Lizzie Borden
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“Everything About Women Interests Me”: Lizzie Borden on the New York Feminisms Trilogy
In 2022, Lizzie Borden’s virtually unseen first feature Regrouping was restored and given its first-ever theatrical run. That film joins the now-canonical Born in Flames (1983) and Working Girls (1986) in what some have termed her “New York Feminisms” trilogy, all three of which are now screening together on the Criterion Channel for the very first time. Together, the three films set a blueprint for a contemporary model of feminist filmmaking deeply situated in her place and time that prioritized discussion and conflict as ways of building something new. A long-time fan and recent friend of Borden, I sat down […]
by Jessica Dunn Rovinelli on May 7, 2024 -
“I Could Only Shoot When I Had Increments of $200 to Spend”: Lizzie Borden on Working Girls, Harvey Weinstein and Changing Perceptions of Sex Work
Highly respected but rarely screened, Working Girls, Lizzie Borden’s 1986 feature about a group of women working an extended shift in a Manhattan brothel, finally makes its way to home video this week thanks to the Criterion Collection. Presented in a new 4K digital restoration, the film is long overdue for reappraisal, and not merely due to the struggles currently faced by sex workers throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Borden’s previous feature, Born in Flames, was defiantly scrappy and overtly political. Working Girls represents an upgrade in production value while retaining Borden’s unwavering interest in feminist politics, race relations, workers’ rights […]
by Erik Luers on Jul 14, 2021 -
DP Noah Greenberg on Chloë Sevigny and Kristen Stewart-Starring Lizzie Borden Drama Lizzie
The 1892 murder of Lizzie Borden’s father and stepmother has inspired numerous books, TV movies and even stage musicals but few feature films. That changes with the arrival of Lizzie from director Craig William Macneill. His film pairs two of the leading actresses of American independent cinema: Chloë Sevigny as Borden and Kristen Stewart as Bridget, her live-in maid and kindred spirit. Lizzie debuts in competition at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. Prior to its premiere, Filmmaker spoke with cinematographer Noah Greenberg (Most Beautiful Island) about the film’s naturalistic (and claustrophobic) visual palette. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 19, 2018 -
Memories of the Revolution
Lizzie Borden is back. The pioneering writer-director of punk sci-fi feminist classic Born In Flames (1983) and its Sundance-prized follow-up Working Girls (1986) has been enjoying a long-overdue return to the spotlight this year, with revivals of her pioneering provocations on both sides of the Atlantic. “The free, ardent, spontaneous creativity of Born In Flames,” proclaimed Richard Brody in the New Yorker, “emerges as an indispensable mode of radical change — one that many contemporary filmmakers with political intentions have yet to assimilate.” Born Linda Elizabeth Borden in Detroit, Borden opted at the age of 11 to honor Massachusetts’ most […]
by Neil Young on Oct 20, 2016
