The Student Nurses (1970)

"Four beautiful young students in their last year of nursing school work hard on their bedside manner to satisfy their patients' every need. They also find time to encounter several hot 1970 issues, such as abortion and protests. The Student Nurses is a good contemporary dual-bill item about the varying romantic experiences of four novice nurses. The acting level is fair at best, which drags down what otherwise is a well-crafted film. Charles S. Swartz produced, and his wife Stephanie Rothman's physical direction is excellent. Executive producer Roger Corman is releasing through his new indie, New World Pictures. The Student Nurses is an exploitation item to be sure, but beyond those angles, general audiences will find a surprising depth." («Daily Variety», 17. 9. 1970)


The Working Girls (1974)

Working Girls, Stephanie Rothman's last picture produced by her own production company, Dimension Pictures, tells the story of three women looking for a job: Honey, Jill and Denise try to make an honest living in male-dominated Los Angeles. In balancing the representation of male and female nudes, Rothman rejects conventional structures of objectification and exploitation in favor of reciprocal sexual attraction. Her films embody progressive new attitudes towards human sexuality, attitudes consistent with her liberal feminism. Sex has consequences in the exploitation cinema of Stephanie Rothman, be it the debates about abortion in The Student Nurses or the images of social transformation in Terminal Island. Women have historically had to pay the price for sexual freedom, and so a feminist eroticism requires a recognition of both the costs and the benefits of sex. Rothman's films reject the alienated sexuality of prostitution and sexual exploitation. Her women don't want to «just lie back and take it». Sex is not to be treated as part of a system of economic exchange, but rather to be part of the regeneration of the social order. (Henry Jenkins)

Writer/director Stephanie Rothman was the first female to be awarded the Directors Guild of America fellowship. Her commercially successful film "The Student Nurses" broke ground in the exploitation film genre as it featured women in leading roles. Her next film, The Velvet Vampire has become a cult hit.
She was one of the few female filmmakers who specialized in low-budget drive-in exploitation fare in the 60s and 70s. Her movies are distinguished by gutsy, strong-willed, and sympathetic women main characters and a radical libertarian feminist point of view. Stephanie was born on November 9, 1936 in Paterson, New Jersey. She was the first lady to be awarded the Directors Guild of America fellowship. Rothman served as an associate producer on "Queen of Blood," "Beach Ball," and "Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet." She co-wrote and co-directed the fright flick "Blood Bath." She made her solo directorial debut with the frothy "Beach Party" romp "It's a Bikini World." Stephanie made two features for Roger Corman's New World Pictures: the excellent "The Student Nurses" -- which was the first and best of the popular nurse comedy cycle -- and the offbeat and inspired horror bloodsucker outing "The Velvet Vampire." Rothman then went to work for Dimension Pictures, where she and her writer/producer husband Charles S. Swartz had a minority share in the company. Stephanie made the charming "Group Marriage," the delightful "The Working Girls," and the gritty "Terminal Island" for Dimension Pictures. Moreover, she wrote the story for the enjoyable fantasy adventure "Beyond Atlantis" and penned the screenplay for the amusingly inane "Starhops." In 2007 Stephanie Rothman was honored with a retrospective on her work at the Vienna International Film Festival. (From http:http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0580571/bio )