Vanessa Haroutunian,
Events & Archive Organizer at Bard, 2009-2013
October 13, 2016
How did you find out about Joanie 4 Jackie and how old were you at the time?
I was a student at Bard from 2006-2009 and was majoring in Film Production. My advisor Ed Halter told me about this amazing archive and project that lived at Bard, but was no longer overseen by anyone there at the time. I was 21 years old and immediately began digging through boxes of archive materials that had been moved into a storage closet at the time. I found myself lost in an archive trying to piece together the story of a project during a moment of hiatus. Watching endless VHS tapes, reading old letter, looking through old zines, my journey began.
What interested you about the project?
I was perplexed how such a huge history of lady made experimental film had been momentarily ignored. I fell in love with video works I found on the Chainletter tapes like Sarah Kennedy’s DIRTY FINGERNAILS, K8 Hardy’s THIS RED ENVELOPE, Wynne Greenwood’s 123 THIS IS ME and everything Goddess Kring. The aesthetic was beautiful, that DIY, riot grrl, 90s thing that was no longer present in my mid-2000s day to day. And everything was made by WOMEN! In a male dominated field at a white male dominated school, I was in heaven.
At the time you participated in Joanie 4 Jackie did you consider yourself a filmmaker? What was your relationship to making movies?
Yes. I was just becoming a filmmaker, making experimental video and film works myself. I had come to college hoping to major in photography or music. I didn’t really know you could major in film. My first year at Bard I took an intro to experimental film history course and for the first time, realized I could make movies that weren’t 90 minutes with actors and a script. Anything could be considered a film! J4J showed me how the women before me did this and I was truly inspired.
Do you have any specific anecdotes or memories associated with your movie?
In 2008, I started my senior project, which turned out to be a documentary about the history and “where is it now” look at Joanie 4 Jackie. By the time I graduated, I had finished PURE&MAGICALPUSSYPOWER: A DOCUMENTARY ON JOANIE4JACKIE. During the shooting of interviews for the doc, I travelled to the West Coast to find the likes of Miranda July, Sarah Kennedy, Myra Paci and Vanessa Renwick. Amongst many wonderful and difficult memories, one of the best was going to Annie Mirabona’s clothing store FAT FANCY. There she showed me her box of old VHS tapes of the Chainletters. One of the most anecdotal memories I have of the shoot is when I was interviewing Miranda at her house in L.A., this was the first time we had ever met in real life. We began the interview, but her dog was antsy and kept barking, so we decided to take a break and play with the dog for a little bit to calm her down. Out in the backyard, Miranda threw the ball for the dog a few times, then the dog finally brought me the ball. I nervously threw it, forgetting the killer arm I was graced with as a softball champion adolescent, and threw it directly over the back fence and out of the yard. That game ended then and there.
What did you think/feel about the Joanie 4 Jackie at the time? And now, in retrospect?
At the time I was first discovering J4J I was overwhelmed with excitement and curiosity. Making the documentary was a challenge, but a fully worthwhile one. My movie was very well received and I felt great. Over my years working at Bard after graduating I restarted a tutorial for students to work with the archive and start a new screening and exhibition program at Bard to showcase the past J4J work. These screenings and events, working with the students was amazing. A new life and a new generation of J4Jers were born. The time working with the archive was wonderful, but at times frustrating. Lots of work by lots of people over two decades makes for lots of differences in opinions. Too many cooks in the kitchen maybe. Still, J4J holds a dear place in my heart and always will.
If you attended a screening, can you tell us where and when it was and anything else you remember about it?
I attended and organized all the screenings and events held at Bard between 2009 and 2013.
What institutions, groups, people, publications and movements were inspiring you at the time of your participation in J4J?
Lucas Hilderbrand as a very inspiring person to me while I was researching as a student. He had, at the time, made the most in depth and succinct piece of writing about J4J. I still haven’t found anyone who has published something as informative and accurate as his piece. He made me want to learn everything and anything that had to do with the project.
What do you do now – professionally and otherwise? Are you still involved in filmmaking?
I am currently working in New York City as a filmmaker, video artist and producer. I work with the filmmaker Ira Sachs and run a non-profit organization that supports queer artists across generations and disciplines alongside him. In the past three years, since moving to NYC, I have worked in various production and producing roles on Ira Sachs’s films Love is Strange (2014) and Little Men (2016), Natalia Leite and Alexandra Roxo’s web series Be Here Nowish (2016) and Katherine Bernard’s short film CRUSH (2016).