When one discusses Pittsburgh as a regional filmmaking hub, the names of George Romero, Tom Savini and other colorful Night of the Living Dead cohorts typically arise. Those are absent from documentarian Brigid Maher's specialty item, a tribute to an unsung heroine behind the scenes. She is the late Sally Dixon, who, although not a "creative," was still crucial to the American experimental/avant-garde cinema movement of the 1970s and 80s.
Seattle-born and later steeped in the San Francisco counterculture, Dixon had no wall-full of MFAs, only an appreciation of challenging and offbeat DIY films (typified by the short subjects of Stan Brakhage, Jonas Mekas, and Kenneth Anger). Via family connections, the divorced single mother obtained a position at the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh, where she was given latitude in organizing regular exhibitions of these non-commercial filmmakers.
As a curator, Dixon went above and beyond, offering help to local cinema artists and paying visiting filmmakers to Pittsburgh a then-unheard-of (even by NYC standards) $500 stipend in addition to covering travel expenses, hosting them personally and even preparing their meals. She also compiled and mailed "travel sheets"—hand-typed directories of fellow regional independent/experimental filmmakers and their resources—that helped build a "community." Brakhage would end up shooting key works in his canon in the Pittsburgh area, just because of the doors Dixon helped open.
Still, the cutting-edge avant-garde scenesters could be perfectly backward when it came to women. Dixon left the Carnegie Museum when management refused to raise her salary to parity with males. For a time she lived in Colorado (a Brakhage-influenced relocation) married again, then went to Minnesota to an eminent slot with the Walker Art Center.
An abundance of family, cohorts, and filmmakers are interviewed, some of whom died prior to this film's completion (Mekas, Carolee Schneeman, Bruce Baille). They must largely speak glowingly on Dixon's behalf, for, as shown here in the throes of Alzheimer's, the subject was amnesiac and nearly non-verbal before she passed away in 2019.
As crucial as institutions and galleries have been to the experimental film arena, profiles of those exhibitors are all too often marginalized in favor of the filmmakers themselves; thus this is an important entry, especially for invested art museum types continuing the trail blazed by Dixon. Clips from the avant-garde reels are all thumbnail-brief—potentially a good thing, as some of this material (especially Carolee Schneeman) was considered pornographic in its era.
What public library shelves would this title be on?
Performing arts and art shelves in general should be eager to curate. Libraries in Pennsylvania and Minnesota, where Dixon had her most productive sallies should take note,
What academic subjects would this film be suitable for?
While general film/Modern Art history studies would be a natural fit (more "showbiz" and Hollywood-oriented collections, not so much), the title directly addresses the administrative side of film screenings, carrying strong appeal for departments that teach the business and management end of aesthetics. Feminist and gender studies also have a front-row seat in the picture.
What type of classroom would this documentary resource be suitable for?
The running time fits well in a one-hour classroom slot, though celluloid visuals of sex and nudity (even as they are short and smudgy) all guarantee a college-age and up demographic.