Catherine Gund

Career

Catherine Gund was born in Geelong, Australia but grew up in Ohio. She attended Brown University and received a dual degree in Art/Semiotics and Women's Studies, and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Upon graduation, Catherine moved to New York City to do the Whitney Independent Study Program and joined ACT UP. She co-founded DIVA TV, the AIDS activist video collective affiliated with ACT UP/NY whose productions included DIVA TV, Target City Hall, Pride, "'69-89", "Like a Prayer", and "Stop the Church". During this time, she also became involved with Paper Tiger Television, a collectively produced weekly public access show, and contributed to shows from 1987-1989. Much of her early video work from this time is held at the New York Public Library as a part of their AIDS Activist Videotape Collection.

Catherine's activist video work focused on AIDS activism and the LGBTQ community. Her work in the early '90s included Bleach, Teach, and Outreach (1989, co-produced with Ray Navarro) to document the emergence of a city-sponsored needle exchange program to combat the spread of HIV; Keep Your Laws Off My Body (1990, co-produced with Zoe Leonard) about censorship and legislation against privacy and lesbian bodies; Among Good Christian Peoples (1991, co-produced with Jacqueline Woodson) based Woodson’s humorous essay about growing up as a black lesbian Jehovah’s Witness; I’m You, You’re Me: Women Surviving Prison Living with AIDS (1992, co-produced with Debbie Levine); Sacred Lies, Civil Truths (1993, co-produced with Cyrille Phipps) documents the insurgent “Religious” Right and its broad-based agenda, analyses their campaigns for anti-gay initiatives in Oregon and Colorado in 1992, also examines issues of family and religion in lesbian and gay communities; Not Just Passing Through (1994, co-produced with Polly Thistlethwaite, Dolores Perez, Jean Carlomusto) a four-part documentary about constructions of lesbian history, community and culture; Cuz It's A Boy (1994, about the murder of Brandon Teena); Positive: Life with HIV (1993-1995, senior associate producer & segment producer) AIDSFILMS’ four hour series about HIV/AIDS targeted at the HIV community covering political, psycho-social, cultural, medical and legal issues of living with HIV/AIDS.

In 1996, Catherine founded Aubin Pictures as a nonprofit documentary film company. She produced her first film When Democracy Works that same year, in a three-part focus on stories of multi-issue organizing against the rising radical right’s scapegoating and bigotry. Three years later she produced Hallelujah! Ron Athey: A Story of Deliverance about controversial and iconoclastic performance artist Ron Athey., and co-directed Object Lessons along with Catherine Lord, which uses the creation of a gallery exhibition to question received ideas about lesbian visibility, community, culture, and identity. In 2000 she produced On Hostile Ground, a documentary about three abortion providers working in the USA, in places where providers are scarce and abortion is avoided by most medical schools, hospitals and doctors, broadcast on the Sundance Channel;. In 2004 she produced Making Grace, documenting the journey of a lesbian couple trying to have a baby.

Catherine's recent productions under her film production company include "Dispatches from Cleveland" about how communities in Cleveland unite to fight for justice in the wake of police violence after the death of Tamir Rice, Chavela about the life and legend of lesbian Mexican ranchera chanteuse Chavela Vargas,'Emmy-nominated 'BORN TO FLY: Elizabeth Streb vs. Gravity (formerly "How to Become an Extreme Action Hero") about the life and work of choreographer Elizabeth Streb and What’s On Your Plate?, a documentary directed by Gund and two eleven-year-old girls about healthy, sustainable eating from a kid's perspective, which premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival and was featured in the Discovery Channel's Planet Green. Gund's documentary, A Touch of Greatness, about the revolutionary teaching practices of elementary school teacher Albert Cullum, was nominated for an Emmy. The film also won best documentary awards at Hamptons International Film Festival.

Her documents and videos have been featured in numerous TV Shows and films, including VICE Special Report: Countdown to Zero, How to Survive a Plague, United in Anger, and the 2012 documentary Koch.

Gund currently serves on several boards including Art Matters, Bard Early Colleges, Osa Conservation, and The George Gund Foundation. She is also a founding member of the Third Wave Foundation, an organization focused on supporting the activities of young women and transgender youth. She currently serves on the board of a number of arts and social justice organizations, including Art Matters and The George Gund Foundation. She was the founding director of BENT TV, the video workshop for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender youth. She was on the founding boards of Iris House, Working Films, Reality Dance Company, and The Sister Fund and has also served for MediaRights.org, The Robeson Fund of the Funding Exchange, The Vera List Center for Art and Politics at the New School, and the Astraea Foundation.

Filmography