Category Archives: SECTIONS

This Side of Salina

This Side of Salina

a film by Lynne Sachs
12 min, 2025

Four Black women from the city of Syracuse, New York, reflect on sexuality, youthful regret, emotional vulnerability, raising a daughter, and working in reproductive health services. In a series of their own choreographed vignettes, each woman thoughtfully engages with the neighborhoods she’s known all of her life. Two performers flip through classic 1960s titles by Black authors in a bookstore. Others sit in a hat store finding time to pour into each other, as mentors and confidantes. These are businesses that are owned by local Black women, and they know it. In Brady Market, a community grocery, they playfully shop and chat with ease and confidence. They dance to their own rhythms in the outdoor plaza of the Everson Museum of Art. Together they look down at the city from its highest point and ponder how to battle the inequities of the place that they call home.

Commissioned as a large-scale architectural projection by Light Work as part of the UVP Residential Media Commission program, supported by New York State Council for the Arts. The installation runs from October 10 – December 21, 2024.

CREDITS 

Featuring: J’Viona Baker, Vernahia Davis, Ja’Rhea Dixon, Angela Stroman
Director: Lynne Sachs
Cinematographers: Anneka Herre, Lynne Sachs, Zelikha Zohra Shoja, Monae Kyhara Sims
Editor: G. Anthony Svatek 
Production support: Minnie S. McMillian, Devon Narine Singh, Hilary Warner
Additional recording: Saptarshi Lahiri
Sound Design: Kevin T. Allen

In consultation with Anneka Herre, Program Director of Light Work | Urban Video Project, Tiffany Lloyd, Director of Women’s Health and Empowerment, Allyn Foundation Campaign Manager, Layla’s Got You

Shot on location in Syracuse, New York at Black Citizens Brigade, Brady Market, The Classic Bop Hat Boutique, Everson Museum of Art Community Plaza, and Upper Onondaga Park

Light Work’s Urban Video Project is pleased to present the exhibition of This Side of Salina exploring reproductive justice from October 10 – December 21 at the architectural projection venue on the Everson Museum facade in downtown Syracuse.

Women Make Waves 2024 / Contractions

10/18-10/27 2024
Taipei, Taiwan

https://www.wmw.org.tw/en/film/unit/344

The program includes short films from Portugal, Poland, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Brazil, China, Croatia, and the United States. From a lockdown love story, Gen Z manifesto against patriarchal norms, to a sharp social commentary on gender struggles. The length of the film demonstrates an attitude, from there extends a myriad of different universes.

Lynne Sachs hosts an interactive workshop: The Body in Space.

Cinema Program

Dildotectonics
Portugal|2023|DCP|color|15min

What’s softest in the world rushes and runs over what’s hardest in the world.
Singapore|2024|DCP|color|15min

My First Funeral
South Korea|2023|DCP|color|38min

Such Miracles Do Happen
Poland|2023|DCP|color|14min

VALERIJA
Croatia|2023|DCP|color|16min

Quebrante
Brazil|2024|DCP|color|23min

Contractions
USA|2024|DCP|color|13min

Postcards from the Verge
Poland|2023|DCP|color|40min

Those Who Loved Me
Japan|2024|DCP|color|15min

Myself When I Am Real
USA|2024|DCP|color|18min

A Message from the Co-Curator of the Festival

Thank you for your powerful work! It reminded me of how a work of art is really a dialogue with the contemporary and is a voice of resistance:

“The four shorts tonight shared unique perspectives on the relationships between women/human kind and the body, time, history, and even the universe.

Unlike some of Lynne’s other works, with fluid space and poetics, in Contractions, we are hit with testimonies, plain and clear, combined with a visual and audio experience just as direct, about the predicaments of women and the medical system in Tennessee since June 24, 2022.

I noticed that in the beginning of the film, there is deep breathing sound. Then we see an open sky so blue and suffocating, with the voices of women, about the restrictions on women’s rights, on their bodies, and on what they can imagine about their own lives.

Lynne’s works are very charismatic with her organic, empathetic, and breathing-like camera eye. In Contractions, the camera is static or moves very slowly. It has a sense of control and horror, but at the same time, the static shots become a  steadfast and unwavering gaze; steadfast and unwavering, like those women that are “standing still” in the film, some alone, some leaning on each other.

I am truly touched by those strong women that continue to help each other despite the danger, and refuse to take it as it is. And it is strangely cathartic to hear the additional audio piece We Continue to Speak, knowing that we are all shaken with anger and we will continue to fight!

Thank you so much for the film. 

Ting-Wu Cho

Co-curator

Women Make Waves Film Festival 2024

Taipei, Taiwan

Interviewing with Empathy: Interactive discussion with Lynne Sachs / Syracuse University

https://newhouse.syracuse.edu/event/2024-oct-17/interviewing-with-empathy-reproductive-justice-topics?utm_content=buffer15f8d&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

October 17th 2024 from 11 AM to noon at the CODE^SHIFT Lab (425, Newhouse 3, Reading Room)

The Newhouse School’s CODE^SHIFT lab invites you to an interactive discussion with  Lynne Sachs, a documentary filmmaker and Light Work commissioned artist.  Using her film “Which Way is East,” Sachs will discuss how to establish trust with sources and conduct interviews with empathy while working on media projects. The session will conclude with a discussion on her latest collaboration with Light Work/Urban Video Project, “This Side of Salina.”

This session is co-hosted by Profs Lauren Bavis (MND) and Srivi Ramasubramanian (COM) for CODE^SHIFT Lab in collaboration with Light Work

RSVP: NHCodeshift@syr.edu by Oct 15 if interested. Seats are limited

The Body in Space: An Interactive Workshop | Women Make Waves International Film Festival

https://www.wmw.org.tw/en/category/173

9/29/24 Virtual Meeting
10/26/24 In-Person Session and Performance
Taipei, Taiwan

Women Make Waves International Film Festival

Cinema Program 2024

Established in 1993, Women Make Waves Int’l Film Festival, Taiwan has been one of the major film festivals in Taiwan and has established itself as the biggest one dedicated to supporting female talents. It is also the longest running and largest issue-oriented film festival in Taiwan. Women Make Waves Int’l Film Festival aims to celebrate the achievements of outstanding female talents, to explore different aspects of female experiences, feminism, and beyond, and to promote equality and rights of all genders. By covering a wide range of genres, issues, and representations of gender, WMWIFF seeks to promote great cinematic arts by female talents and to advocate gender equality through films with feminist consciousness and various subjects.

In 1993, the inaugural Women Make Waves, jointly organized by the Awakening Foundation and B&W Film Studio, was the predecessor of Women Make Waves Int’l Film Festival Taiwan. In 2000, Women Make Waves was renamed as Women Make Waves Film/Video Festival. This marked the first time the film festival hosted screenings at the cinema. The film festival expanded significantly, solidifying itself as one of the major cultural events. In 2012, the film festival was officially renamed as Women Make Waves Int’l Film Festival Taiwan. 

In 1998, as the film festival entered its 5th edition, gender studies and discourses had become prominent in Taiwan. To ensure the prospect of the film festival, Taipei Women’s Film Association was founded in September of the same year. HUANG Yu-Shan served as the first chairwoman of the Association.  In 2001, the film festival established the model of nation-wide film tours, marking one of the first film festivals to do so in Taiwan. It has jointly held screenings with local theaters, organizations, universities, educational institutions, and cultural venues, in order to reduce rural-urban differences and promote gender equity through films beyond Taipei. 

The Body in Space——An Interactive Workshop

In this fast-paced, exhilarating, collaborative and interactive workshop, experimental filmmaker Lynne Sachs will guide her participants through her own evolution as a filmmaker, her own conception a “somatic cinema,” and work as a group to create our own live film performance, which will be presented to the public on 10/26.

Words from Lynne…

In filmmaking, we are always negotiating the photographing of images that contain the body. We bring experiential, political or aesthetic contingencies to both the making and viewing of a cinema that contains the human form. If a body is different from our own – in terms of gender, skin color, or age – perhaps we frame it differently without even realizing it. We all know that looking at a body on screen affects us emotionally, psychologically and physically? When we speak of “space,” we must consider three dimensional issues of the here and now as well as more speculative conditions that arrive when we contemplate the future.

LECTURE-NOTES-The-Body-in-Space-Lynne-Sachs-Women-Make-Waves-Taipei-Taiwan-2024.docxDownload

Union Docs | From Clue to Chronicle: The Art of the Forensic Documentary

https://uniondocs.org/event/tracing-the-document-investigating-the-encounter/#1477608256488-ac7d3d1a-ae9084d0-801ebd47-97fc

Nov 8, 2024 at 10:00 am – Nov 10, 2024 at 5:00 pm

Join us for an intensive workshop led by renowned filmmaker Lynne Sachs, where we will explore how one of the most challenging yet enthralling aspects of the documentary process can be the investigative nature of the practice.

In this workshop Lynne Sachs will take us on her own journey through the making of her soon-to-be-completed essay film “Every Contact Leaves a Trace”. By laying bare her own revelations and disappointments, she will help us to navigate how the “search” in and of itself can be as interesting as the discovery.  While celebrating the shared sensibility of the documentary maker and the detective, Sachs will ask us to expand our understanding of forensics, evidence, and proof within the parameters of her own artistic practice.

On Friday, interdisciplinary artist A.S.M. Kobayashi (Say Something Bunny!)  will share her approach to incorporating forensics into performative work, focusing on how research can function as a form of proof and artistic expression. On Saturday, Jennifer Reeves (The Time We Killed, When It Was Blue) will discuss the psychological dimensions of her filmmaking process, shedding light on how she navigates the inner lives of her subjects while investigating deeper themes of introspection. On Sunday, director, producer and cinematographer Miryam Charles (Cette maison) will explore how filmmakers can refract aspects of reality, offering innovative ways to think about representation and storytelling.

Over the course of the workshop, we will engage in discussions about hybrid approaches to depicting reality, experiment with techniques that challenge conventional expectations of documentary, and reflect on the role of performance in the creative process. Whether you are just beginning a project or are already in the midst of production, this workshop provides a space to investigate your own work through new and creative methods.

The workshop is open to filmmakers, media artists, scholars, and creatives at any stage of their projects. It will offer practical tools, fresh ideas, and a supportive environment for those eager to explore the investigative aspects of documentary filmmaking.

Seats are limited, so be sure to sign up soon. Please note that this workshop requires in-person participation, and all attendees must present proof of vaccination. For any questions, feel free to reach out to raphaelle@uniondocs.org.

With Lynne Sachs, Miryam Charles, Jennifer Reeves & A.S.M Kobayashi

SF Film | Shorts Block: New York Times Op-Docs

https://sffilm.org/event/new-york-times-op-docs-2024/

PRESENTED IN COLLABORATION WITH


Program Description

SFFILM’s celebrated collaboration with the New York Times continues into its tenth year to present another showcase of their award-winning short-form documentary series, NYT Op-Docs. This year, SFFILM has curated five films that provocatively explore the complex and precarious spaces that various women occupy in an ever-modernizing world. The constant ebb and flow of progress and regression characterizes these stories of perseverance in the midst of trauma and heartache, collision with antiquated tradition, the murkiness of a new digital frontier, a fight for bodily self-determination, and a friendship uncompromised by generational boundaries. As women continue to fight for autonomy globally, we invite you to this appropriately bold addition to our festival program.
—Jordan Klein

Guests Expected

Director Faye Tsakas and Producer Rowan Ings for short Christmas, Every Day are expected to attend. Films are listed in order of play.

Christmas, Every Day
Faye Tsakas, USA 2024, 14 min
A quotidian exploration of what it means to be an influencer, from the perspective of two tween girls from rural Alabama

A Move
Elahe Esmaili, Iran 2024, 26 min
Iranian filmmaker Elahe Esmaili challenges long-standing cultural norms when she arrives at her family’s gathering without a hijab.

Contractions
Lynne Sachs, USA 2023, 12 min
Reproductive rights activists present a timely and poetic expression of grief and dismay in the midst of the overturning of Roe v Wade.

The Final Chapter
Frøydis Fossli Moe, Norway 2024, 14 min
Frøydis receives a phone call that her father is dying from cancer, which forces her to confront her past traumas experienced during her upbringing.

Madeleine
Raquel Sancinetti, Canada 2023, 15 min
Madeleine stubbornly refuses to leave her retirement home. Her friend Raquel, who is 67 years her junior, finds a creative way to take her on the journey of a lifetime.

CODE^SHIFT | Chai with Srivi episode 10: Lynne Sachs

CODE^SHIFT is Collaboratory for Data Equity, Social Healing, Inclusive Futures and Transformation. CODE^SHIFT is a multidisciplinary col(lab)oratory research space for communication and data justice and or addresses contemporary social issues using data, media, design, technologies, art, and storytelling. CODE^SHIFT is a research project led by Dr. Srivi Ramasubramanian and hosted at the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.

The full video of Chai with Srivi episode 10! Lynne Sachs, an American experimental filmmaker and poet, discusses unconventional approaches toward filmmaking and how a feminist lens can bring life to cinema. In Episode 10 of Chai with Srivi, she shares her thoughts on the battle for bodily autonomy and how she hopes her films help educate people on the women’s plight.

Transcription of Interview

LS_2024_Codeshift_Chai-with-Srivi_InterviewTranscriptDownload

Perugia Social Film Festival 2024

https://www.persofilmfestival.it/en/programma-2024/

PERSO is an international event dedicated to documentary and auteur cinema that will involve three historical theatres in the city of Perugia and numerous other locations for nine days of free admission programming, with two competition categories, 55 national and international titles, 13 Italian premieres and an official selection with works from 22 countries. But that’s not all, the festival also includes a theatrical performance, 1 cine-concert, 1 retrospective, special events and more than 50 guests in meetings with the public.

The PerSo – Perugia Social Film Festival aims to play an active role in cultural transformation processes both within and outside its own community, towards a fairer and more inclusive society. Going beyond the audiovisual aspect, the Festival sets out to foster dialogue within the realm of art, creating a space for creative social development, discussion, and knowledge exchange among the most diverse perspectives.

Thursday October 3 at 16.30
PERSO SHORT AWARD
Ospiti i registi
CONTRACTIONS di Lynne Sachs
Stati Uniti, 2024, 12′
https://www.persofilmfestival.it/en/films/contractions/

ARIA
di Bianca Vallino
Italia, 2023, 17’

WE WERE NO DESERT
di Agustina Comedi +
Chiachio & Giannone
Argentina, 2024, 11’

TRASPARENZE
di Mario Blaconà
Italia, 2024, 7’

Living to Tell: Using Film as a Tool of Reproductive Justice / Light Work Workshop

https://www.lightwork.org/archive/living-to-tell-using-film-as-a-tool-of-reproductive-justice/

Wednesday, October 16 2024 | 5:30 p.m.
Salt City Market | Community Room
484 S. Salina St.

Join Light Work and Engaged Humanities Network for a filmmaking workshop with award-winning filmmaker Lynne Sachs and local reproductive justice advocates J’viona Baker, Ja’Rhea Dixon, Vernahia Davis, and Angela Stroman from Layla’s Got You, who are featured performers in Sachs’ Urban Video Project film, This Side of Salina. The film will premiere October 17th in the program Communities of Care: Documenting Reproductive Justice in a Post-Roe Country.

Participants will explore how sound and image can be used to bear witness poetically and politically. Ages 15 and up. No filmmaking experience required! 

This workshop is FREE but requires an RSVP to register.

Please RSVP using the form linked in the button above.

Communities of Care: Documenting Reproductive Justice in a Post-Roe Country / Light Work


https://www.lightwork.org/archive/communities-of-care-documenting-reproductive-justice-in-a-post-roe-country/

Join Light Work in Watson Theater on Thursday, October 17 2024 for a screening by The Abortion Clinic Film Collective, a group of six feminist filmmakers with diverse backgrounds and distinctive styles who came together from around the country in the wake of the overturning of Roe v Wade to document the impact of the ruling on their own communities. The program includes new work by award-winning filmmaker Lynne Sachs, who shot footage in Syracuse with local reproductive justice advocates from Layla’s Got You.

The screening will be followed by a Q&A with filmmakers Kristy Guevara-Flanagan, Đoan Hoàng, Raymond Rea, and Lynne Sachsas well as reproductive justice advocates J’viona Baker, Ja’Rhea Dixon, Vernahia Davis, and Angela Stroman.

Light refreshments from Recess Coffee & Roastery will also be served.
This event is FREE & OPEN to the public.

Street parking is available on Waverly and Comstock Avenue outside of the building.
This special event is held in conjunction with the exhibition of Sachs’ This Side of Salina at Light Work UVP’s architectural projection site on the Everson Museum facade October through December 2024.

Program Notes

A Mile and a Half (5:31), dir. Ray Rea
The border between North Dakota and Minnesota is physically only a narrow river but legislatively a canyon. In the sister city straddling that border a move of a mile and a half saved lives.


Contractions (12:00), dir. Lynne Sachs
In a place where a woman can no longer make decisions about her own body, we listen to an OB-GYN who can no longer perform abortions and a “Jane” who drives patients across state lines while a group of activists perform outside a women’s healthcare clinic.


As Long as We Can (10:30), dir Kristy Guevara-Flanagan
As the Arizona state supreme court hears arguments on whether to reinstate an abortion ban that originated in 1864, we glimpse into the day-to-day activities of this for-now still functioning clinic, one of just two left in the state that provides surgical abortions.


Retracing Our Steps (8:30), dir. Kelly Gallagher
A woman reflects back on her time spent assisting abortion seekers when Roe v. Wade was the law of the land.


The Longest Walk (6:00), dir. Đoan Hoàng Curtis
A filmmaker returns in the wake of Kentucky’s total abortion ban to the site where she had an abortion on her own due to assault at age 13, and finds the male classmate who witnessed the aftermath of her assault decades earlier.


This Side of Salina (11:50), dir. Lynne Sachs 
Four Black women from the gritty and tenacious city of Syracuse, New York, reflect on sexuality, youthful regret, emotional vulnerability, raising a daughter, and working in reproductive health services. In a series of their own choreographed vignettes, each woman thoughtfully engages with the neighborhoods she’s known all of her life.