Born in Flames poster featuring an unknown woman speaking into a microphone

Thursday, March 9 at 6pm
$15 | CCA Cinema

Justin Clifford Rhody presents the third installment of our Closer Looks: Cinema + Conversation series with Lizzie Borden’s 1983 film Born In Flames.

“Lizzie Borden’s 1983 feminist-revolutionary docufiction film is set in a dystopian near-future New York 10 years after the ‘social-democratic war of liberation’. During this time diverse groups of women begin to organize militant direct action groups in response to the unfulfilled promise of equality. Born In Flames intelligently addresses intersectionality and remains an inspiring call to arms in the modern era of drastic setbacks to the individual freedoms of women and continued systemic racism in the United States. Blending raw tone and precise analysis, the film features an excellent performance by activist Florence Kennedy and a rollicking score by The Red Krayola. Borden wrote, directed, produced and edited this radical work of speculative fiction on a shoestring budget using guerrilla filmmaking tactics over a five-year period. In 2016, Anthology Film Archives restored Born in Flames from the original 16mm internegative and I’m thrilled to be able to share it with you on the big screen at CCA!”- Justin Clifford Rhody

The program is followed by an in-depth discussion and open conversation on the film’s importance among the series curators and audience. To learn more about Closer Looks and this new initiative to bring cinemaphiles both seasoned and new into a social setting that is both fun and informative, click here.


Justin Clifford Rhody is a filmmaker, photographer, curator and sound artist based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. His work has been exhibited and published both nationally and internationally in museums, galleries, film festivals, universities, books, records, and online. Rhody is the founder and co-operator of No Name Cinema, a Santa Fe-based microcinema, gallery and community gathering space showcasing international and local experimental, avant-garde and repertory films, videos and visual art. Rhody also runs the Physical media imprint and plays violin, guitar and trumpet in free-improv sound ensembles.