'IN JOY', 1980, video still. Courtesy of Stephanie Beth.
Photo Credit
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gusfishergallery.auckland.ac.nzCelebrate the final day of Having it all, all, all with a film screening of Stephanie Beth’s IN JOY (1980), presented in association with CIRCUIT Artist Moving Image. Following the screening, join filmmaker Stephanie Beth in conversation with CIRCUIT Director Mark Williams and Gus Fisher Gallery Public Programme & Engagement Officer Tara Parsons.
IN JOY follows facilitator Maggie Eyre as she leads a group of ten women in a five-day theatre workshop. As the film progresses, we see the workshop participants embrace the opportunity to explore the parameters of their own selves through “movement, fantasy, play and performance”. In the films’ opening Eyre states her aspiration for female empowerment - “I want women to become more autonomous… to take more control of their lives… to know that collective creativity is possible”. Throughout the film Eyre is a vibrant presence, encouraging the women to centre their own sense of self as they undertake a series of movement and voice exercises. In turn, this sometimes leads to emotional experiences for the workshop participants who are supported by their fellow group members.
Film duration: 28 minutes
In the mid-1970s Stephanie Beth was amongst the first generation of fine arts students at Christchurch’s Ilam School of Art to study film. Her first two films I want to be Joan (1977) and IN JOY (1980) are described as companion pieces, each seeking to portray the reality and potential of women’s lives through a documentary lens. I Want to be Joan consisted of a series of interviews with women who attended a women’s conference in 1977. After making this film Beth says she saw “a chance to explore the non-verbal side of body and performance creativity as an antidote to suppression or lack of assuredness”. In 1980 she contracted Maggie Eyre and they co-scheduled a five day workshop in Auckland which was filmed under Beth’s direction and became the basis of IN JOY. Where many other productions of the 1980s were shot on video, Beth committed to using 16mm film stock for IN JOY.
On completion IN JOY screened at venues in New Zealand and film festivals and Germany and Hong Kong. This is the first New Zealand screening of IN JOY since its release in 1980.
Price
- Free
Date
- Sat 10 May
Time
- 2:00 pm — 3:00 pm
Gus Fisher Gallery
- Level 4, The Kenneth Myers Centre
- 74 Shortland Street
- Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, 1010
Celebrate the final day of Having it all, all, all with a film screening of Stephanie Beth’s IN JOY (1980), presented in association with CIRCUIT Artist Moving Image. Following the screening, join filmmaker Stephanie Beth in conversation with CIRCUIT Director Mark Williams and Gus Fisher Gallery Public Programme & Engagement Officer Tara Parsons.
IN JOY follows facilitator Maggie Eyre as she leads a group of ten women in a five-day theatre workshop. As the film progresses, we see the workshop participants embrace the opportunity to explore the parameters of their own selves through “movement, fantasy, play and performance”. In the films’ opening Eyre states her aspiration for female empowerment - “I want women to become more autonomous… to take more control of their lives… to know that collective creativity is possible”. Throughout the film Eyre is a vibrant presence, encouraging the women to centre their own sense of self as they undertake a series of movement and voice exercises. In turn, this sometimes leads to emotional experiences for the workshop participants who are supported by their fellow group members.
Film duration: 28 minutes
In the mid-1970s Stephanie Beth was amongst the first generation of fine arts students at Christchurch’s Ilam School of Art to study film. Her first two films I want to be Joan (1977) and IN JOY (1980) are described as companion pieces, each seeking to portray the reality and potential of women’s lives through a documentary lens. I Want to be Joan consisted of a series of interviews with women who attended a women’s conference in 1977. After making this film Beth says she saw “a chance to explore the non-verbal side of body and performance creativity as an antidote to suppression or lack of assuredness”. In 1980 she contracted Maggie Eyre and they co-scheduled a five day workshop in Auckland which was filmed under Beth’s direction and became the basis of IN JOY. Where many other productions of the 1980s were shot on video, Beth committed to using 16mm film stock for IN JOY.
On completion IN JOY screened at venues in New Zealand and film festivals and Germany and Hong Kong. This is the first New Zealand screening of IN JOY since its release in 1980.
