Kelly Reichardt
A taciturn loner and skilled cook has traveled west and joined a group of fur trappers in Oregon Territory, though he only finds true connection with a Chinese immigrant also seeking his fortune; soon the two collaborate on a successful business, although its longevity is reliant upon the clandestine participation of a nearby wealthy landowner’s prized milking cow.
Behind the scenes of the creation of Kelly Reichardt's First Cow
His trainer stands below the tree holding a dead mouse by its tail and a clicker. Dimitri is meant to fly to his trainer. He has missed his cue. A perfectly still film crew is waiting for the owl to make his move. The crew has been shooting in these woods all week and has spotted a baby eagle and it’s mother. Dimitri seems to sense the eagle’s presence. The trainer calls the owl with a whistle and clicks his clicker. Dimitri is not listening.
In her exquisitely subtle character studies, American filmmaker Kelly Reichardt is attuned to both the grandeur of sprawling landscapes and the rich complexities of human relationships. For this episode of Masterclass, we go to the American Cinematheque in Los Angeles for the tenth-anniversary celebration of cutting-edge indie distributor Oscilloscope Laboratories, where the writer-director sat down for a conversation with film critic April Wolfe. Watch the talk alongside Reichardt's celebrated films: River of Grass, Old Joy, Wendy and Lucy, and Meek's Cutoff.
An uncannily revealing portrait of American photographers Andy Sweet and Gary Monroe and the vibrant community of Jewish retirees they obsessively focused their camera's lens on in the sunburned paradise of 1970s Miami Beach.
Three strong-willed women strive to forge their own paths amidst the wide-open plains of the American Northwest: a lawyer forced to subdue a troubled client; a wife and mother whose plans to construct her dream home reveal fissures in her marriage; and a lonely ranch hand who forms an ambiguous bond with a young law student.
The story about three radical environmentalists coming together to execute the most intense protest of their lives: the explosion of a hydroelectric dam.
Using the words and ideas of great filmmakers, from archival interviews with Alfred Hitchcock and Robert Bresson to new interviews with Mike Leigh, David Lynch, and Jonas Mekas, Oscar-winning filmmaker Chuck Workman shows what these filmmakers and others do that can't be expressed in words - but only in cinema.
Set in 1845, this drama follows a group of settlers as they embark on a punishing journey along the Oregon Trail. When their guide leads them astray, the expedition is forced to contend with the unforgiving conditions of the high plain desert.
Elliott, a thirteen year-old trying to navigate his own world and the world of his seventeen year-old brother, Nick, in the last summer before high school. As Nick drags Elliott into a world ruled by others' expectations, Elliott becomes witness to the personal integrity Nick sacrifices in the interest of social standing. When Nick's delicate illusion falls apart, both boys get a chance to confront their anxieties.
Wendy, a near-penniless drifter, is traveling to Alaska in search of work, and her only companion is her dog, Lucy. Already perilously close to losing everything, Wendy hits a bigger bump in the road when her old car breaks down and she is arrested for shoplifting dog food. When she posts bail and returns to retrieve Lucy, she finds that the dog is gone, prompting a frantic search for her pet.
Soon to be a father, Mark feels the pressure of domestic responsibility closing in, so he is more than happy to accept when his old friend Kurt proposes a camping trip in the Oregon wilderness. During their time together, the men come to grips with the changes in their lives and the effect on their relationship.
"A voice-over collaged from true crime shows and Super-8 picture that's essential Reichardt: lyrical, ominous, and evocative of how horribly love can hurt." – Amy Taubin, Village Voice
"Tallahatchie Bridge": With those two simple words, the powerful images of a lost innocence, a murky river and a mysterious suicide spring to mind. Scorning the demands of her overbearing family, Bobbie Lee Hartley and Billy Joe McAllister meet at their usual Choctaw Ridge trysting place and attempt to consumate their forbidden love. Using the storied love of Bobbie Lee and Billy Joe as its crucial metaphor, ODE attempts to reconcile modern moralites with a tradition-bound faith, and asks whether it's possible to commit a sin against a religion that won't even have you as a member.
Cozy, a dissatisfied housewife, meets Lee at a bar. A drink turns into a home break-in, and a gun shot sends them on the run together, thinking they've committed murder.
Three intercut stories about outsiders, sex and violence. In "Hero," Richie, at age 7, kills his father and flies away. After the event, a documentary in cheesy lurid colors asks what Richie was like and what led up to the shooting. In the black and white "Horror," a scientist isolates the elixir of human sexuality, drinks it, and becomes a festering, contagious murderer; a female colleague who loves him tries to help, to her peril. In "Homo," a prisoner in Fontenal prison is drawn to an inmate whom he knew some years before, at Baton juvenile institute, and whose humiliations he witnessed. This story is told in dim light, except for the bright flashbacks.
After serving time for murder, Josh Hutton returns to his home town where he meets Audry Hugo. No one can remember exactly what Josh did...
A teenager faces isolation in a small town while having the difficulty of choosing between being transgender, gender fluid, or CIS gender. Part documentary, part fiction, the film follows a real-life teenager who struggles with these issues.
An artist on the verge of a career-changing exhibition navigates family, friends and colleagues in the lead-up to her show and finds that the chaos of life becomes the inspiration for more great art.
