What if …A Film About Judith Merril

An hour length documentary written and directed by Helene Klodawsky

Producer: Imageries, 1998

Broadcasters: Space TV, Bravo! Télé Québec, Dutch Arts Channel.

An exploration of Science Fiction’s “golden age” of the forties and fifties through the eyes of radical thinker and SF pioneer, Judith Merril. Filmed  shortly before her death at the age of 74, this film salutes Judith Merril—writer, editor and icon of the science fiction literary genre. A candid and clever trailblazer, she was one of the first writers to create stories with believable female characters in a medium notorious for “she-devil” aliens and damsels in distress. Merril muses on the role science fiction played as an outlet for socio-political criticism during the McCarthy era and its influence as a blueprint for exploring space and other future frontiers. Looking back on her career, she recalls the ingenious men and women who dared to dream of different worlds and mischievously declares, “You have to make your own reality out of your dreams.” 

Awards:

Gold Prize, The Chicago International Television Festival, 1999.

Prize for Best Portrait at the 17th International Festival Of Films On Art (Montreal) 1999, Honourable Mention at the Columbus International Film and Video Festival, 1999.