WANDA IS A FILM DIRECTED BY BARBARA LODEN IN 1971. LODEN PLAYS WANDA.
SHE LEAVES HER HUSBAND AND CHILDREN FOR A NOMADIC LIFE ON THE MARGINS. EVER MOVING, SHE BECOMES AN OUTLINE IN INDUSTRIAL LANDSCAPES AND ROVING MOTORWAYS. SHE IS DRIFTING ON THE FRONTIER ZONE.
THE CAMERA PANS ACROSS A WASTELAND OF DUST AND MORTAR. WE SEE A SPECK OF WHITE DOTTING AROUND IN THE BACKGROUND. AS THE SPECK OF WHITE MOVES IN CLOSER TO THE FOREGROUND, THE LENS RE-FOCUSES ITSELF; THE SPECK TRANSFORMS INTO A WOMAN.
IT IS WANDA.
SHE SKIRTS ONTO THE EDGE OF THE LANDSCAPE, ONTO THE TREMORING BORDERS. WALKING PAST THE ROVING CAMERA, OUT OF FRAME, SHE EXITS, FALLING INTO THE BLIND SPOT OF PURE SPECULATION.
THE FILM IS A CELEBRATION OF CINEMATIC LIMBO. ITS AESTHETICS CONJURE UP A POLITICS OF LIMBO; A SPHERE OF ROVING, RESTLESS, OPEN WANDERING. A CINEMATIC ZONE OF PROTEST AGAINST FIXITY AND CATEGORICAL JUDGEMENT.
FOR TO BE WANDA TAKES COURAGE.
WANDA IS A PERFORMANCE OF A HEIGHTENED NATURE. IN AN EXTREME CLOSE-UP OF WANDA’S FACE, WE ARE EXPOSED TO INVISIBLE FREQUENCIES, GESTURES, AND UNTOLD ENERGIES.
WANDA IS A CINEMA OF SHAPE-SHIFTING WONDER. IT IS NEITHER WOMAN, NOR FILM; IT IS BOTH, A MUTATIONAL BEING.
WANDA IS A CINEMA OF NON-CLOSURE AND POTENTIALITIES. IT INVOKES PSYCHIC AND AESTHETIC IMPERCEPTIBILITIES. THROUGH WANDA, WE MOVE IN BETWEEN . SIDEWAYS IS OUR DIRECTION – ACROSS LATERAL THOUGHT PROCESSES, TEMPORALITIES, AND MEDIUMS. THE HEIGHTENING OF THE INVISIBLE PLANE, THAT SEEPS THROUGH THE CRACKS OF THE CINEMATIC FRAME.