Wanda

Barbara Loden / US, 1970 / 103 min.

Once a seldom-screened cult film, now a classic of feminist cinema. Wanda, by actor and filmmaker Barbara Loden, who died young, poignantly illuminates the fate of a drifting divorced mother – phenomenally played by Loden herself, who also wrote the screenplay and directs.

poster Wanda (Barbara Loden, US 1970) (Eye release)

For her story of a divorced miner’s wife who leaves her children and sets off across Pennsylvania’s dilapidated ‘rust belt’, Barbara Loden herself steps into the shoes of protagonist Wanda; she also wrote the screenplay and directs.

The restoration was carried out by UCLA Film & Television Archive, with support from Gucci and The Film Foundation.

Preliminary Film

Before some screenings of Wanda, you can see the short film Marleen (7') by Jop Leuven from 2024. In this short film from the Eye collection, Lena talks during group therapy about the relationships that shaped her life: those with her father, her first boyfriend, and Marleen, whom Lena helped change with her open mind.

In Eye and in national cinemas.