The Film and Media Studies (FMST) department welcomed esteemed filmmaker Su Friedrich to Colgate University from Oct. 18 to Oct. 19. Friedrich took the train from New York City for two days of film screenings, a lecture, a workshop and many other opportunities to discuss her work and career with the Colgate community.
According to her online biography, Friedrich is revered for her leadership in the American avant-garde movement and pivotal role in queer cinema. Since 1988, she has taught as a professor of visual arts in the Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University. Her most recent projects delve into her career and her artistic process, including a comprehensive lecture at the Universität für angewandte Kunst in Vienna and the recently published volume “Su Friedrich: Interviews.” Assistant Professor of Film and Media Studies Neta Alexander planned and oversaw Friedrich’s visit to Colgate.
“I went to a screening of the most recent documentary that Su made, titled ‘Today’, in a movie theater in New York City over the summer. I just love that documentary, the same way I love all of her films, and she is one of the most prominent voices in queer cinema in the United States. So, I thought, wouldn’t it be amazing if we could bring her to Colgate?” Alexander said.
After the screening this summer, Alexander approached Friedrich to ask if she would consider sharing her 2002 film “The Odds of Recovery” with students and faculty. By bringing Friedrich’s work to campus, and specifically this film on Friedrich’s personal medical history, Alexander hoped to enrich the curriculum for the FMST course “Disability Media.” To Alexander’s excitement, Friedrich agreed, and the department later convinced her to stay an extra day for a lecture, workshop and screening of her iconic 1990 film “Sink or Swim.”
The first film, “The Odds of Recovery,” was chosen for the ongoing Alternative Cinema series on Tuesday evenings in Little Hall’s Golden Auditorium. Also in Golden, FMST held a screening of “Sink or Swim” on Thursday evening, followed by a thirty-minute Q&A with Friedrich and Alexander, where students could ask questions about the personal documentary.
Visiting Assistant Professor of Art Lindsey Lodhie was one member of the audience who had previously seen the film.
“I first saw [‘Sink or Swim’] in college, and it impacted me a lot and mattered a lot to me. Being able to share it in a similar setting — to students of this age group — is really nice and I, as a student, didn’t have an opportunity to hear from the director. It felt like I got to connect with that earlier version of myself,” Lodhie said.
Setting the scene of a complicated 1950s upbringing, “Sink or Swim” is one of Friedrich’s most internationally recognized avant-garde films. This vulnerable work earned Friedrich six prestigious awards: the Grand Prix at the Melbourne Film Festival, the Golden Gate Award at the San Francisco International Film Festival, Gold Juror’s Choice Award at the Charlotte Film and Video Festival, Special Jury Award at the Atlanta Film Festival and Best Experimental Film Award at the USA Short Film and Video Festival. Later, in 2015, the United States Library of Congress inducted “Sink or Swim” into its National Film Registry under the documentaries and shorts category.
In the Q&A, Friedrich shared the content of a letter she received from her father (the source of conflict in “Sink or Swim”) with the audience.
“He said, ‘Dear Su, thank you for sharing your film with me — the technique was brilliant […]. I’m really happy that I gave you good subject matter.’ Unfortunately, I probably threw [this letter] away, which I wish I hadn’t done,” Friedrich said.
Members of FMST were excited to see “Sink or Swim,” not just in the presence of its director and maker Friedrich, but also in its original form, thanks to investments in new technology.
“As far as thinking about film programming, we have been investing the last couple of years in working with celluloid and working with real film: 16 mm and 35 mm,” Lodhie said. “For films, and especially these independent films and American experimental cinema, we have an opportunity here (which is internationally unusual) to show [these films] on their original format.”
Students in the FMST and art departments were also excited to engage with Friedrich’s work and authentic film mediums in general. Junior Renata Burnett attended the screening of “Sink or Swim” for two of her courses: New Media: History and Theory from Netflix to VR and Video Arts.
“Just from the audience’s reaction to not only her film alone but her commentary on it following the movie, I was able to take away the immense impact even an autobiographical film can have on individuals through the ability to resonate with other experiences,” Burnett said. “My favorite aspect of the film was her choice to incorporate the voice of a child as the narrator of her own life experiences, considering much of ‘Sink or Swim’ is telling a traumatic and enraging aspect of her childhood.”
Burnett noted that Friedrich’s visit gave her a new perspective on the role of art and film in the human experience.
“Considering her other film that was shown on Tuesday called ‘The Odds of Recovery,’ it made me understand her as a human being wanting to turn her rage and disappointment with life into art,” Burnett said. “It also made me, in that moment, more conscious of how much meaning us viewers give art pieces because we assume that all art has to have an intricate or even educational purpose, when sometimes art is just art.”
The art department also hosted Friedrich for a lecture in Persson Auditorium on Wednesday, Oct. 18 titled “How to Drag Your Private Life, Kicking and Screaming, into the Public: Looking Back at Forty-Five Years of Filmmaking.” Following this, the workshop on Thursday, Oct. 19 allowed students to ask for Friedrich’s advice on the filmmaking process, where she explained her decisions on which clips and audios to include. Alexander noted that Friedrich also brought a physical prop from “Odds of Recovery” for this event.
“In ‘The Odds of Recovery,’ [Friedrich] embroiders a medical history into this beautiful work of art, and she brought it with her for this visit,” Alexander said. “We had it in the workshop and the students could walk up to the table to look at it and touch it; it’s really memorabilia, but it gives them another entryway into the process, which I thought was really beautiful.”
Across this series of FMST events, Friedrich’s work showcased a major theme: the presentation of intimately personal feelings, memories and trauma on an artistic backdrop. Alexander commented that these films, and Friedrich’s career in general, represent a transition to this type of filmmaking compared to the previously conservative medium.
“It might seem that in the age of social media, oversharing and TikTok influencers, the ability to document your life is taken for granted,” Alexander said. “In the 70s, 80s and 90s, when Su was coming of age as a filmmaker and artist, this was not the case at all. It was very heteronormative, and [filmmaking] was much more conservative and conventional. I think her films are incredibly brave; she was one of those people who were pioneers and created those groundbreaking personal documentations. Thanks to work like that, we now have a culture that enables us to be more vulnerable and open, and to talk about difficult feelings like pain, anger and disappointment of our lovers and parents.”
Friedrich’s two-day visit was a testament to the FMST department’s efforts to diversify and apply its curriculum. Alexander and Lodhie hope that their students and anyone else in attendance were able to glean inspiration and technical expertise from this avant-garde icon.
