The last few years have seen more attention being paid to female directors. Whether it’s multiple theaters having retrospectives honoring Dorothy Arzner, the latest triumph from Ava DuVernay, or exciting debuts from artists such as Nia DaCosta and Mati Diop, women in the film industry are slowly but surely getting some of the recognition they… Read more »
The 2008 financial crisis is certainly a watershed moment in not only American history but one that fundamentally shifted the psyche of the global stage as we know it. Once multiple economies crashed, leaving swaths of people with sobering and uncertain financial futures, it’s no surprise that film and culture would respond accordingly and shift… Read more »
An underappreciated pioneer with a knack for crafting wonderfully feminist fare, Dorothy Arzner is a filmmaker all cinephiles should know. A successful woman director and openly gay, Arzner was, in many ways, a rarity in classic Hollywood. She became the first woman to direct a sound film, as well as the first to be in… Read more »
Guest post by Noah Arjomand. In an age in which political and cultural boundaries are both being constantly crossed and fiercely policed, an age of polarization into seemingly unreconcilable camps, the idea of living or moving between worlds can seem at once utopian and essential. The “between worlds” idea seems to have captured imaginations—my own… Read more »
Guest post by Isabel Nieves. Themester intern Isabel Nieves had a conversation with Samuel D. Kassow, a professor in the Department of History at Trinity College. They discussed the upcoming Themester film, Who Will Write Our History. The film recounts the story of Emanuel Ringelblum and his mission to create an archive that documented the… Read more »
My introduction to Germaine Dulac many years ago in film school revolved around the surrealists. I learned about her fraught collaboration with Antonin Artaud, which resulted in a group of surrealists rioting at the premiere of The Seashell and the Clergyman (1928). However, Germaine Dulac was so much more than an object of surrealist ire and… Read more »
