''My Name is Andrea'' is a 2022 British

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

by Pratibha Parmar about the

second-wave feminist Second-wave feminism was a period of feminist activity that began in the early 1960s and lasted roughly two decades, ending with the feminist sex wars in the early 1980s and being replaced by third-wave feminism in the early 1990s. It occurred t ...

and public figure

Andrea Dworkin Andrea Rita Dworkin (September 26, 1946 – April 9, 2005) was an American radical feminist writer and activist best known for her analysis of pornography. Her feminist writings, beginning in 1974, span 30 years. They are found in a dozen sol ...

. It tells the story of Dworkin's life through a hybrid mix of archival footage and dramatic performances by five different actresses:

Amandla Stenberg Amandla Stenberg (born October 23, 1998) is an American actress. She began her career as a child and received recognition for playing List of The Hunger Games characters#Rue, Rue in the action film ''The Hunger Games (film), The Hunger Games'' ( ...

Soko Soko ( sh-Cyrl, Соко) was a Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Yugoslav aircraft manufacturer based in Mostar, Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina. The company was responsible for the production of ...

Andrea Riseborough Andrea Louise Riseborough (born 20 November 1981) is an English actress. She made her film debut with a small part in ''Venus'' (2006), and has since appeared in more prominent roles in '' Brighton Rock'' (2010), '' W.E.'' (2011), '' Shadow Dan ...

Ashley Judd Ashley Tyler Ciminella, known professionally as Ashley Judd (born April 19, 1968), is an American actress and activist. She grew up in a family of performing artists, the daughter of country music singer Naomi Judd and the half-sister of country ...

, and

Christine Lahti Christine Ann Lahti (born April 4, 1950) is an American actress and filmmaker. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the 1984 film '' Swing Shift''. Her other film roles include '' ...And Justice for All'' (197 ...

. The film premiered at the

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Enterprises. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. The festival ...

and was generally praised by critics.

Synopsis

''My Name is Andrea'' tells the story of Andrea Dworkin's life through a mixture of archive footage and dramatic performances by five different actresses, representing her at different ages:

and

play a young Dworkin, interested in poetry and politics;

is the wife in Amsterdam;

and

play the older Dworkin as she became a public figure. Events in Dworkin's life are depicted such as her sexual assault by two male doctors at the

New York Women's House of Detention New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...

, her friendship with

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with Lucien Carr, William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of th ...

, her marriage and abusive relationship in Amsterdam, her focus on writing, her many public appearances including one at the

Cambridge Union The Cambridge Union Society, also known as the Cambridge Union, is a historic debating and free speech society in Cambridge, England, and the largest society in the University of Cambridge. The society was founded in 1815 making it the oldest ...

, her collaboration with

Catharine A. MacKinnon Catharine Alice MacKinnon (born October 7, 1946) is an American feminist legal scholar, activist, and author. She is the Elizabeth A. Long Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School, where she has been tenured since 1990, and the J ...

, her 1999 rape in Paris and her long loving relationship with John Stoltenberg. The archive footage includes home video of Dworkin with her family as a child and appearances on ''

The Phil Donahue Show ''The Phil Donahue Show'' is an American talk show that was hosted by Phil Donahue. The show ran for twenty-nine seasons from November 6, 1967, to September 13, 1996, in which it broadcast 6,715 episodes. Before it was placed in syndication ...

'' and '' After Dark''. There are also references to contemporary feminist issues such as the murders of Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa.

Production

Pratibha Parmar told Alexandra Juhasz in ''

Ms. Ms. (American English) or Ms (British English; normally , but also , or when unstressed)''Oxford English Dictionary'' online, Ms, ''n.2''. Etymology: "An orthographic and phonetic blend of Mrs ''n.1'' and miss ''n.2'' Compare mizz ''n.'' The pr ...

'' magazine that it took her eight years to make the documentary. Her first step was to write a screenplay based entirely on

's own words. The executive producers included

Gloria Steinem Gloria Marie Steinem ( ; born March 25, 1934) is an American journalist and social movement, social-political activist who emerged as a nationally recognized leader of second-wave feminism in the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s. ...

and the music was arranged by

Nitin Sawhney Nitin Sawhney (; born 1964) is a British musician, producer and composer. A recipient of the Ivor Novello Lifetime Achievement award in 2017, among multiple international awards throughout his career. Sawhney's work combines Asian and other ...

Release

The film premiered in June 2022 at the

in the USA and at Sheffield DocFest in the UK.

Critical response

Critics generally praised the hybrid documentary style which Parmar used.

Richard Brody Richard Brody (born January 22, 1958) is an American film critic, filmmaker and author. Background Brody grew up in Roslyn, New York. He is Jewish and has personally identified as an atheist. Brody attended Princeton University, receiving a B ...

writing in ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'' called the film "deeply moving" and ''

The London Magazine ''The London Magazine'' is the title of six different publications that have appeared in succession since 1732. All six have focused on the arts, literature and poetry. A number of Nobel Laureates, including Annie Ernaux, Albert Camus, Doris Les ...

'' found the film "crafted, emotive, and powerful". The '' IndieWire'' review also praised aspects of the films, whilst criticizing its "dogged insistence on sugarcoating Dworkin’s legacy".

References

External links

*
Official website
{{Authority control 2022 documentary films 2022 films 2020s English-language films Documentary films about feminism Films scored by Nitin Sawhney English-language documentary films