One of the great enigmas of American independent cinema, Barbara Lodens Wanda is at first glance a subdued and forgotten portrait of a working class Pennsylvania woman drifting through life. Written and directed by Loden, who also starred in this, her sole directorial effort, Wanda reveals a woman in distress, damaged and completely vulnerable, moving through the world with little to no direction.

Preceding Agns Vardas Vagabond by 15 years, another film that shares an allegiance to the restless migration of the feminine psyche, Wanda refuses to pander to political correctness in its bare, brutal honesty. A raw representation that neither fit Hollywood standards nor First Wave American Feminism, Wanda was largely ignored after winning the International Critics Award at the 1970 Venice Film Festival.

Reclaimed as one of the most original and radical films with champions from Isabelle Huppert to Jonathan Rosenbaum, Wanda reflects a world where the main character exists tangentially, never leading the narrative, but instead led by a series of contingent encounters. Assuming a series of prescribed identities, from wife, mother, mistress, and eventually a partner in crime, the films radical reputation lies in its revolutionary negation of identity, where Wanda usurps all societal expectations of what a woman could be in this world.

35mm restored print courtesy of the UCLA Film & Television Archive. Restoration funding provided by The Film Foundation and GUCCI.

Co-presented by Ryerson School of Image Arts