Monday, November 25, 2024 at 7:30pm
Leontine Sagan's Mädchen in Uniform
361 Stagg Street, Suite 407, Brooklyn
Introduced by K8 Hardy
Mädchen in Uniform, Leontine Sagan, 1931, 16mm, 85 mins
One of the most remarkable movies of the Weimar era, Leontine Sagan’s Mädchen in Uniform endures as both an invigorating study in anti-authoritarian refusal and a landmark of lesbian cinema. Made with an all-female cast, Sagan’s film portrays life inside a boarding school for the daughters of military officers. Manuela, a sensitive new arrival, finds camaraderie among an eclectic gang of girls, then becomes hopelessly smitten with a charismatic teacher, Fräulein von Bernburg. The crush, in turn, elicits the wrath of the headmistress, pitiless martinet Fräulein von Nordeck zur Nidden.
“With this work the pre-war German sound film reached its highest level,” the film historian Lotte Eisner observed. “Leontine Sagan, a stage-actress, directed the dialogue admirably. She brings out the unselfconscious naïvety of the boarders’ confidences whispered across the dormitory, and the flush of love trembling in the cracked voice of the adolescent.” A success with moviegoers and critics in its own day, Mädchen was subsequently suppressed by the Nazis in Germany and censored by the Hays Office in the United States, largely disappearing from screens for decades. Rediscovered by feminists in the early 70s, it went on to become a staple at women’s film festivals, and has earned a cult following among sapphic cinephiles ever since.
Tonight’s screening will be introduced by K8 Hardy, hot on the heels of her recent, wearable artwork, the Studio Dress. It’s Hardy’s version of the house-dress-as-workwear, functional and conceptual at once. She calls it “masculine and feminine, a butch dress if you will. It looks great on all the genders.”
Tickets - Pay what you can ($10 suggested donation), available at door.
Please note: seating is limited. First-come, first-served. Box office opens at 7pm. No entry 10 minutes after start of show.