Wanda

A rediscovered masterwork of 1970s independent cinema, Barbara Loden’s Wanda is a remarkable portrait of a female drifter on the fringes of society. Writer-director Loden stars as the film’s titular anti-heroine, a troubled woman who, after being divorced by her husband, hits the road with a petty thief (Michael Higgins). The duo’s desperation is mirrored by the bleak industrial landscape of mid-century America with its sea of shopping malls, run-down taverns and greasy diners. Shot in 16mm with a three-person crew and a cast of mostly non-professionals, the film has an unmistakable verité style. Loden called her film “an anti-Bonnie and Clyde movie” and spoke of her disdain for “slick Hollywood” fare, though she was married to director Elia Kazan. The film won the International Critics Prize at Venice but was subsequently released in only one New York theater and nearly disappeared into obscurity. Wanda was the first and only feature film by Loden who would die tragically from cancer a decade after the film’s release, just as her work was being rediscovered. When Wanda screened in San Francisco in 1970, SFIFF director Albert Johnson wrote, “Wanda rings with truth in every sequence, and Barbara Loden’s achievement is one of the most exciting directorial debuts of this or any other year.” —Mimi Brody

35mm restored print courtesy of the UCLA Film & Television Archive. Restoration funding provided by Gucci and the Film Foundation.