This is a screening from 2025. There is a new screening of this film, with shows running now.
Wanda
Barbara Loden / US, 1970 / 103 min.
This empathetic, heart-rending portrait of a woman stranded on society’s margins has developed into a highly influential work. This makes Barbara Loden the first female director of a feature film that saw cinematic release since Ida Lupino.
Barbara Loden’s first and only feature film, focussing on a for the time atypical character, was a groundbreaking work within American independent cinema. Set in Pennsylvania’s soot-choked landscape, Wanda was shot in an intensely intimate, vérité style, on coarse-grained 16mm film stock.
Gentle-natured Wanda (played by Loden herself) has left her husband, lost custody of her children and is now alone, drifting between sleazy bars and motels. Here, she falls prey to a series of callous men, including a petty thief who drags her along on his criminal journey.
Digital presentation courtesy of the UCLA Film & Television Archive.
This is part of
Special screenings
Details
Director
Barbara Loden
Production year
1970
Country
US
Original title
Wanda
Length
103 min.
Language
English
Subtitles
NONE
Format
DCP
Part of
Feministisch Filmkollektief Cinemien
Eye celebrates the legacy of Feministisch Filmkollektief Cinemien (1974-1989), which blazed a trail when it came to raising the profile of female filmmakers. This film programme links the collective’s work to urgent contemporary themes, and will allow different generations to discuss equality.
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