Essays

Meet the Director: Alice Waddington

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Courtney Gardner, who attended this year’s Sundance Film Festival (January 23—February 3) shares insights abut Paradise Hills, the feature debut of 28-year-old, Spanish director Alice Waddington. Bringing her love of science fiction and fantasy to the screen, Alice tells a story of women traditionally underrepresented in film.  Alice spoke with Courtney about the identities she holds close, the barriers she sees and has faced in the film industry, and of the symbolism in Paradise Hills

A Tribute to Jonas Mekas (1922-2019)

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Immigrant artisan, insatiable curator, preservationist, fearless exhibitor who got the world to understand that raw and unruly “underground” cinema could be classic independent moviemaking —Jonas Mekas did it all, passing away January 23 at age 96. Senior film critic Kurt Brokaw salutes the life and work of the pioneer who built Anthology Film Archives in lower Manhattan, proudly calling himself a filmer and not a filmmaker.

Revisiting Summer: Reflections from Coolidge Corner Theater’s New Film Series

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Mike Sullivan introduces readers to the Coolidge Corner Theater’s new “Summer Seminar” series by revisiting memorable screenings from the 2018 season. As part of the educational series, seminar attendees enjoy a pre-screening presentation and participate in post-film analysis, led by experts in various aspects of film: technique, theory, style, trivia, etc. In this article, Mike describes the fascinating lectures and evocative screenings of Jaws (a Coolidge Corner Theater summer tradition!) and The Silence of the Lambs.

American Film Market Oct. 31- Nov. 7 2018

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The 2018 American Film Market just wrapped up in Santa Monica, California. This year saw  comparably stronger sales for small, independent films. Courtney Sheehan was at the AFM, and writes about the importance of relationships and risk-taking,  key themes that emerged in the conference sessions on production and distribution.

“There Were No Laws Against It Then”

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As the world opened up to women’s liberation, civil rights, and new social movements, Hollywood of the 1960s doubled down on the exploitative practices that had made the industry so harmful to women. In this sixth series installment, Kerry McElroy argues that the sexual revolution stirring the larger culture, epitomized in the rise of Hugh Hefner, fanned the flames of an already misogynist, violent industry culture.  As seen through the lives of Tippi Hedren and Marilyn Monroe, this article shows that the commodification of women only increased, even as the old studio system was dying. Few stars experienced the exception; read on about a compelling example: Elizabeth Taylor.

“The Studio Doesn’t Own Me’’

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The 1950s was era of bigger stars, bigger budgets, and bigger bombshells. At same time, the studio system was weakening in the wake of television and a fearless and libelous emerging tabloid press. In this fifth series installment, Kerry McElroy examines the supreme pop cultural star of the twentieth century, Marilyn Monroe.  Examined, in her own words and in new ways, McElroy’s Monroe is a kind of economic sociologist, a surprising forerunner of the #MeToo movement, and a forgotten proponent of social justice. Finally, McElroy considers another marquee court case, one in which star actresses fought back against the tabloids with bravery.

 

 “This Is the Action of a Very Naughty Young Lady”

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The 1930’s saw the studio system in peak Fordist condition, especially in terms of its financial and bodily control over women. “Glamour” was the disciplinary strategy of the day, and the most famous women stars of the twentieth century learned to negotiate it in new ways. In this third series installment, Kerry McElroy looks at race, queerness, and economic disadvantage in Depression-era Hollywood. Women like Mae West created new channels of power, attaining international stardom and unfathomable wealth in the process. Bette Davis, on the other hand, brought forth a watershed court case for actors’ rights, and demonstrated just how much the industry feared political agitation and class consciousness.

Hollywood Was a Matriarchy

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To understand the current #MeToo/Time’s Up moment, we must reckon with a century of Hollywood’s mistreatment of women. With this first series installment, Kerry McElroy takes us back to the industry’s earliest decade in Los Angeles. This was a time of surprising feminine power. Cinema emerged alongside the New Woman, utopian promises of California, the stunt queen, and global female celebrity. It took time for capitalist forces to reassert a gendered order.

New Series: Bette, Marilyn, and #MeToo

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Kerry McElroy announces a timely and compelling series that will run bi-monthly this fall at The Independent. The series titled, “Bette, Marilyn, and #MeToo: What Studio-Era Actresses Can Teach Us About Economics and Resistance Post-Weinstein,” highlights Hollywood legends (including Olivia de Havilland, Louise Brooks, Marilyn Monroe, and Elizabeth Taylor) who all carved out spaces of autonomy in a decidedly male-controlled film industry at the height of its exploitative powers. McElroy will reveal, through analysis that spans seven decades, what these actresses have to teach us in this contemporary moment of feminist reckoning.