Peters Education Center Auditorium (West of Save Mart Center in the Student Recreation Center Building)
Discussant: Karen Sperling (Director)
Discussant: Karen Sperling (Director)
In the 1970s, Karen Sperling was one of a small handful of women writing, producing, and directing feature films. She also starred in them. In an absolute pioneering move, her second motion picture, The Waiting Room (1973), was the very first feature film delivered by an all-woman crew. The audience journeys through an experiential, experimental exploration of a young woman as she examines her desires, fears, and expectations about love, partnership, and marriage while waiting for an all-important call from a man. This film, in a modernist manner, purposefully blurs the line between dreams, fantasy, and reality. What unfolds is an intimate, witty, and unsettling web of relationships between women and men, children and parents, doctors and patients, with Sperling insightfully peering at gender roles across social institutions with a gaze strikingly relevant to this very day. Influenced by the European cinema of its time, the film uses silence, time, and architectural space to mirror and transfigure the psychological experience of waiting. Visually travelling through institutional corridors, into private dining rooms and public restaurants, into mysterious darkened rooms, the film treats its settings as integral parts of the narrative. A remarkable example of auteur cinema comparable in every way to its much more famous contemporary creations of what is arguably the most creative decade ever in American moviemaking, The Waiting Room feeds on deeply private sources drawn from Sperling’s own dreams, fantasies, and life, yet succeeds in resonating universally and feeling intimately personal to anyone who sees it. 89 minutes.
Additional Information& Reviews: Stories from The Block
CineCulture club promotes cultural awareness through film and post-screening discussions.
Fresno State encourages persons with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities. If you anticipate needing any type of accommodation, please contact us in advance of your participation.
CineCulture brings films and filmmakers from around the world to share their experiences, visions, and voices with our community. For 18 years, these films and post-discussions with directors, respected guest speakers, and local professors with relevant expertise have fostered and affected intercultural understanding of critical issues that deeply inform our local, national, and international awareness.
Recently, I was notified that CineCulture’s budget will be cut by approximately 70%. Much appreciated, grants from Associated Students in the past have gone towards securing performance rights for films (required for community screenings), guest director/artists’ honorariums, travel, and hotel expenses.
During these challenging times, the films and filmmakers we invite not only educate and inspire us but are, as Harry Belafonte would remind us, “Artists are the gatekeepers of truth.” My hope is that, together, we can gather the support needed to continue this vital, creative international exchange program.
If you’d like to help support CineCulture film screenings and director visits by making a tax-free donation, you can 1) Click on the link at the bottom of this page, follow the steps, and type CineCulture, or 2) Attend a CineCulture screening, use an envelope on the table in the back of the auditorium, and either leave it in the basket or return it by mail.
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For further information about CineCulture contact: Dr. Mary Husain (Instructor & Club Adviser) at mhusain@csufresno.edu
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