As revolutionary now as when it was released in 1983, Lizzie Borden’s Born in Flames is a Molotov cocktail of feminist futurism that’s both an essential document of its time and radically ahead of it. Set in a fictional America 10 years after a social-democratic revolution, things are still pretty miserable for women. So when prominent Black revolutionary Adelaide Norris is killed, a truly diverse coalition of women decides to bring it all down. Made for $40,000 (not a typo) and shot over five years with a cast of non-professional actors, Born in Flames positively hums with indie energy. “Perhaps the sole entry in the hybrid genre of radical-lesbian-feminist sci-fi vérité” (Village Voice), Born in Flames has come to be revered as a landmark in American independent film, and in many ways, the scene still hasn’t caught up to it. ~SM
The film is followed by a Q&A with Lizzie Borden, this year’s recipient of the VTIFF Award for Outstanding Contribution to American Cinema, sponsored by CSE Holding Co./Bill Michaud.