About the Screening
Please join us in NY at DCTV for the first fall DocuClub work-in-progress screening featuring SAUDADE: Name of the Father. Following the screening, we will be joined by Director, Theresa Ortolani and Co-Writer/Editor, Adam Boese for a moderated feedback discussion.
A filmmaker ferries us along a self-reflexive search for her biological roots, weaving a cinematic dreamscape of intimate, lyrical storytelling. After a lifetime of separation, her birth parents are reunited across oceans by the infant they surrendered. A Pandora’s Box is unearthed, paradoxically provoking the estrangement of her adoptive family, deeper uncertainty, and saudades.
In the decades surrounding Roe v. Wade, the middle-American veil of secrecy fashioned to enshroud a birth mother's shame forced women into homes for unwed mothers, coercing them into giving their unborn babies up for adoption and unlawfully sealing their identities. Saudade incises those seals, exposing lifetimes of secrecy and wounding to allow for regeneration.
Theresa Ortolani (Director) is an award-winning interdisciplinary artist whose work has been widely exhibited and published to include the New York Photo Festival, the Seoul International Photo Festival, and the International Center of Photography. Her first monograph, ENDURANCE (powerHouse Books), was named “Best Book” and "Documentary Winner” by PDN; recognized by the International Photo Awards; and featured by MoMA. Her limited edition artist book, [DE]COMPOSED, was an International Photography Awards “Best Book” Winner and select pieces were exhibited by The International Center of Photography, Baxter St CCNY, and Klompching Gallery. She has designed and developed visual literacy programs in conjunction with Ansel Adams Center for Photography, San Francisco Art Institute, TFA, NYU, and SUNY. She has been a visiting artist in the School of Visual Arts' Professional Practice series and an ASMP portfolio reviewer. Currently a Ph.D candidate in the Philosophy / Art / Critical Theory division at the European Graduate School, she was a Dean’s Scholar in the Bard-ICP MFA program and holds a BFA with honors from Boston University's College of Fine Arts. Her Ph.D dissertation, addressing liminality in self-reflexive cinema, is being authored under the supervision of Judith Butler. Saudade: Name of the Father is her first film.
Adam Boese (Co-Writer/Editor) is a New York based filmmaker and editor whose work spans many genres and mediums from art house documentaries to network TV. He is a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, with credits including Laurie Anderson’s Heart of a Dog, The Benyamini Brothers’ Right of Way, and, most recently, The CW’s Two Sentence Horror Stories.
DocuClub NY is a regular collaboration between IDA and DCTV. This work-in-progress screening series offers the public and members of the film community advance access to new documentaries in progress, and the opportunity to participate in behind-the-scenes conversations with filmmakers and creators.
Space is limited. All RSVP's are first-come, first-served. Admission not guaranteed.
Doors 6:30pm
Event 7:00pm
No admittance after 7:15pm