Maxi Cohen
South Central Los Angeles: Inside Voices was made in 1993 and 1994, in three languages, by African Americans, Latinos, Korean Americans and whites living and working in the areas most affected by the devastation caused by the Los Angeles riots of 1992. Using Hi-8 video cameras, the individuals tell their own stories of struggle and triumph in the midst of social upheaval. Through the intimate, honest and direct portraits of life in crisis, issues of class, race and prejudice are revealed in ways rarely seen in television news footage.
In 1986, filmmaker Maxi Cohen was one of seven women filmmakers commissioned by German television to interpret the Seven Deadly Sins. She was given the sin of “anger” and began by putting an advertisement in The Village Voice that read, “What makes you angry?” Along with fellow filmmaker Joel Gold, she recorded the conversations with the people who replied. This exploration lead to a heart-wrenching and emotional film that shows the complexity of anger and its origins. Thirty four years later, Anger continues to resonate, especially as health, economic and political turmoil place anger at the forefront.
Seven Women, Seven Sins (1986) represents a quintessential moment in film history. The women filmmakers invited to direct for the seven sins were amongst the world's most renown: Helke Sander (Gluttony), Bette Gordon (Greed), Maxi Cohen (Anger), Chantal Akerman (Sloth), Valie Export (Lust), Laurence Gavron (Envy), and Ulrike Ottinger (Pride). Each filmmaker had the liberty of choosing a sin to interpret as they wished. The final film reflected this diversity, including traditional narrative fiction, experimental video, a musical, a radical documentary, and was delivered in multiple formats from 16, super 16, video and 35mm.
Intimate Interviews: Sex in Less than Two Minutes is a poetic repartee on the subject of sex, featuring performance artists.
Second Grade Dreams, filmed at P. S. 255 in Brooklyn, New York, is a series of brief vignettes of second-grade schoolchildren who recount their dreams and nightmares. The straightforward, stationary camera captures the children as their stories unfold, revealing both humorous and horrifying dreams about dinosaurs, blood and chocolate bars.
Las Vegas: Last Oasis in America is an irreverent exploration of this uniquely American city, which thrives on transience and celebrates wealth and instant success. Cohen's tour of Las Vegas includes a visit to the Liberace Museum, where the pianist's brother treats Cohen and her crew to a reverential look at Liberace memorabilia, as well as the casinos where patrons gather with intense concentration at the gaming tables. Cohen portrays a culture of high expectations and inevitable disappointment, exhibiting humor and empathy for the people who win and lose in the money-society of "the strip."
Cape May: End of the Season captures the individuality and idiosyncrasy of the beach community of Cape May, New Jersey. Cohen’s interviews along the seashore with retired vacationers who linger after Labor Day reveal a clichéd, postcard world crystallized in a whimsical reverie devoid of sorrow or youth. The good-natured relaxation of the elderly couples, interspersed with picturesque miniature golf courses and a shimmering empty beach, reveals the autumnal mood of the waning season and the twilight of old age.
Joe and Maxi is a film about Maxi Cohen's relationship with her father, made when she was 23 and after her mother died of cancer. This intimate and revealing documentary portrait of a family reveals the barriers to expressing and accepting love.
