LOVE STORIES MY GRANDMOTHER TELLS, Part 1 is a portrait of Dana Plays' 90-year-old grandmother, Peggy Regler, reminiscing about her love affairs and significant relationships. Regler tells about her failed first marriage, the agreement she had to stay until the children were grown (but to see other lovers) which resulted in the true love she found with her second husband, renowned writer Gustav Regler, who later died a tragic death in India. The love affairs are historically rooted in the technological and political developments of the 20th Century and are narratively based in a complex sound/image structure.

Interludes between the stories (silent optically-printed film passages narrated with intertitles excerpted from Regler's diaries and early childhood memories) formalistically refer to early cinema. The footage in these passages is recontextualized and interwoven metaphorically throughout the text.

"The diaries and memories of her 90-year-old grandmother Peggy Regler create a complex portrait of one woman's intimate experiences, and of a life spanning the twentieth century. Her autobiography emerges through formal references to early cinema, a historical moment which changed our conception of subjectivity." -- Kathy Geritz, Pacific Film Archive

Awards:

Director's Choice, Black Maria Film Festival
16 Best Documentary, New Orleans Film Festival
Third Place Documentary, Big Muddy Film Festival

Screenings:

Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley Art Museum
Montreal Nouveau International Film Festival
Madrid Experimental Week
New York Underground Film Festival
Seattle International Film Festival
Dutch National Television VPRO Broadcasting, Holland
Onion City Festival
Dresden Film Festival, Germany
Interfilm Festival, Berlin, Germany
Leipzig Documentary Festival, Germany
St. John's International Film Festival, Canada
Viper International Film Festival, Lucerne, Switzerland
San Francisco Cinematheque at Yerba Buena Center