SERIOUS BUSINESS COMPANY [Scarce 1976 Film Catalogue] Freunde. Published by Freunde, Berkeley, CA, 1976. First edition. Illustrated softcover, 9" x 6", 159 pages, illustrated in b&w throughout. The film catalog of an iconic Bay Area feminist film distributor. GOOD Condition: complete as issued with a few sheets of company ephemera laid in, just some light wear from age and use otherwise tight, bright, clean and unmarked. Scarce.

Freude's extremely rare catalog explores sexual identity and representation, her curated film descriptions are brief but succinct and ultimately preserve a record of films by pioneering women filmmakers of the 1960s-1970s.

Feminist filmmaker and trailblazing film distribution entrepreneur, Freude (1942-2009) was a central figure in the San Francisco Bay Area film community in the late 1960s and 1970s. Freude founded Serious Business Company (1972-1984) to champion and distribute independent, feminist, avant-garde, underground, and experimental films, ultimately establishing a catalogue of 60 artists and over 250 titles. Focusing on personal, animated, and sexuality themed works, she provided early and critical support for the works of such filmmakers as James Broughton, Shirley Clarke, Bruce Conner, Johanna Demetrakas, Tom DeWitt, Barbara Hammer, John Knoop, Kathleen Laughlin, Danny Lyon, Gunvor Nelson, Pat O'Neill, Carolee Schneemann, Penelope Spheeris, and Chick Strand, and ex husband Scott Bartlett. Her company distributed many of the era's most acclaimed independent and experimental films, and created a platform for discovering lesser known works. At the time, no major commercial distributor specialized in avant-garde films or women's film. When her business shuttered, the golden age of independent and experimental film distribution was, essentially, finished. Freude's idea of a feminist identity offer a relevant way to curate the feminist, lesbian, and queer art and film of today.