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Wanda

Wanda

Criterion Collection Edition #965

Directed by Barbara Loden • 1970 • United States
Starring Barbara Loden, Michael Higgins

With her first and only feature film—a hard-luck drama she wrote, directed, and starred in—Barbara Loden turned in a groundbreaking work of American independent cinema, bringing to life a kind of character seldom seen on-screen. Set amid a soot-choked Pennsylvania landscape, and shot in an intensely intimate vérité style, the film takes up with distant and soft-spoken Wanda (Loden), who has left her husband, lost custody of her children, and now finds herself alone, drifting between dingy bars and motels, where she falls prey to a series of callous men—including a bank robber who ropes her into his next criminal scheme. An until now difficult-to-see masterpiece that has nonetheless exerted an outsize influence on generations of artists and filmmakers, WANDA is a compassionate and wrenching portrait of a woman stranded on society’s margins.

Restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive. Restoration funding provided by Gucci and The Film Foundation.

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Wanda
  • Wanda
    1:43:13
    Wanda

    Wanda

    Directed by Barbara Loden • 1970 • United States
    Starring Barbara Loden, Michael Higgins

    With her first and only feature film—a hard-luck drama she wrote, directed, and starred in—Barbara Loden turned in a groundbreaking work of American independent cinema, bringing to life a kind of characte...

Extras

  • John Waters on WANDA
    04:36
    John Waters on WANDA

    John Waters on WANDA

  • Rachel Kushner on WANDA
    06:18
    Rachel Kushner on WANDA

    Rachel Kushner on WANDA

  • I Am Wanda
    1:02:27
    I Am Wanda

    I Am Wanda

    Directed by Katja Raganelli • 1980 • United States
    Starring Barbara Loden

    This documentary by Katja Raganelli, filmed in 1980, features an interview with WANDA director Barbara Loden and brief interviews with cinematographer Nicholas T. Proferes and acting teacher Paul Mann.

  • Barbara Loden on “The Dick Cavett Show,” 1971
    13:55
    Barbara Loden on “The Dick Cavett Show,” 1971

    Barbara Loden on “The Dick Cavett Show,” 1971

    This episode of “The Dick Cavett Show” features a guest appearance by director Barbara Loden promoting WANDA. It airead March 4, 1971.

  • Barbara Loden at the AFI
    1:01:47
    Barbara Loden at the AFI

    Barbara Loden at the AFI

    The following audio recording from April 2, 1971, is of director Barbara Loden speaking to students about the challenges of making one’s first film, as part of the Harold Lloyd Master Seminar series at the American Film Institute.

  • The Frontier Experience
    25:30
    The Frontier Experience

    The Frontier Experience

    In 1975, Barbara Loden directed and starred in this half-hour educational film about a pioneer woman struggling to survive with her family on the Kansas Prairie.

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