The Female Gaze: Woman Filmmakers

Description

This SDG examines eleven exceptional films made by women filmmakers around the world that offer a variety of themes: gender, class, race, globalization, the family, coming-of-age, religion, capitalism, and art.  Genres include comedy, drama, horror, thriller, western, and documentary..

The directors, from seven countries and cultures, bring personal styles and insights to their work, and feature both male and female protagonists.  One of the questions we'll ask is about the differences brought to their films by nationality and race.  And what might a woman bring to films that a male filmmaker might miss?   And does a woman necessarily brings a feminist or political vision to a film? Finally, is there "a female gaze?"

This is a Film Studies course with emphasis on film analysis.  We are interested in how how the art of film--narrative, mise en scene, cinematography, music, sound, editing, acting, expresses each director's unique vision.

Participants should be very comfortable using computers and DVDs. 

Weekly Topics

  1. My Brilliant Career, Gillian Armstrong - Australia  1979

  2. The Piano, Jane Campion - Australia  1993

  3. The Holy Girl, Lucretia Martel - Argentina  2004

  4. After the Wedding, Suzanne Bier - Denmark  2006

  5. 35 Shots of Rum, Clair Denis - France  2008    

  6. Winter's Bone, Debra Granek - United States  2010

  7. A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night, Ana Lily Amirpour - Iran/United States   2014

  8. Toni Erdmann, Maren Ade - Germany  2016

  9. Certain Women, Kelly Reichardt - United States  2016 

  10. The Gleaners; Faces/Places, Agnes Varda - France  2000; 2017

  11. The Rider, Chloe Zhao - United States  2017

Participants will choose their week and film in any order.  

Bibliography

Core Book:

Louis Gannett, Understanding Movies, Prentice Hall.  Buy a used edition, any edition.

All of the films are available on Netflix DVDs as well as other streaming channels.  Reviews and articles on all the filmmakers and films can be found on the Internet.  

An extended bibliography will be given to participants.