Object Lessons

LOOKING FORWARD / LOOKING BACK

40th Anniversary Exhibition

LOOKING FORWARD
LOOKING BACK

Fortieth Anniversary Celebration

David  Kintzler
Mary  Kintzler
Vince  Baldassano
Tom  Anastasio
Barbara  Rothenberg
Alberta  Cifolelli
Burt  Chernow
Michelle  Mackey

Sharon  Greytak

 

RECEPTION FOR THE ARTISTS
MARCH 8, 2007
5:30 - 7:00 PM

The 40th anniversary of the founding of the Community College system in general, and Housatonic Community College and its galleries in particular, is a milestone that provides an ideal opportunity to reflect on and celebrate the rich contribution that the College and the Museum have made to the cultural life of Bridgeport, Fairfield County and the New England Region.

The 40th Anniversary Exhibition opens March 8 with a reception for the artists from 5:30 until 7:00 pm and remains on view through Sunday, March 25. Participating artists are Professor Emeritus David Kintzler and the late Burt Chernow, founder of the Housatonic Museum of Art, along with former faculty members Mary Kintzler, Vince Baldassano, Tom Anastasio, Barbara Rothenberg, Alberta Cifolelli, and Michele Mackey to exhibit.

Filmmaker and Housatonic Community College alumna Sharon Greytak will be screening her films.

Screening Times

March 9- 14
Noon- Weirded Out and Blown Away
7:00 pm- Losing It

March 15-20
Noon- The Love Lesson
7:00 pm- Hearing Voices

March 21- 25
Noon- The Love Lesson
7:00 pm- Weirded Out and Blown Away

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Sharon Greytak, independent filmmaker and HCC alumna, has written, produced and directed feature-length fiction films including Losing It, The Love Lesson, Hearing Voices, Weirded Out and Blown Away, Some Pleasure on the Level of the Source and Czechoslovakian Woman. She has been at the forefront of writing and directing films that address difficult subjects such as gay/lesbian themes, overcoming physical disabilities and producing independent films with complex story lines.

Most recently, Greytak's early short films were included in Tomorrowland: CalArts in Moving Pictures at MoMA which travels to the Pompidou Center in Paris next month. She is also a 2006 Anchor Award recipient from the University of Hartford. Currently she is preparing her next dramatic feature.

Sharon Greytak's work has been screened at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; the Film Society at Lincoln Center, East Village Cinema NYC, George Eastman House, Museum Fine Arts, Boston; REDCAT Hollywood; Anthology Film Archive, Margaret Mead Film Festival, Laemmle Theatres Los Angeles, American Cinamatheque at the Egyptian Theatre, Hollywood, Pacific Film Archive and numerous festivals abroad. She is the recipient of a CINE Golden Eagle and has won awards at Double Take Documentary Film Festival, Chicago International Film Festival, Black Maria, Athens and Houston International Film Festival. She was invited to participate in the American Film Institute's Directing Workshop for Women, and has received fellowships from New York State Council on the Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts, Soros Documentary Fund, Jerome Foundation, ArtsLink and the American Film Institute. She is a Yaddo and MacDowell Fellow. Her films are in the collection of MoMA, the New Museum of Contemporary Art, Open Society Archive: Budapest, and are distributed by Leisure Time Features and the Cinema Guild, NYC.

Weirded Out and Blown Away. 1986. USA. Directed by Sharon Greytak. Being
disabled presents many problems which are visible to the human eye, but what about
the social and personal relationships that disabled men and women deal with everyday? Filmmaker Sharon Greytak, who has rheumatoid arthritis and uses a motorized wheelchair, has made a frank video about these issues using herself and four other professionals from New York City and Los Angeles who offer insights into their lives as disabled individuals. Speaking bluntly and with humor, they discuss the victim/superhero stereotypes, perceptions of sexuality, vulnerability to crime, as well as the common ground shared by people without disabilities. 43 minutes.

Hearing Voices. 1990. USA. Directed by Sharon Greytak. Despite advice to the
contrary, a model (Erika Nagy) stricken with scoliosis refuses to increase her public visibility by advertising treatments for her disease. As she leaves her doctor's office, she meets the doctor's gay lover Lee (Stephen Gatta), and
they begin an affair. 87 minutes.

Losing It. 2000. USA. Directed by Sharon Greytak. The filmmaker travels to Siberia, Italy, Hong Kong, Brazil, and New York, interviewing people with disabilities. In English, Portuguese, Russian, and Italian with English subtitles.
90 minutes.

The Love Lesson. 1996. USA. Directed by Sharon Greytak. Seventeen years ago Camille made a verbal adoption agreement with Grace to care for her son. The only proviso was that Grace would continue to live nearby. She has secretly watched her son grow up but things change when she realizes he has contracted AIDS. 87 minutes.