WANDA IS A FILM DIRECTED BY BARBARA LODEN IN 1971.

 

LODEN PLAYS WANDA. SHE LEAVES HER HUSBAND AND CHILDREN FOR A NOMADIC LIFE ON THE MARGINS. EVER MOVING, SHE BECOMES AN OUTLINE IN INDUSTRIAL LANDSCAPES AND ROVING MOTORWAYS. SHE IS DRIFTING ON THE FRONTIER ZONE. 

 

THE CAMERA PANS ACROSS A WASTELAND OF DUST AND MORTAR. WE SEE A SPECK OF WHITE DOTTING AROUND IN THE BACKGROUND. AS THE SPECK OF WHITE MOVES IN CLOSER TO THE FOREGROUND, THE LENS RE-FOCUSES ITSELF; THE SPECK TRANSFORMS INTO A WOMAN.

 

IT IS WANDA.

 

SHE SKIRTS ONTO THE EDGE OF THE LANDSCAPE, ONTO THE TREMORING BORDERS. WALKING PAST THE ROVING CAMERA, OUT OF FRAME, SHE EXITS – FALLING INTO THE BLIND SPOT OF PURE SPECULATION.

 

THE FILM IS A CELEBRATION OF CINEMATIC LIMBO. ITS AESTHETICS CONJURE UP A POLITICS OF LIMBO; A SPHERE OF ROVING, RESTLESS, OPEN WANDERING. A CINEMATIC ZONE OF PROTEST AGAINST FIXITY AND CATEGORICAL JUDGEMENT.

 

FOR TO BE WANDA TAKES COURAGE. 

 

WANDA IS A PERFORMANCE OF A HEIGHTENED NATURE. IN AN EXTREME CLOSE-UP OF WANDA'S FACE, WE ARE EXPOSED TO INVISIBLE FREQUENCIES, GESTURES, AND UNTOLD ENERGIES.

 

WANDA IS A CINEMA OF SHAPE-SHIFTING WONDER. IT IS NEITHER WOMAN, NOR FILM; IT IS BOTH, A MUTATIONAL BEING.

 

WANDA IS A CINEMA OF NON-CLOSURE AND POTENTIALITIES. IT INVOKES PSYCHIC AND AESTHETIC IMPERCEPTIBILITIES. THROUGH WANDA WE MOVE IN BETWEEN . SIDEWAYS IS OUR DIRECTION - ACROSS LATERAL THOUGHT PROCESSES, TEMPORALITIES, AND MEDIUMS. THE HEIGHTENING OF THE INVISIBLE PLANE, THAT SEEPS THROUGH THE CRACKS OF THE CINEMATIC FRAME.