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Freude Bartlett by Tony Reveaux
Freude as a young woman, relaxing in Bolinas. photo Scott Barlett
Freude Bartlett, who helped create and nurture the avant-garde and feminist film movements of the 1960s and 70s - and designed distinctive marketing campaigns for the early personal computing industry - died in November at her home in Oakland. The cause was liver failure, according to family friend Sheila O'Donnell of Bolinas.
In a 1986 interview with Jump Cut, Freude reflected on the 1960s renaissance of avant-garde ('underground') film: "This film movement, from Warhol to Brakhage, reflected the social tensions of the decade - the search for alternative values and ways of seeing and defining ourselves. These same aims were reflected in the early 70s in films by women, which provided new perceptions of women's capabilities and value. At the time, no major commercial distributor specialized in avant-garde films or women's film."
"She served as student secretary for our Department of Cinema here in 1967-69," said Warren Haack, IT Consultant at SF State University. Freude founded Serious Business Company in 1972 to distribute independent films, ultimately establishing a catalogue of 60 artists and over 250 titles. She provided early and critical support for the works of such filmmakers as: James Broughton, Shirley Clarke, Bruce Conner, Johanna Demetrakas, Tom DeWitt, Barbara Hammer, John Knoop, Kathleen Laughlin, Danny Lyon, Gunvor Nelson, Pat O'Neill, Carolee Schneemann, Penelope Spheeris, and Chick Strand, as well as husband Scott Bartlett.
"In the 1970s, I rented and bought 16mm prints from her company to show at Intersection. She was a wonderful person who worked hard at promoting experimental film," said Karl Cohen.
As part of the New American Animation movement of the 70s, Freude brought into her catalogue artists such as George Griffin, Suzan Pitt Kraning, Sally Cruikshank, Mary Beams, Dennis Pies, Kathy Rose, and Robert Dvorak. An insightful social networker and gifted multitasker, she provided lively dialog and constructive collaborations between animators working on the West Coast and in New York.
"Freude's hair was flaming, flaming red," said Cruikshank. "She had a wonderful voice and laugh. She encouraged many independent filmmakers, and would try to organize dinners when visitors came to town, some of which I went to."
After earning a Masters degree in Information Sciences at UC Berkeley, in 1986 she founded the communications firm Metropolis Media, whose clients included PC World, Intel, and non-profits whose goals she supported.
"You had to take a leap of faith to work with Freude, because she was anything but conventional," recalled David Bunnell, early tech media entrepreneur and founder of PC World, Macworld, and Macworld Expo. "But those of us who took that leap were rewarded handsomely, as she always delivered more than she promised - and it was usually something totally unexpected, mind-bending but effective. I loved working with her."
Metropolis Media published corporate annual reports in the guise of children's readers, turned training manuals into CD pinball games, and designed direct mail campaigns that appeared to be fly fishing tutorials, all treading a narrow path between commerce and art. Her marketing solutions were notable for their use of literate quotes from sources as diverse as Thucydides, Kafka, and Satchel Paige.
Freude, who went only by her first name, spent her childhood in leg braces due to polio. An instant impression was made by her big ideas, big laugh, big heart and big red hair. In the 1960s she lived and worked in San Francisco with then-husband filmmaker Scott Bartlett at the Reno Hotel, an independent filmmaker enclave. She promoted Bartlett's work, along with that of West Coast women filmmakers, on the WCBS television show Camera Three. She described her own film, Folly, in which she is seen sweeping the beach, as "a private joke on the nature of the human condition."
Freude is survived by daughter Stevias Solomon and son Elon Bartlett. Posted on Jan 05, 2009 - 11:10 PM