My Mother is a Dangerous Woman

Written, directed & produced by b.h. Yael, 1987

Video length 16:00 min

English

The writer searches, constructs and reconstructs Mother, the myth of Demeter and Persephone, complicity with "poisonous pedagogy" and women’s complicity within patriarchy. In this multi-layered work the protagonist (performed by Joyce Pate) communicates with and observes her daughter and mother, both represented and mediated through the television screen. The writings of psychologist and psychoanalyst Alice Miller interrupt the narrative as the detective, the suspect trenchcoat, looks on as Mother sings “I am sixteen going on seventeen” from the Sound of Music.

More writing about this work can be found HERE.