Finally, a Camera Focuses on Them
When you think of the kinds of jobs women have in the movie business, special effects may not immediately spring to mind. Nor, probably, does it occur to many people, even in these enlightened times, that the tasks of composer or editor are also talents women contribute to the filmmaking process.
Actresses are important, and there are a handful of major directors who happen to be women, but producers of a new exhibit felt the less obvious roles women play in filmmaking were overdue some high-profile credit.
“Great Women in Film: Photographs by Helena Lumme and Mika Manninen,” a new large-format photography exhibit opening today in the Grand Lobby of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, shines the spotlight on 30 women from all aspects of the film industry, including animation, sound and visual effects, music, production and costume design, makeup and casting. The only actresses in the exhibition are Jodie Foster, Susan Sarandon and Joan Allen.
In addition, Billboard Books will release a companion book next month that features all of Manninen’s photographs and Lumme’s interviews. In April, the Sundance Channel will show excerpts from their documentary chronicling the photo shoots and interviews.
“In any of the books on Hollywood or who’s whos in Hollywood, they present actors and directors and never anybody behind the scenes,” Lumme says. “Our goal is to make them the big legends for future researchers.”
Five years ago, Lumme produced the exhibition “Screenwriters: America’s Storytellers in Portrait,” for which Manninen photographed 50 screenwriters. The touring exhibit visited the academy and the Cannes International Film Festival. A companion book accompanied that exhibition as well.
“We had such good feedback from screenwriters--the Writers Guild helped us make that happen--and we started to notice stories about screenwriters and stories featuring a screenwriter’s point of view more than before” the exhibition, says Lumme.
For their next consciousness-raising project, women seemed a logical choice. “Nothing has happened with the numbers of working women in the film industry for the past 10 years, though there have been committees and foundations to work hard to get more women into the film industry but with no success,” Lumme says. “So we thought, maybe, you know, [offering] the same kind of visibility we gave the screenwriters, we can help with women.”
The women spent eight months researching women from various fields in the movie business. “We followed their career tracks,” she says. “We wanted to go with movies that are interesting and have given people something. We didn’t want to go with the big blockbusters.
“We wanted someone who could be the spokesperson for their craft and through the book could tell their audience in very understandable terms what does a production designer do, what an assistant director does, so we give a little glimpse behind the scenes so people have a better understanding.”
Among the veterans of their respective professions featured in the exhibit are editor Dede Allen, writer-director Allison Anders, set decorator Rosemary Brandenburg, costume designer Ruth Carter, prop master Trish Gallagher Glenn, writer-director Kasi Lemmons, production designer Jeannine Oppewall, composer Rachel Portman, special-effects technician Christy Sumner and producer Christine Vachon.
Foster, Sarandon and Joan Allen were singled out for inclusion because, in Lumme’s view, they all respect the work of the behind-the-scenes women on a set. “There are a lot of brilliant actresses out there, but not all of them are capable of getting along with other people,” Manninen adds.
Spokeswomen for Their Craft
In the black-and-white portrait of Joan Allen, the actress is standing on a balcony looking into the distance with Los Angeles looming in the background. “It’s a wonderful thing,” says Allen of the project. “I love the recognition of all the different areas.”
Lumme says the women were excited with the prospect of being a spokeswoman for their craft, but they also were apprehensive. “We all hate to be photographed,” Lumme says.
“Half the job is trying to calm the person down and have them trust you,” Manninen adds.
The color and black-and-white photographs depict the women in various styles and settings. Some of the women chose to be photographed as they took part in hobbies such as horseback riding or catching butterflies. Others opted for a fantasy setting. Foster, for example, looks as if she stepped out of “Nanook of the North.”
Costumer designer Carter went for an exotic cross between a Gypsy and Cleopatra. Lumme and Manninen took her out to Death Valley for the shoot; they felt it might evoke something of Carter’s experiences in Egypt while designing costumes for “Malcolm X.”
“We kind of threw a few ideas around, and they said you can select any kind of persona that would embody you,” Carter says. “I said Cleopatra. She had about 250 changes in that movie, and she was a great woman. She was romantic.”
Contrasting Sides of Personality
Special-effects technician Sumner wanted a photograph that depicted both the masculine and feminine sides of her profession. In her color portrait, she is wearing a beautiful pink dress and sporting green toenail polish as she’s suspended above a fire with a huge explosion in the background.
“I thought it would be really great to show the diversity of me being a woman and doing the type of work that I do,” she says. “As it sort of evolved, I was talking with Mika that I could probably get some of my assistants and people I work with to provide us with some lovely special effects while I am suspended in midair. It just sort of evolved as we went along.”
Carter and Sumner agree that the exhibition and book are significant chronicles of the contributions of women in the film industry.
“When you think about the movie industry from a historical perspective, the pioneers that come to mind are Chaplin, Capra, De Mille and the studio boss sitting behind his big desk,” Sumner says. “The roles that women played were usually limited to the roles in front of the camera. This reminds us that women are an integral part of all creative aspects of filming.”
“As women, so many of us have to juggle many balls as far as being wives and mothers and sisters,” Carter says. “Most of the women in this exhibit do have that duality going on. These are real people, real women who are able to do those things and do what they wanted to do--fulfill their dreams.”
“Great Women of Film” opens today and continues through April 21 in the Grand Lobby of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, 8949 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills. Hours are Tuesdays-Fridays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., and Saturdays-Sundays, noon-6 p.m. Admission is free. Information: (310) 247-3600.
