Susan Streitfeld - Director
Susan Streitfeld is a 1976 graduate of New York University Film School. She worked in various areas of film production during her two years in New York with Independent Films and in Washington D.C. with the Smithsonian In-House Film Unit.
She moved to Los Angeles in 1979 to join the faculty of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts/West as an acting teacher and director. She co-founded the theatre company HOTHOUSE, producing plays such as Megan Terry's HOTHOUSE and the world premiere of John Cassavetes' EAST/WEST GAME. Ms. Streitfeld received numerous awards for her productions, most recently the L.A. Weekly's Best Revival Production of 1991 for the twenty-fifth anniversary production of THE KILLING OF SISTER GEORGE.
Ms. Streitfeld became a theatrical agent in 1983 for Triad Artists. She championed independent and foreign films, packaging her clients Danny Glover in Charles Burnett's TO SLEP WITH ANGER , Ed Harris in Alex Cox's WALDER, Colin Norma Aleandro in GABY. She also represented Jennifer Jason-Leigh , John Hurt, Juliette Binoche, Linda Hunt, Amy Madigan, Joanne Whalley-Kilmer and Gregory Peck.
She left the agency in1990 to find and develop a film project to direct. In 1991 she optioned Louise J. Kaplan's FEMALE PERVERSIONS, a non-fiction theoretical examination of what women do to fit into the order of the world, unconsciously binding themselves to the cultural, familial and social stereotypes of "normal femininity." The book was nominated for the National book Award of the year.
The film FEMALE PERVERSIONS premiered at Sundance 1996 in the dramatic competition, opened in Europe and Australia in the fall of 1996, Asia in 1998 and America in April of 1997, distributed by October Films. FEMALE PERVERSIONS was invited to many film festivals and was awarded the audience award at Creteil, France, the largest women's film festival in the world. The film also received great critical acclaim including the prestigious Siskel an Ebert's "Two Thumbs Up".
Ms Streitfeld has recently written and directed THE SUMMER OF MY DEFLOWERING, a half hour commissioned by Regina Ziegler for her erotic tale series. She has written her next feature, GIRL HERO, which is currently in pre-production with a Fall 2000 start date.
