Nina Menkes, a filmmaker whose work combines inner dreams with brutal, outside realities, is Nina Menkes. Her work has been shown in many international film festivals including Sundance and Locarno, Toronto, Sundance and MOMA in NYC. Menkes has had numerous international retrospectives, and her early work has been selected for restoration by the Academy Film Archive and Martin Scorsese’s Film Foundation. She is a Fulbright Fellow and a Guggenheim Fellow, and she is also on the faculty of the California Institute of the Arts.
“Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power” is screening at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, which is running online from January 20-30. More information can be found on the fest’s website.
W&H: Describe the film for us in your own words.
NM: “Brainwashed” exposes the way the visual language of cinema, as seen in the cinematic canon — feature films that win at Cannes and the Academy Awards, cult classics, and other favorites — intersects with, and contributes to, the twin epidemics of employment discrimination against women and an environment of pervasive sexual harassment, abuse, and assault.
W&H: What drew you to this story?
NM: I’ve been making films since I arrived at the UCLA film school in the 1980s – even though my first feature, made on 16mm film for $5,000, won an LA Film Critics Award and was invited to the Toronto Film Fest among many others. I, as they say, “couldn’t get arrested” in Hollywood. I was not offered any money. I was a young man and found myself in front of the glass ceiling at the cinema.
My movies showed a heterosexual male-centric worldview. I don’t know why, but I was allergic to the male gaze very instinctively – I felt it as an assault. I was once at the Hammer Museum. There was an installation that invited people to write on pink paper about the last time they were subjected sexual harassment or assault. Someone wrote, “when I saw a Hollywood movie last night.”
W&H: What do you want people to think about after they watch the film?
NM: How we have been programmed to conceptualize “men,” “women,” “sex,” “desire.” We’ve been taught all these things – do we just accept it? How has the cinematic visual language influenced how we see ourselves and others?
W&H: What was the biggest challenge in making the film?
NM: How to choose which film clips you want to leave out. The film contains more than 175 film clips, but we could have included many more.
W&H: How did you get your film funded? Let us know how you got the film produced.
NM: The film was financed primarily through tax-deductible donations to International Documentary Association (IDA) by Tim Disney, Susan Disney Lord, Abigail Disney and Abigail Disney.
W&H: What inspired you to become a filmmaker?
NM: As a teenager I was a dancer/choreographer: I understood movement and its relationship to sound, and how to tell a story through images. I felt very fundamentally and deeply connected to photography. I created a short film about dance with a few friends. I was amazed at how exciting it was adding the editing element to movement, sound and image. My mother, who was a Jungian analyst, raised me and encouraged me to write down my dreams.
Exhilarating was the feeling of creating worlds that were not in reality. I decided to apply to UCLA’s film school. When I arrived at UCLA’s film school, I felt at home. My diverse talents and interests were brought together in a powerful way that felt deeply, profoundly right. I’m grateful to live the life of a committed artist.
W&H: What’s the best and worst advice you’ve received?
NM: Best advice: Always listen inward (thanks Mom!).
Worst advice: Work on other people’s film sets to learn how to be a filmmaker.
W&H: What advice do you have for other women directors?
NM: Instead of watching the cinematic “canon,” reach inside yourself for what images are truly resonant. Is there a thread running through these images? What story can they tell you that you could share with the rest of the world?
W&H: Name your favorite woman-directed film and why.
NM: It’s not my only favorite, but one of my favorites is “Vagabond” (1985) by Agnès Varda. She shows the price that a woman pays when they refuse to follow the rules and refuse to accept the role that is expected. It’s a stunning film that never gets old.
W&H: How are you adjusting to life during the COVID-19 pandemic? Is creativity something you do?
NM. We actually made almost all of the film during the pandemic! Cecily Rhett, the editor, was available to me every day for hours. We would send cuts back and forth over the internet. She would show me small edits every day via FaceTime on her phone. It worked!
W&H: The film industry has a long history of underrepresenting people of color onscreen and behind the scenes and reinforcing — and creating — negative stereotypes. What are your suggestions for making it more inclusive?
NM. The 2015 investigation by the EEOC into the grotesque, illegal, and discriminatory sex practices in the industry had a tremendous impact. As our co-producer on “Brainwashed,” Maria Giese, says, “Things don’t change unless you force change.” The industry was looking at real, heavy financial sanctions if it didn’t change.
There has been a significant shift in the number and gender composition of women of color who direct than before. The stories these women are telling are changing and will continue shifting the landscape of representation. The #BLACKLIVESMATTER and #OSCARSSOWHITE movements shook mainstream consciousness, and Ava DuVernay’s heading up the formal change in the Academy Award regulations — in order to qualify for an award a film must show diversity both in front of and behind the camera. These are all concrete actions which have dramatically changed the cinematic landscape in a more equitable direction.
Source: Women And Hollywood