersect, often violently, in everyday life. More recently, her work draws on sources as diverse as Pasolini and Mad Max films, or Victorian photography. Jane Cole's documentary is an insightful portrait of Moffatt and her work, and an invaluable framework for anyone interested in the work of this cutting edge artist." Faye Ginsburg, Director, The Center for Media, Culture, and History, New York University

Learn more

THE HERETICS

Tracing the influence of the Women’s Movement’s Second Wave on art and life, THE HERETICS is the exhilarating inside story of the New York feminist art collective that produced “Heresies: A Feminist Publication on Art and Politics” (1977-92). In this feature-length documentary, cutting-edge video artist/writer/director Joan Braderman, who joined the group in 1975 as an aspiring filmmaker, charts the collective’s challenges to terms of gender and power and its history as a microcosm of the period’s broader transformations. On the road with her camera crew from New Mexico to Italy, Braderman reconnects with 28 other group members, including writer/critic Lucy Lippard, architect Susanna Torre, filmmaker Su Friedrich, and artists Ida Applebroog, Mary Miss, Miriam Schapiro, and Cecilia Vicuña. Still funny, smart and sexy, the geographically dispersed participants revisit how and why they came together and the extraordinary times they shared—supporting and exploring women’s art and demanding the right to be heard. Enlivened by striking digital motion graphics, THE HERETICS intercuts interviews with archival film clips, video and stills from the period, texts and images from “Heresies” magazines, and footage of completed artworks and works-in-progress. An exuberant, multi-layered collage, the film brings the Heresies collective—and its strategies for unlocking the potential in women’s lives—vividly to the screen.

Learn more

Regarding Susan Sontag

REGARDING SUSAN SONTAG is an intimate and nuanced investigation into the life of one of the most influential and provocative thinkers of the 20th century. Endlessly curious, passionate and gracefully outspoken throughout her career, Susan Sontag became one of the most important literary, political and feminist icons of her generation. This beautifully constructed documentary tracks Sontag’s life through evocative experimental images, archival materials, accounts from friends, family, colleagues, and lovers, as well as her own words as read by Patricia Clarkson. From her early infatuation with books to her first experience in a gay bar; from her early marriage to her 15-year relationship with legendary photographer Annie Leibovitz, REGARDING SUSAN SONTAG is a fascinating look at a towering cultural critic and writer whose works on photography, war, illness, and terrorism continue to resonate today. REGARDING SUSAN SONTAG premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and was broadcast nationwide on HBO.

Learn more

OUR CATALOG