Olson describes her contemplative film practice as a “completely impossible and yet partially successful effort to stop time.” She unearths arcane yet politically meaningful histories-a recounting of the Spanish colonization of California, the history of suicide and the Golden Gate Bridge, an appreciation of the work of French Symbolist poet Jules Laforgue -and remains philosophically devoted to the redemption of nostalgia as a path for the rediscovery of lost wisdom. Combining mundane urban landscapes with intimate voiceover narration, these durational, formalist 16mm films often revolve around recurring themes of gender identity and butchness, the joys of Hollywood cinema and identification with its characters and a longing for unavailable women.
Her two feature-length essay films, The Joy of Life (2005) and The Royal Road (2015), premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and, like her many short works, have been widely acclaimed for their unique storytelling style.
Jenni Olson is an acclaimed nonfiction filmmaker, writer, film curator, historian and collector based in San Francisco.