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LE MONDE loves ‘BRAINWASHED’

September 6, 2023

On the occasion of the release of BRAINWASHED on ARTE-DEGETO IN FRANCE/GERMANY we are thrilled to get a rave review in LE MONDE,  September 2, 2023, written by Mouna El Mokhtari

Read the French Review Here

English Translation:

What do The Lady from Shanghai (Orson Welles, 1947), Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood (Tarantino, 2019), Le Contempt (Godard, 1963), Raging Bull (Scorsese, 1980) and Requiem for a Dream (Aronofsky, 2000)  have in common? Classics, which have marked the history of the 7th art, sometimes in addition to popular successes. But not only.

By editing nearly 200 extracts from films – from the creation of the 7th art to the present day – fiction director Nina Menkes underlines, in a brilliant cinematic master class, a constantly reproduced representation of women as sexual objects and reveals a systemic sexist structure, the famous ‘male gaze’, including in films with a feminist theme or those which are directed by women.

This scenic enumeration could have been banal, boring or sickening. On the contrary, Nina Menkes, obsessed with this subject for thirty years, delivers a film of great significance: it is intellectually rich and finely produced. Built in a little over two years – in particular thanks to the Internet -, it is structured around her seminar “Sex and Power: the Visual Language of Cinema” and the work of actresses, producers, directors and teachers, including the film theorist Laura Mulvey, who defined the male gaze in 1975.

Subject-object relationship
Nina Menkes makes the striking demonstration that the construction of shots with female characters, through framing, camera movements, lighting, or camera effects such as slow motion, defines a subject-object relationship that systematically places women as the object of gaze, often reduced to sexual functions. “The image of women has nothing to do with them”, synthesizes Laura Mulvey. “She is the product of the male consciousness that has appropriated her. »

The documentary does not content itself with making visible and readable a patriarchal norm perpetuated in a more or less conscious and subliminal way. “We really have the impression that the cinematic visual language that surrounds us corresponds to the basic language of rape culture”, underlines the director, who endeavors to demonstrate the cyclical links between this language and, on the one hand, sexist discrimination in the world of work, and, on the other hand, the omnipresence of sexual violence in our society.

In 2018, only 8% – compared to 9% twenty years earlier – of the 250 most viewed films were directed by women. And 94% of working women in the Hollywood industry – from which 80% of the “entertainment” content released around the world originates – have experienced acts of sexual assault or harassment in their careers.

Conducting a very powerful reflection on the gaze and the representation of genders based on the legacies of Michel Foucault, bell hooks (pen name of Gloria Jean Watkins) and Audre Lorde, Nina Menkes’ documentary is a refreshing experience of the political significance of cinema. At the same time, it is a creative invitation to imagine other codes, representations, characters and productions; it is also just as much a cinematographic work in that it multiplies the levels of reading, questions the viewer’s gaze, formulates relevant leads.

Brainwashed. Le sexisme au cinema, documentary by Nina Menkes (EU, 2022, 105 min). Available on demand on Arte.tv until December 2.
Mouna El Mokhtari

Guardian names “Brainwashed” a top film of 2023

June 24, 2023

We’re thrilled that THE GUARDIAN has named “Brainwashed; Sex-Camera-Power’ as one of the top films of 2023 so far!

Congratulations to the entire team!

We were previously also named TOP FILM of 2022 in numerous publications including:

SIGHT AND SOUND

IMDB

ROGEREBERT.COM

DESISTFILM

NPR

PINNLAND EMPIRE

SCREEN SLATE

SENSES OF CINEMA

ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

and more!

for more information about “brainwashed” pls see:

www.brainwashedmovie.com

BRAINWASHED in the UK

June 5, 2023

It’s been a whirlwind few months and we havent updated our news feed due to being tooooooo busy rushing around the world and screening the movie!! One of our most amazing recent success stories was the theatrical opening in the UK, in 49 theaters, distributed by none less than the BFI!!!!!!!!!!! We had a stunning press reaction with major coverage not only in film circles but also on new shows including Channel 4 and the BBC.  Here are links to some of that fabulous coverage below:

PRESS OUT OF LONDON

Channel 4 News (Broadcast interview trailBroadcast and Online) – 14.05.23

Cathy Newman sits down with filmmaker Nina Menkes for an interview pegged to the BFI release of BRAINWASHED: SEX-POWER-CAMERA. They discuss the way that women are depicted in film and how this translates into society at large, the #metoo movement and female filmmakers.

 

BBC Radio 4, Woman’s Hour (broadcast and Broadcast interview trail) – 15.05.23

A live interview with filmmaker Nina Menkes, pegged to the BFI release of BRAINWASHED: SEX-POWER-CAMERA. They discuss the film’s re-evalutation of classic cinema and its themes. The interview also ends with a mention of the BFI Southbank retrospective, Cinematic Sorceress: The Films of Nina Menkes.

 

The Irish Times (print) – 13.05.23

A two-page interview with filmmaker Nina Menkes, also teased on the front page.

 

Girls on Film (Podcast) – 12.05.23

Girls on Film Brainwashed special episode – Interview with Anna Smith and filmmaker Nina Menkes.

GUARDIAN Interview with Nina Menkes by ANNA SMITH 21.4.2023 

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/apr/21/patriarchy-has-no-gender-it-doesnt-break-down-like-that-film-maker-nina-menkes-dissects-the-male-gaze

 

Fade To Black (Podcast) – 14.05.23

Interview with Clarisse Loughrey and Nina Menkes.

Jewish Renaissance (podcast) – 16.05.23

Interview with Julia Wagner and Nina Menkes

https://www.jewishrenaissance.org.uk/jr-outloud/nina-menkes

Kermode and Mayo’s Take (podcast) – 12.05.23 (Most Important Film Podcast in the UK).

Mark Kermode reviews Brainwashed in their subscriber exclusive review content

NINA MENKES Sight and Sound Interview feature May 2023

https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/interviews/nina-menkes-interview

BBC WORLD NEWS

LIVE BBC World News (TV) Nina’s comments on the Trump civil case verdict and wider context of sexual harassment in the film and entertainment industry,

https://tinyurl.com/36zkw43c

 

The Guardian (print) – 12/5/ 2023

Peter Bradshaw gives BRAINWASHED 4*, writing it is “a bracing blast of critical rigour, taking a clear look at the unexamined assumptions behind what we see on the screen.”

 

The Jewish Chronicle (online) – 12/05/2023
4* review.

 

Culture Whisper (online) – 12/05/2023
4* review.

 

The Upcoming (online) – 12/05/2023

Interview with Nina Menkes.

 

Radiant Circus (online) – 12/05/2023

Mention of BRAINWASHED in a London events round-up.

 

Prospect Magazine (print) – 10/05/2023

In-depth interview feature with Nina Menkes, pegged to the release of BRAINWASHED and BFI Southbank season. The feature also ran online.

 

Prospect Podcast – 10/05/2023

Interview with Nina Menkes, discussing the making of BRAINWASHED and her extensive career.

 

The Arts Desk (online– 10/05/2023

4* review of BRAINWASHED.

 

Filmuforia (online– 05/05/2023

4* review of BRAINWASHED.

 

Sight and Sound (online) – 10/05/2023

Interview with Nina Menkes – online edition from latest print issue

 

BFI.org.uk (Online) 11/05/2023

Feature by Rachel Pronger (Invisible Women) on 10 films that challenge the male gaze: Includes two films by MENKES.

 

Morning Star (online) – 11/05/2023

Positive review of BRAINWASHED, which is selected as Morning Star’s film of the week.

 

MENKES ON MUBI

February 27, 2023

March Programming on MUBI

Includes Andrea Riseborough in Please Baby Please, new restorations of feminist film pioneer Nina Menkes, and indie maverick Eugene Kotlyarenko

EXCLUSIVELY ON MUBI

Phantom Cinema: The Films of Nina Menkes

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A pioneer of feminist cinema, a visionary artist, and one of the great American independent filmmakers, there’s no shortage of superlatives to describe the one and only Nina Menkes. This month, MUBI presents a six-film retrospective highlighting essential works from her forty year career, presented in brand new restorations. Included here are underseen gems like her groundbreaking portrait exploring the inner life of a prostitute imprisoned for killing her pimp, Magdalena Viraga, her hallucinatory underground classic, Queen of Diamonds, her awe inducing masterpiece, The Bloody Child, and more, which, viewed together, help solidify her place as one of the great cinematic radicals  of our time. 

The Great Sadness of Zohara (Nina Menkes, 1983) – March 2
Magdalena Viraga (Nina Menkes, 1986) – March 6
Queen of Diamonds (Nina Menkes, 1991) – March 9
The Bloody Child (Nina Menkes, 1996) – March 16
Phantom Love (Nina Menkes, 2007) – March 22
Dissolution (Nina Menkes, 2012) – March 28

Jonathan Rosenbaum on THE BLOODY CHILD + More Menkes films

MENKES FILMS NOW AVAILABLE

On the occasion of the release of the BLU RAY Box set of Menkes films by Arbelos, and the month-long MUBI retrospective, Jonathan Rosenbaum calls the work “A MUST SEE!”

Read his article here:

Arresting Images [THE BLOODY CHILD + More] | Jonathan Rosenbaum

We are also grateful for this amazing write up from

MUBI.COM on Menkes:

“A pioneer of feminist cinema, a visionary artist, and one of the great American independent filmmakers, there’s no shortage of superlatives to describe the one and only Nina Menkes. This month, MUBI presents a six-film retrospective highlighting essential works from her forty year career, presented in brand new restorations. Included here are underseen gems like her groundbreaking portrait exploring the inner life of a prostitute imprisoned for killing her pimp, Magdalena Viraga, her hallucinatory underground classic, Queen of Diamonds, her awe inducing masterpiece, The Bloody Child, and more, which, viewed together, help solidify her place as one of the great cinematic radicals  of our time”.

The Great Sadness of Zohara (Nina Menkes, 1983) – March 2
Magdalena Viraga (Nina Menkes, 1986) – March 6
Queen of Diamonds (Nina Menkes, 1991) – March 9
The Bloody Child (Nina Menkes, 1996) – March 16
Phantom Love (Nina Menkes, 2007) – March 22
Dissolution (Nina Menkes, 2010) – March 28

 

Outstanding Achievement by a Woman in the Film Industry

December 28, 2022

Pleased to be named in the 2022 Association of Women Film Journalists’

Outstanding Achievements by a Woman in the Film Industry!

* Nina Menkes and Maria Giese for making Brainwashed, analyzing and illustrating the misogynistic representation of women in Hollywood movies.

Viola Davis for getting The Woman King made as her lifetime passion project and creating opportunities for other women creatives.

Domee Shi for being the first woman to direct a film for Pixar and for becoming Pixar’s VP of Creative.

Jacqueline Stewart for ongoing advocacy of the underrepresented and becoming president of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.

Michelle Yeoh – lifetime achievement award.