Atalanta: 32 Years Later
5 min. color sound, 2006
16mm film released on MiniDV & DVD
In my short film Atalanta: 32 Years Later (2006), I played with two different versions of the myth of Atalanta. Clearly, this classic tale represented a conflict between a daughter and her father and between a young woman and the society at large. The story is a retelling of the age-old fairy tale of the beautiful princess in search of the perfect prince. In 1974, liberal celebrity-star Marlo Thomas, who was renowned in mainstream television, created a feminist version of the children’s parable for “Free to Be You and Me”, a nationally broadcast animated series intended to inspire kids to be more open-minded about the world. The 1974 version tried to embrace a new ending from with a more liberated conclusion: the princess would wait a few years before getting married. My 2006 twist on the myth’s storyline was to give it an explicitly lesbian conclusion and to split the screen in two in order to show the 1974 version going forward and backward simultaneously. While the essence of the structure of the original production is still there, I breakdown the “message” by queering the story at its root.
I dedicated this film to lesbian experimental filmmaker Barbara Hammer because she was a good friend who was quite ill at the time. She ultimately lived 10 years longer!
A retelling of the age-old fairy tale of the beautiful princess in search of the perfect prince. In 1974, Marlo Thomas’ hip, liberal celebrity gang created a feminist version of the children’s parable for mainstream TV’s “Free To Be You and Me”. Now in 2006, Sachs dreamed up this new experimental film reworking, a homage to girl/girl romance.
“Very gentle and evocative of foreign feelings.” George Kuchar
For inquiries about rentals or purchases please contact Canyon Cinema or the Film-makers’ Cooperative. And for international bookings, please contact Kino Rebelde.
Screenings: Ocularis, Williamsburg New York June 5, 2006; Other Cinema New Experimental Works May 2007; Free to Be You and Me at PFA; Le Petit Versailles, 2023; Ba̍k-nih-á film festival vol.3 – Cameraless Films, Taipei City, Taiwan, 2026; American Univesity of Paris with Light Cone, Paris, 2026.