How do you wrap up a series featuring amazing women doing amazing work? 

Easy:  by featuring another amazing woman who is doing amazing work.

 When not in her role as Chief Content Officer for Salon, my friend Erin Keane writes books (Runaway: Notes on the Myths That Made Me, Death-Defying Acts, The Gravity Soundtrack, and more), pours a good drink or two, and loves loves loves movies.

I thought who better to speak to than someone who admires the directors featured in Break the Frame and can provide a thoughtful and critical analysis of their work?

 If you haven’t had a chance to listen to the previous nine episodes, hit rewind, and then come back for our wrap conversation. Thank you all for listening and I hope that this series has exposed you to the works of these directors and inspires you to learn more by reading their in-depth conversations in my book, Break the Frame: Conversations with Women Filmmakers. In bookstores and online everywhere. 

For over four decades, Chris Hegedus has shaped the documentary landscape with her empathetic approach and compelling narratives. She first rose to prominence co-directing The War Room (1993) with D.A. Pennebaker, which earned the duo an Academy Award nomination. In films like Startup.com, Kings of Pastry, and Unlocking the Cage, she provides intimate, behind-the-scenes portraits of politics, culture, and the arts, giving us a side not normally seen on camera. With works that often ask us to explore and examine ambition, creativity, and change, she continues to look beyond a headline and give us more. 

I had a chance to speak to Chris again about some of these amazing works while she took a break from archiving her extensive library of films, unseen footage, and more from these films with Pennebaker. 

Filmography

Unlocking the Cage (2016) Kings of Pastry (2009) Only the Strong Survive (2002) Startup.com (2001) The War Room (1993) Depeche Mode: 101 (1989) DeLorean (1981) Town Bloody Hall (1979)

"Want to trade confessions?"

I’ll admit that I’ve seen A Simple Favour more than a dozen times. When I shared this confession with the screenwriter, Jessica Sharzer, she told me that people still come up to her on a regular basis quoting lines from this very quotable movie. 

Jessica is also the director of the 2004 film Speak, which was the first role for a little known actress named Kristin Stewart; not too sure what she’s been up to these days (wink). I got to catch up with Sharzer from her office between meetings and calls to discuss writing, working with actors, and translating work form the page to the big screen. 

Filmography 

A Simple Favor (2018) (writer)

Dirty Dancing (2017) (writer)

Nerve (2016) (writer)

Speak (2004)

American Horror Story (2011– 2015) (writer/ producer)

When you create a style of storytelling that merges your life with fiction, you need to give it a name. What better name to describe the works of filmmaker, scholar, and trailblazer in Black queer cinema than the Dunyementary? Cheryl Dunye first burst onto the scene with her groundbreaking 1996 debut feature The Watermelon Woman, becoming the first openly out Black lesbian to direct a narrative feature. A witty, self-reflexive exploration of erasure in film history, this first Dunyementary was added to the National Film Registry in 2021. Her recent work has brought her distinct style to episodes of Queen Sugar, Lovecraft Country, Dear White People, and The Umbrella Academy. Ms. Cheryl (as she invited me to call her) is the head of Jingletown Films and serves as a professor at San Francisco State University. I got to catch up with her briefly between meetings this spring. Selected FilmographyThe Owls (2010) My Baby's Daddy (2004) Stranger Inside (2001) The Watermelon Woman (1996) The Early Films of Cheryl Dunye (1994) Lovecraft Country (2020) Queen Sugar (2017-2019)

Directing in a team with Oakland-born  Ryan Fleck, Boston Anna Boden  has taken us into the centre of a addict’s pain to the far reaches of space. And while a Boden Fleck joint is often about characters failing to overcome their limitations, their movies do not revel in despair but look with great tenderness into the eyes of the despairing. Their time and concern for how a character tries, fails and tries again is a large part of why the world's most famous actors--Ryan Gosling, Brie Larson, Pedro Pascal--seem to continually want to work with them.    

Fresh off the release of her latest project Freaky Tales, I got to catch up with Anna to discuss how the early works of Richard Linklatter and Robert Altman inspired her as a teen and how newer works by directors such as Lucretia Martell and Andrea Arnold continue to inspire her today. 

Selected FilmographyCaptain Marvel (2019) Mississippi Grind (2015) It's Kind of a Funny Story (2010) Sugar (2008) Half Nelson (2006)

Known for her powerful, character-driven storytelling and focus on marginalized communities, Debra Granik gained widespread recognition for the critical and box office hit Winter’s Bone (2010), which launched Jennifer Lawrence’s career and earned four Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay.

Her distinct style of storytelling and an empathetic lens results in films that serve to highlight and remind us of America’s overlooked and misunderstood. I had a chance to catch up with Debra just before I headed out on tour for the books and she was taking a break from her latest project.

Selected Filmography

Leave No Trace (2018) Stray Dog (2014) Winter's Bone (2010) Down to the Bone (2004) 

Who says a director should only direct just films or just television? Tamra Davis has shown that you can have a multifaceted career that includes music videos, feature films, television, and documentaries. Her unique visual style and collaborative approach has resulted in genre-defining music videos for Hanson, Tone Loc and NWA as well as career defining roles for Adam Sandler, Britney Spears and Drew Barrymore. Tamra Davis’s versatility and commitment to storytelling continues with episodes of our favourite TV shows, films, and documentaries. 

Selected Filmography 13 (2022) Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child (2010) Crossroads (2002) Half Baked (1998) Billy Madison (1994) CB4 (1994) Guncrazy (1992)

Dead to Me (2020) You're the Worst (2017) Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (2015) Gray's Anatomy (2007)

Music Videos  "MMMBop" - Hanson (1997) "Kool Thing" - Sonic Youth (1990) "Closer to Fine" - Indigo Girls (1989) "Wild Thing" – Tone Loc (1988)

In a world where women of a certain age or of a certain shade are often overlooked, Felicia Pride tells stories that center Black women and their nuanced experiences.

The acclaimed writer, director, and producer who initially started out as a journalist made the switch to screenwriting in her mid-30s. Pride contributed to such hit television series as Queen Sugar, Grey’s Anatomy, and most recently the Fresh Prince reboot, Bel-Air. 

Her directorial debut, the short film Tender, explores the intimacy between two Black women post one-night stand. From there, Pride wrote and executive produced Really Love, a romantic drama that debuted on Netflix and became a Top 10 hit on the platform. 

Honey Chile Entertainment, the production company she founded, is dedicated to telling stories by, for, or about Black women over 40, amplifying their voices though the Honey Chile festival, the podcast ITS GOOD OVER HERE and her newsletter The Sweet Build. 

Felicia and I caught up in a quick call before she headed out to set for the day.

Selected Filmograpy Look Back at It (2023) (Short. Writer/Director) Really Love (2020) (Co-Writer, Executive Producer) Tender (2020) (Short. Writer/Director) The End Again (2014) (Short. Writer/Producer)

Bel-Air (2023-Present) Grey's Anatomy (2020-2022) Queen Sugar (2019-2021)

The stand out monologue by America Ferrara in 2023’s Barbie may not have happened if it weren’t for the trailblazing director Patircia Cardoso, who first cast Ferrera in her in her debut feature, Real Women Have Curves (2002). Cardoso who set out to become a anthropologist became the first Latinx director to win the Sundance Audience Award, and to have a film inducted into the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.

Cardoso’s anthropological background informs her storytelling, bringing depth and authenticity to underrepresented voices. She looks for the beauty in the things and people that are often overlooked in society, bringing what was once in the background to our screens in full glorious view. Beyond film, she has directed acclaimed television episodes for Queen Sugar, Will Trent, and Tales of the City and when she’s not directing, she is developing the next generation of diverse storytellers as a professor at UC Riverside. 

We got to catch up with Professor Cardoso during her office hours on campus to discuss her past impact and her next project. 

Selected Filmography

Meddling Mom (2012) Lies in Plain Sight (2010) Real Women have Curves (2002)

Tales of the City (2019) Queen Sugar (2018-2022)

Known for her sharp, satirical storytelling and commitment to LGBTQ+ representation, Jamie Babbit’s career has been shaped by her own life experiences. In this episode we dive deeper into the film that made both her and its star, Natasha Lyonne famous. But I’m A Cheerleader is Babbit’s debut and centers around a high school cheerleader whose parents send her to a residential in-patient conversion therapy camp to "cure" her lesbianism. Learn how improvised moments made it into the final cut, how Jamie’s eye for talent has turned small scenes into bigger roles, and what films by women have inspired her.  We had a chance to catch up with Jamie for a sequel conversation of sorts while she was between production meetings.  

Selected Filmography  The Stand In (2020) Addicted to Fresno (2015) Breaking The Girls (2012) Itty Bitty Titty Committee (2007) The Quiet (2005) But I'm a Cheerleader (1999) Only Murders in the Building Russian Doll The Marvelous Ms. Masiel Silicon Valley Looking