Authors — Donna K
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2020’s Ten Best Films Directed (or Co-Directed) By Women
A lot of the film industry has been sitting around waiting for things to return to “normal,” a normal that seems to be receding further away by the day. None of the films on my list I saw in a theater and access was both easier (some faraway fests I could attend from my bathtub for the price of a regular movie theater ticket) and harder (geo-blocking, ticket caps, outrageous virtual pass prices). Even in the face of all of this, the number of women working in the film industry continued a steady incline. Though many long for normal, remember: […]
by Donna K on Dec 18, 2020 -
2019’s Ten Best Films Directed By Women
I wasn’t going to do this list this year. I naively thought the dawn of a post-woke film world was upon us. Even though not so long ago I had to explain to a male film programmer editing my program blurbs that woke is a word, and even though an NDA keeps me from naming that male film programmer, I still thought maybe, just maybe, there was progress being made somewhere out there. Then, the Golden Globe nominations were announced and not a single woman was nominated for Best Director. As I struggled to winnow down to ten films this […]
by Donna K on Dec 29, 2019 -
Sundance Notebook, Closing Edition: Cultural Critics of Color, Art-World Horror, a Necessary Short and More
Getting off of a bus on Main Street early in the morning, I saw two men preparing a display car/advertisement for the day; one, melting ice off the hood with a giant blowdryer, the other buffing the surface for maximum shine. The minute production details of Sundance are a tacit thing that touches every piece of the experience. It’s as though each moment is a fully produced film set ready for action. After wandering through the desolate streets, I finally found the address I was looking for, High West Distillery, a space whose wooden interiors feel like the backdrop for […]
by Donna K on Feb 4, 2019 -
Sundance Notebook: Euro Horror, a New Cult Sensation, and Park City’s Party Hierarchy
I know we’re in high elevation here at Sundance but it still freaks me out when I go to buy coffee and also have the option of buying a small personal oxygen tank. It makes me feel like we’re preparing for some kind of apocalypse, when, in fact, people are only preparing to ski and watch movies. The altitude is tiring though, I slept so deeply the other night that I missed whatever fun my roommates had, which, judging by the drying swimsuits and empty Corona case, was plenty. There are 14 people in my condo on the outskirts of […]
by Donna K on Feb 1, 2019 -
Sundance Notebook: Sexuality on Screen, Herzog in the Snow and America’s Shameful Past… and Present
Lobbies and shuttles are the office water cooler of Sundance. 10:00 AM phone pitches for movies about baseball aren’t uncommon, and neither are frantic PR people. Yesterday someone on their phone was very much upset about the fireplace in their condo not working, while others I encountered were extremely concerned about how to get the Jewish community of Wichita to the movies. I also hear countless recommendations for how films should have ended, from critics and locals alike. *** Fuck You Short, Shorts Program 3 Anette Sidor / 2018, 15mins. / Sweden Young actors sharply take on the power dynamics […]
by Donna K on Jan 29, 2019 -
Sundance Notebook: Videogame Vibes, Cell Phones in Movies, and the Change Agency of Share
“You have an Oscar-nominated movie, what more do you want?” An assistant assured another assistant that he did not say this out loud to their boss but that he definitely thought it. Heavily. That is a rhetorical question I never thought I would hear at 9:00 AM while drinking coffee, but I also never thought I’d walk past Boots Riley at 9:00 AM for two consecutive years in a row either. He looks dressed for the weather this year at least. After a missed flight due to snow in Denver and a midnight wandering around a labyrinthine condo complex, I’m […]
by Donna K on Jan 26, 2019 -
2018’s Ten Best Films Directed by Women
The films on this list represent only a small fraction of films from 2018 directed by female identifying filmmakers ranging greatly in production from impressive big budgeted masterpieces, to smaller, spirited low-to-no budget indies. One thing that emerged more than in recent years was that many films on this list implicate the audience in their inquiries and creativity; they reach into the senses to make sense of our unmoored present to provide meaningful connection. These directors remind how human the medium of film is and how our choices as an audience make us just as responsible as the filmmakers, artists, […]
by Donna K on Dec 18, 2018 -
Top Ten Films Directed/Co-Directed by Women of 2017
Many might see 2017 as a tumultuous year for women in film, but it wasn’t. I see it as the year that women in the industry began the long journey towards ending the tumult, starting with the huge artistic risks they have taken in their work. Each film I chose for this list holds a purely individual voice, each voice starting a conversation about the future of not just women in film but the future of film as a whole. 2017 was only the beginning of hearing our stories, and we have a lot more to say. 10. Kiss and […]
by Donna K on Dec 29, 2017 -
“There is Really No Such Thing as Objectivity in Film or in Life”: Dan Rybicky and Aaron Wickenden on Almost There
“There was an aura of blunt truthfulness permeating his artwork, a sense of authenticity that really did pull us in” — Dan Rybicky and Aaron Wickenden on Almost There. If you met a mildly deranged looking outsider artist painting portraits at a pierogi festival in Indiana what would you do? Personally I would smile, possibly get my portrait made and then definitely go eat a pierogi. When filmmakers Dan Rybicky and Aaron Wickenden were presented with this scenario this is not what happened. Instead, they befriended the artist, their unlikely relationship slowly evolving into a layered folktale about creative expression […]
by Donna K on Dec 4, 2015 -
Being Gentrified, Insomnia and Documentary Time: David Shapiro on His LAFF-Premiering, Missing People
In 2011 a friend said to me, “We are going to work on the movie later.” I smiled and nodded in response, knowing she would eke out more information at her own pace given her extreme privacy and love of intrigue. Little did I know that this friend, Martina Batan, was to be the subject of a feature film by David Shapiro, whose critically acclaimed directorial debut Keep the River On Your Right: A Modern Cannibal Tale was released nearly 15 years ago. Missing People parallels the life of Batan, a NYC gallery director, with that of an outsider artist […]
by Donna K on Jun 12, 2015
