Wednesday, January 7 – 7:30 PM
THE AMERICAN CINEMATHEQUE AT THE EGYPTIAN THEATRE PRESENTS:
4TH ANNUAL FOCUS ON FEMALE DIRECTORS
This shorts program celebrates cinema pioneers, actresses-turned-directors, cutting-edge animators, music video helmers, documentary filmmakers, festival darlings and the brightest stars emerging from film school.
– Kirsten Dunst’s Welcome (USA, 2007, 13 min). Winona Ryder stars in this haunted house story for Glamour Magazine’s “Reel Moments” short film series.
– Isabella Rossellini’s Green Porno (USA, 2008, 3 min). A unique look at the sex life of bugs.
– Patricia Riggen’s Family Portrait (USA, 2004, 28 min). A Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner, this documentary from the director of Under the Same Moon revisits two people who were photographed by Gordon Parks in 1968 for Life magazine.
– Amy Axelson and Kimberly M. Wetherell’s Why We Wax (USA, 2007, 20 min). A funny, yet incisive documentary about getting rid of the hair down there.
– Nicole Mitchell’s Zoologic (USA, 2007, 4 min). A 2008 Student Academy Award winner about a very fussy zookeeper.
– Lana Kim and Andy Bruntel’s C’mon Baby (USA, 2008, 3 mins). A stop-action animated video for former Pavement frontman Stephen Malkmus.
– Ioana Uricaru’s The Sun and the Moon (USA, 2007, 13 min). A meditative, atmospheric portrait of a distant culture, shot in gorgeous black and white.
– Myna Joseph’s Man (USA, 2007, 15 min). Two sisters explore their sexuality in this student film by one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Films 2008.
Discussion with filmmakers Amy Axelson, Kimberly M. Wetherell and Nicole Mitchell to follow screening. There will also be a drawing for a deluxe director-empowerment kit and a reception for all in the lobby. www.americancinematheque.com
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.


I agree, it was written by a woman for young women and directed by a woman…it should have stayed with a woman’s vision…
Thanks for this bit. I try to find projects directed by woman but they are so rare. I would like to see what they might bring to the audience. I won’t say they will have a very different vision but it’s the potential nuances I look forward to. Bring ‘em on!
Taking “Twilight” away from Catherine Hardwicke is a slap in the
face to all women in this business, particularly women in the DGA.
Finally, a woman helms a huge commercial franchise and it is taken
away and given to a male director. It’s a disgrace.
Have you happened to notice the, ahem, broad demographic spectrum
represented in the current field of DGA nominees? Male, check–
White, check–over 40, check (okay Nolan is only 38 but close)
goatee, baseball hat–check. The DGA ought to be embarrassed.
And it’s like this year after year after year…go to the DGA “Meet the nominees” event sometime and you’ll see 5 guys who look stunningly
similar, from their jeans/sneakers/baseball hats to their facial hair.
True, these contenders are all rock stars, but give me a break. Even sadder is the fact that those who used to protest about the lack of representation of women and minorities in these top jobs grows dimmer by the year–beaten into submission—soon, at this rate,
to be stilled entirely.
Directors are or should be guardians of the social consciousness.
As it is, that consciousness is being shaped by an extremely narrow
demographic- white, male, rich–which impoverishes us all.