tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68432818575054956902024-03-13T08:54:56.686-07:00Delta of Venus In FursRants and raves regarding sex, sexuality and gender. Cultural snacks.Lauren Wissothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17377916267205352075noreply@blogger.comBlogger331125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6843281857505495690.post-21649199755682387322024-02-28T12:45:00.000-08:002024-02-28T12:45:38.852-08:00“It was sort of like that scene in Coming to America, where Eddie Murphy and Semmi are in the bar interviewing all the different women”: D. Smith on her Sundance-winning Kokomo CityAt its heart, D. Smith’s 2023 Sundance-winning (NEXT Innovator Award and NEXT Audience Award) <i>Kokomo City</i> is a music-laden, kaleidoscopically-edited series of raw monologues from four defiantly survivalist women whose voices are too often eclipsed by what the debut feature director terms the “red carpet narrative”: “When a fierce PR team puts a trans woman in a fabulous gown and has her speak like a pageant finalist.” (Aka the <i>RuPaul’s Drag Race</i> effect.)
Indeed, while Daniella Carter, Koko Da Doll (who, tragically and outrageously, was fatally shot by a teenager last spring), Liyah Mitchell and Dominique Silver are all Black, beautiful and trans, they are certainly not interested in making straight cis white Americans feel all kumbaya comfortable – nor straight cis African Americans for that matter. All are urban (NYC and Atlanta) sex workers with strong and deep opinions on a wide variety of topics – from the vulnerability of macho Black men to the fear of Black mothers for their sons (especially when those sons become daughters. Which according to Carter adds a whole other level of psychological complication for single moms, often forced to grapple with male abandonment for a second time). Not to mention the day-to-day reality of working in the oldest profession in the world, from facing life-threatening dangers to encountering unexpected hilarities (sometimes simultaneously).
Just after the film was awarded Outstanding Debut at the Cinema Eye Honors (where the aforementioned four characters likewise received The Unforgettables non-competitive honor), and prior to its nomination for Best Documentary at the Film Independent Spirit Awards, I caught up with Smith, who’s also a twice Grammy-nominated producer-singer-songwriter, to learn all about this unusual passion project; one forged during three years of couch surfing after being shown the door by the music industry for walking “in her truth,” as the red carpet was rolled up back in 2014.
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To read my interview visit <a href="https://www.hammertonail.com/interviews/d-smith/">Hammer to Nail</a>.Lauren Wissothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17377916267205352075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6843281857505495690.post-41103538446761876022024-02-27T10:30:00.000-08:002024-02-28T12:48:45.420-08:00Tip Jar<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuv5_PS-lSMGAUZX_W5omDPJged4EtEeQkvKQRmOjcpZYBZJVqgdlnpctTKXMZut1c9Txn5no0fhy_yuSrhfBST5SORK_IDSKwb1lD9yREE-M7y0oH-ZButczDHZtk7lMz4fDSY3cnPIs/s1600-h/MV5BMTIwMTc1NzE2NV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwNDA0ODc3._V1._CR81,0,323,323_SS100_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuv5_PS-lSMGAUZX_W5omDPJged4EtEeQkvKQRmOjcpZYBZJVqgdlnpctTKXMZut1c9Txn5no0fhy_yuSrhfBST5SORK_IDSKwb1lD9yREE-M7y0oH-ZButczDHZtk7lMz4fDSY3cnPIs/s320/MV5BMTIwMTc1NzE2NV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwNDA0ODc3._V1._CR81,0,323,323_SS100_.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5217334205733285730"></a><br />
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Lauren Wissothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17377916267205352075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6843281857505495690.post-74817919903703166352024-02-24T17:24:00.000-08:002024-02-24T17:25:44.552-08:00“We Always Sought Out Photos with Movement”: Klára Tasovská on Her “Nan Goldin of Soviet Prague” Doc I’m Not Everything I Want to Be"The only way to survive is to take photos,” declares Libuše Jarcovjáková, the iconoclastic star/narrator/guide of Klára Tasovská’s visually arresting (and eye-catching titled) <i>I’m Not Everything I Want to Be</i>. Nominated for the Teddy Documentary Award at this year’s Berlinale, the all-archival film is a globetrotting, black and white trip back in time (primarily to the 80s and 90s) viewed entirely through the rebelliously inquisitive eyes of this “Nan Goldin of Soviet Prague” (in the words of curator Sam Stourdzé). And words. For not only did Jarcovjáková obsessively collect images of both her defiantly unglamorous self and her decidedly adventurous life, she kept copious diaries of that wild inner-outer journey as well.
Indeed, throwing caution to the wind, the outlaw shutterbug goes from hanging out at an underground gay club in Czechoslovakia (a country where she found herself “zigzagging through totalitarian reality”) to escaping, via fake marriage, to West Berlin. (Which “might be a step into the void but it’s a step forward,” she notes in her journal with hope. Alas, capitalism also left Jarcovjáková depressingly disoriented, unsure as to whether she was “outside or inside the cage.”) And on to Tokyo as an unlikely commercial photographer, an unsurprisingly awkward fit for a creative who’s always used her art to discover her “true self.” (In fact, Jarcovjáková much preferred returning to an unpretentious janitorial job in Berlin — camera in tow of course.)
Just after the film’s Berlin premiere, and prior to its CPH:DOX debut, <i>Filmmaker</i> reached out to the veteran Czech director (2012’s <i>Fortress</i> and 2017’s <i>Nothing Like Before</i>, both co-directed with Lukáš Kokeš) to learn all about cinematically capturing a larger-than-life lenser.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipTElRGdTZXv9YDgUYdBDfUKleV5jNc-LfzaRxWsiBc2_IhyphenhyphenvB_qZZJ4skJ2lxXNKZDuGgk1Yo_IgpblCsQYLqVB_EE52yIrt-d0H60BzFIx_oLoU2yJBydX9ofrbgRwFiu3368KV6Lgt93GVRMCSvUJaPpidq_-xZEHhXTionqMclghfVO-5aTs-fvV0/s1240/202403155_2_RWD_1380-e1708792183287.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="697" data-original-width="1240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipTElRGdTZXv9YDgUYdBDfUKleV5jNc-LfzaRxWsiBc2_IhyphenhyphenvB_qZZJ4skJ2lxXNKZDuGgk1Yo_IgpblCsQYLqVB_EE52yIrt-d0H60BzFIx_oLoU2yJBydX9ofrbgRwFiu3368KV6Lgt93GVRMCSvUJaPpidq_-xZEHhXTionqMclghfVO-5aTs-fvV0/s320/202403155_2_RWD_1380-e1708792183287.jpg"/></a></div>
To read my interview visit <a href="https://filmmakermagazine.com/125166-klara-tasovska/">Filmmaker</a> magazine.Lauren Wissothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17377916267205352075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6843281857505495690.post-40823785958909326382024-01-24T13:29:00.000-08:002024-01-24T13:31:33.614-08:00'Will & Harper’ Review: Will Ferrell Gets a Crash Course on Trans People During a Cross-Country Road Trip with One of His Oldest FriendsDirector Josh Greenbaum was known as a documentary filmmaker before he shifted gears for “Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar,” and with “Will & Harper” — a nonfiction buddy comedy in which Will Ferrell drives across the country with a beloved colleague — he returns to his nonfiction roots in order to confront a series of questions that seem as far from his comfort zone as they are from Ferrell’s. Questions like: How does a straight cis male of a certain age come to terms with the fact that one of his oldest friends has just come out as trans? And what will happen to their friendship when said trans woman refuses to stop for donuts? (Spoiler alert: Ferrell has a comic meltdown, declaring the whole trip “stupid” if he doesn’t get his Dunkin’).
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRh5kQ92bLITzMo2-nCy7m0j90DAEZZtgVcak2NK3YQCFudFe6uUX7AnwIGte0NcxAHIQkhsaucDxnGzsiNL_gkgZO0ZFypAhlomyNrVLgLE3QVv9a4BYiB3tr98YNOZcNoirigFj7GHbhKt-xcuBjDekCAQ9Gfmp3MZDd0okFaqiTMZGLc1FoEsRqAvI/s2560/Will_and_Harper.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="2560" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRh5kQ92bLITzMo2-nCy7m0j90DAEZZtgVcak2NK3YQCFudFe6uUX7AnwIGte0NcxAHIQkhsaucDxnGzsiNL_gkgZO0ZFypAhlomyNrVLgLE3QVv9a4BYiB3tr98YNOZcNoirigFj7GHbhKt-xcuBjDekCAQ9Gfmp3MZDd0okFaqiTMZGLc1FoEsRqAvI/s320/Will_and_Harper.jpg"/></a></div>
To read the rest of my genderqueer critique visit <a href="https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/movies/will-and-harper-review-1234946962/">IndieWire</a>.Lauren Wissothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17377916267205352075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6843281857505495690.post-65202851560993864532024-01-22T07:37:00.000-08:002024-01-22T07:37:07.478-08:00“Being a Latina Immigrant Offered Me Personal Insight Into the Culture That Influenced and Inspired This Great Artist”: Carla Gutiérrez on Her Sundance-Premiering FridaThough 2024 marks seven decades since the passing of Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón, it often feels as if the ubiquitous artist never actually died (or lived) at all. A feminist/Chicana/indigenous/disabled/nonbinary icon ahead of her (if not outside the concept of) time, Frida Kahlo has long been celebrated as more phantasmagoric myth than flesh-and-blood painter (as opposed to her corporeal hubby Diego Rivera).
So how does a filmmaker go about capturing and confining such an ethereal figure to the screen? If you’re the multi-award-winning editor Carla Gutiérrez (Julie Cohen and Betsy West’s <i>RBG</i> and <i>Julia</i>) you compile and compose as much Frida-generated material as seemingly possible: letters, essays, her personal diary (and sketches and paintings from that diary); and also nearly 50 original paintings and sketches (and around half a dozen Rivera murals). Then you add in first-person accounts from Kahlo’s colleagues and intimates (and very intimate intimates) and arresting archival photos. Finally, you complete your topnotch, mostly Latinx team with Mexican animators and a lyrical narrator to guide us through this wonderland that was the fiery legend’s real magical world.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2LacW9DlnoGWfQEtaCs8KWzDElpgxh47NVFzWQoVAq1oc_OJcPzhQvOO0a-mDWm-9_eapifmBYceQhSKDfm7RqLlpvAx49ld4zHnrr8A0p9ctbyExDFnIpF2HC5xgUqFksIY69E-9y3DtXfP42m6coKXiVKcHaEmvcxr4SYtjIak0J5Yszzfh5ceobPM/s1024/FRIDA-STILL4-1024x576-1.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="1024" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2LacW9DlnoGWfQEtaCs8KWzDElpgxh47NVFzWQoVAq1oc_OJcPzhQvOO0a-mDWm-9_eapifmBYceQhSKDfm7RqLlpvAx49ld4zHnrr8A0p9ctbyExDFnIpF2HC5xgUqFksIY69E-9y3DtXfP42m6coKXiVKcHaEmvcxr4SYtjIak0J5Yszzfh5ceobPM/s320/FRIDA-STILL4-1024x576-1.jpg"/></a></div>
Just prior to the Sundance premiere of <i>Frida</i> (January 18th in the US Documentary Competition) <i>Filmmaker</i> reached out to the veteran editor to learn all about her own artistic journey to this auspicious, all-archival directorial debut. (Produced by Imagine Documentaries and TIME Studios, in association with Storyville Films, <i>Frida</i> also hits Prime Video on March 15th.) To read my interview visit <a href="https://filmmakermagazine.com/124162-interview-carla-gutierrez-frida-sundance-2024/">Filmmaker</a> magazine.Lauren Wissothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17377916267205352075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6843281857505495690.post-73798156146277310432024-01-05T14:41:00.000-08:002024-01-05T14:41:22.256-08:00Personal truth and consequences: TransitionPerhaps the most unnervingly unexpected film I stumbled upon in 2023, Monica Villamizar and Jordan Bryon’s <i>Transition</i> follows co-director Bryon, a veteran Australian journo granted exclusive access to a group of Talib fighters just as Afghanistan is collapsing back into their human rights-abusing hands. Which is a complicated situation for any Western reporter to be in, but especially for Bryon, who happens to be a trans man passing as a cis man in this lethally patriarchal world.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUQMjsWm6r_ezKoDFbaYK57uaxxcdc2_Tmv-qQ2A81ckW6JhEMQHXDyvI_DqU5sMar7crYhE0yv1pd0mVgk4juS7fAi4dgwIMcyKc9dqhyphenhyphentv-o2srDhQgmbp_gmEddDQ6Hchj3_wmOGplaLjrnZd-tsPYx05Fe19TmdRhx3mN-sytxPUCIz_jQGvToRuM/s2000/ba57f245-b2ad-4a5c-aff2-bbf4a7edb9fb.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="1333" data-original-width="2000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUQMjsWm6r_ezKoDFbaYK57uaxxcdc2_Tmv-qQ2A81ckW6JhEMQHXDyvI_DqU5sMar7crYhE0yv1pd0mVgk4juS7fAi4dgwIMcyKc9dqhyphenhyphentv-o2srDhQgmbp_gmEddDQ6Hchj3_wmOGplaLjrnZd-tsPYx05Fe19TmdRhx3mN-sytxPUCIz_jQGvToRuM/s320/ba57f245-b2ad-4a5c-aff2-bbf4a7edb9fb.jpg"/></a></div>
To read the rest of my review visit <a href="https://globalcomment.com/personal-truth-and-consequences-transition/">Global Comment</a>.Lauren Wissothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17377916267205352075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6843281857505495690.post-72608930530073730632023-12-22T16:04:00.000-08:002023-12-22T16:04:57.788-08:00Best of 2023: CPH:INTER:ACTIVE: Breaking the CodeFor me, one of the hands down highlights of 2023 was the Copenhagen International Documentary Festival’s Inter:Active exhibition, which featured the ballsy theme “Breaking the Code.” Expertly assembled by risk-taking Immersive Curator Mark Atkin, it starred “artists using the 1s and 0s of computer code to explore the messiness of nature and humanity beyond binary definitions...The creators are for the most part neurodiverse, non-binary, queer, marginalised and activists, subverting established visual languages in order to address our existence between the physical and digital realms from an non-heteronormative standpoint.”
And that mission statement was certainly accomplished in droves.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHxr9xuiq4X1F1MvcGJFaG4CoywmG2Xzlc6g_OQNvFrYvSHSWNlbjzaisG5mszXcbT78VdqDDBNxqpshJYBvSMHnNtRSILSs_hDSjjIuP3oSYRPKUpkxOOa7T4fJhlrVCyz_7saANzBfGuuqqj-D-9yRW5gWwdC2inm-ZP8VdtpD2g-pvMc1GTEZhxRwc/s1600/amalgams.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="831" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHxr9xuiq4X1F1MvcGJFaG4CoywmG2Xzlc6g_OQNvFrYvSHSWNlbjzaisG5mszXcbT78VdqDDBNxqpshJYBvSMHnNtRSILSs_hDSjjIuP3oSYRPKUpkxOOa7T4fJhlrVCyz_7saANzBfGuuqqj-D-9yRW5gWwdC2inm-ZP8VdtpD2g-pvMc1GTEZhxRwc/s320/amalgams.jpg"/></a></div>
To read all about it visit <a href="https://globalcomment.com/best-of-2023-cphinteractive-breaking-the-code/?fbclid=IwAR0wbLs0YR3gk0sOVEFFacwWhCZjdZTojap30SfpMo613eJ79oLTaXMfJuU">Global Comment</a>.Lauren Wissothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17377916267205352075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6843281857505495690.post-54799572296033898762023-12-14T15:04:00.000-08:002023-12-14T15:04:59.412-08:00A Hard Place: Rock Hudson: All That Heaven AllowedFor those looking for some head-spinning holiday viewing, Stephen Kijak’s Tribeca-premiering, HBO-streaming <i>Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed</i> is a biopic chockfull of hall of mirrors contradictions: first and foremost it centers on a world-famous, well-adjusted, publicly closeted gay man who proudly (miraculously) lived his truth by hiding in plain sight. Indeed, for over three decades the titular Hollywood heartthrob succeeded in simultaneously abiding by the (straights and closeted folks-only) facade of the studio system that micromanaged his career and media persona – the omertà code unbroken until minutes after Hudson died of AIDS-related complications in 1985 – while unabashedly embracing all the perks naturally afforded an Adonis-hot friend of Dorothy. (You go girl!)
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To read the rest of my review visit <a href="https://globalcomment.com/a-hard-place-rock-hudson-all-that-heaven-allowed/?fbclid=IwAR2X2KoZIGPS4iqqg4X_N-VzrYpaTFAOHjAW75OPRe2Wdkv7QcfHK9beYSI">Global Comment</a>.Lauren Wissothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17377916267205352075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6843281857505495690.post-48473341399905889562023-11-23T16:13:00.000-08:002023-11-23T16:13:08.501-08:00The Sisterhood: Kaouther Ben Hania’s Cannes-winning “Four Daughters”Co-winner of the Cannes ’23 Golden Eye, Kaouther Ben Hania’s <i>Four Daughters</i> is a “fictional documentary” as compelling as it is troubling. The film stars a pious Tunisian mother named Olfa and her two (secular-leaning) youngest daughters, Eya and Tayssir. And also their two elder (religiously zealous) siblings Ghofrane and Rahma; though they are played by a pair of professional actors, Ichraq Matar and Nour Karoui, since the sisters are unable to speak for themselves onscreen, having “disappeared” as teenagers nearly a decade ago. As the film attempts to piece together the events – sometimes traumatic, which is when acclaimed actor Hend Sabri (<i>Noura’s Dream</i>) steps in to serve as Olfa’s double – leading up to the heartbreaking loss, painful secrets emerge. Along with the often-at-odds stories they tell us, the public at large, and of course themselves.
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To read the rest of my review visit <a href="https://globalcomment.com/the-sisterhood-kaouther-ben-hanias-cannes-winning-four-daughters/">Global Comment</a>.Lauren Wissothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17377916267205352075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6843281857505495690.post-67124760391293173322023-11-09T17:05:00.000-08:002023-11-09T17:05:11.681-08:00“We Cannot Underestimate the Collective Power of Those Who Have No Access to Power”: Tana Gilbert Discusses MalqueridasA heartfelt departure from the prison life documentaries that have become so ubiquitous in recent years, Tana Gilbert’s <i>Malqueridas</i> takes a novel approach to this thorny topic through a most unusual lens. Comprised solely of clandestinely shot cellphone footage — in its original vertical format — from inside a Santiago women’s prison by incarcerated mothers, the film is narrated by “Karina,” a mom who spent six years behind bars. In the film, she voices the experience of and for the collective whole, specifically the 20 or so women who participated in “extensive conversations” during the film’s research phase. This makes <i>Malqueridas</i> not just a fascinating glimpse into a little-seen world, but also a rare testament to directorial empathy — with the Chilean filmmaker staying as far from the frame and hands off the story, which does not belong to her, as she possibly can.
Shortly after <i>Malqueridas</i> premiered at Venice, <i>Documentary</i> reached out to the debut feature filmmaker, whose shorts have screened internationally, including at Hot Docs and Chicago IFF, to learn all about bringing this “illegal” film (phones are banned in Chile’s prisons) to the big screen. <i>Malqueridas</i> is playing next at IDFA.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW-euF1_bupCtZsTfFXSBIS6u9nZDg585mh_xYba4xVHf71h53mtekz8UG5tZUqwKgq03Gg8Xj4tdo4JCaAIli6tzT6sRN0BJETiV536f5tgXpRZw0u2ijWvX6dOwOvxJkLjOqa9QlfS7ZLPDg1oR1Fc1f_PFMNx5WLEriavVPv3olk4cpNEeI1OjrWMk/s1200/Malqueridas%20-%20Still%202.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW-euF1_bupCtZsTfFXSBIS6u9nZDg585mh_xYba4xVHf71h53mtekz8UG5tZUqwKgq03Gg8Xj4tdo4JCaAIli6tzT6sRN0BJETiV536f5tgXpRZw0u2ijWvX6dOwOvxJkLjOqa9QlfS7ZLPDg1oR1Fc1f_PFMNx5WLEriavVPv3olk4cpNEeI1OjrWMk/s320/Malqueridas%20-%20Still%202.jpg"/></a></div>
To read my interview visit <a href="https://documentary.org/online-feature/we-cannot-underestimate-collective-power-those-who-have-no-access-power-tana-gilbert">Documentary</a> magazine.Lauren Wissothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17377916267205352075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6843281857505495690.post-37809018604446237332023-10-27T18:20:00.002-07:002023-10-27T18:20:36.438-07:00“A Journey That Allowed Us to Harness the Power of Storytelling”: Kaouther Ben Hania on her Cannes-winning Four DaughtersCo-winner of the Cannes 2023 Golden Eye, Kaouther Ben Hania’s (<i>Zaineb Hates the Snow</i>, <i>Beauty and the Dogs</i>) <i>Four Daughters</i> is both compellingly crafted and deeply disturbing. The “fictional documentary” looks back on an infamous, winding and tumultuous Tunisian saga involving five women: the titular quartet of older siblings Ghofrane and Rahma and youngest Eya and Tayssir, along with their mother Olfa Hamrouni. The younger daughters appear as themselves, and the film features two actors taking on the roles of the oldest, a necessity since Ghofrane and Rahma can’t “play” themselves, having “disappeared” back in 2015 at the tender ages of 16 and 15, respectively. Then there is veteran Tunisian-Egyptian actor Hend Sabri (<i>Noura’s Dream</i>), who plays Olfa when events get too traumatic to recount, a circumstance that happens often when such strong-willed real-life protagonists — especially the domineering Olfa — are as messy and complicated as the stories they tell to us, as well as themselves.
Soon after the film’s TIFF premiere (and just prior to its debut at the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, where I saw it as part of my Critics Jury duty), <i>Filmmaker</i> reached out to the Tunisian writer-director to learn all about this most unexpected followup to her Oscar-nominated, Monica Bellucci-starring <i>The Man Who Sold His Skin</i>. <i>Four Daughters</i> is released today by Kino Lorber.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqmL3k_1dAkPHJwh0DugH-DNVwJTGDiw60sRPjoxP8O8k4n8rJbe4QsAN2yN_-b89hjaWqJ-1f0MfrMieAYD01sq1cDKqcu2nqG-AfHyhMqW2yuat_Sr6MFelnKIvX1CqFg0VrI6rK9zmpBuNIFe6Uth0x1-EgaNoqdXa9wktR7ITDLjnk2xY9fOjHuN8/s1920/FourDaughters_photo2.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqmL3k_1dAkPHJwh0DugH-DNVwJTGDiw60sRPjoxP8O8k4n8rJbe4QsAN2yN_-b89hjaWqJ-1f0MfrMieAYD01sq1cDKqcu2nqG-AfHyhMqW2yuat_Sr6MFelnKIvX1CqFg0VrI6rK9zmpBuNIFe6Uth0x1-EgaNoqdXa9wktR7ITDLjnk2xY9fOjHuN8/s320/FourDaughters_photo2.jpg"/></a></div>
To read my interview visit <a href="https://filmmakermagazine.com/123431-interview-four-daughters-kaouther-ben-hania/">Filmmaker</a> magazine.Lauren Wissothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17377916267205352075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6843281857505495690.post-84306702316165107942023-09-13T13:53:00.001-07:002023-09-13T13:53:10.959-07:00“Geographies of Survival”: Kumjana Novakova Discusses Her Sarajevo Film Festival Human Rights Award-Winning Silence of ReasonDescribed as “performative research into the court archive of the Kunarac et al. case known as the ‘Foca Rape Camp Trial’” before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Kumjana Novakova’s <i>Silence of Reason</i> took this critic’s prize for the most powerful nonfiction film at the 29th Sarajevo Film Festival (August 11–18). <i>Silence of Reason</i>, which runs a swift 63 minutes, follows Novakova’s prior feature, the Oscar-shortlisted <i>Disturbed Earth</i> (2021), co-directed with Guillermo Carreras-Candi. Along with eerie images of rural stillness and an ambient sound design, in which nature is heard loud and clear, the breathtakingly cinematic, archive-based essay pairs a poetic voiceover with the scrolling testimonies of anonymized women, whose voices are necessarily distorted. These are the survivors of rape and sexual enslavement during the war that shattered the Balkans — and birthed the Sarajevo Film Festival — and for whom these pastoral locations can only evoke memories of unbearable unseen pain.
Just prior to the closing night ceremony, where <i>Silence of Reason</i> walked away with the Human Rights Award, <i>Documentary</i> reached out to the Macedonia-born Novakova, a busy multihyphenate who is also an international teacher and curator, and even a co-founder of her own Sarajevo-based fest. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ8i8wZ35XRKTAobf9jfOplRWCOj4DDmS-LWQnY6D3b9pLPMjyp8S4LUnQ6Q5m_2NG7HtO96imMM6wYLFZaf9zQ995YRqya7jxy0gQ8juXam9b5SfG93yVu4cfhCxVIN9X9o0qlvSs4e1LL5wCguROdGRTg2kyiNEgQliJ_AeKd5T_qPm2EVyRmpjKncQ/s1080/517939a8-3097-4e1b-bba4-2b78263a708d.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="780" data-original-width="1080" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ8i8wZ35XRKTAobf9jfOplRWCOj4DDmS-LWQnY6D3b9pLPMjyp8S4LUnQ6Q5m_2NG7HtO96imMM6wYLFZaf9zQ995YRqya7jxy0gQ8juXam9b5SfG93yVu4cfhCxVIN9X9o0qlvSs4e1LL5wCguROdGRTg2kyiNEgQliJ_AeKd5T_qPm2EVyRmpjKncQ/s320/517939a8-3097-4e1b-bba4-2b78263a708d.jpg"/></a></div>
To read my interview visit <a href="https://www.documentary.org/online-feature/geographies-survival-kumjana-novakova-discusses-her-sarajevo-film-festival-human">Documentary</a> magazine.Lauren Wissothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17377916267205352075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6843281857505495690.post-4410090825646915282023-08-18T08:55:00.001-07:002023-08-18T08:55:22.458-07:00No justice, no peace: A Day, 365 Hours and The Silence of ReasonTRAUMA / Two Sarajevo Film Festival-premiered films take a justice-seeking women's journey, revealing the resilience of rape survivors.
Eylem Kaftan’s <i>A Day, 365 Hours</i> follows Reyhan, Asya and Leyla, a trio of young (pseudonymous) women in Turkey attempting to come to terms with – and to seek justice for – the horrific abuse they suffered growing up, a victimisation made all the more monstrous by the fact that each knew her perpetrator not only intimately but genetically. As Reyhan so eloquently puts it in the third «chapter» of the film (titled «Can You Change Your DNA?»), «You want to tear yourself apart and recreate yourself.» Not an overblown sentiment coming from a brave survivor who’d experienced sexual abuse at the hands of her own father – and thus will never escape the traits of her perpetrator no matter how far she flees. Even a glance in the mirror might read as a threat to this band of sisters.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1jB-eX--zejB_x9rk3uTxvm_0MxawkEXYbq40DxNryxUx7XBcj-b2BJhNEh74wxsbi6DW5QJIpGmi1yY6bCxtCN5PPGUvfJPloSJnsv1KKUcLgML4Lyl5L-yHjCmqNiBV5NApX5vMW2tpRDaqEPixUR8nW8zvM-Y0JhRSDyHet90JjsnER4Mwxkm-czw/s800/modern-times-review-a-day-365-hours.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1jB-eX--zejB_x9rk3uTxvm_0MxawkEXYbq40DxNryxUx7XBcj-b2BJhNEh74wxsbi6DW5QJIpGmi1yY6bCxtCN5PPGUvfJPloSJnsv1KKUcLgML4Lyl5L-yHjCmqNiBV5NApX5vMW2tpRDaqEPixUR8nW8zvM-Y0JhRSDyHet90JjsnER4Mwxkm-czw/s320/modern-times-review-a-day-365-hours.jpg"/></a></div>
To read the rest of my paired-film essay visit <a href="https://www.moderntimes.review/a-day-365-hours-the-silence-of-reason/">Modern Times Review</a>.Lauren Wissothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17377916267205352075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6843281857505495690.post-87493865086082929892023-07-05T17:12:00.000-07:002023-07-05T17:12:36.401-07:00Subverting the Algorithms"Returning from CPH:DOX’s INTER:ACTIVE program, Lauren Wissot speaks with four innovators working at the frontiers of gaming
and immersive work. This year’s 20th anniversary edition of CPH:DOX (March 15–26) was packed with celebratory gems, especially when it came to the radically assembled INTER:ACTIVE exhibition, curated by Mark Atkin. Here are talks with four of the exhibition’s artists, all workng in XR and games, about the boundary-pushing work they presented."
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDNcQRQsdH1y13WHpO9j4Oxho_4o51IHA3WgIxINUTfVg0ko7GhSo2K3aljCTIAfDDggv3jSTKT538UQsc_AECgRCtz7kgXIUPygFXw6gWOPCA-m7W7fNNmefDM_OyuJ8VEgbqfUzjbCblEhQEJaJECvIO_JkQ61tl1PluOIsIQHAbFYkAUu2YbF1Qvg0/s358/Image-6-26-23-at-3.42-PM.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="358" data-original-width="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDNcQRQsdH1y13WHpO9j4Oxho_4o51IHA3WgIxINUTfVg0ko7GhSo2K3aljCTIAfDDggv3jSTKT538UQsc_AECgRCtz7kgXIUPygFXw6gWOPCA-m7W7fNNmefDM_OyuJ8VEgbqfUzjbCblEhQEJaJECvIO_JkQ61tl1PluOIsIQHAbFYkAUu2YbF1Qvg0/s320/Image-6-26-23-at-3.42-PM.jpg"/></a></div>
To read my article subscribe to <a href="https://filmmakermagazine.com/issues/summer-2023/">Filmmaker</a> magazine.Lauren Wissothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17377916267205352075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6843281857505495690.post-42073858124951998722023-06-21T18:37:00.000-07:002023-06-21T18:37:26.080-07:00“A Call to Action for Everybody To Preserve Their History Before It’s Gone”: Kristen Lovell and Zackary Drucker on The StrollKristen Lovell and Zackary Drucker’s Sundance-premiering <i>The Stroll</i> is a beautifully and lovingly crafted time capsule of NYC’s Meatpacking District that mostly spans from Giuliani’s infamous “broken windows” reign of terror through Bloomberg’s post-9/11 “gentrification on steroids,” as one knowledgeable interviewee ruefully reflects (seconds after I coincidentally yelled those same words at my screener). Unsurprisingly, our billionaire mayor did indeed view unrestrained capitalism as the solution to every problem, including that of the “undesirable” communities — starving artists and sex workers — that called the neighborhood home.
For me, the most revelatory aspect of this heartfelt walk down memory lane isn’t that it’s offered from the POV of the mostly Black trans sex workers (including director Lovell) who made their money working the area nicknamed “The Stroll,” but that the filmmakers were able to track down so many that both survived and thrived (at least a dozen, with some whose time went all the way back to the early ’80s, remarkably enough). Clear-eyed and unapologetic, this band of sisters somehow managed to avoid the fate of famous activist contemporaries like Marsha P. Johnson (whose body was found floating in the Hudson River in ‘92) and Sylvia Rivera (who died of complications from liver cancer in 2002 at age 51).
Just prior to the film’s June 21 release on HBO, <i>Filmmaker</i> reached out to the co-directors to learn all about the process of using cinema to set the record on queer sex work history straight.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp60dLvQyiDu39lhcBYJmOjuIyEc32aQNjdm7LfQs0OkQvp5RjC4GCwguJDWrGQDx7Hvxi0oc1D3Vul1CrzJpV9FszouiejT9rhWdeqw77CAZECGN2mA8jzf5b-fmHB0ht6MeTjuFg0yUS-ez03NPInhnvQKLVArXO_gLxSPWEMhYO9fV77GtX7Qipe2I/s1240/trans-sex-worker-on-the-stroll-1980s-.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="698" data-original-width="1240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp60dLvQyiDu39lhcBYJmOjuIyEc32aQNjdm7LfQs0OkQvp5RjC4GCwguJDWrGQDx7Hvxi0oc1D3Vul1CrzJpV9FszouiejT9rhWdeqw77CAZECGN2mA8jzf5b-fmHB0ht6MeTjuFg0yUS-ez03NPInhnvQKLVArXO_gLxSPWEMhYO9fV77GtX7Qipe2I/s320/trans-sex-worker-on-the-stroll-1980s-.jpg"/></a></div>
To read my interview visit <a href="https://filmmakermagazine.com/121797-interview-kristen-lovell-zackary-drucker-the-stroll/">Filmmaker</a> magazine.Lauren Wissothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17377916267205352075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6843281857505495690.post-77727778058917432362023-01-22T18:06:00.000-08:002023-01-22T18:06:27.937-08:00“I Realized That a Sauna Is Not Just for Cleaning the Body, but Also the Soul”: Anna Hints on Smoke Sauna SisterhoodDebuting January 22 in the World Cinema Documentary Competition, <i>Smoke Sauna Sisterhood</i> is an intimate look at a tradition that UNESCO has added to its “Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.” This might appear to be a heavy designation for a way to sweat out stress. Unless, of course, one happens to be South Estonian like director Anna Hints, who grew up with the knowledge that for centuries smoke saunas have also been a place of life (birth) and death. For the small group of women that have generously allowed Hints to serve as a cinematic fly-on-the-wall witness to a sacred space of power, smoke saunas also offer freedom and healing where one can bond through joyous laughter and traumatic confessions — with both one another and themselves.
To learn more about this unusual project, <i>Filmmaker</i> reached out to Hints, the film’s equally unique director — also “scriptwriter and composer with a background in contemporary art, photography and experimental folk music” — whose bio additionally notes that they are an “active dumpster diver” that currently calls India their second home.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpeLUPpzMwsYlGbnCpXyLln6GmLxvOWBln9m_QcCCAjBsys62hWz-WnhmQC94KhN7ytz4BaMtd5HhcWad8HzcTaBRRiENME8azgvTNnOVtEmD0fbQVSXKAt3kS632SfZbTh01A0dayPaXg_rYXoVi3AgL2-dlMrwGaXgMnGYmUWcFbZKmoNn6GAGh8/s1240/Smoke-Sauna-Sisterhood-Still-6.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="698" data-original-width="1240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpeLUPpzMwsYlGbnCpXyLln6GmLxvOWBln9m_QcCCAjBsys62hWz-WnhmQC94KhN7ytz4BaMtd5HhcWad8HzcTaBRRiENME8azgvTNnOVtEmD0fbQVSXKAt3kS632SfZbTh01A0dayPaXg_rYXoVi3AgL2-dlMrwGaXgMnGYmUWcFbZKmoNn6GAGh8/s320/Smoke-Sauna-Sisterhood-Still-6.jpg"/></a></div>
To read my interview visit <a href="https://filmmakermagazine.com/118294-interview-anna-hints-smoke-sauna-sisterhood/?fbclid=IwAR2B6OZ6zYQxp8shuAabeCSKJF_T1eONWIb4lZ9v8Y5jzP3YXH3prZ_D2Z0#.Y83qXuzMLfa">Filmmaker</a> magazine.
Lauren Wissothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17377916267205352075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6843281857505495690.post-17679628923572735072022-12-30T14:55:00.000-08:002022-12-30T14:55:11.056-08:00Filmmaker's 20 Most Read Posts of 2022Well worth the <a href="https://filmmakermagazine.com/117726-filmmaker-most-read-posts-2022/?fbclid=IwAR3b2aGNlpGWXYoR76gYObggF37G-kWodD_zmOHs-y5oUmnUx4BB7bjZVRY#.Y69p6ezMLfZ">end-of-year read</a>! And not just because my interview, <a href="https://filmmakermagazine.com/114398-kamikaze-hearts-juliet-bashore/#.Y69qiOzMLfZ">“We’re All Pornographers Now”: Juliet Bashore on Her 2K-Restored <i>Kamikaze Hearts</i></a>, was the top post of 2022. (Smart sex still sells.)
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVQL82GozvQwNLzvKZA4zCk4bik5N5m0nsj_jBjPblWfaOO6nhrxmp1znweEKaN6xlsyMcTdWCDIbmDMN8OdybVwzLQBKnFkNCVnvB16YmU9ZrWkDkwXI042ePAXJxVMj4L8FvcLMQRHZYc3rhKEmx4ATcFNi_SsQ2xNnycxc_2ROV73VLJYfDrrRX/s1240/kamikaze_hearts-hero-e1672073015407.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="698" data-original-width="1240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVQL82GozvQwNLzvKZA4zCk4bik5N5m0nsj_jBjPblWfaOO6nhrxmp1znweEKaN6xlsyMcTdWCDIbmDMN8OdybVwzLQBKnFkNCVnvB16YmU9ZrWkDkwXI042ePAXJxVMj4L8FvcLMQRHZYc3rhKEmx4ATcFNi_SsQ2xNnycxc_2ROV73VLJYfDrrRX/s320/kamikaze_hearts-hero-e1672073015407.jpg"/></a></div>Lauren Wissothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17377916267205352075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6843281857505495690.post-84705059130587312552022-11-23T11:30:00.001-08:002022-11-23T11:30:17.730-08:00The 25th SCAD Savannah Film Festival Presents Wonder Women: ProducersWithout a doubt one of the highlights of the 25th SCAD Savannah Film Festival – and there were many, with this year’s red carpet attendees ranging from Kerry Condon, to Janelle Monáe, to Eddie Redmayne, to Lifetime Achievement Award in Directing recipient Ron Howard – was the Wonder Women: Producers panel, which took place at the light-filled Gutstein Gallery on a balmy October afternoon. Moderated as usual by industry vet Darrien Gipson, a specialist in diversity, equity and inclusion programming and the Executive Director of SAGindie, participants included English-Jamaican writer-actress-producer Nicôle Lecky (<i>Mood</i>, <i>The Moor Girl</i>), American actress and producer Jurnee Smollett (<i>Lovecraft Country</i>, <i>Birds of Prey</i>), English film producer Alison Owen (<i>Elizabeth</i>, <i>Saving Mr. Banks</i>), manager and producer Laura Berwick (<i>Belfast</i>, <i>All is True</i>), and indie icon and Killer Films founder Christine Vachon (<i>Far From Heaven</i>, <i>Carol</i>). Which meant that, including Gipson, half the panel were women of colour – split equally between sides of the pond – and representing multiple generations. Not a common sight on festival panels, let alone on industry boardrooms. Yet.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_tyDonNPKtcZTPmI-ubbNDE3D8Gn7yDRfSULBWCWW9y6KmeFXCRHQVY2UueZ2nLWQp5COm04zGMMjlILYtUXfeZjMK5quWzoEz1ngpYDxtL8EfQXc3nGlupuWDqoR7EeoLv2aTL03koR-JenekE_L6f4qxLSD5Erl85M_Lf3WMQip9KuCIWfzJJfZ/s1350/scad-1-1350x898.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="898" data-original-width="1350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_tyDonNPKtcZTPmI-ubbNDE3D8Gn7yDRfSULBWCWW9y6KmeFXCRHQVY2UueZ2nLWQp5COm04zGMMjlILYtUXfeZjMK5quWzoEz1ngpYDxtL8EfQXc3nGlupuWDqoR7EeoLv2aTL03koR-JenekE_L6f4qxLSD5Erl85M_Lf3WMQip9KuCIWfzJJfZ/s320/scad-1-1350x898.jpg"/></a></div>
To read the rest visit <a href="http://outtakemag.co.uk/features/2022/11/21/wonder-women-producers-scad-savannah-film-festival/">Outtake</a> magazine.Lauren Wissothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17377916267205352075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6843281857505495690.post-29377584486072024522022-11-15T18:02:00.004-08:002022-11-15T18:02:24.379-08:00Doc Star of the Month: Zarifa Ghafari, 'In Her Hands'Tamana Ayazi and Marcel Mettelsiefen’s <i>In Her Hands </i> follows the unlikeliest of protagonists, with a backstory that practically begs for Hollywood to come calling. (Though Hilary Rodham Clinton and Chelsea Clinton, co-founders of HiddenLight Productions and the film’s EPs, did answer the call.) While still in her 20s, Zarifa Ghafari became one of Afghanistan’s first female mayors and the youngest to ever hold that job. And she was appointed by the recently deposed President Ashraf Ghani to the leadership role — not in relatively tolerant Kabul, but in Maidan Shahr, in the conservative province of Wardak, where the Taliban have long had widespread support. Nevertheless, 2020’s International Woman of Courage, who would go on to survive three assassination attempts, seemed to be making her mark when the filmmakers started following her inspirational tale that very same year. But then a fateful decision in a faraway corridor of power was made that changed the course of the film — and Afghanistan’s history (yet again).
Luckily, Ghafari managed to hold out in Kabul right up until its devastating fall — with the camera, surprisingly, continuing to roll. And fortunately for <i>Documentary</i>, the passionate advocate for women’s rights in Afghanistan, who continues her activism from her new refuge in Germany, found time to serve as our November Doc Star of the Month. <i>In Her Hands</i> releases globally on Netflix on November 16.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2jRhd8h_01GUaAedz6HEtpNvfTKAQ9WG1Y80lzMneR3A9N48LJQMzNw5vgCpIuQqi75ULIEaITXUphpZ_9RMGYo_8qd79PyNCDRzA-B-ZvbEFZ33IUkQIzLB6pI9X6nkagZv4BTtRcUhXA3TDOqo448R9xTYlM-8Lo4y8j4oHxB6a0H0ooGkLffB6/s3840/in_her_hands_00_00_26_20.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="1634" data-original-width="3840" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2jRhd8h_01GUaAedz6HEtpNvfTKAQ9WG1Y80lzMneR3A9N48LJQMzNw5vgCpIuQqi75ULIEaITXUphpZ_9RMGYo_8qd79PyNCDRzA-B-ZvbEFZ33IUkQIzLB6pI9X6nkagZv4BTtRcUhXA3TDOqo448R9xTYlM-8Lo4y8j4oHxB6a0H0ooGkLffB6/s320/in_her_hands_00_00_26_20.png"/></a></div>
To read my interview visit <a href="https://www.documentary.org/column/doc-star-month-zarifa-ghafari-her-hands">Documentary</a> magazine.
Lauren Wissothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17377916267205352075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6843281857505495690.post-41634275428602242152022-11-08T15:56:00.003-08:002022-11-08T15:56:24.632-08:00The 25th SCAD Savannah Film Festival Presents Wonder Women: Producers (the Christine Vachon Edition)Moderated by Darrien Gipson, Executive Director of SAGindie, this year’s Wonder Women: Producers discussion at the SCAD Savannah Film Festival was a must-catch, mostly for two glaringly obvious reasons, with the first being the wide diversity of the participants. Alongside white Brits Alison Owen (<i>Elizabeth</i>, <i>Saving Mr. Banks</i>, perennial panelist and SCAD Savannah Film Festival Advisory Board member) and manager-producer Laura Berwick (<i>Belfast</i>, <i>All is True</i>, and Sir Kenneth’s longtime rep), there was the English-Jamaican writer-actress-producer Nicôle Lecky (<i>Mood</i>, <i>The Moor Gir</i>l), and American actress and producer Jurnee Smollett (<i>Lovecraft Country</i>, <i>Birds of Prey</i>). Then there was the second reason — the presence of “grande dame” of indie film (per Gipson), Christine Vachon (<i>Far From Heaven</i>, <i>Carol</i>), who has been running her female-led Killer Films since the mid-’90s. In other words, Vachon had more than a panel’s worth of wisdom to dispense.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjC2wqD8PptoOzyQ2krLHzMYF83yVW1mvKluzGrOnT5zab1D_GhlTwt5JaDVuo9XFDIAHGn88p3D-8ufzLlSxeCmUNz6UrFybq29kpsi8YQu4U08jHUIqktJ1NL-XelvpU82S-sa2cFHLK_hY44xhU0Rv5d2otOF4BQSu0ULkRb7KeO_ftodOg-IAj/s2560/1436493651-scaled.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="1707" data-original-width="2560" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjC2wqD8PptoOzyQ2krLHzMYF83yVW1mvKluzGrOnT5zab1D_GhlTwt5JaDVuo9XFDIAHGn88p3D-8ufzLlSxeCmUNz6UrFybq29kpsi8YQu4U08jHUIqktJ1NL-XelvpU82S-sa2cFHLK_hY44xhU0Rv5d2otOF4BQSu0ULkRb7KeO_ftodOg-IAj/s320/1436493651-scaled.jpg"/></a></div>
To learn more visit <a href="https://filmmakermagazine.com/117293-the-25th-scad-savannah-film-festival-presents-wonder-women-producers-christine-vachon/#.Y2rqhezMLfY">Filmmaker</a> magazine.Lauren Wissothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17377916267205352075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6843281857505495690.post-68492891374617370542022-07-28T16:10:00.001-07:002022-07-28T16:10:16.985-07:00Why trans bodies matter (hint: It’s the Patriarchy, Stupid)In the wake of the recent Supreme Court decision overturning Roe, leaving reproductive rights to be strangled by the groping hands of overwhelmingly male Republican state legislatures across the US, progressive activists demanded action. And the Democrat-controlled federal government, having dropped the ball on abortion and facing tough midterm elections this fall, swiftly responded with two bills: one which codified the right to same-sex (and interracial – an added fuck you/“dare you to overrule that” touch to Justice Thomas) marriage, the other the right to contraception.
The former quickly passed the House – including with support from members of the party that killed Roe – while the latter seems DOA in the Senate. Which, perhaps unsurprisingly, led the professional political pundits to first express “shock” at both outcomes, and then to wildly hypothesize. How had an IUD become more controversial than gay marriage? And was this actually a silver-lined sign of progress? (Of course not.)
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ61qHOC7tWHRBzPP8fQ6ktpsbCdZ8nEACrXMmcBOwsbXzR8vZux2L5RhbGPV13Y6nx7NnqRESMDTZNBYwLFZogOYt_OGvaLIW5kbT67hu4uifefGTXdecIbFb858quCQCoV-RjriuzS69lVzU_cwKD5qg1AR6tjEq0YtN8hKqFEcKJRLSetmOaXzO/s1320/20220728-Keep-Abortion-Legal-1320x880.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="880" data-original-width="1320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ61qHOC7tWHRBzPP8fQ6ktpsbCdZ8nEACrXMmcBOwsbXzR8vZux2L5RhbGPV13Y6nx7NnqRESMDTZNBYwLFZogOYt_OGvaLIW5kbT67hu4uifefGTXdecIbFb858quCQCoV-RjriuzS69lVzU_cwKD5qg1AR6tjEq0YtN8hKqFEcKJRLSetmOaXzO/s320/20220728-Keep-Abortion-Legal-1320x880.jpg"/></a></div>
So to read the rest of my essay on how the political punditry got it so wrong visit <a href="https://globalcomment.com/why-trans-bodies-matter-hint-its-the-patriarchy-stupid/?fbclid=IwAR0_SFnqucSFzo6oe2ofZOzMx1ARN6_NTJPXtzJVQlvrVeX5kvJ9qTgJwTc">Global Comment</a>.Lauren Wissothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17377916267205352075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6843281857505495690.post-17116120017388830202022-07-07T13:02:00.001-07:002022-07-07T13:02:29.982-07:00Safe sex scenes: Body PartsSEX: Exploring the female body in Hollywood by tracing the making of sex scenes, the toll it takes on those involved, and what it means for women in the real world.
For most of its history, Hollywood has been globally gaslighting the world, exporting the lie that the male gaze is somehow always benign or «neutral,» when of course, nothing could be farther from the truth. Fortunately, we now have Kristy Guevara-Flanagan’s (<i>Wonder Women! The Untold Story of American Superheroines</i>) eye-opening <i>Body Parts</i>, which world-premiered in the Spotlight Documentary section of this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, to unpack both how we got to this patriarchal cinematic state and how those in the camera’s line of sight are now shooting back. Drawing from a sweeping range of classic film clips and knowledgeable voices on the subject of simulated sex onscreen – from film scholars to intimacy coordinators to Jane Fonda – the doc is, sadly, proof positive that it didn’t have to be this way; the «inevitably» of female objectification in the movies actually the result of a highly systematic manmade plan.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHduTNvN35zjk2S3HJnmqn9Yj0FBGHom9oF2ORrC5MoXpmdAIZssqoSLo0Hf5OCByTAY1Qk_05O3QB27FSDJw4jkxadJxiAuQT8ArHOGSOGY5u8p_d2l8PN4JJXVXTBj92bKh-CPi0yMlaJKmTD7jIn2l5Z-fP2gQ7kWlWc74mMJmZ9JUIm5ktnK7g/s800/modern-times-review-body-parts1.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHduTNvN35zjk2S3HJnmqn9Yj0FBGHom9oF2ORrC5MoXpmdAIZssqoSLo0Hf5OCByTAY1Qk_05O3QB27FSDJw4jkxadJxiAuQT8ArHOGSOGY5u8p_d2l8PN4JJXVXTBj92bKh-CPi0yMlaJKmTD7jIn2l5Z-fP2gQ7kWlWc74mMJmZ9JUIm5ktnK7g/s320/modern-times-review-body-parts1.jpg"/></a></div>
To read the rest of my essay visit <a href="https://www.moderntimes.review/body-parts/?uepost=">Modern Times Review</a>.Lauren Wissothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17377916267205352075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6843281857505495690.post-18343889737958681402022-06-27T20:25:00.000-07:002022-06-27T20:25:10.007-07:00“I Can’t Afford to Let Cliches Live in the Cinema I Make”: Leilah Weinraub on ShakedownLeilah Weinraub’s 2018 <i>Shakedown</i>, which began playing Metrograph on June 17th (and has been held over through June 30th due to high demand), has been touted by <i>Variety</i> as the “the first-ever non-adult film” to be picked up by Pornhub. Yet it could also be called the sex site’s first-ever Berlinale-premiering and Tate/ICA/MoMA PS1/Whitney Biennial-screened acquisition. And likely the smut streamer’s first-ever labor of love release as well.
Indeed, <i>Shakedown</i> is a film that defies any easy categorization. Ostensibly a longform cinematic exploration (crafted over 15 years starting in 2002) of the titular, mid-city, Los Angeles, Black lesbian strip club, the doc is likewise a study in the invention of identity, family and community — especially for those marginalized by both blood relatives and society. It’s also a heck of a risk-taking endeavor: Neither a feminist film nor an easily digestible depiction of Black women for that matter, the true (and unapologetically self-proclaimed) stars of the doc are just as comfortable expressing sexual fluidity (the legendary dancer Egypt reminisces about the time before she was gay) as they are popping a bare booty for the lens.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFwrpzToBA9TGauHBz5GL0ozJ-c_5gDdlnNVEAAZZB8ZGfZpuPdRAJ3MuDDprwRvEgBKXctgSJOntmPy7gX3sfhiOGXLImVQFqDx7yj6bkfyFZUgCqOi4dUFc_AgXq40HKRIFOc5bqmSJ-_doUuEYZsDETKblFpwNQdgGCH10T2fOaIucLGc3Csjde/s1200/Shakedown-1.2.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="628" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFwrpzToBA9TGauHBz5GL0ozJ-c_5gDdlnNVEAAZZB8ZGfZpuPdRAJ3MuDDprwRvEgBKXctgSJOntmPy7gX3sfhiOGXLImVQFqDx7yj6bkfyFZUgCqOi4dUFc_AgXq40HKRIFOc5bqmSJ-_doUuEYZsDETKblFpwNQdgGCH10T2fOaIucLGc3Csjde/s320/Shakedown-1.2.jpg"/></a></div>
So to read my interview with the intersectional industry vet behind the lens - a NYC-based native of LA whose unconventional career has taken her from being mentored by Tony Kaye, to working with Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar, to serving as CEO of the street-wear fashion brand Hood By Air - visit <a href="https://filmmakermagazine.com/115224-i-cant-afford-to-let-cliches-live-in-the-cinema-i-make-leilah-weinraub-on-shakedown/#.Yrpto-zMLfY">Filmmaker</a> magazine.Lauren Wissothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17377916267205352075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6843281857505495690.post-30883978747748614232022-06-22T16:55:00.001-07:002022-06-22T16:55:28.026-07:00Doc Star of the Month: Marshall Ngwa aka BeBe Zahara Benet, 'Being BeBe'World-premiering at the 2021 Tribeca Festival, Emily Branham’s <i>Being BeBe</i> is a revealing walk (uh, sashay) down memory lane with the titular BeBe Zahara Benet, the very first winner of <i>RuPaul’s Drag Race</i>, back in 2009. Well, not exactly. Rather, BeBe’s equally charismatic conjurer — a Minnesota transplant from Cameroon named Marshall Ngwa — actually takes the lead in guiding us through 15 vérité-captured years of the artist’s creatively fulfilling/financially devastating (though fortunately, family-supportive) life — from her humble amateur drag beginnings in Minneapolis in 2006 (when Branham, whose sister was a backup dancer for the performer, began filming) to the heights of reality-show fame, and then back down to the brutal reality of the murder of George Floyd and a COVID lockdown-stalled career. Until naturally, this unrelenting champion of “Queer Black Excellence” ultimately rises, phoenix-style, in fabulous heels once again.
All of which makes Ngwa/Benet the quintessential fit for <i>Documentary</i>’s June Pride Doc Star of the Month. <i>Being BeBe</i> premieres June 21 on Fuse (and OUTtv in Canada).
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXaKTjg__i9lM3EJhMIFZ12d7MaxKpvtDNgfAPbcZ4HwrDrgQWbASMcUNwDV5Qg2704CGhbZFjZB-2oapXMJt9dJmPXbFQGvYXaaMmr6t7Z39jxmcHySpLv7atxaoUBKUDUhjb-W4DVlUGu9EYneTN5QMuqmXq6YiJ6HSbIeQNZ_eWCXep-1gSJyLN/s1200/documentary_magazine_beingbebe_90sreturn.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXaKTjg__i9lM3EJhMIFZ12d7MaxKpvtDNgfAPbcZ4HwrDrgQWbASMcUNwDV5Qg2704CGhbZFjZB-2oapXMJt9dJmPXbFQGvYXaaMmr6t7Z39jxmcHySpLv7atxaoUBKUDUhjb-W4DVlUGu9EYneTN5QMuqmXq6YiJ6HSbIeQNZ_eWCXep-1gSJyLN/s320/documentary_magazine_beingbebe_90sreturn.jpg"/></a></div>
To read my interview visit <a href="https://www.documentary.org/blog/doc-star-month-marshall-ngwa-aka-bebe-zahara-benet-being-bebe">Documentary</a> magazine.Lauren Wissothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17377916267205352075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6843281857505495690.post-38058621850546378812022-05-25T07:46:00.001-07:002022-05-25T07:46:51.436-07:00“The Way the Janes Approached This, One Woman at a Time, Helped 11,000 Women Get Safe Abortion Care”: Tia Lessin and Emma Pildes on their Human Rights Watch Film Festival closing night doc The Janes<i>The Janes</i>, which closes this year’s Human Rights Watch Film Festival in-person May 26, followed by an HBO premiere June 8, is one woefully prescient walk down pre-Roe memory lane. Directed by Academy Award nominee Tia Lessin (<i>Trouble the Water</i>, which also nabbed the Sundance Grand Jury Prize and the Gotham Independent Film Award back in 2008) and Emmy nominee Emma Pildes (<i>Spielberg</i>, which the debut director likewise produced for HBO), the doc tells the illicit tale of the titular underground network of college-age activists who defied the law (and male expectations) to provide women in Chicago with safe, shame-free abortions. Until, perhaps inevitably, they got busted in a headline-grabbing raid (by the homicide arm of the CPD no less). And then, in the most Hollywood of twists, found the tide of history that they’d helped turn was actually on their side.
Pildes and Lessin (whose accolade-laden bio also includes “two Emmy nominations, one arrest, and a lifetime ban from Disneyland” for the late-90s TV series <i>The Awful Truth</i>) found time just prior to their doc’s Human Rights Film Festival launch to give us the scoop on combining contemporary interviews with archival footage from a clandestine past; resulting in an unnerving portrait of a possibly hellish future (at least, as usual, for the young, BIPOC and poor). (The Human Rights Watch Film Festival streams nationwide May 20-26 at The IFC Center. All ticket purchases help subsidize the cost of free tickets – set aside on a first come first-served basis – as HRWFF does “not want the cost of entry to be a barrier for participation in the festival.”)
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To read my interview visit <a href="https://filmmakermagazine.com/114588-the-janes-abortion-documentary/#.Yo5AAZPMLfY">Filmmaker</a> magazine.Lauren Wissothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17377916267205352075noreply@blogger.com0