Jacob T. Swinney recognizes 12 essential women cinematographers for their work in his latest video essay for Fandor Keyframe. In the accompanying essay he writes: “In the entire history of the Academy Awards, Best Cinematography remains the only category never to have had a female nominee.”

[Editor’s note: this is a guest post from director Gina Telaroli. Enough said.] Over the past few months I’ve been spending more time than normal at the gym, getting up at 5:30 AM and arriving there by 7:00 for yoga or a cardio/weights/TCM combo before heading to my job for the day. When I made the decision to kick it up a notch from my usual two days a week, my reasons were probably a New York City cocktail of anxiety, sublimation, and restlessness from having a day job that keeps me at a desk. What I realized after a […]

Since 1988 transmediale has been one of Europe’s premiere events for showcasing transmedia and technology for art and narrative and nonfiction storytelling. Director Kristoffer Gansing (who spoke with Filmmaker last year) and his team continue to assemble cutting-edge films, installations, performances, workshops, and other events, turning the House of World Cultures in Berlin into a hub for all things new media. I spoke with a number of artists who presented video-based pieces at the festival. Erica Scourti (seen above in an image from another project) is an Athens-born, London-based artist focusing on video art and, increasingly, Internet-centered artwork; as she describes below, her work gradually transformed […]

Recently, I realized that Kelly Reichardt is the only working American female filmmaker with a body of work I can wholeheartedly exalt. That’s not to say there aren’t plenty of films to admire that are directed by women in this country, but that those films so often stand on their own, as that director’s first and last achievement. There is no “late period” to debate, because these women are rarely making it on to their second or third feature. TV money and exposure factor, sure, but even the standard bearer success story that is Lena Dunham never directed another after Tiny Furniture. Instead, Judd […]

I’m sure I’m not the only person who wondered why the Sundance Institute and Women in Film Los Angeles needed to spend who-knows-how-much money and time to study whether women are getting a fair shake in the independent film world. The answer has two letters, and it starts with “n.”  Am I right, ladies?  Nevertheless, they went ahead with the research, and the resulting 43-page report, “Exploring the Barriers and Opportunities for Independent Women Filmmakers,” was released in January. Spoiler alert: The news is not good. While independent film has a higher percentage of women behind the lens, compared to mainstream […]