‘Brainwashed’ Director Rails Against Hollywood Misogyny: ‘The World Is Still in the Dark Ages’

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Nina Menkes addresses critics of her new documentary and why people have a need to defend how movies have historically filmed women

nina menkes brainwashed sundance institute
Director Nina Menkes in "Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power." (Sundance Institute)

Independent filmmaker Nina Menkes can hardly believe that her new documentary “Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power” about the gendered politics of shot design is causing a stir.

The film is being released in theaters starting Friday via Kino Lorber at the Laemmle in the Los Angeles area and at DCTVโ€™s Firehouse Cinema in New York City, with a national rollout to follow.

โ€œWe’ve had a lot of rave reviews, but we’ve also been attacked and it’s unbelievable to me that women would attack this film,โ€ Menkes, who also teaches film production at California Institute of the Arts, told The Wrap. โ€œIt’s just like the whole way of cinema being based on these kinds of beautiful, fragmented female bodies seems to be like something people are dying to defend.โ€

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