This Saturday at 2:00pm I will be giving a talk about underappreciated female directors (a timely topic in light of Ava DuVernay’s Oscar snub) at the Wilmette
Public Library. Here is the description I wrote about the event for the Library’s “Off the Shelf” Newsletter:
Female directors only account for 3% of all the movies that have been made. Their work has often consequently been overlooked or downplayed in many official film histories. Yet a close scrutiny of the history of cinema reveals that women — from the silent era through today, in every national cinema around the world — have not only been present in all of the major historical movements but have been responsible for making significant contributions to them.
This talk will highlight the work of female directors from Germany in the Weimar era (Leontine Sagan’s Madchen in Uniform), classic Hollywood cinema (Dorothy Arzner’s Dance, Girl, Dance), independent American film (Ida Lupino‘s The Hitch-Hiker), the French New Wave (Agnes Varda’s Cleo from 5 to 7), the Danish “Dogme 95” movement (Lone Scherfig’s Italian for Beginners) and more.
Wilmette Public Library 
1242 Wilmette Ave.
Wilmette, Illinois 60091
847-256-5025
Hope to see you there!
In other news, at Time Out Chicago I discuss the Siskel Center’s ongoing 3-D series “Dial 3 for 3-D!!!” with special shout-outs to Hitchcock and Godard: http://www.timeout.com/chicago/blog/what-to-see-at-the-dial-3-for-3-d-series-at-the-siskel-center
I also have reviews of J.B.L. Noel’s mesmerizing 1924 documentary The Epic of Everest and an avant-garde shorts program featuring work by Luis Bunuel, Jean Vigo and Nobuhiko Ôbayashi at Cine-File: http://cine-file.info/list-archive/2015/JAN-15-3.html
January 23rd, 2015 at 5:37 pm
This event sounds great:) I do not know If I will be able to go though? P.S. did you see my blog entry regarding my Best Films of 2014? Here is the link below:
http://cinematiccoffee.com/2015/01/18/the-best-films-of-2014-etc/
I hope you enjoy it and keep up the great work as always:)
January 23rd, 2015 at 9:27 pm
I saw the comment you left on my blog:) Thank you very much for the kind words as always:) How is this semester going for you? I am doing pretty good, I might be able to come back to your class this semester, I just got to check my workload:) Anyway, keep up the great work as always and did you see any students from last semester in some of the other classes you teach? You are awesome as usual:) 🙂
January 27th, 2015 at 10:40 am
The semester’s going well so far, John. Thanks for asking. I’m keeping super-busy as usual. You can feel free to sit in on any of my Oakton classes. The exact dates and times are on my syllabi (posted on the “Current Classes” page of this blog).
January 27th, 2015 at 1:34 am
I love Agnes Varda’s ‘Cleo from 5 to 7’, that’s an excellent movie. It would have been really interesting to watch your talk. Pity I live on the other side of the globe.
January 27th, 2015 at 10:38 am
I wish you could’ve been there too! I showed a 10-minute excerpt from CLEO. The crowd seemed to enjoy it.