SHOW GIRL, An interview with Ariella Ben-Dov

Bitch Magazine

By Lisa Miya-Jervis
Photos by Rebecca McBride

Ariella Ben-Dov founded the MadCat Women's International Film Festival in San Francisco in 1997. Committed to showing experimental and independent work directed by women, Ben-Dov is putting the finishing touches on her third set of programs: an international lineup including Lizzie Bordenís now-classic feature Born in Flames and shorts such as The Tongue ("the animated adventures of a charismatic but avaricious tongue"), Women Are Not Little Men ("reveals the truth about those scalp-ripping industrial accidents"), and Corporate Sponsorship Parade ("a look at the sometimes horrific contents of one womanís medicine cabinet"). And heyóas if seeing innovative works by women werenít enough, there will be free barbecue. Bitch lured Ben-Dov to our offices to talk about the genesis of the festival, just what "experimental" means, anyway, and what sheís got planned for our moviegoing future. Mm-mm, good.

Bitch: How did you get started with MadCat?

Ariella Ben-Dov: Well, the idea came about when I went to a bunch of festivals óI went to a lot of experimental and shorts programs, and was very disappointed in what I saw. A lot of the experimental programs were full of the lower-budget pieces where the directors didnít know a lot about lighting and sound. And I came away from those programs really sad about audiences seeing experimental programs and thinking, "Oh, those are the low-budget ones," knowing that experimental films and videos are about making very specific choices about how to put sound and image together.

Also, I was looking in guides and I saw that the majority of people being curated were men, especially in the international film festivals. I was really disappointed to see that. I wanted to create a venue so that womenís work can be shown. I was looking though the American Independent Video and Film Guide to worldwide festivals, and there were seven venues for women. Itís a book! Itís a whole book! I was floored that there were so few venues. I knew that there had been a womenís film festival hereóprobably over seven years ago nowóand it folded. I wanted there to be a venue for women to be curated somewhere in the Bay Area.

So I decided to embark on MadCat. It sort of became bigger than I thought it would. I didnít know what I was getting into, I didnít have any experience with producing at that point, I didnít have any experience in press or anything like that. But the first year was an amazing success. It was obvious that there was a need for this kind of venue in the Bay Area, and that audiences and filmmakers were excited.

I think itís really important to promote and support womenís work, and I feel like when thereís an open call for entries, for men and women, too often I see more men than women curated, and I know thatís not because women are not making interesting work. A lot of the time itís randomóitís screening committees, itís whoís in the room. But you have to encourage peopleñthe reason why MadCat doesnít make people pay entry fees is because a lot of these women, they just spent their last dime on their film. You know? How the hell can they pay me another 10 bucks just to look at it? Iíve never turned away anyone [who couldnít pay the fee].


How did you find films to show?

I put listings in film trade magazines around the country and it was amazing how many people applied to a festival that nobody knew. Thereíd been no write-up on it, no nothingóit was just a womenís film festival, and women were hungry for it. Every single filmmaker I knew, I sent an entry form to. Filmmakers whose work I was interested in, I asked them. I definitely solicited specific workñprofessors I had in college, I curated some of their work. As the years go on, e-mail is the best way to go. I definitely do all of my papers, as well, I do my listings, but e-mailóIím getting films from Slovenia and Japan and Argentina and Cuba. I could never do that without e-mail.


Did you study film in school?

Mm-hmm. I went to Hampshire College. I started out in theater, performing, and I went on to video and film. Hampshire is very theory-based, so itís a lot of reading about what youíre seeing. So Iím very used to talking about film, but I donít think my audiences have to be. What Iíve tried to do in the past is curate experimental films within a series of shorts that might be a little more accessible.


Have you always been interested in curating and producing festivals, or making our own films, or both?

In college, I both made my own films and videos and was part of the womenís art collective, so I helped curate, but I definitely was going toward the making side. And I still am trying to do that. It almost seems more doable to curate, because youíre creating an event that people will hopefully be interested in coming to and supporting. And with making your own films, itís like, try your luck with some short.


Do you find you donít have as much time as youíd want to devote to your own films?

Curating MadCat is totally inspiring, to see all this workóitís very inspiring to see all these films and to see all these women who are making work from very straightforward narratives to really experimental documentaries or visual collages. So it helps me to start thinking about my own work even more. And then curating programs is really interesting, ícause youíre creating this whole evening for people, that hopefully theyíll get and get interested in, and come back for more. Curatingñthe more I do it, the more I want to do it. The fundraising and the worry of getting people into seats, more than anything, thatís what gives me a heart attack. There used to be a co-director the first year. So itís definitely a surprise to be embarking on this alone. Last year I said I was never doing this again...


And here you are.

And here I am. And I think part of itís because Iíve gotten all this response from makers, who said "Your festival is so important. We need it. We need it more than just in San Francisco, we need it everywhere." MadCat seems to be very different from other festivals Iíve been to.


Has it been difficult for you to reconcile your more theoretical perspective with the demands of reaching as big an audience as you can?

It definitely is a challenge, but [itís] something I went into [MadCat] wanting to do. I went into creating MadCat so that not only people who are hungry for seeing more challenging work would come, but people who wouldnít necessarily see this kind of film, whoíd be interested maybe just ícause itís womenís film, or maybe because itís from Japan, whatever it may beñmaybe because itís a new name. But itís really important to me that I donít cater to just one kind of audience, an academic audience. I want to make MadCat as accessible as possible, but I also want to make my audience work. So I get these people who might not necessarily speak, you know, film-talk, in there, and theyíre there to see some interesting narrative about a girl coming of age, and then they see some experimental piece about maybe a girl sort of coming of age [laughs].


Do you find that you get lots of pieces on similar themes?

We make it very clear in our promotional materials and entry forms that

MadCat wants innovative films and video by women. Often filmmakers produce work about their life experiences, so of course we get pieces whose main thrust is gender identity. I do think when some people see "womenís film festival," they immediately think [itíll be stereotypical]. This is so not true when it comes to MadCat. The only parameter is that the director be a woman. The subject matter runs the gamut.


It seems like you have a really specific idea of what "experimental" means.

Itís actually sort of a broad definition, because for me, experimental films and videos are works that challenge uses of sound and imageóworks that challenge notions of visual storytelling. So if itís a narrative, it could be nonlinear. You donít have to see the person talking when you hear the person. It might be told through images instead of told through words. The documentariesñit would be not talking heads but might use text, might use layered images. Or if itís just a visual poem it just might be a collage of sound and image.


Is that a criteria for inclusion in MadCat? Do you look specifically toward having the festival weighted to experimental work?

MadCat includes both independent and experimental. So it doesnít have to over-the-edge experimental, where it is just a visual poem that might not be as accessibleñbut it can be. And it can be a narrative, or a documentary, but the way that you tell that story has to be new.


Have you found audiences to be receptive to that, or is it a struggle?

I think once I get them there, most audience members at the very least are totally intrigued. Even if they donít get it, theyíre like, "I might not have gotten it, but it was damn interesting." The best compliment I got was from a friend, who when I was curating the first year of MadCat went with me to Cinematech, at the San Francisco Art Institute, to see a series of Bay Area experimental makers. It was this whole program of pieces that had no relationship to each other but were very experimental. Very inaccessible if you didnít have the language for film. I saw a piece in there that I really wanted to show. My friend was like, "Ok, whatever." She totally didnít get it. And then when I put it into MadCat, I put it in a context with films that were dealing with some of the same issues. And she was like, "Oh my god, I got it. I had no idea what that film was about in that other context, but when you put it in this whole program of pieces about identity and family history, I got it." Thatís what Iím trying to do with the programs, you knowñmake cohesive programs that include these pieces that might not stand alone for people who donít read film, but that do make sense when theyíre put in context. And then they become more accessible. Thatís one of the most important things for meóto include these films that wonít just be thrown away, so the audience members wonít be like, "Oh, I went and peed during that." Instead theyíll be like, "Ok, that sort of makes me feel a little uncomfortable, because itís not giving me all the information I usually get, but itís totally intriguing."


You definitely have a lot more shorts that features. Is that because you want to include as many different voices as possible, or are those the submissions youíre getting?

I think itís a mixture of things. Most of the features that I get are very linear narratives, very Hollywood, slickñstories that have been told before in the same way, and thatís not what MadCatís about. They might be telling the same stories but theyíre telling them in such a different way that itís more intriguing. From my open call for entries I donít think Iíve ever found a feature. What Iíve tried to do every year is show an older film that contextualizes the shorts that weíre programming. Last year we showed a film from 1966, a Czechoslovakian film by Vera Chytilova called Daisies, and itís this very experimental narrative about these two young bikini-clad girls who basically wreak havoc on these different menís lives and literally consume everything in sight and blow up everything in sight. The filmmakers that were in MadCat last year hadnít necessarily seen that filmóbut I want to show my audiences that women have been experimenting with film for a long time.


How do you choose the themes for each group of films that you show?

My programs are created out of what I get. I donít do a call for entries about blah blah blah. I do a general call for entries and then from what I get, I create themes to my programs. I try to make sure thereís a balance of genres in each showñthe more accessible narrative, the experimental, the visual poems that might be a little more difficult if they were shown on their own. I want to invite viewers to watch films they may not normally seek out. I want them to struggle and figure out the filmís "angle" and unpack the themes weíre trying to highlight. Itís not a test, I just want my viewers to be active. The audiences at MadCat canít expect to be handed information with a step-by-step guide. I want them at the edge of their seats, not resting comfortably awaiting the next clichÈ to roll over them.


Any plans to take MadCat on the road?

One thing thatís been happening is people are asking me to curate MadCat programs at other festivals or other venues. I just curated something for the Portobello Film Festival in London and Iím hoping to do the college route around the country. I totally want to take MadCat on the road. This year Iíve done a lot of outreach, finding out about what venues there are around the country, whoís already doing nightly film things, whether itís in a bar or an art-house theater. I found a lot. Iím not going to go straight from MadCat in September and just start traveling, ícause I need more help to get that together. But I am definitely going to take it on the road.