Description:
ReFocus: The Films of Roberta Findlay covers a variety of angles, using queer, feminist, historical, and close textual reading methods to grapple with the complicated and contradictory politics and meanings of this pioneering culture-worker. Chapters examine Findlay's marketing strategies, the gender politics of her exploitation and hardcore films, 1980s horror productions, and several case studies of key individual films, in addition to a new interview with Findlay reflecting on her life and career.
Brief description: Peter Alilunas is an Associate Professor of Cinema Studies at the University of Oregon. He is the author of Smutty Little Movies: The Creation and Regulation of Adult Video (2016).
Review Quotes:
A pioneering, prolific filmmaker who disdains her historical contributions to several male-dominated industries. A self-proclaimed misogynist who has been reclaimed as an unlikely "feminist" auteur. This fascinating new collection shines a much-needed spotlight on the many contradictions of Roberta Findlay, and is sure to become essential reading for scholars of adult and exploitation cinema.
--David Church, Indiana University