Kathy Acker Bio-Docu Has Advance Debut @ MoMA

Monday night, GalleyCat sent Karen Schechner to MoMA for a screening of Who’s Afraid of Kathy Acker, written and directed by Barbara Caspar (pictured at right). The film, Caspar’s first feature-length documentary, traces the life of (in Schechner’s apt description) “a prolific writer, sex worker, ur-Riot Grrl, and Harley-riding bisexual East Village legend.” (Acker’s Wikipedia entry is actually pretty helpful for those who’ve never read her in understanding her literary significance, as is a 1988 interview.)

“Caspar charts Acker’s life as an artist,” Schechner reports, “from her early New York days in the ’70s through her last days in Tijuana, via footage of readings at CBGB (I think Debbie Harry makes a quick cameo), BBC clips, art films, and animation. Also shown are interviews with her agent, Ira Silverberg, Grove Press founder Barney Rosset, Tribe 8 singer Lynn Breedlove, and William S. Burroughs, who championed her and considered her the torchbearer of avant-garde fiction. Through quotes by Rimbaud, descriptions of Acker’s love of sadomasochistic sex, and photographs (some by Robert Mapplethorpe), Caspar knits together the rough and mesmerizing story of a punk icon.”

About 150 people came to the MoMA screening; the film officially premieres in Rotterdam next month.

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