Collections/July 2023

Directed by Susan Seidelman

Featuring an introduction by the filmmaker In 1982, Susan Seidelman instantly established herself as one of the decade’s freshest cinematic voices when her debut feature, Smithereens , became the first American independent film to screen in competition at the Cannes Film Festival. A vividly gritty time capsule of downtown New York’s postpunk underground, the film caught the attention of Hollywood and led to her bigger-budget follow-up, Desperately Seeking Susan , starring Madonna in a screwball romp through bohemian Manhattan. With subsequent gems like the clever sci-fi rom-com Making Mr. Right and the black-comic revenge fantasy She-Devil , starring Meryl Streep, Seidelman confirmed her flair for crafting offbeat comedies built around memorably messy, idiosyncratic women.

4 films — 1 on the Channel, 3 unavailable