Working in both drama and documentary (and sometimes fusing the two), Australian writer-director Kitty Green is one of contemporary cinema’s sharpest observers of young women navigating the hostile terrain of male power. Drawing on her Ukrainian family heritage, she made her feature debut with the hard-hitting feminist group-portrait “Ukraine Is Not a Brothel” (2013), then put an inspired new spin on true-crime tropes with “Casting JonBenet” (2017). Her award-winning debut narrative feature, “The Assistant” (2019), was one of the first to dramatize the film industry’s explosion of #MeToo revelations, while “The Royal Hotel” (2023) subverts the male-gaze rules of the Outback horror genre. Fittingly, strong women directors and female-driven stories dominate Green’s eclectic international film selection for Galerie, from unflinching depictions of toxic masculinity like Vivian Qu’s “Angels Wear White” (2017) and Isabella Eklöf’s “Holiday” (2018) to Jessica Hausner’s exquisitely composed pilgrimage parable “Lourdes” (2009). As Green tells Galerie, “Anything that’s a little different excites me.”
“Lourdes” dir. Jessica Hausner, 2009
My mother is a photographer and art teacher and she always raves about Jessica Hausner’s composition. Hausner has an exquisite eye. Every frame is so delicately composed. Lourdes is divine.
“Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story” Todd Haynes, 1987
I was given a video camera at age 11 and started shooting in my backyard with my Barbie dolls. When I stumbled upon a bootleg VHS copy of Superstar, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Perhaps what I had been playing with all along was cinema? Superstar is a playful and provocative portrait of the life of Karen Carpenter.
“The Arbor” dir. Clio Barnard, 2010
Clio Barnard presents us with an innovative portrait of the playwright Andrea Dunbar. Casting actors to lip-synch to audio interviews with Andrea’s family and friends, Barnard weaves reenactments together with performances of Dunbar’s plays. The Arbor was a great inspiration for my nonfiction work. A film that dares to push at the boundaries of the form.
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ABOUT GALERIE
GALERIE is a new online film club launched by Indian Paintbrush, featuring collections curated by industry creators, thoughtful essays, and exclusive live events with today’s most esteemed cinema professionals and cultural minds.
