IU Cinema to welcome filmmaker Stephanie Rothman
March 28, 2023
In April, IU Cinema will host Stephanie Rothman, one of the few women to be a director during the New Hollywood filmmaking wave of the late 1960s and 1970s.
Rothman directed seven feature films, was a screenwriter and on-set production staff, and was later one of the only women to hold an executive position at a major independent film studio. However, for years her work was little-known until it was recently rediscovered and appraised for its groundbreaking contributions to cinema and the film industry.
Since then, two Rothman films have been restored — one by the Academy Film Archives and one by noted distributor Vinegar Syndrome — and the Museum of Modern Art is working on future restorations of Rothman’s other films. She has been screened at MoMA, the esteemed theaters Metrograph and Film Forum, and the TCM Classic Film Festival, and has been featured on the Criterion Channel streaming service.
“Stephanie Rothman did something that, unfortunately, previous few other women were able to do in Hollywood in the 1970s: carve out a successful career despite every obstacle placed in her way,” said Alicia Kozma, director of IU Cinema and author of “The Cinema of Stephanie Rothman: Radical Acts in Filmmaking.” “It’s a profound achievement, and one that demonstrates how far women in film have come and still have to go in an industrial system designed to exclude them.”
To honor Rothman’s transgressive career, IU Cinema will present the series Radical Acts: The Cinema of Stephanie Rothman, Additionally, Rothman will be present for a Jorgensen Guest Filmmaker conversation with Kozma. The filmmaker will also be in attendance for the post-film Q&A for “The Student Nurses,” in addition to meeting with students while on campus.
Rothman’s Jorgensen visit is composed of the following events:
- “Terminal Island” film screening, 7 p.m. March 30.
- In Conversation: Stephanie Rothman, 7 p.m. April 6.
- “The Velvet Vampire” film screening, 7 p.m. April 7.
- “The Student Nurses” film screening and Q&A with the director, 7 p.m. April 7.
For more information about these programs, visit the IU Cinema website.