Focus on Miranda July

From DIY beginnings to Cannes Film Festival winnings – join us to celebrate the unmistakable voice of Miranda July.

Cinema is no island. Going back to its origins, the medium was born out of multiple art forms: photography, theatre, and music. This is still the cinema we know today, and Miranda July, just like cinema itself, is one of the true multi-hat-wearers.

Emerging from the Pacific Northwest as a card-carrying Riot Grrrl, July grew her career out of the movement’s DIY ethos. Before she finished high school, she had written and presented her first play at an all-ages punk club and in the years following, she set up her own distribution network for women’s video works. Today, she is an award-winning author, a Cannes prize-winning film director, an actor, narrator and stage performer. What tethers all of this together is her unique voice – articulate, idiosyncratic and unmistakably Miranda July.

Join us as we celebrate the screen works of Miranda July with a series spanning feature films, short films, documentaries, music videos and video art including three works from the ACMI Collection rarely seen on screen. As part of our Winter Matinees program, we're also screening Sex, Lies, and Videotape – Steven Soderbergh’s debut feature film which had a lasting influence on July’s output.

– Reece Goodwin, Curator (Film & TV)