UC Santa Cruz

Finding Norma is a multi-screen video installation that investigates the work of the Brazilian lesbian filmmaker Norma Bahia Pontes (1941-2010). These include her films on a transnational path through the Cinema Novo movement in Brazil, anticolonial documentaries made in France, and lesbian feminist videotapes filmed in New York during the 1970s. Amidst the fragmented work and gaps of Norma's mysterious existence, the artist Livia Perez conducts an intimate search across time that combines experimental/documentary approaches to expand time, echo Norma's works, and claim her place in Film History. During this search, Livia recognizes herself in Norma and tries to establish a dialogue between two generations of female Latin artists across borders.