| Issue #30, October 20, 2006 |
Don’t Call Them Chick Flicks
Movies and film have played a central role in shaping and defining the very culture we live in. More than a hundred-thousand films, from documentary to fantasy, from short to epic, from animation to live action, have been made to enchant audiences around the world. Where did it all begin, you ask? Well, it began with a woman, of course.
At first, the moving picture was seen more as a scientific invention, a new technology to help document footage of things that a still camera could not record. It was not until Alice Guy Blaché, who, in 1896, directed one of the very first films in the world was film seen as an art form. She created a fairy tale about children who grow in a cabbage patch titled, The Cabbage Fairy. For this film, she was credited with being the first-ever director of a fictional film. She never stopped experimenting with possibilities, and was a true pioneer in many of the techniques still used in today’s films.
One would think that this would have enabled other women to easily participate in the film industry, but history does not reflect this. As the studio system formed with the opening of MGM in 1924, men owned and ran the studio and hired other men for powerful positions in other aspects of the business. It was unheard of to see women directors and producers behind the scenes, or even to see women portrayed with respected occupations on film.
The film industry was born to D. W. Griffith and Edwin S. Porter. Its early years emerged with male dominance by characters and notables such as Charlie Chaplin, Alfred Hitchcock, Francis Ford Coppola and of late, local Hampton-hopper Steven Spielberg. However, it is important to note the help of legends such as Blaché, Bette Davis, Rosemary Clooney, Loretta Young and Jane Wyman, who truly fought for the recognition of women’s involvement.
It’s not far-fetched to say that today, women call the shots; and the Hamptons International Film Festival is certainly a great example of that. The Film Festival welcomes an extensive lineup of films directed or created by women, as well as films that focus on women’s issues. One such film, Inheritance, a Spotlight film directed by James Moll, follows the meeting of two women whose lives were directly impacted by the Holocaust. This film is a documentary and in its production director James Moll collaborated with Steven Spielberg on Voices From The List and Schindler’s List. In Inheritance, Monika Hertwig, the daughter of Nazi Commandant Amon Goeth, tries to come to terms with the truth about her father and her family. Her father was not just any German solider who died in the war, he was the German solider who oversaw the Plaszow concentration camp where thousands of Jews were murdered, and he was later executed for his unforgivable behavior by the Polish government. The film also follows the life of Helen Jonas-Rosenzweig, who lived as a servant on Goeth’s estate. In search of a resolution, Monika arranges to meet Jonas-Rosenzweig in the ruins of the Plaszow camp.
Another film, I am the other Woman, directed by Margarethe von Trotta, delivers a powerful commentary on female identity, memory, deception and the powerful way in which family relationships shape a life. Emma’s Bliss, directed by Sven Taddicken, depicts the happy life of a woman who is a free-spirit and spends her days taking care of her pig farm on the German countryside. The unlikely romance between Emma and a terminally ill man helps to illuminate undertones of the movie that emphasize that even just a few weeks of love can be enough for a lifetime.
The coming-of-age story in Vanaja, directed by Rajnesh Domalpalli, portrays an energetic fifteen-year-old girl who drops of out school to work in the home of the “mistress,” Rama Devi, a wealthy landlady. This film truly captures Vanaja’s transition from innocence to womanhood. Lastly, Day On Fire, directed by Jay Anania, links the lives of a few New Yorkers to the conflicts in the Middle East. The film is shot with an intensity that displays how events have a direct and almost domino reaction that instantly connects, destroys and repairs the lives of people around the main character, Naja, a Palestinian woman living in New York.
The Hamptons International Film Festival brings a large group of cultures, stories, and perspectives to our front door here on the East End. There is a wide spectrum of films that center around women’s issues, with women on and behind the scenes, this year and the recognition that the Film Festival brings to women on the silver screen is important and rightfully so, since we’ve been calling the shots since 1896.
–Victoria L. Cooper
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