7 Short Films -Bette Gordon
optical printing strategies, with a focus in landscape and the urban
environment, of the avant-garde structuralist film movement of which
Gordon was a major part. An M.F.A graduate of the University of
Wisconsin, Madison, Bette Gordon was first noticed alongside her former
husband, James Benning, in the mid-1970s.
Unusually, Gordon has worked successfully in both avant-garde and
narrative. Her use of color and of black or white tonalities is
especially note worthy in both forms. Called “an independent filmmaker
with a penchant for unorthodox subjects” by critic David Sterrit,
Gordon’s films have been celebrated for their willingness to tackle
topics like pornography, masculine identity and motherhood from a
decidedly feminist point of view. Still an active filmmaker of features
and experimental shorts, Gordon is a professor at the Columbia
University School of the Arts in New York City.