Vever (for Barbara)

Forum Expanded 2019

A cross-generational binding of three filmmakers seeking alternative possibilities to the power structures they are inherently part of. Each woman extends her gaze like an offered hand to a subject she is outside of. Vever (for Barbara) grew out of the abandoned film projects of Maya Deren and Barbara Hammer. Shot at the furthest point of a motorcycle trip Hammer took to Guatemala in 1975, and laced through with Deren’s reflections on failure, encounter, and initiation in 1950s Haiti.
A vever is a symbolic drawing used in Haitian Voodoo to invoke a Loa, or god.

by Deborah Stratman USA 2019 12’ Colour & Black/White World premiere | Documentary form

Crew

Director	Deborah Stratman
Cinematography	Barbara Hammer
Editing	Deborah Stratman
Music	Katherina Bornefeld, George Hadow, Teiji Ito
Sound Design	Deborah Stratman
Texts	Maya Deren
With the Voice of	Barbara Hammer
Painter	Teiji Ito
Producer	Deborah Stratman

Produced by

Pythagoras Film

http://www.pythagorasfilm.com http://www.pythagorasfilm.com

Deborah Stratman

Deborah Stratman, born in 1967 in Washington D.C., USA, is a Chicago-based artist and filmmaker. She has exhibited internationally at major biennials, art institutions, and film festivals. Stratman is the recipient of several awards, fellowships, and grants. She teaches at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Filmography

1990 My Alchemy; 7 min. Upon a Time; 10 min. A Letter; 7 min. Possibilities, Dilemmas; 10 min. the train from la to la; 8 min. In Flight: Day No. 2,128; 2 min. Palimpsest; 3 min. Waking; 7 min. Iolanthe; 5 min. On the Various Nature From Hetty to Nancy; 44 min. the BLVD; 64 min. Untied; 3 min. In Order Not to Be Here; 33 min. Energy Country; 15 min. Kings of the Sky; 68 min. How Among the Frozen Words; 1 min. It Will Die Out in the Mind; 4 min. The Magician’s House; 6 min. Butter and Tomatoes; 4 min. The Memory; 2 min. O’er the Land; 52 min. Kuyenda N’Kubvina; 40 min. FF; 3 min. Shrimp Chicken Fish; 5 min. Ray’s Birds; 7 min. …These Blazeing Starrs!; 14 min. A Throb; 1 min. Village, silenced; 7 min. The Name is not the Thing Musical Insects; 7 min. Immortal, Suspended; 6 min. Hacked Circuit; 15 min. Second Sighted; 5 min. The Illinois Parables; Xenoi; 15 min. Siege; 7 min. Optimism; 15 min., Vever (for Barbara); Vever (for Barbara) For the Time Being; 7 min. Laika; 5 min. Last Things 1991 1992 · · 1993 · 1994 1995 · of Things; 25 min. 1997 1999 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 · 2009 2010 · · · 2011 · 2012 · named; 11 min. 2013 · 2014 · 2016 60 min., Forum Expanded 2016 · 2017 2018 Forum Expanded 2018 2019 12 min., Forum Expanded 2019 · 2021 · 2023

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2023