By Claire
I have never felt more “OMG I’m living in Melbourne” than
when I was sitting on the train to uni, reading an article (printed on paper) about which of The Sound
of Music character’s the women of Sex
and the City are (Carrie is Maria, Samantha is The Baroness, Miranda is
Mother Superior, Charlotte is Liesl, obviously).
Originally from regional Victoria, never in my time in
Hometown Glory would I have imagined I’d be on my way to my Cinema Studies
class reading a feminist film zine called Filmme
Fatales. Tomorrow is the launch of issue #8, and my heart broke a little
inside when I saw that this would be the last issue of Filmme Fatales, indefinitely. Surrounded by my own copies, lovingly
read, and creased from living in my handbags, it’s time to say a thank you, to
the zine and its founder and editor Brodie Lancaster.
Filmme Fatales is
a Melbourne-based zine about the place where film and feminism intersect,
published by The Good Copy and created by Rookie
staff editor Brodie Lancaster. Publishing quarterly since 2013, each issue is
based around a theme, such as The 20-Something Funk, Working Girls, One More
Shot and Space. I stumbled across Filmme
Fatales on Facebook in 2015 during the Melbourne International Film Festival.
As I was scrolling through my newsfeed, I saw an article about a
Melbourne-based feminist film publication’s Top Picks at MIFF, and instantly I
was hooked.
Suddenly, issue #7 was in my letter box, and the rest soon
followed. Like any zine, each page is hand-crafted with illustrations of
various styles and passionate articles by writers and artists from all over the
world. Inside you will find interviews with actress Mae Whitman, an article
written in the defence of Megan Fox, a run-down on all the psychoanalytic
theorists I struggled to understand in Uni – complete with the theorist’s faces
collaged on top of images of Beyoncé and Jim Carey – and an article about my
favourite film, Pretty in Pink, and
how the spaces around Molly Ringwald’s character defined her. There was a
feminist film community outside of university, and in between the pages I
clutched in my hands were my people and my future.
There isn’t much to do in Hometown Glory. My saving graces
were high school production season, my job at the bookstore and weekly visits
to the cinema, which only played the most popular blockbusters anyway. I was
fifteen when my love affair with movies really began, after witnessing the
beauty of Marc Webb’s (500) Days of
Summer. Ever since that fateful Saturday night, I spent my senior high
school years eagerly awaiting the “Life & Style” (now called “Spectrum”)
pull out of the Saturday Age. Sitting
at the kitchen table, I would read about movies showing at Cinema Nova, the
Kino or The Astor I could never see, unless I made the two-and-a-half-hour
train trip to Melbourne. By the time I packed up my room for the big move to
the city I adore so much, the back of my bedroom door was covered head to toe
in articles I had cut out while waiting for this day.
My biggest fear about moving to Melbourne and stepping into
my Introduction to Cinema Studies class was that my lack of film literacy would
be mocked, and ultimately everyone would look down at me and sneer “You haven’t
seen Easy Rider? What are you even
doing here?” Of course, I hadn’t even heard of Easy Rider until my Hollywood and Entertainment class, and I still
haven’t seen it…
Instead, what I had found were rooms full of like-minded
people, who cared about movies as much as I did, and so many girls. My film friends in Hometown Glory
were both guys, fondly dubbed my Film Bros, but from the day I sat in my first
class, taught by a woman and surrounded by girls, my heart has stayed full. My
female friends and I delightedly mocked Pretentious Film Snobs, deconstructed
the logistics of Suddenly 30, and
filled messenger inboxes with #phallicpanic and #castrationanxiety. This
community of students is all I could have hoped for when I moved to Melbourne,
but nothing can match the impact of discovering Filmme Fatales.
This all isn’t even to mention the utter amazingness of Filmme Fatales’ founder, Brodie
Lancaster. A fellow tall girl, Brodie has contributed to Rookie, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, Vulture and Kill Your Darlings, is managing director at Rooftop Cinema, a DJ, a
defender of popular culture, teenage girls and fan culture, Kanye West’s
biggest fan, and ultimate puzzle master. Not only do I want to be her, I have
told my friends I want me and my love of the Jonas Brothers to be like Brodie
and her love of Kanye.
After MIFF in 2015, I won tickets to see Brodie speak at the
Women Writing Film talk with film critic Rebecca Harkins-Cross at the Melbourne
Writers Festival. Seeing these women talk about their stories, about being a
critic, and the lack of female voices in film criticism was the turning point
for me as a budding film journalist. I still have advice from this talk saved
into the notes on my phone: “Once you embrace the fact that you have a
perspective no one else is going to have, you can be empowered by that” and
“get involved as soon as you can”.
While I have yet to find the confidence to pitch my work, Filmme Fatales is the reason Cause a Cine exists. I cannot deny this
blog is inspired by the zine. In the zine I saw a community beyond the classroom, I saw heart,
passion, and I saw myself. The zine reminded me of my friends, our
conversations about film, and our unique perspectives. I created Cause a Cine on the fervour the MWF talk
and FF ignited within me. By no means is the blog trying to be, nor replace the
zine. It’s a space for my friends and I to share our voices, for our unique
perspectives as female-identifying to be seen. It’s where I can search for my
unique perspective, and I hope one day I can create something which provides
the same feeling of community FF gave to me.
Tomorrow night is the launch of issue #8, aptly named “The
Future”. I already have it on pre-order, but my dear friend and Cause a Cine contributor Zoë and I are
going to the launch party for the first time. I’ve had the date written in
all-caps on a sticky note on my computer and I swapped shifts at work so I
wouldn’t forget to go. When something means this much to you, you need to do
everything you can to celebrate it and show your appreciation.
So, without further ado, thank you Brodie Lancaster, for Filmme Fatales and everything which has
come with it. I can’t wait to see what “the future” brings (and will be the
first person in line to buy your book).
