On today’s episode, we look back on the career of one of our favourite filmmakers, Kelly Reichardt (First Cow, Certain Women), and ask why it’s taken until her 8th feature, Showing Up, for her to get a slot in the Cannes Competition.
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Listen to the whole season on Women at Cannes
Today’s episode of the podcast on Kelly Reichardt is the second of four episodes celebrating achievements of women directors at the Cannes Film Festival in Competition and beyond.
Episode 2: Kelly Reichardt at Cannes 2022
In 2020, we wrote an ebook called Roads to nowhere: Kelly Reichardt’s broken American dreams. It’s the first non-academic book to be published about Reichardt’s work.
Writing that book gave us an even deeper appreciation of Reichardt’s brilliance as a director (and screenwriter and editor). In this episode, we dissect why she’s so deserving of a Cannes Competition slot, and has been for a long time.
In our opinion, there’s not a bad or uninteresting film to be found in Kelly Reichardt’s filmography: River of Grass (1994), Old Joy (2006), Wendy and Lucy (2008), Meek’s Cutoff (2010), Night Moves (2013), Certain Women (2015), First Cow (2019), and now, her new film Showing Up, which we’ve yet to see.
Showing Up is not Reichardt’s first rodeo with Cannes. Wendy and Lucy premiered in the Un Certain Regard sidebar in 2008. But it’s taken 14 years since Reichardt’s first Cannes premiere for the festival to pursue her for a Competition slot.
In this episode, we chat about what makes Reichardt so great, why it’s taken so long for her work to be appreciated by the industry, and what a Cannes Competition slot means in the context of her career.
This episode features Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney, Executive Editor Orla Smith, and Contributing Editor Lindsay Pugh
On this Kelly Reichardt at Cannes podcast episode
- About our Kelly Reichardt ebook, Roads to Nowhere (4:22)
- Who is Kelly Reichardt? (5:52)
- Why 2022 is The Year of Kelly Reichardt (9:02)
- Kelly Reichardt’s history with Cannes and other festivals (10:36)
- Why we love Kelly Reichardt (28:42)
- Reichardt’s explorations of capitalist systems (37:15)
- The finances of a Kelly Reichardt film (41:46)
- Kelly Reichardt is a comedic filmmaker! (59:14)
- Showing Up and Reichardt’s collaborators (53:41)
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Get the Women in the Cannes Competition Box Set
Get the box set of books about women directors — Kelly Reichardt, Céline Sciamma, and Lynne Ramsay — who have screened films in the Cannes Competition to keep exploring great work by women.
Find out what we know so far about Kelly Reichardt’s new film, Showing Up
Celebrate the year of Kelly Reichardt
Everything is coming up Kelly Reichardt this year! Be ahead of the crowd by showing your Reichardt fandom and be ready for her new film Showing Up.
You can show your support by purchasing one of our mugs and our book on Kelly, Roads to Nowhere.
Related Episodes
- Women at Cannes Ep. 1: A podcast on the history of women directors at Cannes
- Ep. 90: Jeanne Dielman and Les Rendez-vous d’Anna: A Chantal Akerman mother’s day (Members only)
- Ep. 52. First Cow and Wendy and Lucy (Members only)
- Ep. 37. Meek’s Cutoff and subverting the western (Members only)
- Ep. 25: Kelly Reichardt’s Old Joy and Night Moves (Members only)
