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  • The Bigelow Effect: Women Filmmakers at EIFF by Tim Hayes

    July 15th, 2010

    Mr. Hayes is not only the ALMT publicist and lead editor,
    but also contributes film journalism and reviews to Critic’s Notebook and Cinemattraction.

    Tim Hayes on Theatrical Thursdays

    The Bigelow Effect: Women Filmmakers at EIFF

    One thread stood out loud and clear in the program of this year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival: A batch of strong films made by women filmmakers. “The Runaways” and “Winter’s Bone” have been reviewed here already, but there were several more.

    Very appropriate then that Birds Eye View, the UK-based organization that champions and supports women in film, gathered together a group of women director
    s attending the festival for a roundtable chat to discuss their experiences and the challenges they faced getting their films made.

    Moderated by Amy Mole, Managing Director of Birds Eye View, the conversation’s title reflected the big news from earlier this year: The award of the Best Director Oscar to a woman for the first time.

    Here’s what they had to say about The Bigelow Effect.

    Photo courtesy of Birds Eye View. L-R: Amy Mole, Kit Hui, Stephanie Argy, Debra Granik

    Amy Mole (Birds Eye View): It’s been a landmark year for women in film. Kathryn Bigelow won the Oscar for “The Hurt Locker”, Andrea Arnold won a Bafta for “Fish Tank”…and then came Cannes where there wasn’t a single film directed by a woman in competition. Do you think Kathryn Bigelow’s success changes anything in the long run?

    Kit Hui (dire
    ctor of “Fog”): When Kathryn won I was very happy, but also a little sad at the same time. Sad that in order to win, a director has to conform to making that particular kind of film. It just feels to me like that’s the wrong way round.

    Stephanie Argy (director of “The Red Machine”): Actually I think that it was the other way round. I love that she won for that film, and threw herself into that kind of movie. Not having an obvious gender identity in a film is ultimately a worthy goal.

    Kit Hui: Well let me stress it’s fine that “The Hurt Locker” doesn’t automatically carry a female identity just because it has a female director! But I don’t think that the Oscars alone has changed anything.


    Debra Granik (director of
    “Winter’s Bone”): My hero was always documentary maker Barbara Kopple. When she was asked “Why do you make films about men?” she said “It’s what I know.” It seemed to me as if Kathryn Bigelow was actually given more license precisely because she was outside of the system. Ultimately, true diversity won’t be achieved through butting heads but through that kind of infiltration.

    Amy Mole: Can you describe your backgrounds, and what led you to becoming a director?

    Debra Granik: My training came from being around cable access channels and women documentary filmmakers, especially political activist filmmakers, in the 1980s. It was very common to see women with cameras in those kinds of circles at that time. When I got to NYU in 1995 it was actually the first year of male/female parity in the class, and I found that my women classmates were almost embarrassed by the word feminism…almost.

    Stephanie Argy: I started out as an editor in Los Angeles, and then got a masters in journalism at Columbia University. So no film school for me. But I did join the American Society of Cinematographers, which in practice became my film school. And there are very few lines for the ladies room in the ASC.

    Kit Hui: I was born in Hong Kong, ca
    me to the US and received a Master of Fine Arts from Columbia University’s Graduate Film Program. At university my mentors were people like Kelly Reichardt and Tom Kalin – so mostly either women or gay men. I think that when your mentors don’t come from majority groups, you learn a lot about when to be assertive and when not.
    Stephanie Argy: And it’s interesting that we all came through New York. The indie film community is more welcoming to women there.

    Amy Mole: Statistics say that women are p
    aid less than men and leave the film industry in greater numbers. In 2009, 700 men quit the business – and 5000 women. Why is it more difficult for women to stay in the industry and make films? What kind of barriers have you come up against?

    Debra Granik: Any personal friction tends to come from people in positions of power higher up the chain, rather than the attitudes of the person I’m actually dealing with at the time. But the subject matter is usually more of an issue than my gender. The stories I want to make are deemed non-commercial, so it’s assumed that they will lose money and there is a reluctance to film them. My tactic was to point out that my stories didn’t need a big budget or lots of equipment, but that seemed to work better on the East Coast of America than the West.
    Kit Hui: My name is gender-neutral, so once or twice people have assumed I’m male. But I’ve still had the predictable comments like “Why are there no guns in your script? Why no kung-fu fighting?”, after which the doors all close.

    Amy Mole: So finally, what advice would you give to women who want to break in to film making?

    Stephanie Argy: All the tools of film making are now so readily available that you should just try and direct everything you can. And keep in mind that gender is just one part of who you are: I’m a woman director, sure, but I’m also a nerd with parents from Chicago…that’s all part of my identity as well.

    Kit Hui: Don’t lose faith in what you’re trying to do. Try and gather a core team of people that you trust around you, since once that’s in place you can help to protect each other.
    Stephanie Argy: …but be aware that there are very few jobs that are as lonely as a film director.

    Check out Birds Eye View’s website to read more about them and their support for women in film.


    July 15th,2010 Blogging, Film Reviews by Tim Hayes, Theatrical Thursdays | Sections: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

  • Four Lions Review by Tim Hayes

    June 3rd, 2010

    Mr. Hayes is not only the ALMT publicist and lead editor,
    but also contributes film journalism and reviews to Critic’s Notebook and Cinemattraction.

    Apologies for the delay.

    Tim Hayes on Theatrical Thursdays

    Four Lions (2010) dir. Christopher Morris

    Country: UK
    Cert (UK): 15
    Runtime: 101 mins
    Director: Chris Morris
    Cast: Adeel Akhtar, Arsher Ali, Kayvan Novak, Nigel Lindsay, Preeya Kalidas, Riz Ahmed
    Website:     four-lions.co.uk

    Comedies can go where tragedies cannot, but even by those standards “Four Lions” sets off across a minefield. And no subject should be off limits for satire, but a comedy about the world’s most incompetent suicide bombers will be way past those limits for many. It might also be horribly close to a documentary.


    This particular terrorist cell are a group of disaffected young Muslims in the north of England who want to be jihadists, a calling for which they are spectacularly ill-equipped. This is a group whose would-be quartermaster opts for an Irish accent when buying supplies, thinking it will avoid suspicion. Others include the terminally dim Waj (Kayvan Novak), who believes that paradise is like Alton Towers theme park, and their vile mate Barry (Nigel Lindsay), a white sympathizer whose zealotry is handicapped only by his being an utter moron.

    But everyone else on the planet is crackers too. Police negotiators inadvertently annoy hostage-takers with smutty innuendo, religious fundamentalists force their women-folk to retreat to solitary confinement for tea, and trained snipers get confused about the distinction between a Wookie and the Honey Monster. (“We shot the right man. But the wrong man blew up.”)


    “Four Lions” is like this from start to finish. Chris Morris’ credentials as an agitator were won on British TV where his escalating attacks on media stupidity amounted to an insurgency all on their own, although everything he foresaw came true anyway. Everyone involved in the career of Sacha Baron Cohen owes Morris a debt of gratitude and a royalty payment, although compared to the bared fangs of “Four Lions”, “Borat” is just taking a leak in the shallow end. By the wimpy standards of modern comedy, Morris is practically Jonathan Swift.


    Swift would have been delighted with cell-leader Omar, expertly played by Riz Ahmed with awful amiability. And more so with Omar’s young wife and child, both level-headed, well adjusted, good-looking, and calmly supportive of his bid to blow himself to kingdom come. The least dopey member of this circus of numbskulls, Omar is automatically the most stupid of all, determined to bereave his family and leave them on their own in a world gone mad. Satire might not be enough of a word for something as angry and despairing as that, or a film as incisive as “Four Lions”. But it’ll have to do.

    READ TIM HAYES’ EXTENDED REVIEW OF “FOUR LIONS” OVER AT
    CRITIC’S NOTEBOOK.

    June 3rd,2010 Blogging, Film Reviews by Tim Hayes, Theatrical Thursdays, Video | Sections: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

  • ALMT-WW: Photoshopped Evolution PART 3

    April 14th, 2010

    On ALMT-Women’s Wednesday I talk about women in media.

    For the last two weeks I’ve been talking about Photoshop and how it’s possibly distorting body image.

    Part 1 was about the scrutiny that celebs are faced with some before-and-after Photoshopped pics. Part 2 was about the Ralph Lauren controversies with his over-Photoshopped campaigns. The third and final part (for now), is about the interesting way that the UK and France and have been dealing with the much debated Photoshop-demon.

    Since September the British members of Parliament have been trying to ban Photoshopped ads aimed at children, after Oil of Olay campaigned with a “disturbingly wrinkle-free Twiggy.” (Doesn’t it seem odd that they would think wrinkle ads are aimed at children?) Their goal is for all Photoshopping aimed at those 16 and under will be banned entirely and other ads would carry a disclaimer. The Twiggy ad was eventually banned in the UK.

    Over in France a similar thing is happening. VALÉRIE BOYER, who NY Times describes as “tall, fashionable and, dare we say it, slim,” proposed a draft law that will requires all digitally retouched images to be labeled so. If the law passes, advertisers that don’t include the appropriate warning could incite a fine of over $50,000 or up to 50% of the cost of their campaign.

    Most of these proposals are to combat the subsequent low self-esteem that women feel upon viewing perfection. But, does it change the situation when Photoshop is used to fill out the model in question, as many of the articles I have read claim.  For example, a famously retouched Chanel ad featuring Keira Knightly supposedly filled in the thigh, rather than her breasts, as was accused. But the ad doesn’t really feature her thigh.  And look at on-set photograph.  She doesn’t appear as busty. Do I smell B.S?

    And then there are others that thinks the whole thing is ridiculous, citing artistic freedom.  Since when is photography supposed to represent reality? asks Dominique Issermann, a French fashion photographer. She says “There is this illusion that photography is ‘true,’” adding that photographs are “a piece of reality, but the reality of the world is different.”

    As I’m writing this, I just received an email from Designfruit for a Photoshop brush set called Mellow Mess, which I subsequently downloaded.  It goes without saying that I shall keep on keepin’ on with Photoshop. I adore the facilities it offers to easily create posters and change an image for the required mood. Heck, I created all the artwork for the Girl In The Red Dress EP within Photoshop.

    But I also feel a responsibility to the ongoing issue.  In no way do I wish to contribute to low self-esteem or perpetuate eating disorders, as is claimed Photoshop may assist.

    What do you think? Do the children of tomorrow need warnings on perfume ads just like cigarettes? Or is Photoshop just the scapegoat for lighting, soft lenses, Vaseline, and other photography tricks?

    And for better or worse… without photoshop, we would never have pictures like this:

    April 14th,2010 Blogging, Girl In The Red Dress, Women's Wednesdays | Sections: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments