Indie Reframed: Women’s Filmmaking and Contemporary American Independent Cinema

Linda Badley; Claire Perkins; Michele Schreiber

Published by Edinburgh University Press 2016

Indie Reframed

Women’s Filmmaking and Contemporary American Independent Cinema

Linda Badley , Claire Perkins and Michele Schreiber

In the series Traditions in American Cinema

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781474403931

Overview
Contents

About this book

Explores the films, practitioners, production and distribution contexts that currently represent American women’s independent cinema

With the consolidation of ‘indie’ culture in the 21st century, female filmmakers face an increasingly indifferent climate. Within this sector, women work across all aspects of writing, direction, production, editing and design, yet the dominant narrative continues to construe ‘maverick’ white male auteurs such as Quentin Tarantino or Wes Anderson as the face of indie discourse. Defying the formulaic myths of the mainstream ‘chick flick’ and the ideological and experimental radicalism of feminist counter-cinema alike, women’s indie filmmaking is neither ironic, popular nor political enough to be readily absorbed into pre-existing categories. This ground-breaking collection, the first sustained examination of the work of female practitioners within American independent cinema, reclaims the ‘difference’ of female indie filmmaking. Through a variety of case studies of directors, writers and producers such as Ava DuVernay, Lena Dunham and Christine Vachon, contributors explore the innovation of a range of female practitioners by attending to the sensibilities, ideologies and industrial practices that distinguish their work – while embracing the ‘in-between’ space in which the narratives they represent and embody can be revealed.

Key Features

Covers American women’s independent cinema since the late 1970s
Analyses the work of acclaimed but critically overlooked female practitioners such as Kelly Reichardt, Christine Vachon, Miranda July, Kasi Lemmons, Nicole Holofcener, Mira Nair, Lisa Cholodenko, Megan Ellison, Lynn Shelton, Ava DuVernay, Mary Harron and Debra Granik
Distinguishes four different approaches to analysing women’s independent cinema through: production and industry perspectives; genre and other classificatory modalities; political, cultural, social and professional identities; and collaborative and collectivist practices

Contributors

John Alberti, Northern Kentucky University
Linda Badley, Middle Tennessee State University
Cynthia Baron, Bowling Green State University
Shelley Cobb, University of Southampton
Corinn Columpar, University of Toronto
Chris Holmlund, University of Tennessee-Knoxville
Geoff King, Brunel University, London
Christina Lane, University of Miami
James Lyons, University of Exeter
Kathleen A. McHugh, UCLA
Kent A. Ono, University of Utah
Lydia Papadimitriou, Liverpool John Moores University
Claudia Costa Pederson, Wichita State University
Claire Perkins, Monash University
Sarah Projansky, University of Utah
Maria San Filippo, Goucher College
Michele Schreiber, Emory University
Sarah E. S. Sinwell, University of Utah
Yannis Tzioumakis, University of Liverpool
Patricia White, Swarthmore College
Patricia R. Zimmermann, Ithaca College

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	v
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Publicly Available Download PDF	viii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
NOTES ON THE CONTRIBUTORS Publicly Available Download PDF	x
INTRODUCTION Linda Badley, Claire Perkins and Michele Schreiber Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
PART I. PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION CONTEXTS
1. WOMEN MAKE MOVIES: CHICKEN & EGG PICTURES, GAMECHANGER FILMS AND THE FUTURE OF FEMALE INDEPENDENT FILMMAKING Sarah E. S. Sinwell Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	23
2. KILLER FEMINISM Patricia White Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	36
3. ‘A WOMAN WITH AN ENDGAME’: MEGAN ELLISON, ANNAPURNA PICTURES AND AMERICAN INDEPENDENT FILM PRODUCTION James Lyons Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	54
4. SUSAN SEIDELMAN’S CONTEMPORARY FILMS: THE FEMINIST ART OF SELF-REINVENTION IN A CHANGING TECHNOLOGICAL LANDSCAPE Christina Lane Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	70
5. ‘I’M ABSOLUTELY THE RIGHT PERSON FOR THIS JOB’: ALLISON ANDERS AND MARY HARRON ON LIFETIME TELEVISION Michele Schreiber Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	87
PART II GENRES AND MODALITIES
6. GENDER, GENRE AND MORE GENERAL INDIE DIMENSIONS IN MEGAN GRIFFITHS’ THE OFF HOURS AND EDEN Geoff King Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	107
7. DOWN TO THE BONE: NEO-NEOREALISM AND GENRE IN CONTEMPORARY WOMEN’S INDIES Linda Badley Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	121
8. MY EFFORTLESS BRILLIANCE: WOMEN’S MUMBLECORE Claire Perkins Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	138
9. BLACK WOMEN, ROMANCE AND THE INDIEWOOD ROM COMS OF SANAA HAMRI Shelley Cobb Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	154
PART III IDENTITIES
10. FROM DOCUMENTARY TO FICTIONAL REALISM: MIRA NAIR’S DOCUMENTARY ROOTS, FICTIONAL HOME AND PRODUCTION POLITICS Sarah Projansky and Kent A. Ono Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	171
11. HAVING ITS CAKE AND EATING IT TOO: CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN ‘INDIE’ CINEMA AND MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING REFRAMED Yannis Tzioumakis and Lydia Papadimitriou Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	188
12. NOT JUST INDIE: A LOOK AT FILMS BY DEE REES, AVA DUVERNAY AND KASI LEMMONS Cynthia Baron Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	204
13. SEXUAL IN-BETWEENER/INDUSTRY IN-BETWEENER: THE CAREER AND FILMS OF LISA CHOLODENKO Maria San Filippo Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	221
14. MIRANDA JULY AND THE NEW TWENTY-FIRST-CENTURY INDIE Kathleen A. McHugh Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	239
PART IV COLLABORATIONS
15. MUTUAL MUSES IN AMERICAN INDEPENDENT FILM: CATHERINE KEENER AND NICOLE HOLOFCENER, MICHELLE WILLIAMS AND KELLY REICHARDT Chris Holmlund Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	257
16. THE FEMINIST POLITICS OF COLLABORATION IN LENA DUNHAM’S TINY FURNITURE Corinn Columpar Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	276
17. THE DIRECTOR AS FACILITATOR: COLLABORATION, COOPERATION AND THE GENDER POLITICS OF THE SET John Alberti Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	288
18. BEYOND THE SCREEN: ON CONTEMPORARY FEMINIST MEDIA RE-ARTICULATIONS Claudia Costa Pederson and Patricia R. Zimmermann Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	304
INDEX Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	319

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Audience: College/higher education;
Pages
- Main content: 320
Illustrations
- Other: 30 B/W illustrations
Keywords: Film, Media & Cultural Studies

eBook

Published: October 31, 2016
ISBN: 9781474403931