View Finders: Women Cinematographers
July 12–November 21, 2019
Showcasing the artistic visions of female cinematographers around the world, this series asks whether there is such a thing as a “female gaze.”
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Cameraperson
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The Wonders
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The Strange Case of Angelica
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Gang of Four
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The Milk of Sorrow
- Upcoming
Films - Past
Films - Past
Events
Past Films
The Strange Case of Angelica
Manoel de Oliveira
Portugal, Spain, France, Brazil, 2010Cinematography by Sabine Lancelin
Friday, July 12 6:30 PMView DetailsA young photographer falls in love with a recently deceased beauty in one of Manoel de Oliveira’s final films. “Somewhere between ghost story and fairy tale . . . a beguiling meditation on the ontological and illusionist powers of cinema” (Film Comment).
The Intruder
Claire Denis
France, South Korea, 2004Imported Print
Cinematography by Agnès GodardSunday, July 14 7 PMView DetailsAfter a heart transplant, a man travels the world, from the Alps to Polynesia, in search of new meaning. “Poetic and primal. . . . This mysterious object may be Denis’s most gorgeous film” (Village Voice).
Eastern Boys
Robin Campillo
France, 2013Cinematography by Jeanne Lapoirie
Thursday, July 25 7 PMView DetailsA “simple” sex-for-hire agreement between a French bourgeois and a Ukrainian immigrant turns into something more dangerous—and more profound. “Explores interlocking themes of sexuality, immigration, and power dynamics with a cleareyed sensitivity” (New York Times).
The Milk of Sorrow
Claudia Llosa
Spain, Peru, 2009Cinematography by Natasha Braier
Sunday, July 28 4:30 PMView DetailsThe niece of novelist Mario Vargas Llosa fashioned this provocative, poetic fable of the survivors of a generation of political violence, as the daughter of an indigenous woman learns more about her mother’s life—and suffering. With Bertrand Bonello’s short Sarah Winchester, Ghost Opera.
Gang of Four
Jacques Rivette
France, Switzerland, 1989Cinematography by Caroline Champetier
Thursday, August 1 7 PMView DetailsPerformance, life, and cinema merge in Rivette’s metaphysical mystery. “One of the director’s most spellbinding explorations of the sometimes terrifyingly thin line between everyday life and the strangeness beneath it” (Film Society of Lincoln Center).
Today
Alain Gomis
Senegal, 2012Cinematography by Crystel Fournier
Sunday, August 4 5 PMView DetailsAmerican musician/slam poet Saul Williams stars in this dreamlike Senegalese fable of one man’s last day on earth, as prescribed by fate. “Spiritual, soulful and captivating” (Hollywood Reporter).
Tokyo Sonata
Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Japan, Netherlands, Hong Kong, 2008Imported Print
Cinematography by Akiko AshizawaFriday, August 9 8:15 PMView DetailsA laid-off salaryman pretends to go to work every day in order not to disappoint his family in Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s darkly comic, deeply unsettling drama, which “tells us a great deal about contemporary Japan” (New York Review of Books).
Cameraperson
Kirsten Johnson
United States, 2016Cinematography by Kirsten Johnson
BAMPFA Student Committee PickWednesday, August 14 7 PMEmiko Omori in PersonView DetailsKristen Johnson’s look back at footage from her long career as a cinematographer becomes a fascinating investigation of the craft and ethics of documentary filmmaking. With Emiko Omori’s work-in-progress Vanishing Chinatown: The World of the May's Photo Studio.
The Wonders
Alice Rohrwacher
Italy, Switzerland, Germany, 2014Cinematography by Hélène Louvart
Thursday, August 22 7 PMView DetailsThe lives of a beekeeping family in rural Italy are disrupted by the arrival of a sullen teenage boy and a cheesy TV production crew in this evocative look at rituals, relationships, and adolescent dreams. “A beautiful, richly imagined ride” (Washington Post).
25 Watts
Juan Pablo Rebella, Pablo Stoll
Uruguay, 2001Cinematography by Bárbara Alvarez
Saturday, August 31 6 PMView DetailsThree aimless teens stagger through another Montevideo day in this low-budget paean to cigarettes, wine, and rock ’n’ roll, which heralded the arrival of a new Uruguayan cinema. “Recalls the spirit of the Czech New Wave” (Michael Fox).
Naked Spaces: Living Is Round
Trinh T. Minh-ha
United States, 1985Thursday, September 5 7 PMFilmmaker/Cinematographer Trinh T. Minh-ha in PersonView DetailsAcclaimed Berkeley-based filmmaker/professor/theorist Trinh T. Minh-ha filmed West African living spaces to assemble what she called a “film on the poetics of dwelling.” “Breathtaking in [its] tactile beauty” (TIFF).
Velvet Goldmine
Todd Haynes
United States, 1998Cinematography by Maryse Alberti
BAMPFA Student Committee PickSaturday, September 14 8 PMView DetailsTodd Haynes’s glitter-and-makeup-filled tribute to glam-rock excess follows a Bowie-like singer’s rise and fall; cinematographer Maryse Alberti leaves no spandex leopard print unnoticed. Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Ewan McGregor, and Christian Bale star.
Devil's Freedom
Everardo González
Mexico, 2017Cinematography by María Secco
Sunday, September 15 7 PMView DetailsThis powerful documentary on the victims (and victimizers) of Mexico’s drug wars features heartbreaking interviews and stylized, even surreal still portraits by DP María Secco. “Harrowing . . . mournful . . . deeply impactful” (Variety).
Swoon
Tom Kalin
United States, 1992Cinematography by Ellen Kuras
Saturday, September 28 8 PMIntroduction by Damon R. YoungView DetailsThis cornerstone of the “New Queer Cinema” of the early 1990s revisits the notorious 1924 Leopold & Loeb murders, with striking black-and-white cinematography by Ellen Kuras.
Paranoid Park
Gus Van Sant
United States, 2007Cinematography by Rain Li and Christopher Doyle
Saturday, October 12 8:15 PMView DetailsA young Portland skateboarder finds himself over his head in Gus Van Sant’s dreamy examination of bodies in motion and teen lives in stasis. Rain Li’s Super 8 footage complements images by longtime Wong Kar-wai collaborator Christopher Doyle.
Stories We Tell
Sarah Polley
Canada, 2012Cinematography by Iris Ng
Sunday, October 20 7 PMView DetailsActress-turned-director Sarah Polley sets her gaze toward her own family history—and her remarkable, remarkably unconventional mother—in this moving, constantly surprising documentary on home life, marriage, and female independence. “Revelatory” (New York Times).
CANCELED—Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer
Nick Broomfield, Joan Churchill
United Kingdom, United States, 2004Canceled
This screening has been canceled due to the UC Berkeley campus power shutdown. Please watch this page for updates on rescheduling and ticket refund information.Cinematography by Joan Churchill
Sunday, October 27 7 PMView DetailsThis riveting portrait of serial killer Aileen Wuornos brings us face-to-face with a defiant, increasingly delusional woman about to be executed—and dares to find her humanity. “A haunting look at a life gone wrong” (Film Society of Lincoln Center).
The Judge
Erika Cohn
Palestine, United States, 2017Cinematography by Amber Fares
Sunday, November 3 5 PMIntroduction by Alix BlairView DetailsThis intimate documentary follows the first female judge appointed to any Middle Eastern Shari’a court—one woman attempting to achieve justice in a system designed to favor men.
The Sky on Location
Babette Mangolte
United States, 1982Wednesday, November 20 7 PMFilmmaker/Cinematographer Babette Mangolte in PersonView DetailsMangolte’s meditation on the vastness of the American West moves between Arizona and New Mexico, finding awe and inspiration—and exploring the very concept of wilderness.
Routine Pleasures
Jean-Pierre Gorin
United States, United Kingdom, France, 1986Thursday, November 21 7 PMCinematographer Babette Mangolte in PersonView DetailsJean-Pierre Gorin explores ideas of work, the male imaginary, and American culture through an essay film inspired by critic and artist Manny Farber. Babette Mangolte’s cinematography is “marvelously nuanced” (Senses of Cinema).