Emily Richardson,
Prosthetic Aesthetics
March 17, 2013
How did you find out about Joanie 4 Jackie and how old were you at the time?
I honestly can’t remember now how I found out about Joanie 4 Jackie but I was 25 and living in San Francisco studying filmmaking at SFAI.
What interested you about the project?
I liked the fact it was for women filmmakers and that it had a zine that went with the tape!
At the time you participated in Joanie 4 Jackie did you consider yourself a filmmaker? What was your relationship to making movies?
I had just started making films then. I’d made a lot of Super 8 films and this was my first attempt at making something on 16mm and hand processing it. Part of the reason the film looks the way it does is because one roll of film all stuck together in the tank when I was processing it and created some fantastic effects.
Do you have any specific anecdotes or memories associated with the project?
I remember at the time living in a leaky warehouse on 6th St in San Francisco and spending a lot of time watching films with friends at Total Mobile Home Microcinema.
What did you think/feel about the Joanie 4 Jackie at the time? And now, in retrospect?
There’s something so solid, yet ephemeral about VHS tape and at the time it was great to receive. Stranger now that I no longer have a VHS deck and everyone is sharing work online in so many different ways.
If you attended a screening, can you tell us where and when it was and anything else you remember about it?
I remember coming to a screening, either in San Francisco or New York. I remember sitting on the floor and I remember Miranda’s big curly hair! Other than that it’s pretty sketchy!
What institutions, groups, people, publications and movements were inspiring you at the time of your participation in J4J?
I was a student at SFAI so watching a lot of experimental film and video work, taught by Ernie Gehr, George Kuchar and others. Total Mobile Home Microcimena was the best education in film I ever got though really. Rebecca Barten and David Sherman were like surrogate parents to me! (I’d come from London and didn’t know anyone in the city and they took me under their wing)
What do you do now – professionally and otherwise? Are you still involved in filmmaking?
I am still making films and showing them at festivals, in galleries and museums internationally. I have a website with some info on my projects at http://www.emilyrichardson.org.uk and have a blog set up for my current film project at http://www.3churchwalk.blogspot.co.uk.
Anything you would like to see on the J4J site?
No – it looks great.