Artists in Residence Documentary Screening
NMWA will present an award winning documentary film about women who chose art and independence over convention. The free screening is followed by a discussion with the film’s writer and director Katie Jacobs and composer Emily Wells. The talk will be moderated by Elise Peterson, founder of Cool Moms, a podcast and community platform focused on mothers who follow their passions in addition to parenthood.
About the film
Purchasing a house together on New York City’s Bowery neighborhood in the 1950s, three women artists (painter Lois Dodd, printmaker Eleanor Magid, and sculptor Louise Kruger) defied societal norms and prioritized their art over traditional roles as wives and mothers. Through interviews with the women, now in their 90s, as well as their grown children, Artists in Residence (2025, 93 minutes) explores the emotional complexities of being an artist and a parent. The film is a heartfelt celebration of independence, creativity, and the enduring strength of women artists.
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| Stills from Artists in Residence |
Artists in Residence premiered at 2025 DOC NYC, where it won the Metropolis Grand Jury Prize with impressive accolades: “The film uses honesty and vérité style to capture the emotional complexity of balancing creativity and identity. It invites reflection rather than easy answers, revealing how friendship, place, and persistence shape a life’s work…Artists in Residence celebrates the courage to live authentically and the power of art to define a lifetime.”
Artists in Residence was an official selection at the 2026 Green Mountain Film Festival, the Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival, the Woods Hole Film Festival, the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, and the Sarasota Film Festival. It screens next during the Heartland Film Festival in Indianapolis, October 2026.
When
Wednesday, October 7, 2026
6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Where
National Museum of Women in the Arts
1250 New York Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C.
Tickets and Registration:
Free.
Registration required.
Link to register: https://nmwa.org/whats-on/