The Texas Theatre and the Women Texas Film Festival have joined forces to co-present a special month-long series, Directed By: Women Behind the Camera at the historic theater from March 29-April 27.
Inspired by the new release of Pamela B. Green’s documentary BE NATURAL: THE UNTOLD STORY OF ALICE GUY-BLACHÈ, about Guy-Blaché, The Forgotten Mother of Cinema – who pioneered techniques like close-ups, hand-tinted color, and early experiments with synchronized sound, the screening series features cinema classics and beloved favorites from an amazing lineup of filmmakers including Claire Denis, Jennifer Kent, Karyn Kusama, Penny Marshall, Penelope Spheeris, and Agnès Varda.
Texas Theatre operator Barak Epstein, said, “Screening the documentary BE NATURAL and celebrating the work and career of Alice Guy-Blaché, gave us a great opportunity to revisit films from our favorite female filmmakers. Teaming up with the Women Texas Film Festival to present this series was a natural, as they not only promote the work of women behind the camera on a year-round basis, but the programming at WTxFF shares many sensibilities with our own at the Texas Theatre.”
The event will also preview a return to the Texas Theatre by Women Texas Film Festival, August 15-18, WTxFF Founder and Artistic Director Justina Walford added, “We could not be more thrilled to be a part of this wonderful series. Not only does the roster of films and filmmakers include directors we have long admired and films we are fans of, but we are also very excited (in particular) to help shine a light on the horror/thriller selections – and encourage people to come to the theater for an evening of scares courtesy of women behind the camera.”
Highlights include screenings of favorites like the late Penny Marshall’s A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN (March 29), and Penelope Spheeris’ WAYNE’S WORLD (April 13), and classics from French filmmaking icons Claire Denis (TROUBLE EVERY DAY) and Agnès Varda (CLEO FROM 5 TO 7), on April 25 and April 27).
WTxFF Artistic Director Justina Walford will be on hand April 5 to lead audiences through a female-led horror/thriller triple feature on April 5 with Jennifer Kent’s hit film THE BABADOOK, Karyn Kusama’s JENNIFER’S BODY, and Emma Tammi’s Western-set white knuckle thriller, THE WIND.
For more information on Directed By: Women Behind the Camera, go to texastheatre.com.
Directed By: Women Behind the Camera films:
THE BABADOOK (2014)
Director: Jennifer Kent
Country: Australia, Running Time: 94 min
A widowed mother, plagued by the violent death of her husband, battles with her son’s fear of a monster lurking in the house, but soon discovers a sinister presence all around her.
BE NATURAL: THE UNTOLD STORY OF ALICE GUY-BLACHÈ
Director: Pamela B. Green
Country: USA, Running Time: 103 min
Pamela B. Green’s energetic film about pioneer filmmaker Alice Guy-Blaché is both a tribute and a detective story, tracing the circumstances by which this extraordinary artist faded from memory and the path toward her reclamation.
CLEO FROM 5 TO 7 (1962)
Director: Agnès Varda
Country: France, Running Time: 90 min
Cleo, a singer and hypochondriac, becomes increasingly worried that she might have cancer while awaiting test results from her doctor.
JENNIFER’S BODY (2009)
Director: Karyn Kusama
Country: USA, Running Time: 102 min
A newly possessed high school cheerleader turns into a succubus who specializes in killing her male classmates. Can her best friend put an end to the horror?
A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN (1992)
Director: Penny Marshall
Country: USA, Running Time: 128 min
Two sisters join the first female professional baseball league and struggle to help it succeed amidst their own growing rivalry.
TROUBLE EVERY DAY (2001)
Director: Claire Denis
Country: France, Running Time: 101 min
American newlyweds in Paris experience a love so strong, it nearly devours them.
WAYNE’S WORLD (1992)
Director: Penelope Spheeris
Country: USA, Running Time: 94 min
Two slacker friends try to promote their public-access cable show.
THE WIND
Director: Emma Tammi
Country: USA, Running Time: 86 min
A supernatural thriller set in the Western frontier of the late 1800s, THE WIND stars Caitlin Gerard (INSIDIOUS: THE LAST KEY) as a plains-woman driven mad by the harshness and isolation of the untamed land.
HE FUTURE IS FEMALE (shorts program)
TRT: 80 min
EINSTEIN-ROSEN
Director: Olga Osorio
Country: Spain, Running Time: 9 min
Summer of 1982. Teo claims he has found a wormhole. His brother Óscar does not believe him… at least not for now
THE GARDEN
Director: Natalia Iyudin
Country: UK, Running Time: 14 min
When in 2089 humans become an out-of-date concept, rebellious Luc would rather die than integrate into A.I. But when she meets robot Azul, the idea of upgrading herself suddenly sounds tempting.
INDIGO
Director: Jody Wilson
Country: Japan, Running Time: 22 min
After years of waiting for a signal from home, Takumi and his toy robot companion receive a message that they will be returning to their home planet. Suddenly he’s faced with a choice to follow his cosmic destiny or pursue the love of his life here on earth.
MULTIVERSE DATING FOR BEGINNERS
Director: Kelly Tatham
Country: UK, Running Time: 13 min
Ivy and Dave are totally hitting it off… until she says the wrong thing and completely freaks him out. Typical. But tonight’s no ordinary night. There’s a glitch in the Matrix, déjà vu in the air, and Ivy gets the chance to see how things will turn out if she plays the dating game differently.
REMEMBERER
Directors: Nadege Dumont, Carl Murphy
Country: UK, Running Time: 9 min
In a war-ravaged world recognizable as the ruins of our own, a woman is haunted by memories of a better time. But she lives in an era that has chosen to forget its history, and remembering is a crime.
TO GIVE AND TAKE
Director: Anna Hopkins
Country: UK, Running Time: 10 min
When eleven year old Amy finds an old eighties video game magazine she dials the phone number displayed on the back, and in a strange cosmic glitch gets connected to Caesar Spinone, a video game call center employee in the year 1989.
ABOUT TEXAS THEATRE / AVIATION CINEMAS
Aviation Cinemas’s mission is to revive and continuously upgrade historic theatre venues as premium destinations for movies, music and events, while building an enhanced infrastructure for independent film and continued sustainability for movie exhibition for the community and beyond.
ABOUT WOMEN TEXAS FILM FESTIVAL
Women Texas Film Festival (WTxFF) promotes established and emerging female storytellers in film, TV, and VR, celebrating the grit and range of women’s voices. WTxFF screens qualified films that have women in at least one key creative role: Writer, Producer, Director, Cinematographer, Editor, Composer. WTxFF also organizes a host of activities during the film festival as well as year-round focused on the craft and artistry of filmmaking, including moderated Q&As with filmmakers, panel discussions, networking events, and a gala night with filmmakers featured on the red carpet. For more information about Women Texas Film Festival, visit www.WomenTxFF.org.
