Calamity Jane and Delphine Seyrig - A Story

In 1983 Delphine Seyrig, who had known Mangolte since they worked together on Chantal Akerman’s Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles, approached Mangolte to be the cinematographer on a film she was making about American frontierswoman Martha Jane Canary, better known as Calamity Jane. Using the original footage of the incomplete film, uncovered in 2011, Mangolte crafted a film that is simultaneously a work of feminist historical revision, self-reflection, and a tribute to the late Seyrig. “Not giving up is what the film had to be about, as it was Delphine’s greatest strength.”—Babette Mangolte