 | | | | Lynne Sachs presenting A Biography of Lilith
(Lynne Sachs, 1997, 35 mins., 16mm, color) and
The Best of the 1999 Ann Arbor Film Festival | | | | | | | | In a lively mix of offbeat narrative, collage and memoir, A Biography of Lilith recasts Lilith's betrayal by Adam in Eden and subsequent vow of revenge as a modern tale. In Sachs' evocative meditation, a present-day Lilith (Cherie Wallace) muses on choices she has made: giving up a baby for adoption, dancing for men in a bar in New Jersey. Interweaving mystical texts from Jewish folklore with interviews, original music and poetry, Sachs reclaims this cabalistic parable as a way of framing her own role as mother. | | |
| | | |  | | | The Best of the 1999 Ann Arbor Film Festival; Sachs, who was a judge at this year's festival, has chosen a program of work "that still haunts and shimmers in my imagination half a year later." Chemistries (9min.) by Daven Gee, a tale of personal longings and family secrets; We Are Going Home (10 min.) by Jennifer Reeves, a hand-processed film suggesting a surreal allegory; The Shanghaied Text (20 min.) by Ken Kobland, a collage of images from Vertov to erotica to 1968 riots in Paris; Cars Will Make You Free (2 min.) by Lyn Elliot, a humorous piece on an American addiction; Black and Blue All Over (7 min.) by William Richard, a supernatural forest of flora; Razed by Wolves (8 min.) by Kathryn Ramey, the fairy-tale princess in a nocturnal landscape; Egypt (11 min.) by Kathrin Resetarits, an almost silent film about deaf mutes; Line of Fire (8 min.) by Dominic Angerame, open-heart surgery blends with an apartment on fire; Bag Light (3 min.) by Rock Ross, a cameraless film made by ironing bagel bags to clear leader; Meditations on Revolution (12 min.) by Robert Fenz, the rhythm of Havana's streetlife revealed." | | |
