Cinema Her Way
Written by Marya E. Gates
Illustrated by Alex Kittle
Published by Rizzoli
Available for purchase via this link or at Bookshop.org

by Andrea Schmidt, Staff Writer

It’s not an easy time to be a feminist. It’s not an easy time to be a feminist in film. Youtube and Tiktok widely platform media illiteracy: Film bros who have never even heard of Laura Mulvey make videos about “How (insert male filmmaker) subverts the male gaze.” The industry welcomes back those with predator and abuse allegations with open arms. (I started laughing when an article on the new Soderbergh film lightly mentioned how its lead male star had taken a hiatus starting late 2017.--I wonder why?) Our current administration (misogyny being one of the hallmarks) openly targets LGBTQ+ community members, people of color, and women. And, unfortunately, as one of the hallmarks of fascism, many artistic institutions appear more than willing to capitulate to their discriminatory demands.

Marya E. Gates’s new book Cinema Her Way provides brief respite to the current climate. Its interviews, printed on Barbie pink pages, highlights the ideas of and mediates on the artistry of a series of groundbreaking female filmmakers. This book stems from film writer Gates’s year-long mission to watch a film by a female or non-binary filmmaker–once a day for an entire year. Gates mentions how the manager at a local cinema-complex laughed at her mission, stating there weren’t enough filmmakers. It just further highlights the levels of patriarchy these filmmakers come up against. Even the men paid to know (supposedly) the history of and landscape of contemporary cinema cannot be bothered. A fantastic interviewer, Gates demonstrates meticulous research, which, in turn the filmmakers appreciate. (I was a bit surprised Jane Campion, for example, talked so readily about the structural difficulties of being a female filmmaker. She was very irritated initially by the question when my sister posed it to her a decade ago at the Berlinale. At the same, I also completely understand her response, because I am sure Campion gets asked that question a lot!)

Cinema Her Way highlights a diverse array of female directors, including a number of women of color and a transwoman. A person cannot fit everything into one book, of course, but I did find it curious that Cinema Her Way focuses almost exclusively on Anglophone directors. It seemed like a major limitation of the book, though the interviewees would cite the occasional big name non-Anglophone filmmakers, such as Lucretial Martel, Celine Sciamma, etc. Again, the scope of a monograph cannot encompass everything, but I would have at least addressed this particular focus in the introduction. Another point of frustration was Gates's objection to the supposed lack of sex scenes in contemporary cinema. I had seen this complaint about floating among film people on (then) Twitter, particularly leveraged at the alleged prudery of Gen Z. I teach a number of college film courses on gender and sexuality with many films that feature explicit sex and nudity, and very rarely receive a complaint. Richard Brody, among several other critics, have aptly pointed out that if there is at times a slight overcorrection from younger film viewers, can you really blame them after the wave of #metoo stories.

On a whole, the book provides a great overview of female filmmakers in entertaining and accessible interviews. My one point of hesitation in investing in the book would be that, for the already converted feminists, there is nothing particularly groundbreaking in terms of a feminist filmmaking future envisioned. Though likely completed before Trump’s reelection, the brutal #metoo backlash had already started. Several filmmakers bring up Greta Gerwig’s Barbie as a filmmaking vision for the future, which I found disappointing. (In fairness, even Mulvey has mentioned the film as a potential example feminist counter-cinema.) I cannot place my feminist hopes in a film based on IP material that spends so much time on the male characters and telling women that “it’s ok just to be a mom.” (That line got massive applause in the Fargo Theater, and North Dakota had just banned abortion.) It strikes me that so many other female filmmakers not even mentioned in this book hold much more exciting and radical visions of a feminist filmmaking future.

Support MovieJawn Staff

–

Support MovieJawn Staff –

Support Andrea Schmidt

With the death of so much print media and meaningful journalism, it is important now more than ever to support the writers and outlets you love.
If you enjoyed this article, show your support by donating to our writer. All proceeds go directly to the writer. Recommended donation is $5.