Carsey-Wolf Center at UC Santa Barbara 
CWC Docs: Sisters with Transistors
- Tuesday, May 6, 2025 / 7:00 PM - 9:30 PM (PDT)
- Pollock Theater
- Screening Format: 4k digital projection (86 Minutes)
- With Suzanne Ciani (musician/documentary subject)
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Director: Lisa Rovner
Sisters with Transistors tells the remarkable untold story of the pioneering women who shaped electronic music, crafting the sounds and technologies that define the genre today. Narrated by Laurie Anderson, the film delves into the lives and work of trailblazing composers such as Clara Rockmore, Delia Derbyshire, Pauline Oliveros, Wendy Carlos, Laurie Spiegel, and Suzanne Ciani, among others, whose experiments with early synthesizers, tape manipulation, and unconventional soundscapes pushed the boundaries of musical composition. Through a wealth of archival footage, interviews, and rare recordings, the documentary showcases their groundbreaking innovations and critically examines the cultural and institutional barriers that often obscured their legacies within a male-dominated field. The film charts the evolution of electronic music and how its female pioneers embraced these new devices, opening music to an entire field of sound and transforming the very terms of musical thought.
Musician/documentary subject Suzanne Ciani will join moderator David Novak (Music, UCSB) for a post-screening discussion of Sisters with Transistors.
This event is free but a reservation is recommended in order to guarantee a seat.
Biographies
Suzanne Ciani (musician/documentary subject)
Suzanne Ciani is a five-time Grammy award-nominated composer, electronic music pioneer, and neo-classical recording artist who has released over twenty solo albums, including Seven Waves and The Velocity of Love, along with a landmark quad LP LIVE Quadraphonic. Her work has been featured in films, games, and countless commercials as well. She was inducted into Keyboard Magazine‘s Hall of Fame alongside other synth luminaries, including Bob Moog, Don Buchla, and Dave Smith and received the Moog Innovation Award. Most recently, she is the recipient of the Independent Icon Award from A2IM, The Golden Ear Award, and the SEAMUS Award.
Suzanne has provided the voice and sounds for Bally’s groundbreaking “Xenon” pinball machine, created Coca-Cola’s pop-and-pour sound, designed logos for Fortune 500 companies, and carved out a niche as one of the most creatively successful female composers in the world. A Life in Waves, a documentary about Ciani’s life and work, debuted at SXSW in 2017 and is available to watch on all digital platforms. Ciani is a graduate of Wellesley College and holds a Masters in Music Composition from the University of California, Berkeley.
Photo: Dan Wilton
Moderator David Novak
David Novak is Associate Professor of Music at the University of California, Santa Barbara, with affiliations in Anthropology, Film and Media Studies, and East Asian Languages and Cultural Studies. He is the author of the award-winning Japanoise: Music at the Edge of Circulation (2013) and the co-editor of Keywords in Sound (2015), as well as recent essays and sound recordings in Public Culture, Cultural Anthropology, Popular Music, Sensory Studies, and The Wire.
This event is sponsored by the Carsey-Wolf Center and the Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Music (CISM).
CWC Docs
The Carsey-Wolf Center is committed to screening documentaries from across the world that engage with contemporary and historical issues, especially regarding social justice and environmental concerns. Documentaries allow filmmakers to address pressing issues and frame the critical debates of our time.