Yvonne Rainer is one of the most important feminist, avant-garde filmmakers working today. She began her career as a dancer and choreographer, and was one of the founders of hte Judson Dance Theater. Since the mid-1970s, however, she has worked almost entirely in film and here works in that medium have been the subject of more than a dozen retrospectives, the most recent of which was at the Film Society of Lincoln Center. She has been honored with honorary degrees from art schools and with fellowships from the Guggenheim and MacArthur foundations.
Her works have unblinkingly explored such issues as menopause, breast cancer, lesbianism, sexual dissatisfaction,a nd political violence against women. Increasingly, they have moved beyond the festiva circuit to premiere in art theaters in the United States as well as overseas. Her most recent feature-length film, Murder and Murder (the script of which is included in this volume), opened in New York last month.