still from All I Wanna Do

1998 / 97 min
Director & Screenwriter: Sarah Kernochan
Cast:  Kirsten Dunst, Gaby Hoffman, Lynn Redgrave, Rachel Leigh Cook, Monica Keena, Heather Matarazzo, Merritt Wever, Vincent Kartheiser, Matthew Lawrence
35mm | Courtesy of Ira Deutchman

It’s 1963 at Miss Godard’s, an all-female boarding school that is teetering on the brink of going co-ed. We follow a group of smart, high-spirited girls — played by the stellar ensemble of Kirsten Dunst, Gaby Hoffman, Rachel Leigh Cook, Monica Keena, Heather Matarazzo, and Merritt Wever — as they rebel in various ways, some of which revolve around the male appendage the girls call “the hairy bird” (the original title of the film). The film is based on longtime screenwriter and first-time director Sarah Kernochan’s own adolescence. In The Village Voice, critic Amy Taubin called the film “a smart, sweet, and altogether smashing evocation of teenage girlhood.” (Ira Deutchman produced the movie.)

This screening is part of NY Indie Guy: Ira Deutchman and the Rise of Independent Film

On September 14-16 and September 20-23, 2018, Columbia University’s Lenfest Center for the Arts will host a retrospective exhibit honoring the career of Film Professor and Producing Concentration Supervisor Ira Deutchman. Since 1975, Deutchman has been a leader in distributing, marketing, and producing American independent films, international films, and arthouse films. He is perhaps best known for founding and running the distribution companies Cinecom, Fine Line Features, and Emerging Pictures. Deutchman has taught at Columbia since 1987.  

This retrospective will screen essential motion pictures from various points in Deutchman’s career, such as The Brother From Another Planet; Diva; Harlan County USA; sex, lies, & videotape; Swoon; and A Woman Under the Influence. Many showings will feature Q&A talkbacks with filmmakers or performers. The celebration will also include panel discussions and an extensive exhibit covering Deutchman’s impact on cinema.  

Sponsors

The Art House Convergence
Cowan, DeBaets, Abrahams & Sheppard
Film and Media Studies, Columbia University School of the Arts
The Society of Fellows and Heyman Center for the Humanities at Columbia University
The Institute for Research on Women, Gender, and Sexuality at Columbia University
The University of Michigan Library