Tracing the influence of the Women’s Movement’s Second Wave on art and life, THE HERETICS is the exhilarating inside story of the New York feminist art collective that produced “Heresies: A Feminist Publication on Art and Politics” (1977-92). In this feature-length documentary, cutting-edge video artist/writer/director Joan Braderman, who joined the group in 1975 as an aspiring filmmaker, charts the collective’s challenges to terms of gender and power and its history as a microcosm of the period’s broader transformations.
On the road with her camera crew from New Mexico to Italy, Braderman reconnects with 28 other group members, including writer/critic Lucy Lippard, architect Susanna Torre, filmmaker Su Friedrich, and artists Ida Applebroog, Mary Miss, Miriam Schapiro, and Cecilia Vicuña. Still funny, smart and sexy, the geographically dispersed participants revisit how and why they came together and the extraordinary times they shared—supporting and exploring women’s art and demanding the right to be heard.
Enlivened by striking digital motion graphics, THE HERETICS intercuts interviews with archival film clips, video and stills from the period, texts and images from “Heresies” magazines, and footage of completed artworks and works-in-progress. An exuberant, multi-layered collage, the film brings the Heresies collective—and its strategies for unlocking the potential in women’s lives—vividly to the screen.
“Ms. Braderman intercuts the story of the magazine and of second-wave feminism with recent interviews with the women. Thirty-odd years later, they’re just as passionate and engaged. It’s a pleasure to spend time in their company.” Rachel Saltz The New York Times
“Skillfully crafted…invigorates feminism, art, and politics. Captures a fertile and effervescent past that is a model for young activist-artists of today. A compelling powerhouse example of feminism’s creative force.” Ariel Dougherty On the Issues
“Upbeat and affirmative…The stories these women tell envision a radically different moment in art-world history, one in which questions of career and market are barely mentioned, and philosophical arguments are firmly grounded in street-level politics.” Ed Halter ARTFORUM
“THE HERETICS uncovers the inside story of the Second Wave of the Women’s Movement,…chart[ing] the history of a feminist collective from the inside out.” Broad Strokes
“A wonderful experience all-in-all. It is a thorough but lively study of the excitement of feminism, arts and ideas...following the magazine's rollout in 1977 in New York to closure in 1993.” Condy Cooper Words of Choice
“A brilliant job of painting a large, vivid image of feminism past and present…[t]he richness of these women, their lives, and their stories make multiple viewings a must.” CineSource
"A charming documentary" Ms. Magazine
“Recommended….This film will be of most interest to women’s studies classes.” EMRO
"THE HERETICS is a particularly good choice for those educators interested in showing a film in conjunction with a discussion of second wave feminism in the art world…" Signs Journal of Women in Culture & Society
“Informative and amusing.…heartening….Recommended.” Video Librarian
Citation
Main credits
Braderman, Joan (screenwriter)
Braderman, Joan (film producer)
Braderman, Joan (film director)
Braderman, Joan (narrator)
Diamond, Crescent (film producer)
Other credits
Principal cinematography, Lily Henderson; editors, Kathy Schermerhorn & Scott Hancock; original score, June Millington & Lee Madeloni.
