QC Presents
Fertile Memory (1980) and Something Different (1963)
Géza, 306 Maujer
Organized by Jenna Bliss in conjunction with her Amant exhibition Basic Cable, QC Presents is a double feature film screening bringing together Fertile Memory (1980) by Michel Khleifi and Something Different (1963) by Věra Chytilová. The title of the screening derives from the film group QC, which Bliss is a part of, that began in 2020. The films selected by the group span across two decades and vastly different geographies to underscore the sociopolitical commonalities shaping the lives of women.
Michel Khleifi’s Fertile Memory is the first full-length feature filmed in the Palestinian West Bank, blending documentary and narrative elements to craft an intimate portrait of two Palestinian women. The film reveals how their daily lives echo the larger political upheavals around them, offering a lens into both the personal and collective impacts of conflict.
Věra Chytilová’s Something Different juxtaposes the parallel lives of a mother frustrated by domesticity and an aging gymnast facing retirement in 1960s Czechoslovakia. Through a mix of scripted and documentary-style scenes, Chytilová crafts a nuanced reflection on the lives of mid-century women navigating rigid societal expectations.
Amant events are always free; RSVPs are required. Check-in for QC Presents will start at 6:30pm on Thursday, December 12 at 306 Maujer.
QC was started in 2020, during the pandemic, amongst film-minded friends and colleagues, many only meeting for the first time in the context of the group. Each week they voted for one film from a selection presented by a member, watched the film with the most votes on their own, and then met virtually to discuss. Over the course of about a year they amassed a database of films, many made by women, sometimes informed by previous selections, but with no theme or prompt to work from. This event features a film from their database that they did not watch as a group paired with a favorite from their original program.
Participants include: Jenna Bliss, Patricia Boyd, Dora Budor, Christina Chalmers, Mary Helena Clark, Maja Čule, Michèle Graf, Adelita Husni-Bey, Sara Magenheimer, Aily Nash, Nicole Otero, Carissa Rodriguez, Jordan Strafer, Martine Syms
Program References
- Something Different, Vera Chytilova, 1963
- The Blue Tapes, Kathy Acker & Alan Sondheim, 1974
- Forest for the Trees, Maren Ade, 2003
- Portrait of a Young Girl at the End of the 60’s in Brussels, Chantal Akerman, 1994
- My Father Is Coming, Monika Treut, 1991
- Watermelon Woman, Cheryl Dunye, 1996
- Ecologies: A Feminist Articulation of Eco-intersectionality, Angela Anderson, 2019
- My Sister’s Good Fortune, Angela Schanelec, 1995
- The All-Around Reduced Personality, Helke Sander, 1978
- Working Girls, Lizzie Borden, 1986
- Tale of Cinema, Hong Sang-soo, 2005
- The Trial, Orson Welles, 1962
- Hyenas, Djibril Diop Mambety, 1992
- Chevalier, Athina Tsangari, 2015 + her early short
- I Often Think of Hawai, Elfie Mikesh, 1978
- Entropiya, Maria Saakyan, 2012
- Simone Barbes or Virtue, Marie-Claude Treilhou, 1980
- Top Girl or La Deformation Professionelle, Tatjana Turanskij, 2014
- Strange Culture, Lynn Hershman Leeson, 2007
- The Loveless, Kathryn Bigelow & Monty Montgomery, 1981
- Pinochet Porn, Ellen Cantor, 2008–16
- Extreme Private Eros: Love Song 1974, Kazuo Hara, 1974
- Who Killed Vincent Chin?, Christine Choy and Renee Tajima-Peña, 1987
- No Date, No Signature, Vahid Jalilvand, 2017
- West Indies, Med Hondo, 1979
- So Pretty, Jessica Dunn Rovinelli, 2019
- Nathalie Granger, Marguerite Duras, 1972
- Separation, Jack Bond, 1967
- The Connection, Shirley Clarke, 1961
- 3 Carole Roussopoulos shorts:
- Genet parle d'Angela Davis
- S.C.U.M. Manifesto, Carole Roussopoulos & Delphine Seyrig, 1976
- Maso et Miso Vont En Bateau, Les Insoumuses collective
- Os Mutantes, Teresa Villaverde, 1998
- Party, Govind Nihalani, 1984
- White Material, Claire Denis, 2009
- La Captive, Chantal Akerman, 2000
- Francesco Rosi, Salvatore Giuliano, 1962
- Beginning, Dea Kulumbegashvili, 2020
- Sweetie, Jane Campion, 1989
- The Cloud In Her Room, Zheng Lu, 2020
- Shared Resources, Jordan Lord, 2020/WIP
- Series of shorts, Cecilia Mangini, 1950–1974
- Arabian Nights Vol. 1, Miguel Gomez, 2015
- Ganja & Hess, Bill Gunn, 1973