
Shoes
Lois Weber was the very first female to shoot a feature film and build a rich Hollywood oeuvre that is often compared to that of D.W. Griffith in quality and quantity. A woman of many talents, she began her career in music and theater. Her revolutionary use of split screen, which she pioneered, made her work iconic.
The melodrama Shoes follows a store girl who is so poor that she is tempted to prostitute herself. Weber makes eager use of mirrors and also cleverly deploys the tactile materiality of clothing—we feel her social humiliation and physical pain. As she walks in the rain, the holes in her soles get bigger and more ragged, cardboard stains dissolve in the mushy ground.
The film will be screened with live accompaniment by Lou Wery on piano and effects and will be introduced by Film-Plateau coordinator Julie Daems.