Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power

You may never look at film the same way again after watching this illuminating journey, which deconstructs the male gaze in cinema.

‘The first step of freedom is consciousness.’ So says director Nina Menkes, introducing her compelling new documentary about the systemic use of gendered techniques in filmmaking and how these subconsciously impact the representation of women in society.

Building upon her influential talk ‘Sex and Power: The Visual Language of Cinema’ and making use of feminist film theorist Laura Mulvey’s landmark thesis, ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’, Menkes digs deep, drawing on excerpts from over 175 films to prove her point. Featuring interviews with filmmakers, including Julie Dash and Joey Soloway, as well as actors and film professionals, this is a clear, brilliantly argued and urgent plunge into cinema’s history that is guaranteed to spark countless conversations. “Brainwashed is a documentary for any woman in film who ever wanted, just even for a moment, to throw a grenade at the canon” Fionnuala Halligan, Screen International.