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They have a name for girls like me.

digital video // 38 minutes & 44 seconds and growing // 2007 - ongoing

“Along these lines, artist Julie Perini takes a uniquely maddening conceptual tack in her ongoing series of videos and digital prints, collectively entitled "They have a name for girls like me." Perini chooses films with characters who have the same first name as she does. Then she edits the films down such that the only moments that remain are those in which the character’s name is spoken. This yields a prolonged, oddly affecting stutter — “Julie …  Julie …  Julie …  Julie ...” in different contexts, divorced from any semblance of plot — rather like a Philip Glass aria.” -  by Richard Speer for Visual Arts Source, from a review of the group show “Self(ie) Portraits,” 2014
They have a name for girls like me.(short version, 1 minute)
They have a name for girls like me. (full version, 38 minutes & 45 seconds)

They have a name for girls like me. can be called a found footage film, a collage, a remix, an appropriation, a compilation, a détournment. The video is composed of shots from 35 feature films with lead characters named Julie. The film constantly grows as I add more Julie films to it; a new version screens every time the piece shows at a theater or gallery. 

I began the project in 2007. I had long loved the film Valley Girl and wanted to make a video with it, since the main character is named Julie. Another film I loved at the time, Chantal Akerman’s Je Tu Il Elle, also starred a Julie character. Some quick research brought to my attention the 1956 film Julie, starring Doris Day, and the 1975 Bollywood film Julie. I gathered all the films together and edited them down to just the parts where someone utters the word “Julie,” creating an exhausting repetition of the word.

I have continued to research Julie films and I discovered an array of typical and atypical female roles in global cinema: wanton women, slutty teens, rebellious housewives, and more. It’s been an interesting journey through global cinema history: some films ignite my fury against heteropatriarchy and white supremacy, while other make me fall in love with the movies all over again. It’s been satisfying to destroy certain Julie films and joyful to spend time with other Julie films that teach me about humanity.

still images from the video
Chantal Akerman is Jujlie in Je, Tu, Il, Elle, directed by Chantal Akerman
Deborah Foreman is Julie in Valley Girl, directed by Martha Coolidge
Elaine Kao is Julie in Red Doors, directed by Georgia Lee
a postcard produced to promote the 2017 They have a name for girls like me. exhibition at Upfor
publication
I created a publication about the project, to be given out freely to all people named Julie. The booklet discusses all of the Julie films I have gathered thus far. A PDF of the They have a name for girls like me. booklet is available here.

They have a name for girls like me. publication
They have a name for girls like me. publication
from the group exhibition, Self(ie) Portraits, Upfor Gallery, 2024
selected screenings & exhibitions
2021: Building Community, curated by Linda Tesner, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at Portland State University
2017: They have a name for girls like me. exhibition, Upfor, Portland, Oregon
2014: Self(ie) Portraits, group show co-curated by Theo Downes-LeGuin & Heather Lee Birdsong, Upfor, Portland, Oregon
2010: Shoot First and Ask Questions Later: Experimental Video by Julie Perini, The Tahoe Gallery at the Sierra Nevada College of Fine Arts
2009: Watch me break it down: Julie Perini. MK Gallery at Portland State University
Julie Perini is a filmmaker and artist in Portland, Oregon.