Jill Godmilow

Jill Godmilow has earned a substantial reputation as a film director whose work varies in form from documentary to speculative historical fictions to recreation. In 1974, Godmilow co-directed with folk singer Judy Collins, Antonia: A Portrait of the Woman, which was the first independently produced American documentary to enjoy extensive theatrical exhibition in the US, broadcast in 11 countries, an Academy Award nomination and the NY Film Critics "Best Documentary" award. Her 1984 Far From Poland, on the Polish Solidarity movement, broke new ground in the documentary genre with its deconstructive approach and fact/fiction juxtapositions. Her feminist "fiction", Waiting for the Moon, about Gertrude Stein, won 1st prize at Sundance and enjoyed extensive theatrical distribution. What Farocki Taught, 1998, contains a perfect replica of Harun Farocki's astute 1969 black and white German film, Inextinguishable Fire, about the production of Napalm B by Dow Chemical. In 2001 she released a three disc DVD, Lear’87 Archive (Condensed) on the work of the renown theatrical collective, Mabou Mines, in rehearsals on a gender-reversed production of "King Lear". She is currently working on a film about the appearance and use of animals in the cinema. Godmilow teaches filmmaking and critical courses at the University of Notre Dame. (09/09)

Far From Poland
A film by Jill Godmilow, 1984, 109 min., Color
When denied visas to shoot in Poland, a filmmaker, steeped in the documentary traditions of the left, decides to construct her film in New York City. ...