GIRLFRIENDS (1979)
Q & A to follow with CLAUDIA WEILL, CAROL GILLIGAN In a Different Voice, Why Patriarchy Persists and HONOR MOORE, poet, The Bishop’s Daughter, a memoir
Claudia Weill’s delightful and groundbreaking indie follows aspiring New York photographer (Melanie Mayron in a stylishly subtle performance) as she navigates her way through a complicated web of friendships and romantic entanglements after her best friend and flat mate leaves to get married. A story told with a sharp eye for comedy and surprisingly contemporary feel, GIRLFRIENDS is a warm, wise and funny treatise on female friendship that pioneered an entire subgenre of films and TV about best friends living in the big city - think Sex in the City, Lena Dunham’s Girls (on which Weill was also a director) and Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig's Frances Ha. Also featuring superb performances from Eli Wallach, Christopher Guest and Bob Balaban.