As the Cinémathèque Québécoise pays homage to some of the notable women who have stepped behind the camera and “painted with light,” critic Justine Smith considers why their work is often underrecognized.
Justine Smith
Justine Smith is a freelance film writer based in Montreal, Quebec.
Posted inFilm
Erotic Imagination and Sensual Realities Meet in the Films of Jane Campion
In an era where women still represent the minority of filmmakers and sex on the big screen has continued to diminish, Campion’s films — most of which are now streaming online — explore new depths of desire.
Posted inFilm
The Crowded, Lonely World of Live Streaming
A wave of documentaries from China, including Present.Perfect and People’s Republic of Desire, follow the lives of popular streamers.
Posted inArt
Deconstructing Colonial Cinema with Ethnographic Fiction
Experimental filmmaker Laura Huertas Millán talks to Hyperallergic about challenging the standard modes of exoticism, ethnography, and anthropology.
Posted inFilm
Bombshell Misses the Mark in Contextualizing #MeToo
While it touches on the toxic masculinity and systematic sexism that permeates Fox News, the film does little to contextualize the industry that allowed this behavior to thrive.
Posted inFilm
Portrait of a Lady on Fire, a Queer Homage to the Labor of Women Artists
More than being one of the greatest lesbian romances, Céline Sciamma’s latest is a beautiful film about artistic labor and the social contexts that uplift some artists above others.
Posted inArt
“Not Knowing Where You’re Going”: How Claire Atherton Edits Movies
The veteran film editor speaks to Hyperallergic about her love of organization and her collaborations with Chantal Akerman.
Posted inBooks
A Former Cam Model Reveals How Desire Can Be Both Liberating and Confining
In her new memoir Camgirl, screenwriter Isa Mazzei joins the long tradition of women who use the personal to explore and deconstruct sex and culture.
Posted inFilm
“It’s All Downhill from Here”: Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story
With his latest film, the director pays tribute to Ingmar Bergman’s epic Scenes from a Marriage, revealing the disconnect between the public face of marriage and the reality of joined private lives.
Posted inFilm
The Filmmaking Collective That Let Women Talk Over Men
The documentary Delphine et Carole: Insoumuses looks at Les Insoumuses, the ’70s group founded by director Carole Roussopoulos, iconic actress Delphine Seyrig, and Simone de Beauvoir.
Posted inFilm
The Ethics of Depicting Sexual Assault in Film
The 1979 Quebecois documentary Mourir à tue-tête (“A Scream from Silence”) is a valuable but too overlooked feminist film.
Posted inFilm
Women Directors Take Risks in New Genre Shorts
The latest edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival continued its trend of elevating female filmmakers.