Carsey-Wolf Center at UC Santa Barbara 
Archives of Anonymous Labor: From Farce to Liberation
- Thursday, February 20, 2025 / 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM (PST)
- Pollock Theater
- Screening Format: 4K digital projection (50 minutes)
- With Michelle Baroody and Maggie Hennefeld (curators)
This program juxtaposes five very different visions of anonymity and labor in the history of global filmmaking, from silent-era absurd comedy to 1970s radical political cinema. We open on a playful note with a German satire about the gender politics of film editing. When a Film Cutter Dawdles (1925) spotlights the uncredited creativity of female editors whose vital authorship remains largely anonymous. The image of domestic work takes center stage in the next two incomplete fragments. The Kitchen Maid’s Dream (1907) depicts a woman’s surreal fantasy that she can dismember her own limbs to finish her endless housework. A young soldier’s daily toils are time-stamped by the recurring image of a clock in The Assistant’s Hours (1915?), but there are no solid clues as to this film’s year, country, or key players. Shifting from mundane labor to militant rebellion, farmers in The Field (1977) till the land as an exercise of resistance against settler colonial domination. Cowboy (1973) furiously dismantles Hollywood clichés, adopting radical montage to unsettle the racist tropes that run roughshod through the Western genre. The stakes of archiving anonymous labor in film history have never felt more urgent. Whether uncredited, invisible, overly palpable, or violently displaced, the specters of anonymous labor energize today’s uprisings for liberation, pleasure, and social change.
Following the screening, curators Maggie Hennefeld and Michelle Baroody will discuss the films and their curation process. This event is presented as part of the Carsey-Wolf Center annual conference Anonymous Labor in Film and Media.
This event is free but a reservation is recommended in order to guarantee a seat.
Screening program:
Wenn die Filmkleberin gebummelt har… [When a Film Cutter Dawdles] (O.F. Mauer, 1925, Germany, 14.5 min)
The Kitchen Maid’s Dream (Vitagraph, 1907, US, 41 seconds)
Las Horas del Asistente [The Assistant’s Hours] (Unknown, 7.5 min)
The Field (Sabih Al-Zoohiri, 1977, Iraq/Palestine/Japan, 11min)
Cowboy (Sami Al-Salamoni, 1973, Egypt/Palestine/Japan, 15 min)
Biographies
Michelle Baroody (Archives on Screen and Mizna Film Festival)
Michelle Baroody received her Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of Minnesota in 2019. She is currently working on a book project that traces, constructs, and examines the Arab American archive, paying particular attention to film, literature, and cultural institutions. She has worked with the Arab/SWANA-based arts nonprofit Mizna in various capacities since 2012, serving as curator for the Mizna Film Series and annual Arab Film Festival. Baroody is also a co-director of Archives on Screen, Twin Cities.
Maggie Hennefeld (Cultural Studies & Comparative Literature, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities)
Maggie Hennefeld is Professor of Cultural Studies & Comparative Literature at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. She is author of Death by Laughter: Female Hysteria and Early Cinema (Columbia UP, 2024) and Specters of Slapstick and Silent Film Comediennes (Columbia UP, 2018), an editor of the journal Cultural Critique (UMN Press),and co-curator of Cinema’s First Nasty Women (Kino Lorber, 2022), a DVD/Blu-ray set that spotlights 99 feminist silent films.
This event is sponsored by the Carsey-Wolf Center
as part of its 2025 annual conference Anonymous Labor in Film and Media.
CWC Classics
The CWC Classics program celebrates cinema’s rich history, bringing classic films back to the big screen for critical viewing and discussion. These events feature filmmakers, academics, and professionals who can contextualize the production and historical impact of the films. The series occasionally presents classic films in their original 16 or 35 mm formats. CWC Classics events celebrate the history and significance of cinema’s enduring legacy.
CWC Global
Media are global by nature; they express culture just as much as they transcend borders. The CWC Global series is dedicated to showcasing media from around the world. This series features screenings and events that place UCSB in conversation with international media makers and global contexts across our deeply connected world.