Thinking Through Camille Billops (1933-2019)
“You have to have a certain sense of defiance in you so you don’t self-destruct. They can’t stop the creative…
USA
Lorene Scafaria’s ‘Hustlers’ and the Anatomy of the Scam
Recently our headlines have been dominated by young female scammers: scammers whose exploits are spoken of with breathless fascination. Their…
A Magnificent Filial Debt: Love and Family in Lulu Wang’s ‘The Farewell’
It’s difficult for me to process The Farewell, a film so acute in its approximation of the shape of my…
On Well-Meaning White Women: Josephine Decker’s ‘Madeline’s Madeline’
“What you are experiencing is just a metaphor,” a nurse hovering above the camera says in the opening scene of…
Watching Bo Burnham’s ‘Eighth Grade’ with my teenage sister
“It’s like I’m waiting in line for like a rollercoaster,” says 14-year-old Kayla to the very small, potentially even non-existent…
“Only The Lonely”: Sex Work under Capitalism in Isa Mazzei and Daniel Goldhaber’s ‘Cam’
Isa Mazzei and Daniel Goldhaber’s Cam (2018) begins with camgirl Lola entertaining her male clients with a series of erotic…
In Defence of the Crazy Cat Lady: Carolee Schneemann’s Feline Muses
I came across Carolee Schneemann’s Infinity Kisses earlier this year during an insomniac’s trawl through YouTube, ten years after the…
“Deconstruct, reconstruct, challenge, celebrate”: In Conversation With Barbara Hammer
Another Gaze: Do you remember a moment when you decided to start making films? Barbara Hammer: I was studying painting…
Which of Hundreds of Selves?: Josephine Decker’s Coming-of-Age Trilogy
Josephine Decker’s world is full of secrets. There is something powerful about her ability to craft characters – mostly women…
On Necessary and Unnecessary Love in Karyn Kusama’s ‘Destroyer’
Small talk is boring. We hate it, and it’s obvious why – it’s a begrudgingly necessary preamble to any purposeful conversational exchange,…
Macabre Dancing: ‘Die Kinder der Toten’ (‘The Children of the Dead’) – Berlinale
Elfriede Jelinek’s novel Die Kinder der Toten [The Children of the Dead,1995], which has yet to be translated into English, tends to be…
In Search of a ‘Feminist Sensibility’: Two Shorts By Deborah Stratman and Lynne Sachs
Vever (for Barbara) dir. Deborah Stratman, 2019 Carolee, Barbara & Gunvor dir. Lynne Sachs, 2018. When the Bay Area lesbian…
‘Can You Ever Forgive Me’: An Ode To Queer Failure
In 2015, Todd Haynes’s Carol explored some of the complexities surrounding lesbian experience in ‘50s New York. The film, beautifully…
Screening Female Desire: Bette Gordon’s ‘Variety’ 35 Years On
‘Once in a fiction workshop my professor critiqued a scene because “women wouldn’t ask about a hookup’s performance in bed”…
Finding Your Rage: On Club des Femmes’ ‘Revolt, She Said’ Programme
In 2018, feminism is everywhere and nowhere at once. Women, we are told, can now be CEOs, and entrepreneurs and…
Portrait of Penny Lane
We Skyped with Penny Lane, an American filmmaker whose award-winning documentaries are predominantly archival, often containing no original footage at…
Bare life, corrupt elites and surviving in today’s America: On Steve McQueen’s ‘Widows’
While the United States Senate was debating the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh in Washington DC, the trial of a century…
On ‘Crazy Rich Asians’, crazy rich Asia, and capitalism in the time of postcolonial love
A truth universally acknowledged in East Asia is that a wealthy married woman with ample free time is in want…
Have you Earned this Parody? On ‘Assassination Nation’
Begin to wonder what you do write about. Or if you have anything to say. Or if there even…
TIFF Review: Alex Ross Perry’s ‘Her Smell’
Alex Ross Perry’s latest feature, Her Smell, focuses on the career of a rock star, Becky (played by Elisabeth Moss),…
Of Broken Bones and Ecstatic Dreams: On Chloé Zhao’s ‘The Rider’
When Lupita Nyong’o ascended the stage to accept her Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2014, the straight-out-of-drama-school newcomer…