Gloria's Call

In 1971, graduate student Gloria Orenstein receives a call from surrealist artist Leonora Carrington that sparks a lifelong journey into art, ecofeminism, and shamanism. A wife and mother of two writing her dissertation for New York University, Orenstein never expects to have her life transformed through female friendship. After corresponding for a time, Carrington whisks Orenstein off to the cafes of Paris where she witnesses the visionary art and personal struggles of Leonora Carrington, Jane Graverol, Leonor Fini and Meret Oppenheim. This leads Orenstein to write groundbreaking scholarly articles about women in surrealism. A decade later, Orenstein is a beloved professor at the University of Southern California, creating the first international conference on Ecofeminism. She receives another call, this time from a shaman who whisks her off to the mountaintops of Samiland to experience her own mystical journey, one she thought was reserved only for the artists of surrealism.

Gloria’s Call uses art, animation and storytelling to celebrate this wild adventure from the cafes of Paris to the mountaintops of Samiland. Orenstein’s delightful tale brings alive an often-unseen history of women in the arts.

This work was produced by artists Cheri Gaulke (director), Cheryl Bookout, Anne Gauldin, Sue Maberry and Christine Papalexis with funding from the Southern California chapter of the Women's Caucus for Art. The idea for the film was born during a presentation by renowned scholar Dr. Gloria Feman Orenstein at the SCWCA Surrealist Tea in October 2016. In February 2018, the national Women’s Caucus for Art presented Dr. Orenstein with a Lifetime Achievement Award.