The Films of Fronza Woods CTBA

Two essential short films from Fronza Woods + a brand new filmed interview with Fronza Woods by director Nadia Latif.

Fronza Woods’ film heroines are funny, clever, wise and instantly memorable. Part of the mediamaking activist movement that first gave centrality to the voices and experiences of African American women during the late 1970s and early 1980s (others include Kathleen Collins, Julie Dash, Ayoka Chenzira), Woods made two brilliant short films, Killing Time and Fannie’s Film.

Killing Time (1979, US, 10mins) is an offbeat, wryly comical look at the dilemma faced by a young woman (played by Woods herself, under the snappy name Sage Brush) who wants to kill herself but her quest is thwarted when her tight white jeans split and she decides to call it a day.

Fannie’s Film (1982, US, 15mins) portraits the day-to-day life of Fannie, a 65-year-old cleaning woman who works in a professional dancer’s exercise studio. Whilst performing her job, Fannie tells us in voiceover about her life, hopes, goals and feelings.

Woods’ blend of portraiture and interviews draws us into the inner lives, dreams, and desires of two New York women, one working class and one middle class. As a result, her aesthetically dazzling films, continue to challenge mainstream media’s ongoing stereotyping of women of colour daringly and beautifully.

The films will be together with a special filmed interview with Woods conducted in her home in the southwest of France in September 2021. Screening for International Women's Day 2023.

All tickets £5.