Edith Stephen(1919-2021)

Edith Stephen was born May, 1919 in Salamanca, New York, USA. She is a director, writer, and producer, known for her documentaries and experimental films. Before she became a filmmaker she was a dancer who for decades toured the U.S., Europe, and China with her dance troupe. In 1970 she became one of the first occupants of Westbeth Artists Housing, a nonprofit dedicated to providing affordable living and working space for artists and arts organizations in New York City. She still resides there and does her creative work there. One of her documentaries, "Split/Scream" (2008), is about that residence as told through interviews with fellow tenants from various artistic disciplines, among them writer-director Merce Cunningham.