1985년 가수 마돈나와 배우 로산나 아퀘트 주연의 '애타게 수잔을 찾아서(Desperatrly Seeking Susan)'을 연출한 페미니스트 감독 수잔 세이들만(Susan Seidelman)이 6월 18일 회고록 'Desperately Seeking Something'을 출간한다. 수잔 세이들만 감독은 6월 26일 로어이스트사이드의 메트로그라프(Metrograph)에서 열리는 '애타게 수잔을 찾아서' 상영회에서 관객들과 만날 예정이다. 

 

 

Desperately Seeking Something

A Memoir About Movies, Mothers, and Material Girls

 

About This Book

The funny and insightful first-person story of the trailblazing movie director of the 80s and 90s whose fearless punk drama, “Smithereens” became the first American indie film to compete...

 

The funny and insightful first-person story of the trailblazing movie director of the 80s and 90s whose fearless punk drama, “Smithereens” became the first American indie film to compete at Cannes, and smash hit "Desperately Seeking Susan" led to a four-decade career in film.

 

Starting out in the mid-70s, a time when few women were directing movies, Susan was determined to become a filmmaker. She longed to tell stories about the unrepresented characters she wanted to see on screen: unconventional women in unusual circumstances, needing to express themselves and maintain their autonomy.

 

Her genre-blending films reflect a passion for classic Hollywood storytelling, mixed with a playful New Wave spirit, informed by her years living in downtown NYC.

 

Seidelman continued to shape American pop culture well into the nineties, directing the pilot of the iconic TV series “Sex And The City,” focusing her sharp lens on the changing place of women in American society and helping to fundamentally reshape our self-image in ways that are still felt today.

 

BOOK DETAILS:

Raised in the safe cocoon of 1960s suburbia, Susan Seidelman wasn’t a misfit, an oddball, or an outlier. She was a “good-girl” with a little bit of “bad” hidden inside. A restless teenager, she dreamed of escape and reinvention, a theme that would play out in her films as well as in her own life. Because she loved stories, a high school guidance counselor suggested she become a librarian, but she had her sights set further afield. In 1973, she left the Philly suburbs, enrolled at NYU’s burgeoning graduate film school and moved to NYC’s Lower East Side. There, she found herself in the right place at the right time. New York City was falling apart, but out of that chaos came a burst of creative energy whose effects are still felt in American pop culture today. Downtown became a vibrant playground where film, music, performance and graffiti art cross-pollinated and where Seidelman chronicled the lives of the colorful misfits, oddballs, dreamers and schemers she met there.

 

It’s all in DESPERATELY SEEKING SOMETHING. Seidelman not only has a keen perspective on the times she’s lived through -- from her Twiggy-obsessed girlhood, through the Women’s Lib movement of the early 70s, the punk scene of the late 70s, Madonna-mania of the 80s, to the dot-com “greed is good” 90s, and beyond--she tells great stories.

 

Imprint Publisher: St. Martin's Press

 

In The News

"Interwoven with fascinating behind-the-scenes detail, Seidelman vividly traces the evolution of her artistic vision, combining the strong, feisty heroines of classic screwball comedies with the playful, postmodern spirit of New Wave film. It’s an enthralling look at a trailblazing filmmaker’s perseverance and vision." - Publishers Weekly, starred review

 

"Seidelman offers a revealing peek into her four-decade career in Hollywood. The author delivers an unguarded portrait of her life, telling it her way. Seidelman’s films have always reflected her hopes for a more just society and a world that allows women to tell their stories; her book also demonstrates those themes." - Kirkus

 

"Susan Seidelman has directed and created some of the most iconic and audacious characters of our time—her new book is a dazzling encapsulation of them and of her life’s work. Part time capsule and part memoir—her gritty “I’ll show you” determination will inspire any woman who wants to make her mark on the world. 'Desperately Seeking Something' is a super-relatable, unputdownable tour de force. I just love this book!"--Marisa Acocella, New York Times bestselling author of CANCER VIXEN

 

"Susan Seidleman has long held my awe as a brilliant filmmaker. Now she's won my admiration as a superb memoirist by taking me in her footsteps and through her eyes into shared territories; 50s childhood, 60s mod girlhood, DIY punk culture, the earliest wild west days of American indie film, her riveting path through the ups and downs of this profession behind the camera, and her honest reveal of the struggle women artists face when balancing commitment to their work and to their families while still having fun with it all. This is the book we've been desperately seeking; you'll find bits of yourself in her exhilarating journey." - Allison Anders, filmmaker

 

"Susan Seidelman's riveting memoir is like one of her films — engrossingly quirky, broadly entertaining, an invaluable document of an era in filmmaking, and frequently totally surprising. What a joy when one of your favorite filmmakers writes one of your new favorite books."–Matthew Rettemund, Encyclopedia Madonnica

 

 

 

 

METROGRAPH

 

#DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN

Susan Seidelman's Memoir Launch at Metrograph on June 26

 

MEMBERS ONLY:

Susan Seidelman Presents a Screening of DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN Alongside the Launch of Her Newly Released Memoir, Desperately Seeking Something

 

Featuring Book Signing, Introduction & Post-Screening Conversation

 

Wednesday, June 26

Members Happy Hour & Book Signing: 5:00pm

Screening with Intro and Q&A: 6:00pm

 

A trailblazer of American independent cinema—her 1982 feature debut Smithereens was the first US indie to play in competition at Cannes—Susan Seidelman has, in her more than 40-year career in film and television, remained remarkably attuned to the zeitgeist, whether casting rising star Madonna in her 1985 Desperately Seeking Susan or setting the tone for the cultural phenomenon that was Sex in the City with her pilot episode. Seidelman’s new memoir, Desperately Seeking Something, discusses both these coups and much more, and we’re excited to welcome her to Metrograph for this Member’s Only book launch event, accompanied by a screening of her beloved downtown time capsule Susan. 

 

Join us in the lobby for a Members Only happy hour starting at 5:00pm, where Seidelman will sign copies of Desperately Seeking Something.

 

 

*애타게 수잔(맥주)을 찾아서 Desperately Seeking Susan, the Beer 

https://www.nyculturebeat.com/index.php?mid=FoodDrink2&document_srl=4123928