Miranda July
Two con artists have spent 26 years training their only daughter to swindle, scam and steal at every turn. During a desperate and hastily conceived heist, they charm a stranger into joining them, only to have their entire world turned upside down.
Miranda July looks back at her Artangel project, an interfaith charity shop that opened up unannounced inside one of the world's most famous department stores in August 2017. Situated on the third floor of Selfridges, London, surrounded by designer boutiques, this shop was run and staffed jointly by four religious charities invited by July: Islamic Relief, Jewish charity Norwood, London Buddhist Centre and Spitalfields Crypt Trust.
A short film inspired by David Hockney’s painting Nichols Canyon (1980).
In this documentary, produced in 2019, director Miranda July and filmmaker Lena Dunham explore July’s beginnings, including her early work as a performer, the creation of her Joanie 4 Jackie project, and the development and production of her first feature film, ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW.
Madeline has become an integral part of a prestigious physical theater troupe. When the workshop's ambitious director pushes the teenager to weave her rich interior world and troubled history with her mother into their collective art, the lines between performance and reality begin to blur. The resulting battle between imagination and appropriation rips out of the rehearsal space and through all three women's lives.
Grieving her mother’s death and her own failing marriage, Lexi boards a plane from London to Los Angeles in search of the estranged father who abandoned her when she was three years old. Based out of a seedy Hollywood motel, she follows a tenuous trail of breadcrumbs, collecting numbers and addresses in the hopes that one will lead to her father, while establishing unexpected connections along the way.
At a pivotal moment for gender equality in Hollywood, successful women directors tell the stories of their art, lives and careers. Having endured a long history of systemic discrimination, women filmmakers may be getting the first glimpse of a future that values their voices equally.
Turn It Around: The Story of East Bay Punk spans over 30 years of the California Bay Area’s punk music history with a central focus on the emergence of the inspiring 924 Gilman Street collective. This diverse group of artists, writers, organizers and musicians created a do-it-yourself petri dish that changed the punk scene... and the world at large.
When a couple decides to adopt a stray cat their perspective on life changes radically, literally altering the course of time and space and testing their faith in each other and themselves.
"A lovely screening at USC last night. Such articulate questions! The thoroughbred of questions. While waiting for the movie to finish I made a short movie in the lobby. Above is the poster for the movie, as you can see it stars Mary Pickford (I finally work with a movie star!) Not my most refined work, but possibly the quickest."
A young woman forms a bond with three elderly shopkeepers when she teaches them how to swim - even though there are no bodies of water to be found.
A documentary about the origins of Miranda July's "Big Miss Moviola" project, later renamed "Joanie 4 Jackie."
A man with a clipboard asks passersby a survey question: "Are you the favorite person of anybody?" He has a scale, from "very certain" on down. His manner is open. He offers oranges to one respondent. He talks, one at a time, to three people. Their answers, however brief, are revealing.
A lonely shoe salesman and an eccentric performance artist struggle to connect in this unique take on contemporary life.
Director Miranda July submitted the script for ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW to the Sundance Screenwriters Lab twice before the project was finally accepted, in 2003. The same year, she was invited to the Directors Lab, where she developed the following scenes.
Graffiti removal: the act of removing tags and graffiti by painting over them. Subconscious art: a product of artistic merit that was created without conscious artistic intentions. It is no coincidence that funding for "anti-graffiti" campaigns often outweighs funding for the arts. Graffiti removal has subverted the common obstacles blocking creative expression and become one of the more intriguing and important art movements of our time.
A couple checks into a suite in Las Vegas. In flashbacks we see that he's a computer whiz on the verge of becoming a dot.com millionaire, she's a lap dancer at a club. He's depressed, withdrawing from work, missing meetings with investors. He wants a connection, so he offers her $10,000 to spend three nights with him in Vegas, and she accepts with conditions. Is mutual attraction stirring?
"There are two movies I saw on TV about boys who were taken from their families and then returned to them years later. One boy was on a fun spaceship for years and the other boy was kidnapped and molested. These boys were never the same again and they just couldn't re-integrate into the family. I saw these movies when I was little. I've often described them to people, always paired together. They are sort of the comedy and tragedy version of the same story and it is a mundanely spiritual story. Getting Stronger Every Day includes these boys' tales, but they are like mystical objects placed on the living reality of the man storyteller. In other parts of the movie actual mystical objects hover in peoples lives without a myth or story attached. I like to think about how these dimensions interact simply and can be enacted: real life / story / worldly / spirit / video / flat drawing."
Four alternating stories about mundane, personal methods of control. Children and a developmentally disabled adult operate control panels made out of paper, lists, monsters and their own bodies.
A young man turns from drug addiction and petty crime to a life redeemed by a discovery of compassion.
A woman observes another woman on a surveillance camera and describes her actions, with no other interaction between them.
Director Miranda July took a new video camera to the 2005 Deauville American Film Festival in France, which she was invited to attend with ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW. Criterion discovered the footage she shot there in July’s archives and edited it for this release. Presented here, it offers a glimpse into July’s capacity to turn any occasion into an opportunity for artistic expression.
In The Swan Tool, video artist Miranda July combines video, performance, music and helium in a 'live film' about a woman who works for an insurance company. The story unites the earthly and bizarre with a surprising humour and unusual clarity. Lisa (played by July) cannot decide whether she wants to live or die. She digs a hole in her garden and buries herself. Then she tries to carry on with her life, but the thing she left behind in the garden just won't die and she can't forget it either. July finds herself literally in the film; she amalgamates with the medium when she stands between the two screens and, for instance, 'moves' a chair with her hand. The video images vary from photo-realism to abstract amorphous colour combinations. The live accompaniment by DJ Zac Love adds a third dimension to this complex story.
