Anita Thacher

Directing

Anita Thacher

Born April 4, 1940 · USA

Died September 8, 2017 · aged 77

Anita Thacher was a New York-based artist known for her work in a variety of mediums–film, video, public art, multimedia, light, architectural and sculptural installation, as well as painting, photography and prints. Her art explores issues of perception both spatial and personal. Memory, childhood and domestic themes are fundamental elements in the work. She was the recipient of numerous grants …

Known For

Crush ProofCrush Proof · 1972
Crush Proof
5.01972
MovieDrama
A young man recalls his affair with a young French woman who traveled with him across the United States. They began to drift apart during the trip, and eventually each had affairs with other people before realizing that their relationship had run its course.
Elizabeth Bishop: One ArtElizabeth Bishop: One Art · 1987
Elizabeth Bishop: One Art
1987
MovieDocumentary
Illustrates the writer's wandering spirit, from a childhood in Nova Scotia to travels in Brazil, and the central themes of her work: geography, landscape, and the quest for consciousness and identity through travel.
Loose CornerLoose Corner · 1986
Loose Corner
5.51986
Movie
Mysterious cinematographic events unfold in a very neat little space, like a theatre. A ball gets bigger and bigger and then suddenly disappears: there’s a dog a good head or two taller than a child; a young woman miniscule one second is huge the next… We don’t get it, but just enjoy taking part in a phantasmagorical experience like an audience in the early days of cinema, with filmmakers that have made an illusion out of this art.
CutCut · 2013
Cut
2013
Movie
CUT appropriates 6 classic black and white Hollywood film clips from the 30's and 40s. The images and the sound are reconfigured through graphic and sequential interventions. The disruptions refocus and enhance our attention to latent aspects of the films and compel us to watch with heightened awareness and new appreciation.
Homage to MagritteHomage to Magritte · 1975
Homage to Magritte
1975
Movie
This film opens with the sense of juxtaposition and absurdity that are the basis of Magritte's paintings, and succeeds in contributing to the surrealist tradition through subtle and powerful manipulations of the filmed image.
ChaseChase · 2015
Chase
2015
Movie
Chase has appropriated the masterful car chase scene from Bullitt . The manipulation of the scene’s images and sounds allows the viewer to discover the classic film scene anew. The reconfigurations expose the artistry of the sequencing of shots and edits and the rhythms of the scene.
Lost / In MemoriamLost / In Memoriam · 2006
Lost / In Memoriam
2006
Movie
A tribute to, and evocation of women no longer alive. The rituals of their daily lives are honored and memorialized through transformed images of flowers, woods, water and more. (Anita Thacher) LOST/ IN MEMORIAM's non-narrative domestic and natural imagery progresses through the rhythms and emotions of the accompanying piano music by Robert Aldridge. The rituals of women's daily lives are honored and memorialized. «...Anita Thacher's elegant, abstract tribute, LOST/ IN MEMORIAM: stylized images of tulips and waving grasses whose splendid sensuality are an apt elegy for the creative lives of friends loved and lost. Thacher evocatively quotes Virginia Woolf (A Room of One's Own): 'Great poets do not die; they are continuing presences.' Her film is dedicated to Francesca Woodman, Susan Loda, Susan Brockman, Yvonne Vera and Barbara Jarvis.» (Karen Cooper, Film Forum)
Sea TravelsSea Travels · 1978
Sea Travels
1978
Movie
"A surrealistic film made with optical printed techniques about a young girl who acts as a guide on a journey aimed at recapturing childhood through the distortion of memory." - The Independent

Filmography

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Lost / In MemoriamLost / In Memoriam · 2006
Lost / In Memoriam
2006
Movie
A tribute to, and evocation of women no longer alive. The rituals of their daily lives are honored and memorialized through transformed images of flowers, woods, water and more. (Anita Thacher) LOST/ IN MEMORIAM's non-narrative domestic and natural imagery progresses through the rhythms and emotions of the accompanying piano music by Robert Aldridge. The rituals of women's daily lives are honored and memorialized. «...Anita Thacher's elegant, abstract tribute, LOST/ IN MEMORIAM: stylized images of tulips and waving grasses whose splendid sensuality are an apt elegy for the creative lives of friends loved and lost. Thacher evocatively quotes Virginia Woolf (A Room of One's Own): 'Great poets do not die; they are continuing presences.' Her film is dedicated to Francesca Woodman, Susan Loda, Susan Brockman, Yvonne Vera and Barbara Jarvis.» (Karen Cooper, Film Forum)

Director