Fronza Woods

Fronza Woods is an American filmmaker best known for her short films, including Killing Time (1979) and Fannie's Film (1982).

Fronza Woods
Born
Detroit, Michigan
OccupationFilm director, Professor

Biography

Woods was born in Detroit and now lives in Southern France.[1]

Woods directed, wrote, and produced independent films, most notably Killing Time and Fannie's Film. Before making her own films, Woods worked on shorts at the Women's Interart Center in Hell's Kitchen.[2] She also worked as a guest filmmaker in the Lincoln Center Film Society's "Artist in the Schools program."[3]

In addition to making her own films, Woods was an assistant sound engineer for John Sayles's film The Brother From Another Planet.[4] She was also involved as a cast member in the 1985 film, The Man Who Envied Women.[5] Of her role in the film industry, Woods said "I think the male-female divisions are more defining".[2] Woods said that she was influenced by people as diverse as Bill Moyers, Malcolm X, Georgia O'Keefe and others.[6]

Legacy and cultural impact

Woods is one of the first black woman directors that completed multiple short films. Richard Brody called Killing Time "very simply, one of the best short films that I’ve ever seen."[7] Melissa Anderson of the Village Voice praised Woods's film Fannie's Film: "she makes the mundane facts of Drayton’s life indelible."[8] Hyperallergic writes that Woods gives otherwise invisible women like Drayton a platform and calls the documentary "extraordinary."[9] The New York Times wrote that Woods "humorously yet movingly contemplates existence" in Killing Time.[10]

Short films

Killing Time (1979)

Killing Time is a 1979 narrative short film written and directed by Fronza Woods.[11] The film follows a woman (credited as Sage Brush) as she prepares to commit suicide. The duration of the film is 9 minutes.[12]

Fannie's Film (1982)

Fannie's Film is a 1982 documentary that follows 65-year old Fannie Drayton, a cleaning woman.[13] The film is told from the perspective of Drayton and is 15 minutes in duration.[14][9] Fannie's Film was selected for the 1985 Créteil International Women's Film Festival.[15]

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References

Citations
  1. "WOMEN MAKE MOVIES | Fronza Woods". www.wmm.com.
  2. Aufderheide, Pat (1984). "Sayles in Harlem". Film Comment. 20 (2): 4, 6. JSTOR 43452785.
  3. Campbell 1983, p. 61.
  4. Klotman & Gibson 1997, p. 74.
  5. Green, Shelley (1994). Radical Juxtaposition: The Films of Yvonne Rainer. Metuchen, New Jersey: Scarecrow Press, Inc. pp. 127–128. ISBN 0810828634 – via Archive.org.
  6. Campbell 1983, p. 58.
  7. "NYC Repertory Cinema Picks, February 8–14". Brooklyn Magazine. 8 February 2017.
  8. Anderson, Melissa (30 January 2017). "They Are Somebody: BAM Reveals the Rich History of Black Women Filmmakers". Village Voice. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
  9. Hubert, Craig (2017-02-03). "Rewriting Film History with Two Decades of Black Women's Cinema". Hyperallergic. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
  10. Dargis, Manohla (2017). "A Film Series Honors Black Women Directors". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
  11. Klotman & Gibson 1997, p. 264.
  12. Williams, John (1994). "Daughters of the Diaspora: A Filmography of Sixty-Five Black Women Independent Film- and Video-Makers". Cinéaste. 20 (3): 41–42. doi:10.2307/41687325. JSTOR 41687325.
  13. Drayton, Fannie; Fitz, Tracy; Jabaily, Barbara; Archbold, Schellie; Barcal, Beth; Onove, Dyne Benner; Bram, Leon; Edwards, Alan; Handy, Judy; Hazen, Lise; Cunningham, Jaimie; Levinson, Gary; Miller, Doug; Mitz, Rick; Phillips, John; Prieto, Berthica; Sherman, Maxine; South, Dean (1979). "Fannie's Film". Distributed by Women Make Movies.
  14. Fraser, C. Gerald (1986-12-28). "Black Women's Outlook in Whitney Film Series". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
  15. "Trims * Glitches". The Independent. 8: 34. 1985 – via Archive.org.

Sources
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