The Joy of Life
Multitalented performance artist Harriet "Harry" Dodge (By Hook or By Crook, Cecil B. Demented) brings to life this innovative story of a butch dyke in San Francisco searching for love and self-discovery. Against a backdrop of stunning landscape cinematography, this bold, lyrical voiceover film evolves from lesbian lust story to inventive documentary; delving into explicit descriptions of lesbian sexuality and offering up a quick look at Frank Capra's 1941 film Meet John Doe before embarking on the fascinating and previously untold history of the Golden Gate Bridge as a suicide landmark. A true San Francisco experience, The Joy of Life also includes poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti intoning his ode to the City by the Bay, "The Changing Light" and features music from legendary poet-painter (and probable Golden Gate suicide) Weldon Kees.
A true San Francisco experience, The Joy of Life also includes poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti intoning his ode to the City by the Bay, "The Changing Light" and features music from legendary poet-painter (and probable Golden Gate suicide) Weldon Kees.
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I’ve always been committed to creating films that tell stories in unconventional ways. Of course there are the actual topics I address (in this case an array of interests ranging from the history of suicide and the Golden Gate Bridge to a reflection on Frank Capra’s Meet John Doe) but of ...Read more
I’ve always been committed to creating films that tell stories in unconventional ways. Of course there are the actual topics I address (in this case an array of interests ranging from the history of suicide and the Golden Gate Bridge to a reflection on Frank Capra’s Meet John Doe) but of equal, if not greater, importance is the unique cinematic approach. My lyrical first-person voiceover combines serious research with wistful and often humorous reflections on butch identity and the travails of pursuing unavailable women. My simple photographic compositions and the lengthy duration of my shots are crucial components of this vision (in my favorite review of The Joy of Life, The Village Voice called the film: “thrillingly minimalist.”) My dedication to the analog medium of 16mm film is a significant aspect of my creative aesthetic in achieving the experience I seek to create for viewers. Through mostly wide and static durational takes, my films preserve a record of California’s rapidly changing urban landscape. With great affection, and an understated sense of civic pride, I aspire to make the mundane heroic and to give viewers a way of seeing that they can take out into the world when they leave the theater. Perceptually and spiritually, my work challenges viewers to slow down and pay attention to the moment and to the world around them, drawing attention to the beauty of what might–at first glance–appear unexceptional, but is in fact a rich tapestry of architecture, light and shadow, and ephemeral history. For me, the joy of my films is found in the poetry of the quiet image — in the experience of time passing on film, undistracted by plot, actors, dialogue and other narrative conventions. In the midst of these peaceful scenes, my viewers are delivered into their own emotional landscapes and the rich personal associations and memories that exist inside of them — from loss and grief to love and happiness.
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