Zola, Elisa, and Isa are behind the hard-to-believe-is-true video distribution initiative called MissVideo4u.
What is MV4u?
Aimed at fostering a borderless community of queer & women artists, MissVideo4u distributes videos by compiling artist submissions via USB and sharing them through snail mail as “video chainletters”. Reworking the “chainletter tape” for the platform age, MV4u builds on the legacy of feminist media tactics to create an offline infrastructure for video sharing & preservation without algorithmic curation or profit incentive.
Why did you start it?
This project began when Zola first stumbled upon the Joanie4Jackie archives at Bard College – where we all first met – and discovered the chainletter tape, a medium made obsolete in an era where you will own nothing and be happy. We see MV4u as a revival of the chainletter tape medium and a continuation of feminist resistance. The USB sneakernet can address the gaps in education that keep women’s film & video history in the dark while also generating a sense of stewardship and care. Beyond the chainletter, MV4u is sort of an excuse for us to do all kinds of work, from screening animations made by Palestinian children to fundraise their arts education to showcasing work made with & by incarcerated women and girls.
Who or what inspired you?
We’re inspired by the generations of women filmmakers who have been preserving, teaching, and making film and video art accessible outside traditional institutional circles. For instance, back in the 70s and 80s, Chilean filmmaker Alicia Vega led film workshops for impoverished children in Santiago; meanwhile, Ariel Dougherty, co-founder of Women Make Movies, was getting cameras into the hands of young women at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in New York. Despite the fact that these women were unaware of each other’s work, when you look at them side by side, you realize that this labor reaches far beyond an individual place or person, and we are hoping to carry that spirit forward.
Visit mv4u.club to learn more, submit, or watch.
