Shooting Women (2008)

Shooting Women (2008) Directed by Alexis Krasilovsky Distributed by Women Make Movies; www.wmm.com; 54 minutes Since 1967, the Academy Awards' Cinematography category has had a total of 245 nominees. None of these has been a woman. However, a female presence has increased in this role throughout the decades. Alexis Krasilovsky's film Shooting Women provides an intimate look at the change in the role of Director of Photography over the past decades, as women camera operators have emerged and altered the landscape of the film industry worldwide. Krasilovsky's film begins with 1967 archival footage of a reporter asking an interviewee what he thinks about a woman as a camera man. The man is puzzled, proceeds laugh and eventually explains that realize[s] that [he] has a hard time answering that... a woman as a camera man. This opening scene encapsulates the underlying issues faced by women in the industry over the past several decades, as they have attempted claim their place in male-dominated production crews. The depth of the problem is, perhaps, most apparent in the reporter's phrasing: 'woman as man.' A 'camera woman' is non-existent vocabulary at the time of the interview, as are gender-neutral terms such as 'camera operator.' An array of interviews follows this scene, the majority carried out with female camera operators, concerning their experiences in the industry. While each of these women's stories is intriguing in its own right, the film's international focus significantly increases their stories' power. Viewers take a journey around the globe, discovering similarities and differences in attitudes towards and working conditions experienced by female DPs in different national cultures, including: Afghanistan, Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Senegal, and Spain. In this way, Krasilovsky creates the implicit argument that although these cultures may be different, the experiences of women in this traditionally male occupation share significant commonalities. Main themes explored in the film include gender inequities, ethnic differences, and the day-to-day working relationships between men and women. Viewers witness how critical issues such as gender discrimination are manifested across cultures, in various ways and degrees. Interviews with Indian crew members, both male and female-including married couples where both spouses work as DPs-illustrate the strongest gender division in the documentary, with men suggesting that if a woman wants work on the set it is, nonetheless, still entirely her responsibility take care of her husband and children at the end of the day. Ashok Metha, a Bollywood DP, suggests that it is difficult for women to handle so many people and so much stuff. Sexual harassment is a second problem that strains working relationships between the sexes during production, an issue illustrated by Kirstin Glover's recollections of Arnold Schwarzenegger's repeated inappropriate touching of her on the set of Pumping Iron (1975). Erika Addis, an Australian-born DP, argues that while female members of production crews have been discriminated against, such allegations would almost be impossible prove. The film mentions a variety of organizations that have emerged over the course of the previous decades assist women in the film industry, but no background information is provided on these groups. …

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