Wanda
May 06, 2012
(Barbara Loden, United States, 1970, 35mm, 102 min)
New 35mm print!
Preservation Funded by The Film Foundation and GUCCI
“Once a woman gains her freedom,” demanded a New York journalist in her review of Wanda, “what can she do with it? The answer…nothing.” Director Barbara Loden, an actress long overshadowed by husband Elia Kazan, dared audiences to confront that question in her depiction of a washed-out single mother in rural Pennsylvania, who takes to the road with an abusive bank robber. On his wife’s first and final stab at directing, Kazan remarked: “I didn’t really believe she had the equipment to be an independent filmmaker.” But Wanda’s resistance to the saccharine glamour of typical road movies earned it the International Critics’ Award at the 1970 Venice Film Festival, and a spot in the highest rank of independent American cinema.