Through Her Lens: 2013 (The 86th Oscars)

A series by Juan Carlos Ojano. Introduction / Explanation

Steve McQueen became the first Black director to helm a Best Picture winner for 12 Years a Slave (2013), telling the harrowing story of African-American freeman Solomon Northup who was kidnapped in 1841 and was sold to slavery. McQueen also became the first Black producer to receive a Best Picture award. Meanwhile, the film’s biggest competition was Gravity, a science fiction-thriller film set in space. Winning seven Oscars, the film was directed by Alfonso Cuarón, becoming the first Latin American to win the Best Director Oscar.

While having these two films as frontrunners is a win for representation at the Oscars,  female directors were still left out of the conversation for majority of the awards season.  Out of the 289 films included in the Reminder List of Eligible Films in 2013 (86th Academy Awards), only 32* (11.1%) were directed/co-directed by women...

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Doc Corner: The Cowgirls of 'Bitterbrush'

By Glenn Dunks

Emelie Mahdavian’s first documentary feature was set in Tajikstan. The remote mountains of Idaho in the American west may seem like something of a remarkable jump, but it’s really not one at all. Topographically speaking, the two are quite similar. Certainly more so than Idaho and at least half of the rest of the US. That Mahdavian was so easily able to embed herself into the world of Bitterbrush shouldn’t surprise, then.

This is a quiet film, a film about loneliness and struggle and about the physical toll of a genuine hard day’s work. Unlike something like Buck or the more thematically similar Sweetgrass, that its two subjects are women lends Bitterbrush a unique entry-way into its world that brings with it a lot of connotations even before its opening shot...

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Interview: Director and star of the essential new film 'Happening'

by Nathaniel R

HAPPENING French poster (left), Actress Anamaria Vartolomei and Director Audrey Diwan in Venice (right)

Last year The Film Experience had two teammates in Venice for the first time. The Power of the Dog emerged as the buzziest title given its legendary director and a never better star. Another legendary director guided his celebrated muse to a Best Actress win with Parallel Mothers. But the revelation of the festival, since no one saw it coming, proved to be the intimate drama Happening from French writer/director Audrey Diwan. Elisa and I both raved about it in our festival coverage. When the festival came to a close Happening triumphed taking home the top prize, the Golden Lion. It's finally in US movie theaters courtesy of IFC Films. You shouldn't miss it.

The film, based on Annie Ernaux's memoir, is about a young gifted student who experiences an unwanted pregnancy in the 1960s. She doesn't know who to turn to for help or what can be done (abortion was then  illegal in France). The filmmaker Audrey Diwan also came, initially, from the world of literature "I know this character. I've been reading about her forever since Annie Ernaux's work is always autobiographical." Diwan's own journey as an artist wasn't as clear to her at first. "I told myself I had to take my time in order to figure out exactly what matters to me and what I have to say." That patience and her clarity of vision has served her well in her breakthrough feature. I recently sat down with her and Happening's 23 year old tremendous leading lady Anamaria Vartolomei for a chat about their movie...

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The Honoraries: Samuel L. Jackson in "Eve's Bayou"

We're celebrating each of the upcoming Honorary Oscar winners with a few pieces on their careers.

by Cláudio Alves 

Previously in the "Honoraries" miniseries, Ben Miller and Lynn Lee looked at Samuel L. Jackson's work in two provocative indies, exploring the actor's innate intensity. Craig Brewer's Black Snake Moan reveals Jackson as a bluesman inflamed by spiritual purpose, while Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction saw him play a hitman and resulted in the actor's only Oscar nomination. It should have also resulted in a victory, but that's a matter for another day, another article. This time, I shall investigate the complexities of his turn in Kasi Lemmons's Eve's Bayou. The director's debut feature was a passion project for many people involved, including Jackson, who also produced.

Such investment, such devotion, may be at the heart of his achievement. Not only is Eve's Bayou a masterpiece of 1990s American cinema, it also features one of Jackson's best performances…

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Through Her Lens: 2014 (The 87th Oscars)

A series by Juan Carlos Ojano. Introduction / Explanation

The 87th Oscars was the season that #OscarsSoWhite was born. When all 20 acting nominees were all white,  lawyer April Reign took to Twitter to express her disappointment about the nominations. Exacerbating the issue that season was the presence/non-presence of the historical drama Selma. Despite a Best Picture nomination, the film missed nominations in all but one other category, with the most visible snubs being in Best Director (Ava DuVernay) and Best Actor (David Oyelowo). The tweets and hashtag prompted a snowballing industry-wide discussion on the lack of representation and racism at the Academy Awards and in Hollywood in general.

The lack of Oscar nomination for DuVernay, despite critical acclaim and Golden Globe and Critics’ Choice nominations, continue the then-long streak of female directors missing out in the Best Director category. Out of the 320 films included in the Reminder List of Eligible Films in 2014 (87th Academy Awards), only 40 (12.5%) were directed/co-directed by women...

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