Episode 14: Sisters with Transistors with Lisa Rovner

SISTERS WITH TRANSISTORS is the remarkable untold story of electronic music’s female pioneers who embraced machines and their liberating technologies to transform how music is produced and listened to today.

These visionary women embarked on radical experimentation, creating the sounds of the future with tape reels, scissors, and sticky tape as their primary means. But unfortunately, when electronic music was finally recognized, they were almost forgotten.

Lisa Rovner rectifies this imbalance with rare archives showing their wild creativity and celebrating their contributions with style and substance.

Laurie Anderson lends her voice to the narration. She guides us through this fascinating journey of the evolution of electronic music from a female perspective, where we learn how new devices opened music to an entirely new field of sound and transformed the very terms of musical thought.

Sisters with Transistors is more than just the history of a music genre: it's the story of how we hear and the critical but little-known role female pioneers play in that story.

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ABOUT THE DIRECTOR

Lisa Rovner is a filmmaker based in London. All of her films and writings reflect a clear engagement with historical precedents and predecessors, with a desire to confront History with her story. As a storyteller, she has always been drawn to shining a light on the underdogs. Her interest lies in affecting social change through dissemination of information and aesthetic experience.

All of her creative projects, ranging from short films, music videos, and art exhibitions are strung together by a fascination with archives and sound. Rovner has collaborated with some of the most internationally respected artists including Pierre Huyghe, Liam Gillick, and Sebastien Tellier.

Her films have been presented internationally including at the FIAC Art Fair, Art Basel Switzerland, the Paris Film Festival, the Anthology Film Archives, among others. She has also received grants from Image/Movement (Centre national des Arts Plastiques) and from Agnes b.