• Gunvor Nelson: My Name Is Oona, 1969

  • Gunvor Nelson: Light Years, 1987

  • Gunvor Nelson, Dorothy Wiley: Schmeerguntz, 1965

  • Gunvor Nelson: Frame Line, 1983

A limited number of wheelchair accessible spaces may still be available for this screening. Please contact bampfa@berkeley.edu if you would like a ticket for a wheelchair accessible space.



Gunvor Nelson: Program 1



In Conversation

  • Steve Anker

    Steve Anker is an expert on experimental film as a teacher, curator, and author.

  • Lynne Sachs

    Lynne Sachs (Brooklyn) discovered her love of filmmaking while studying in San Francisco, where she worked closely with artists including Gunvor Nelson.

  • John Sundholm

    John Sundholm is a Professor of Cinema Studies at Stockholm University. 

A brilliant feminist classic, Gunvor Nelson and Dorothy Wiley’s first film is a dynamic polemic combining live action footage, print media, and broadcast television. Shattering the mass media’s sanitized idealizations of romance and motherhood, with loaded diapers and kitchen sink crud, Schmeerguntz is as hilarious as it is revolting. Nelson’s 1969 cinematic portrait My Name Is Oona is a magical and hypnotic portrait of her daughter set to a score composed from looping audio of the girl’s voice. Made on return trips to Sweden, Frame Line (1983) and Light Years (1987) both combine live action footage with animation techniques, creating gorgeous, layered reflections of Stockholm and the Swedish countryside, respectively.

—Kate MacKay

Films in this Screening

Schmeerguntz

Gunvor Nelson, Dorothy Wiley, United States, 1965

FILM DETAILS 
Print Info
  • B&W
  • 16mm
  • 15 mins
source
  • BAMPFA
permission
  • Canyon Cinema
Additional Info
  • BAMPFA preservation print. Preservation funded by AFI Challenge Grant for Film Preservation.

My Name Is Oona

Gunvor Nelson, United States, 1969

FILM DETAILS 
Print Info
  • B&W
  • 16mm
  • 10 mins
source
  • BAMPFA
permission
  • Canyon Cinema
Additional Info
  • BAMPFA preservation print. Preserved through the National Film Preservation Foundation’s Avant-Garde Masters Grant program and The Film Foundation, funding provided by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation.

Frame Line

Gunvor Nelson, United States, Sweden, 1983

FILM DETAILS 
Print Info
  • B&W
  • 16mm
  • 22 mins
source
  • BAMPFA
permission
  • Canyon Cinema

Light Years

Gunvor Nelson, United States, Sweden, 1987

FILM DETAILS 
Print Info
  • Color
  • 16mm
  • 28 mins
source
  • BAMPFA
permission
  • Canyon Cinema
Additional Info
  • BAMPFA preservation print. Preservation funded by the National Film Preservation Foundation.

Event Accessibility

If you have any questions about accessibility or need accommodations to attend this event, please contact us at bampfa@berkeley.edu or (510) 642-1412 (Wed–Sun, 11 AM–7 PM) as soon as you can. Advance notice helps us fulfill your request.

Learn more about accessibility services at BAMPFA.