The Female Gaze in Documentary Film : An International Perspective

The Female Gaze in Documentary Film – an International Perspective makes a timely contribution to the recent rise in interest in the status, presence, achievements and issues for women in contemporary screen industries. It examines the works, contributions and participation of female documentary directors globally. The central preoccupation of the book is to consider what might constitute a ‘female gaze’, an inquiry that has had a long history in filmmaking, film theory and women’s art. It fills a gap in the literature which to date has not substantially examined the work of female documentary directors. Moreover, research on sex, gender and the gaze has infrequently been the subject of scholarship on documentary film, particularly in comparison to narrative film or television drama. A distinctive feature of the book is that it is based on interviews with significant female documentarians from Europe, Asia and North America. Preface Acknowledgements Contents About the Author Chapter 1: Introduction Part I Part II References Filmography Part I: Women’s Documentary Practice, Theory and Histories Chapter 2: Women and Documentary Introduction Women and Documentary: Historical Highlights Female Participation and Access Female Subjectivity Politics The Woman Filmmaker References Filmography Female Documentary Filmmakers to Win Academy Awards for ‘Documentary Feature’ (with Winning Year: 1948–020) Chapter 3: The ‘Female Gaze’ Foregrounding Female Subjectivity A Woman’s Look Markers of the Female Gaze A Women’s Poetics and the Female Gaze5 Feminisms and Representation Resonant Themes Conclusion References Filmography Chapter 4: Aesthetics and the Influence of Gender Introduction A ‘Female Aesthetic’ A Feminist Aesthetic A Feminine Aesthetic Female Experience A Female Perspective Identification Circularity and a Lack of Closure Emotion and Feeling Detail Conclusion References Filmography Chapter 5: Feminisms, Feminist Theory and Documentary Practice Introduction Feminist Documentary Feminist Documentary Practices Women Documentary Filmmakers as Change Agents Feminist Documentary and Film Studies Theory and Practice: The Debate About Realism Female Authorship Conclusion References Filmography Part II: Case Studies: Female Documentary Directors in Focus Chapter 6: Documentary as Artform: Pirjo Honkasalo’s Cinematic Poetics Introduction: Pirjo Honkasalo Style, Approach and Poetics1 Women in Finnish and Transnational Filmmaking Contexts Interview with Pirjo Honkasalo Conclusion References Filmography Chapter 7: Transnational Feminism in the Cinema of Kim Longinotto Introduction: Kim Longinotto British and Transnational Contexts Feminisms, Transnational Feminism and Longinotto’s Films A Female Gaze and Aesthetic Interview with Kim Longinotto Conclusion: Longinotto and the Female Gaze References Filmography Chapter 8: Nishtha Jain: An Auto-ethnographic and a Postcolonial Feminist Gaze Auto-ethnography Activism Women Documentarians in India Postcolonial Feminism and What It Means to Be a Feminist Interview with Nishtha Jain Conclusion: Jain and the Female Gaze References Filmography Chapter 9: Marie Mandy: Female Subjectivity and Aesthetics National and Production Contexts Filming Desire: A Journey Through Women’s Film The Body in Representation and Image A Colonised Gaze Interview with Marie Mandy Conclusion Female Agency and the Possibility of a Women’s Cinematic Language References Filmography Chapter 10: A View from the Margins: The Films of Nancy D Kates Marginalised by Sexual Identity Queer Voices2 A Female World View Writing and Books Documentary and Women in the United States Interview with Nancy D Kates Conclusion: Kates, Power and the Female Gaze References Filmography Chapter 11: Gillian Armstrong: The Line Between Fact and Fiction Introduction ‘A Gillian Armstrong Film’ Being Typecast A Girl’s Eye View Critical Reception Docudrama Armstrong’s Dramatised Documentaries Women and Documentary in Australia Interview with Gillian Armstrong French: Armstrong Conclusion References Filmography Chapter 12: Conclusion: Rendering Female Reality References Filmography Glossary References Film Index Name Index Subject Index The Female Gaze in Documentary Film - an International Perspective makes a timely contribution to the significant rise in interest in recent times in the status, presence, achievements and issues for women in contemporary screen industries. It examines the works, contributions and participation of female documentary directors globally. The central preoccupation of the book is to consider what might constitute a 'female gaze', an inquiry that has had a long history in filmmaking, film theory and women's art. It fills a gap in the literature which to date has not substantially examined the work of female documentary directors. Moreover, research on sex, gender and the gaze has been relatively infrequently the subject of scholarship on documentary film, particularly in comparison to narrative film or television drama. A distinctive feature of the book is that it is based on interviews with significant female documentarians from Europe, Asia and North America. "This book will make a fabulous contribution to the field. It will have currency amongst a burgeoning generation of scholars, including undergraduates and postgraduates who are interested in the questions of aesthetics, politics and mechanics of female documentary filmmaking. It will also find an audience with scholars interested in the growing field of film festival studies. It draws on a set of interviews conducted and facilitated at the Amsterdam International Documentary Film Festival and attends to the function of the female gaze and its attendant qualities in relation to several other festivals. It will be a "go-to" resource in film studies." - Deane Williams, Monash University, Australia