PLEASE NOTE: Our elevator is currently out of service. Shows of WANDA are on the second floor and only accessible by stairs. We apologize for the inconvenience.
With her first and only feature film—a hard-luck drama she wrote, directed, and starred in—Barbara Loden turned in a groundbreaking work of American independent cinema, bringing to life a kind of character seldom seen on-screen. Set amid a soot-choked Pennsylvania landscape, and shot in an intensely intimate vérité style, the film takes up with distant and soft-spoken Wanda (Loden), who has left her husband, lost custody of her children, and now finds herself alone, drifting between dingy bars and motels, and callously mistreated by a series of men—including a bank robber who ropes her into his next criminal scheme. A rarely seen masterpiece that has nonetheless exerted an outsize influence on generations of artists and filmmakers, WANDA is a compassionate and wrenching portrait of a woman stranded on society’s margins.
“The first time I saw Barbra Loden’s Wanda it was like a punch to the heart. Watching this quiet masterpiece left an imprint on me both emotionally and visually. I will forever remember the feeling of watching this small isolated figure walk through mountains of coal for multiple uninterrupted moments.
Barbra Loden searched for her own identity through the character of Wanda, a portrayal that was authentic to her and completely detached from classic Hollywood. The humanity of Loden’s creation is clear. Her feelings and truth tell us this story and she will always be a hero of mine for it." - Staff pick by Valentina S., usher
Screening as part of our Staff Picks 2025 series