Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power

USA 2022
107 min • English. Finnish subtitles
K16
Theme: Rokumentti Awareness
18.11.2022 | Time 19:15 | Venue: Art house Siihtala | BUY TICKET

You may never look at film the same way again

“If the camera is predatory, then the culture is predatory.” In this eye-opening documentary, celebrated independent filmmaker Nina Menkes explores the sexual politics of cinematic shot design. Using clips from hundreds of movies we all know and love – from Metropolis to Vertigo to Phantom Thread – Menkes convincingly makes the argument that shot design is gendered. Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power illuminates the patriarchal narrative codes that hide within supposedly “classic” set-ups and camera angles, and demonstrates how women are frequently displayed as objects for the use, support, and pleasure of male subjects. Building on the essential work of Laura Mulvey and other feminist writers, Menkes shows how these not-so-subtle embedded messages affect and intersect with the twin epidemics of sexual abuse and assault, as well as employment discrimination against women, especially in the film industry.

The result is an electrifying call-to-action that will fundamentally change the way you see, and watch, movies.