Where is She Now?

Were you a participant in J4J? Did you send a tape or attend a screening?
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Chainletter Filmmakers:

Who Stole My Chainletter?

Courtney Egan, Prototype Chaos Hag

How did you find out about Joanie 4 Jackie and how old were you at the time?
I think I was late 20s or even 30 when I found out about Joanie 4 Jackie and I don’t remember how I found out about it. Was there an article in Bitch magazine, or something like that?

What interested you about the project?
I was hosting Open Screenings in New Orleans in the late 1990s and early ’00s and was very much into short film collections and screenings, and a cinema that was local, unique and homemade. I liked Miranda July’s work and thought the chainletter was a great idea.

At the time you participated in Joanie 4 Jackie did you consider yourself a filmmaker? What was your relationship to making movies?
I considered myself an artist working with moving images. I borrowed, lifted or appropriated already-existing images of women in order to comment on the images of women in media that I grew up with.

Do you have any specific anecdotes or memories associated with your movie?
This piece later became a longer 8 min piece called “The Chaos Hags” and each hag had a theme. I spent a lot of time watching vhs tapes and copying sections from them that I wanted to cut and paste together, basically a collage technique that I was thrilled about since discovering digital media tools like After Effects. A lot of people then seemed overly concerned that I was violating copyrights. pshaw.

What did you think/feel about the Joanie 4 Jackie at the time? And now, in retrospect?
awesome then and awesome now.

What institutions, groups, people, publications and movements were inspiring you at the time of your participation in J4J?
I think at that time I was into Hannah Hoch, Martha Colburn, Pat Olesko, Tony Oursler, Cindy Sherman, Gunvor Nelson…I was discovering classic Hollywood cinema, amazed by Bette Davis, Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland…Billy Wilder. I was big into masking during the collaborative relational community art event that is Mardi Gras. I was able to work with Helen Hill during that period and loved her work and her spirit.

What do you do now – professionally and otherwise? Are you still involved in filmmaking?
I make media installations and teach filmmaking – post production and fx – to high school students.

Lara Odell, Diver (also Grandma Baba & Little Boris on Who Stole My Chainletter?)
March 26, 2013

How did you find out about Joanie 4 Jackie and how old were you at the time?
Sara Cooper, a friend and collaborator, had a CD from Kill Rock Stars, or K Records? I forget. It contained the Big Miss Moviola ad inside. She encouraged me to send in one of my videos. It was 1998 or so, so I was 27.

What interested you about the project?
The chainletter tape idea made me realize that there are women video artists and filmmakers scattered around the U.S. whose movies I wouldn’t have had access to otherwise. There seemed to be a lot of possibility. It felt empowering and exciting, the idea of a low-budget mix tape that wasn’t edited or curated, and was easily accessible to anyone who wanted to participate in the project.

At the time you participated in Joanie 4 Jackie did you consider yourself a filmmaker? What was your relationship to making movies?
I was an undergrad at The School of Art and Design at Alfred University, in Alfred, NY, studying video art and printmaking. I think I considered myself a video artist, or felt that I was on my way to becoming one. At Alfred we learned to treat video like a malleable material — that the video signal could be manipulated like paint, or clay. The materiality of it was emphasized rather than it’s narrative potential, although I was drawn to its narrative possibilities too. Back then I was experimenting with image processing, running both appropriated material and new material that I shot through the diverse and unique processing tools that Alfred had. There was also an emphasis on sound, and we were encouraged to build soundtracks with similar audio recording and processing tools at Alfred.

Do you have any specific anecdotes or memories associated with the project?
This is a personal anecdote and maybe not so interesting to this archive, but in retrospect I don’t know why I didn’t submit “Iris Pupil,” the movie I made with Sara Cooper, who introduced me to Big Miss Moviola. That video seemed more in line with the general feel of the Joanie 4 Jackie project. I think I wanted to submit something I made alone, which was “Diver,” which I think was possibly my first video. I had been inspired by Bill Viola’s “Reflecting Pool” for that one.

What did you think/feel about the Joanie 4 Jackie at the time? And now, in retrospect?
In some ways it doesn’t feel that long ago! But it was, in a sense, considering where I am in my life now, where my art is, and especially how technology has changed video and filmmaking and its distribution. I think I have the same feelings toward J4J then as I do now. It was a different context then, though, before YouTube and so much social media. I felt then — and now — that the idea behind J4J was “freeing” because it gave women filmmakers an opportunity to share their work/see other work in a context that wasn’t dictated by a professional art world. You didn’t have to compete to “get your work in.” J4J gave validity to the basic fact that you had the gumption to make a movie in the first place.

What do you do now – professionally and otherwise? Are you still involved in filmmaking?
I have a three year old, and I’m working as an artist and illustrator, making the occasional stop-motion animation.

Melissa (Terra Makuriwa Negron) Ulto, unMade Movie
November 30, 2016

How did you find out about Joanie 4 Jackie and how old were you at the time?
I was 30 and had been making video art for a while but had no place to show it. I finally had a group show at a gallery that had the capacity to show my work, but only if I brought in the equipment.

What interested you about the project?
I loved the fact that it was a woman curating this, and not a rich woman, but an ordinary art maker like myself.

At the time you participated in Joanie 4 Jackie did you consider yourself a filmmaker? What was your relationship to making movies?
Yes, I had been making film and video art for about a decade at that point.

Do you have any specific anecdotes or memories associated with your movie?
I made this film as a reaction to dissolving my need to please or be judged by men.

What did you think/feel about the Joanie 4 Jackie at the time? And now, in retrospect?
I felt like we were a bunch of art rebels, like the Guerrilla Girls (hola to my sistas), and now I feel like we are being memorialized for the work.

What institutions, groups, people, publications and movements were inspiring you at the time of your participation in J4J?
Guerrilla Girls, working with Coco Fusco at Columbia University, and the general feeling of post 9/11 dread.

What do you do now – professionally and otherwise? Are you still involved in filmmaking?
I am a filmmaker still, struggling, and trying to fund my projects.

Anything you would like to see on the J4J site?
More videos!!!

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