Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power

Using tantalizing film excerpts, independent director and academic Nina Menkes explains clearly how basic film techniques objectify women on screen and what the consequences are for women's work in the film industry and their safety in general. Subject/object positions, framing, camera movements, lighting, narrative – the workshop analysis concludes that regardless of whether it is a classic from several decades ago (The Lady from Shanghai, Rear Window, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid) or a contemporary film (Blade Runner 2049, Blue Is the Warmest Colour, Wonder Woman) – even those directed by a woman! – the ABC of film language invariably reproduces the patriarchal vision of the world of women and men. Brainwashed... includes commentary by other directors, experts and equality activists from the film industry (Geena Davis, Maria Giese, Joey Soloway, Ita O’Brien). Menkes walks with these thoughts around Cannes and in front of the big screen of the lecture hall. Her silhouette and commentary shatter the intimacy of scenes dominated by a man's gaze. The connoisseurs of her work claim that she has found a way to speak to us in another language.