Catherine Gund

Catherine Gund
Born	Catherine Gund Saalfield 1965 Geelong, Australia
Nationality	American

Catherine Gund (born Catherine Gund Saalfield; 1965, Geelong, Australia)^[1] is a producer, director, writer, and activist^[2] who founded Aubin Pictures in 1996.^[3] Catherine Gund's films have been featured in numerous film festivals and on national television networks, and her film A Touch of Greatness was nominated for an Emmy.^[4]

Career

Catherine Gund's media work focuses on strategic and sustainable social transformation, arts and culture, HIV/AIDS and reproductive health, and the environment through documentary films and videos that promote cultural and social awareness and change.^[3] Aubin Pictures' recent productions include "Amor Puro y Duro" ^[5] about the life and legend of lesbian Mexican ranchera chanteuse Chavela Vargas,BORN TO FLY: Elizabeth Streb vs. Gravity^[6] (formerly "How to Become an Extreme Action Hero") about the life and work of choreographer Elizabeth Streb and What’s On Your Plate?, a documentary directed by Gund and two eleven-year-old girls about healthy, sustainable eating from a kid's perspective, which premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival ^[7] and was featured in the Discovery Channel's Planet Green.^[8] Three of Aubin Pictures' previous productions, Motherland Afghanistan, Positive: Life with HIV, and A Touch of Greatness were broadcast on PBS Independent Lens. ^[9][10] A Touch of Greatness, a documentary about the revolutionary teaching practices of elementary school teacher Albert Cullum, was nominated for an Emmy as a result of this broadcast. The film also won best documentary awards at Hamptons International Film Festival. Other works from Gund and Aubin Pictures are Making Grace; ^[11] On Hostile Ground, which was broadcast on the Sundance Channel;^[12][13] Object Lessons ; and Hallelujah! Ron Athey: A Story of Deliverance about controversial and iconoclastic performance artist Ron Athey.^[14] Before founding Aubin Pictures, Gund was a member of the activist video collectives DIVA TV (co-founder) and Paper Tiger Television, as a part of the ACT UP movement in New York City.^{[15] [16]} Much of her early video work from this time is held at the New York Public Library as a part of their AIDS Activist Videotape Collection. Her documents and videos have been featured in numerous TV Shows and films, including VICE Special Report: Countdown to Zero,^[17] How to Survive a Plague, United in Anger, and the 2012 documentary Koch.

Gund currently serves on several boards including Art Matters, Bard Early Colleges, Osa Conservation, and The George Gund Foundation. She co-founded the Third Wave Foundation which supports young women and transgender youth, and DIVA TV, an affinity group of ACT UP/NY. She is also a founding member of the Third Wave Foundation, an organization focused on supporting the activities of young feminist activists. She currently serves on the board of a number of arts and social justice organizations, including Art Matters and The George Gund Foundation.^[18] She was the founding director of BENT TV, the video workshop for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender youth. She was on the founding boards of Iris House, Working Films, Reality Dance Company, and The Sister Fund and has also served for MediaRights.org, The Robeson Fund of the Funding Exchange, The Vera List Center for Art and Politics at the New School, and the Astraea Foundation.^[19]

Filmography

• American Rhapsody (2016)
• Amor Puro y Duro (2016)
• BORN TO FLY: Elizabeth Streb vs. Gravity (2014)
• What's On Your Plate? (2009)
• Sesame Street: Rhyme Time (2009)
• Motherland Afghanistan (2006)
• Making Grace (2004)
• Touch of Greatness (2004)
• On Hostile Ground (2000)
• Object Lessons (1999)
• Hallelujah! Ron Athey: A Story of Deliverance (1998)
• When Democracy Works (1996)
• Positive: Life with HIV (1993-1995)
• Cuz It's Boy (1994)
• Western Artists/African Art: The Artists Speak (1994)
• Not Just Passing Through (1994)
• B.U.C.K.L.E. (1993)
• Sacred Lies, Civil Truths (1993)
• AIDS Activist Videotape Collection (1987 - 1992) including I’m You, You’re Me: Women Surviving Prison Living with AIDS, Target City Hall and the Montreal AIDS conference among other documents and candid encounters captured during the AIDS crisis.
• Among Good Christian Peoples (1991)
• DIVA TV (1989-1991)
• Keep Your Laws Off My Body (1990)
• Ends and Means (1990) Produced by Catherine Gund and DeeDee Halleck. Documents the proceedings of the Anti-Communism conference at Harvard University. Video.
• Bleach, Teach, and Outreach (1989) co-producer (with Ray Navarro).
• Paper Tiger Television (1981)

Selected Bibliography

• "There are Many Ways to Say Hallelujah" in Pleading in the Blood: The Art and Performances of Ron Athey (2013)^[20]
• What’s On Your Plate? Kids And Their Families Talk About What They Eat, Where It Comes From and Why That Matters, with Mary Jeys and Cassie Wagler (2011)
• "The Education of Young Donors is a Two-Way Street," in "The Chronicle of Philanthropy" (1999)^[21]
• "Lucky," with Scot Nakagawa in Queerly Classed, ed. Susan Raffo (1997)^[22]
• "Memorials" in Encyclopedia of AIDS: A Social, Political, Cultural, and Scientific Record of the Epidemic, ed. Raymond A. Smith (1997)
• "Till Death Do Us Part" in Generation Q: Inheriting Stonewall, eds. Seth Silberman and Robin Bernstein (1996)^[23]
• "Lesbian Marriage... (K)not!" in Sisters, Sexperts, Queers: Beyond the Lesbian Nation, ed. Arlene Stein, Plume (1993, reprinted from OUTWEEK #13, 1989)^[24]
• "Shocking Pink Praxis: Race and Gender on the ACT UP Frontlines," with Ray Navarro, in Inside/Out: Lesbian Theories, Gay Theories, ed. Diana Fuss (1991)^[25]
• Women, AIDS and Activism, The ACT UP Women’s Book Collective (co-author) (1990)

References