Wanda (film)

Wanda
American theatrical poster
Directed byBarbara Loden
Written byBarbara Loden (uncredited)[1]
Produced by
  • Harry Shuster
  • Barbara Loden
Starring
CinematographyNicholas Proferes (uncredited)[1]
Edited byNicholas Proferes (uncredited)[1]
Music byDave Mullaney (uncredited)[1]
Production
company
Foundation for Filmmakers[1]
Distributed byBardene International Films[1]
Release dates
  • September 1, 1970 (1970-09-01) (Venice)
  • February 28, 1971 (1971-02-28) (United States)[2]
Running time
103 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budgetc. $115,000[1]

Wanda is a 1970 American independent drama film written and directed by Barbara Loden, who also stars in the title role.[3] Set in the anthracite coal region of eastern Pennsylvania, the film focuses on an apathetic woman with limited options who inadvertently goes on the run with a bank robber.

Inspired by her own past feelings of aimlessness, as well as a newspaper article detailing a woman's participation in a bank robbery, Loden wrote the screenplay for Wanda before securing financing through Harry Shuster, a Los Angeles–based producer. The film was shot on location with a small crew of around seven people, primarily in eastern Pennsylvania and Connecticut, and much of the dialog and filming was improvised, with Loden only loosely referring to the screenplay.

Wanda was chosen for the 31st Venice International Film Festival, where it won the Pasinetti Award for Best Foreign Film.[4] A restored version of the film was screened out of competition at the 67th Venice International Film Festival in 2010.[5] In 2017, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[6]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g "Wanda". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. American Film Institute. Retrieved December 27, 2018.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference crittenden was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ The 52 most important American independent movies|AV Club
  4. ^ Brey, Iris (2020). Le regard féminin. Une révolution à l'écran. Paris: Éditions de l'Olivier. p. 171.
  5. ^ Eggebeen, Greg; Lippman, Ross (January 24, 2014). "Hey New York, Come See a Hidden Gem of 1970s Cinema Tuesday Night". Vice. Retrieved October 16, 2017. With reprints from an essay from the UCLA Film and Television Archive by Ross Lippman, and Zembreno, Kate (2013). "One Can Be Dumb and Unhappy at Exactly the Same Time: An Essay on Failure, the Depressed Muse, and Barbara Loden's Wanda". Frequencies. 2: 99–116.
  6. ^ Cannady, Sheryl; Leggett, Steve (December 13, 2017). "2017 National Film Registry Is More Than a 'Field of Dreams'". Library of Congress. Retrieved December 13, 2017.