still from Loretta Smith’s Where Did You Get That Woman? (1982)
This selection of films explores the struggles and hopes of women as they reflect on the relationship between power, gender, and labor in their working lives. Experimental filmmaker JoAnn Elam’s Chocolate Cake documents the process of making a cake… with an unexpected ending. Jim Klein, Julia Reichert, and Miles Mogulescu’s Union Maids focuses on the stories of three women—Kate Hyndman, Stella Nowicki and Sylvia Woods—as they recount the struggles, obstacles, and triumphs they experienced as laborers and union organizers in Chicago in the 1920s and 1930s. Loretta Smith’s Where Did You Get That Woman? follows seventy-year old Joan Williams, a bathroom attendant working on Rush Street, as she goes about her day-to-day work and reflects on her family history. Filmmaker Loretta Smith in person.
Films screening:
- Chocolate Cake (JoAnn Elam, circa 1973, color, silent, 4 minutes, digital scan of 8mm original)
- Union Maids (Jim Klein, Julia Reichert, Miles Mogulescu, 1976, 51 minutes, b&w, sound, new digital restoration provided courtesy of Jim Klein)
- Where Did You Get That Woman? (Loretta Smith, 1982, color, sound, 30 minutes, 16mm)
Total run time: 85 minutes
Tickets are available for advance purchase here.