Su Friedrich: Interviews

Su Friedrich (b. 1954) has been described as an autobiographical filmmaker, an experimental filmmaker, a documentary filmmaker, an independent filmmaker, a feminist filmmaker, and a lesbian filmmakerlabels that she sprucely dodges, insisting time and again she is, quite simply, a filmmaker. Nevertheless, the influences of the experimental film culture and of the feminist and lesbian political ethos out of which she emerged resonate across her films to the present day.

Su Friedrich: Interviews is the first volume dedicated exclusively to Friedrich and her work. The interviews collected here highlight the historical, theoretical, political, and economic dimensions through which Friedrichs films gain their unique and defiantly ambiguous identity. The collection seeks to give a comprehensive view of Friedrichs diverse body of work, the conditions in which her films were made, and how they have circulated and become understood within different contexts.

The volume contains fifteen interviewstwo previously unpublishedalong with three autobiographical writings by Friedrich. Included are canonical early interviews, but a special focus is given to interviews that address her less-studied film production in the twenty-first century. Echoing across these various pieces is Friedrichs charmingly sardonic and defiant personality, familiar from her films. Her occasional resistance to an interviewers line of questioning opens up other, unexpected lines of inquiry as it also provides insight into her distinct philosophy. The volume closes with a new interview conducted by the editors, which illuminates areas that remain latent or underdiscussed in other interviews, including Friedrichs work as a film professor and projects that supplement Friedrichs filmmaking, such as Edited By, an online historical resource dedicated to collecting information about and honoring the contributions of women film editors. See more