This program is a collaboration between two curators, Tess Takahashi and Denah Johnston, each of whom have wandered passionately and separately through the Canyon collection, specifically considering work made by women. Found footage, optical printing, documentary, dance, performance, repetition, time-lapse and other approaches engage in dialogue about everything from calling out patriarchy, representation of women in pop culture, and cosmic strip tease. Bringing together an assortment of diverse talents from Canyon – this program scratches the surface of the wealth of women’s films distributed by the 50-year old organization. We hope it will incite further investigation of its holdings.

Women Take Off

All works presented in 16mm unless otherwise specified.

Part 1 (37 minutes)

Women by Coni Beeson (1974, 13 min, color/B&W)
Grain Graphics by Dana Plays (1978, 6 min, color, digital)
Swish by Jean Sousa (1982, 3 min, color)
Too Young by Elizabeth Sher (1982, 3 min, color)
Portland by Greta Snider (1996, 12 min, B&W)

Part 2 (32 minutes)

Roseblood by Sharon Couzin (1974, 8 min, color)
Removed by Naomi Uman (1999, 6 min, color)
Lie Back & Enjoy It by JoAnn Elam (1982, 8 min, B&W)
Take Off by Gunvor Nelson (1972, 10 min, B&W)

Denah Johnston is a teacher, writer, filmmaker, and curator based in San Francisco. She has a special interest in bringing experimental film to the people. She has worked as programmer and pre-screener for the San Francisco LGBT Film Festival, San Francisco International and Athens International Film & Video Festival. In July Denah presented programs of Canyon films at the Perth Revelation Film Festival and ACMI, Melbourne. Some of Denah’s highlights include a Queer Underground Film panel supported by the NEA and Warhol Foundation, moderating the Timeless Motion panel discussion on Bay Area cinema, presenting a program of films at the Brakhage Symposium Tribute to George Kuchar and audiences worldwide: US, Mexico City, Oaxaca, Berlin, and Melbourne. As the former Executive Director of Canyon Cinema Foundation, she transformed the organization into a non-profit. Denah is currently the Chair of the Cinema Department at City College of San Francisco where she teaches film studies. She is also an editor for agnesfilms.com showcasing work made by women and feminist scholars. Denah’s current research involves the women of Canyon Cinema.

Tess Takahashi is a Toronto-based scholar, writer, and programmer who focuses on experimental moving image arts. She is currently working on two book projects, Impure Film: Medium Specificity and the North American Avant-Garde (1968-2008) and Magnitude: Documentary Encounters with Big Data. She was scholar in residence at the Film-Makers’ Co-op in New York City in 2015 and is scholar in residence at Canyon Cinema in San Francisco in 2016. Takahashi is a member of the experimental media programming collective, Ad Hoc, and the editorial collective for Camera Obscura: Feminism, Culture, and Media. Her writing has been published there, as well as in Cinema Journal, Millennium Film Journal, Animation, MIRAGE, and Cinema Scope, among others.