SUE BROOKS 

INTERVIEW – ASSIGNMENT 2

My interview with film director Sue Brooks, highlighted the tremendous works Brooks has created over the years, both as a director and writer of feature films. She illuminates both the struggles and triumphs that a career in the film industry can bring, defining many wow moments in her career such as the Venice film festival. 

Brooks touched on the issue of lack of female representation within the film industry, providing a metaphor that describes how getting a film financed is like getting a bull through a gate. Further, she recounts the statistics of female directors in Australia, as stated by Screen Australia’s report ‘Gender Matters’, females only made up 16% of directors between 1970 and 2014. With those dissatisfactory statistics in mind, Sue describes being a female getting a film financed is like getting a bull through a gate that’s only 15% open. Brooks puts into perspective the heightened difficulty being a woman brings and the barriers you face as a woman in the industry.  Brooks also doesn’t shy away from outlining the defeat you feel as a woman when you do feel those gender biased barriers building up around you. She also describes how the industry can appear to have more women in it than there actually are. For instance, Brooks references how female directors do in fact get nominated and awarded quite often, putting up the front that in fact there are many women in the industry. This connects strongly with Lisa French’s article ‘Does Gender Matter?’, as she describes the triumphs and very success women in the industry see, ‘has created the impression that there are more women in the industry than there actually are… this masks the fact that women are still in the minority.’ (French, 2015).

Furthermore, Brooks brings to light the decisions filmmakers face when telling someone else’s story. She references that everyone has a story to tell, and those stories’ perspectives will differ from one person to another. Brooks uses her film Looking For Grace, 2015 to define this idea, depicting the fractured narrative as a way to give more than one character’s perspective in order to provide more authenticity to the viewer. Beginning her career in cinematography, Brooks films are highly influenced by picturesque landscapes, often capturing vast Australian sceneries. She describes how being on location and actually feeling the dirt beneath your feet as you film, both aids the actors and herself to feel more connected to the story. This recount drew parallels to the reading by Karen Pearlmen on ‘Style’, as Sue went on to describe the relationship between directors and editors in order to produce a piece of work that still entails the original ideas and visions of the director. Pearlmen describes this as a ‘[collaboration] on a production to manifest their vision’ (Pearlmen 2015). 

References:

French, L., 2015 ‘Does Gender Matter?’ Lumina: Australian Journal of Screen Arts and

Business, No. 14, May 2015, pp. 139 – 153

Pearlmen, K. 2009  ‘Cutting Rhythms: Shaping the Film Edit’ Chp 9 Style Taylor & Francis Group. 

Screen Australia (2015). ‘Gender Matters’ Women in the Australian Film Industry. 

MWFF MICROFILMS

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/15AXyY5swVtJH4clm5Zjk3IN5mghgMV2_?usp=sharing