Sande Zeig

Sande Zeig
Occupationfilm director
PartnerMonique Wittig

Sande Zeig is an American film director and writer. She was the partner of late French feminist writer Monique Wittig.[1] She directed the 2000 romantic drama The Girl.

Biography

Sande Zeig is from New York City and is of Jewish heritage.[2] She studied theater in Wisconsin and Paris. In 1975, Zeig was living in Paris, studying mime and teaching karate, when she met the writer Monique Wittig.[3][4]

Zeig and Wittig co-wrote the French book Brouillon pour un dictionnaire des amantes, which they both later translated into the English Lesbian Peoples: Material for a Dictionary. The work is a piece of metafiction, using its own form and contents to critique the male-centric viewpoints commonly used in encyclopedic dictionaries. The entries in their encyclopedia describe a fictional lesbian utopia, and in the original French edition, even nouns and pronouns which would normally have masculine endings are written with feminine endings instead.[5] The entry for Sappho is one blank page, which scholar Jack Winkler describes as appropriate and refreshing given Sappho's poetry and reception.[6] In the title of the French edition, Brouillon means rough draft. Scholar Kristine Anderson interprets this as a comment on how much more of the lesbian world exists than can be captured in the work, and more broadly, a reminder that all encyclopedias fail to capture a full portrayal of the world.[7]

Zeig and Wittig collaborated on a theater piece called "The Constant Journey." They used distancing effects and subverted theater conventions to alienate the audience, allowing for more lesbian themes to come through in the work.[8]

Zeig and Jeff Lunger were primary programmers for the New Festival for several years, choosing experimental films with the goal of attracting the attention and respect of the art-film industry. The board replaced them in 1993 with a selection committee, with the goal of choosing a new palate of films that would be more commercial and help the festival connect with sponsors and distributors.[9]

Zeig's 2000 film, The Girl is based on a short story by Wittig.[10] Her 2008 biographical film Soul Masters: Dr. Guo and Dr. Sha follows the work of two Chinese healers, one of whom had previously treated Zeig's father.[11] Zeig is the founder of New York City film distribution company Artistic License Films.[12]

Wittig, Zeig's partner of many years, died on January 3, 2003.[13]

Filmography

  • Central Park (1994)
  • The Girl (2000)
  • Soul Masters: Dr. Guo and Dr. Sha (2008)
  • Apache 8 (2011)
  • Sister Jaguar's Journey (2015)
  • The Living Saint of Thailand: Venerable Mae Chee Sansanee Sthirasuta(2019)
  • Firelighters:Fire Is Medicine(2024)

Bibliography

  • Lesbian Peoples: Material for a Dictionary (Brouillon pour un dictionnaire des amantes) — coauthored with Monique Wittig

See also

References

  1. ^ "the Committee on LGBT Studies at the University of Arizona". Archived from the original on July 7, 2007. Retrieved January 2, 2007.
  2. ^ "Bridging cultures topic for AZ International Film Festival". Arizona Jewish Post. Retrieved 2020-12-05.
  3. ^ Krach, Aaron (April 17, 2001). "More than "The Girl": Director, Distributor, Karate instructor Sande Zeig". indieWIRE. Archived from the original on December 6, 2005. Retrieved February 1, 2007.
  4. ^ Griffin, Gabriele (2002). Who's Who in Lesbian and Gay Writing. Routledge. p. 287. ISBN 0-415-15984-9.
  5. ^ Anderson, Kristine J. (1994). "Lesbianizing English: Wittig and Zeig Translate Utopia". L'Esprit Créateur. 34 (4): 90–97. ISSN 0014-0767 – via JSTOR.
  6. ^ Winkler, Jack (1981-01-01). "Gardens of nymphs: Public and private in Sappho's lyrics". Women's Studies. 8 (1–2): 65. doi:10.1080/00497878.1981.9978532. ISSN 0049-7878.
  7. ^ Anderson, Kristine (1991). "Encyclopedic Dictionary as Utopian Genre: Two Feminist Ventures". Utopian Studies. 2 (1/2): 126. ISSN 1045-991X.
  8. ^ Scanlon, Julie (November 1, 2010). "Getting The Girl: Wittig and Zeig's Trojan Horse". Genders – via University of Colorado Boulder.
  9. ^ Gamson, Joshua (1996). "The Organizational Shaping of Collective Identity: The Case of Lesbian and Gay Film Festivals in New York". Sociological Forum. 11 (2): 253–254. ISSN 0884-8971.
  10. ^ Ferber, Lawrence (June 5, 2001). "That Girl". The Advocate. Here Publishing. Retrieved January 16, 2010.
  11. ^ Arcayna, Nancy (September 20, 2008). "Soul masters". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Retrieved June 13, 2009.
  12. ^ Elley, Derek (October 16, 2000). "The Girl Review". Variety. Retrieved August 19, 2007.
  13. ^ Woo, Elaine (January 11, 2003). "Monique Wittig, 67; Leading French Feminist, Social Theorist and Novelist". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2025-06-07.


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