Four Women (1975 film)

1975 American film

Four Women

Directed by| Julie Dash
Produced by| Winfred Tennison
Starring| Linda Martina Young
Cinematography| Robert Maxwell
Music by| Nina Simone

Release date

* 1975 (1975)

Running time

| 8 minutes
Country| United States

Four Women is a 1975 short experimental film produced and directed by Julie Dash featuring music by Nina Simone.[1]

## Summary[edit]

Dancer Linda Martina Young captures the spirit of four women: Aunt Sarah, Saffronia, Sweet Thing and Peaches to the Nina Simone ballad Four Women.[2][3] The women represent stereotypes of black women as they attempt to survive in America.[4]

## Production[edit]

Linda Martina Young choreographed the dance performance, which Dash refers to as a "choreopoem".[5]

The film is celebrated as one of the first experimental films by a black woman filmmaker. The film, unlike others that portrayed the positive aspects of black womanhood, explored the negative realities many black women face in America.[6]

## Restoration[edit]

In addition to the original 16mm rolls, a new print was created from the color negative A/B rolls and original track negative.[7]

### Screenings[edit]

* Cinema Remixed and Reloaded Exhibit, Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, 2007
* One Way or Another: Black Women's Cinema, BAMcinematek, 2016
* L.A. Rebellion: Creating a New Black Cinema Exhibit[8]
* We Wanted a Revolution: :Black Radical Women, 1965-1985, Brooklyn Museum, 2017.[9]

## References[edit]

1. ^ Foster, Gwendolyn Audrey (1995). Women Film Directors: An International Bio-critical Dictionary. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 99. ISBN 9780313289729. "four women."
2. ^ "Four Women | UCLA Film & Television Archive". www.cinema.ucla.edu.
3. ^ "May 2, 2017 – Saltwater Stories".
4. ^ "::cinenova catalogue:: detail for Four Women". www.cinenova.org.
5. ^ "Julie Dash | The HistoryMakers". www.thehistorymakers.org.
6. ^ Dozier, Ayanna (4 July 2017). "No happy returns: aesthetics, labor, and affect in Julie Dash's experimental short film, Four Women (1975)". Feminist Media Studies. 17 (4): 616–629. doi:10.1080/14680777.2017.1326561. S2CID 148678504.
7. ^ "Four Women | UCLA Film & Television Archive". www.cinema.ucla.edu.
8. ^ "Four Women". www.twn.org.
9. ^ "Brooklyn Museum: Julie Dash Film Marathon April 2017". www.brooklynmuseum.org.

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