The Gendered Screen: Canadian Women Filmmakers

283 Pages·2010·4.846 MB·English

by  Brenda Austin-Smith, George Melnyk

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Brenda Austin-Smith
and George Melnyk
Canadian Women
editors
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Film studies is the critical exploration of cinematic texts as art and entertainment, as well as the indus-
tries that produce them and the audiences that consume them. Although a medium barely one hundred Filmmakers
years old, film is already transformed through the emergence of new media forms. Media studies is an
interdisciplinary field that considers the nature and effects of mass media upon individuals and society
and analyzes media content and representations. Despite changing modes of consumption—especially
the proliferation of individuated viewing technologies—film has retained its cultural dominance into
the 21st century, and it is this transformative moment that the WLU Press Film and Media Studies series
addresses.
Our Film and Media Studies series includes topics such as identity, gender, sexuality, class, race,
visuality, space, music, new media, aesthetics, genre, youth culture, popular culture, consumer culture,
regional/national cinemas, film policy, film theory, and film history.
Wilfrid Laurier University Press invites submissions. For further information, please contact the Series
editors, all of whom are in the Department of English and Film Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University:
Dr. Philippa Gates Department of English and Film Studies
Email: [email protected] Wilfrid Laurier University
75 University Avenue West
Dr. Russell Kilbourn
Waterloo, ON N2L 3C5
Email: [email protected]
Canada
Dr. Ute Lischke
Phone: [phone]
Email: [email protected]
Fax: [phone]
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Brenda Austin-Smith
and George Melnyk
CCaannaaddiiaann WWoommeenn
editors
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Filmmakers
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This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Canadian Federation for the Humanities
and Social Sciences, through the Aid to Scholarly Publications Programme, using funds provided
by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Wilfrid Laurier University Press
acknowledges the financial support of the Government of Canada through its Book Publishing Industry
Development Program for our publishing activities.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
The gendered screen : Canadian women filmmakers / Brenda Austin-Smith and George
Melnyk, editors.
(Film and media studies series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Also available in electronic format.
ISBN 978-1-55458-179-5
1. Feminist films—Canada—History and criticism. 2. Women motion picture producers and
directors—Canada. 3. Women in motion pictures. 4. Lesbians in motion pictures. 5. Nationalism in
motion pictures. I. Austin-Smith, Brenda, 1958– II. Melnyk, George III. Series: Film and media studies
series
PN1995.9.W6G44 2010 791.43082'0971 C2009-906511-8
ISBN 978-1-55458-195-5
Electronic format.
1. Feminist films—Canada—History and criticism. 2. Women motion picture producers and
directors—Canada. 3. Women in motion pictures. 4. Lesbians in motion pictures. 5. Nationalism in
motion pictures. I. Austin-Smith, Brenda, 1958– II. Melnyk, George III. Series: Film and media studies
series
PN1995.9.W6G44 2010a 791.43082'0971 C2009-907079-0
© 2010 Brenda Austin-Smith and George Melnyk
Cover and text design by Blakeley Words+Pictures. Front-cover image shows Christina Cox and Karen
Dwyer in Better Than Chocolate (dir. Anne Wheeler). Photo by Rosamond Norbury.
This book is printed on FSC recycled paper and is certified Ecologo. It is made from 100% post-consumer
fibre, processed chlorine free, and manufactured using biogas energy.
Printed in Canada
Every reasonable effort has been made to acquire permission for copyright material used in this
text, and to acknowledge all such indebtedness accurately. Any errors and omissions called to the
publisher’s attention will be corrected in future printings.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in
any form or by any means, without the prior written consent of the publisher or a licence from The
Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright). For an Access Copyright licence, visit
www.accesscopyright.ca or call toll free to 1-800-893-5777.
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To women filmmakers everywhere
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Contents
Acknowledgements ix
1 Introduction
Canadian Women Filmmakers: Re-imaging Authorship,
Nationality, and Gender
Brenda-Austin Smith and George Melnyk 3
2 Feminist/Feminine Binaries and the Body Politic
The Art of Craft: The Films of Andrea Dorfman
Andrew Burke 25
Feminist Ambiguity in the Film Adaptations of Lynne Stopkewich
Lee Parpart 43
On the Edge of Genre: Anne Wheeler’s Interrogating Maternal Gaze
Kathleen Cummins 67
Fluidity: Joyce Wieland’s Political Cinema
Kay Armatage 95
3 Queer Nation and Popular Culture
The Art of Making Do: Queer Canadian Girls Make Movies
Jean Bruce 115
Feminist Filmmaking and the Cinema of Patricia Rozema
Agata Smoluch Del Sorbo 127
vii
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Contents
Léa Pool: The Art of Elusiveness
Florian Grandena 141
4 Transiting Nationality and the Battlefields of Otherness
On the Field of Battle: First Nations Women Documentary Filmmakers
Anthony Adah 165
Eradicating Erasure: The Documentary Film Practice of Sylvia Hamilton
Shana McGuire and Darrell Varga 185
Women, Liminality, and “Unhomeliness” in the Films of Mina Shum
Brenda Austin-Smith 203
Beyond Tradition and Modernity: The Transnational Universe
of Deepa Mehta
Christina Stojanova 217
Les Québécoises
Jerry White 233
Contributors 251
Index 255
viii
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Acknowledgements
The editors would like to thank the Aid to Scholarly Publishing Program of SSHRC
for its financial support for this book. This project has taken several years and
has been helped by various people. In particular we would like to acknowledge
the valuable comments made by the anonymous readers of the initial manu-
script. Their observations allowed us to improve the editorial content and theo-
retical framing of the book. We would like to thank our respective families for
their support during the preparation of the manuscript. The staff at Wilfrid Laurier
University Press has been exceedingly professional in their assistance and we are
pleased to have this book included in the Film and Media Studies Series.
ix
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