Charlotte Greville & her sister, For Dad’s Birthday
How did you find out about Joanie 4 Jackie and how old were you at the time?
I went to Bard! Professor Jackie Goss asked me to help her with this project Joanie for Jackie my sophomore year 2003 (so I was 20 I think). We gathered submissions, complied chainletter tapes and held screening. I was part of the Bard J4J club till I graduated in 2006.
What interested you about the project?
I loved it. It was magic that was completely real but still very much seemed like magic to me.
At the time you participated in Joanie 4 Jackie did you consider yourself a filmmaker? What was your relationship to making movies?
I was a film major at Bard. I made a lot of films. J4J made me feel like a I was part of something. It gave me confidence in what I was doing. I need to make things. Right now its objects not films. I think film will be something I come back to. I can still feel it in me.
Do you have any specific anecdotes or memories associated with the project?
I loved receiving the new videos. Opening the hand made/drawn/designed/collaged packages was its own tiny video Christmas. Women of all ages would send their video/films by mail to us. Jackie would collect them till we had 7 or 8. Then we would all gather in the film department and watch the new submissions. They were from everywhere and all very unique and special. I can remember brain storming ideas for the number cues/intervals between videos. The jewelry box with the spinning ballerina! Not my idea but I helped film and edit and my hand might be opening the box a few times. Then we would send out 10 VHS tapes to everyone who was on the chainletter. We would screen the new and old chainletters at Bard. I made silk screen T-shirts, bandanas and bags with J4J logos I came up with. My favorite one was a little Shirley Temple looking girl leaning back on a huge VHS bigger than her. I got mixed up and if you looked closely it read Joanie for Fackie not Joanie for Jackie. The cursive J flipped to an F at some point in my process but no one noticed. Shhhh. We would sell them at J4J screenings at Anthology in NYC. The money went to new chainletters and I think a desk for our office at Bard. I can remember building the desk. J4J was a big part of Bard for me. I loved being part of it.
What did you think/feel about the Joanie 4 Jackie at the time? And now, in retrospect?
Professor Jackie Goss got me involved in J4J at Bard. She is an amazing person, teacher and advisor. Thanks to J4J I would be in her office a lot.
If you attended a screening, can you tell us where and when it was and anything else you remember about it?
I would drive to NYC from Bard with other J4J members to hold screenings at Anthology Film Archive. We would do a little explanation of the project and let it roll. After the screening we would sell some J4J stuff we made. We met very interesting people who all loved J4J.
What institutions, groups, people, publications and movements were inspiring you at the time of your participation in J4J?
I think I watched close to every video on every chainletter we had at Bard. I would take them home two at a time. I had a TV with a VHS at the foot of my bed in a cluttered room. I was also watching a lot film in my classes. A LOT of avant grade film from the 60s and 70s.
What do you do now – professionally and otherwise? Are you still involved in filmmaking?
I am a designer: charlottegreville.com
Anything you would like to see on the J4J site?
It looks great. Thank you for working so hard on this project. J4J is dearly loved.