What makes a filmmaker an auteur? French director François Truffaut, a legendary auteur in his own right, first wrote about the concept in a 1954 essay, which distinguished auteurs from other directors by their unique artistic vision. While directors merely translate a written script to screen, auteurs are the authors (the French translation of “auteur”) of their work, making films wholly their own with their distinct, signature style and perspective. Auteurs leave their creative DNA all over their work, leaving no ambiguity as to who the film belongs to. This month, we’re celebrating some of our favorite auteurs from around the world, whose works showcase their singular vision so clearly that Truffaut would undoubtedly be a fan. Beat the late summer heat by streaming our August Auteurs on Kino Film Collection.
Lina Wertmüller
Lina Wertmüller was many things—subversive, provocative, fiercely revered, deliciously reviled. But most importantly, like her signature white-framed glasses, she was, and is, utterly unforgettable. Known for her unabashed depiction of misogyny, eroticism, sexual violence, and political injustice, oftentimes against picturesque backdrops of turquoise waters and palatial estates, the Italian filmmaker was equal parts auteur and troublemaker (according to legend, she was kicked out of 15 Catholic schools). On one end of her CV is making cinematic history—in 1976, she became the first female director to be nominated for a Best Director Oscar, for her film Seven Beauties— and on the other is holding the Guinness world record for longest film title. If that doesn’t describe Wertmüller perfectly, take it from the auteur herself: “I didn’t want to go down in history as a socially conscious director,” she says in her documentary Behind the White Glasses, “I wanted to go down in history as a director who had fun.”
You can stream six of Wertmüller’s films on Kino Film Collection:
Swept Away
Seven Beauties
The Seduction of Mimi
Love & Anarchy
Summer Night
All Screwed Up
Jia Zhangke
“Just as I speak English with a Chinese accent or Chinese with a regional accent,” Jia Zhangke told frieze magazine, “I want to make movies with a Zhangke accent.” In that moment, Jia defined what it means to be an auteur in his own words. After rising to prominence on the international film festival circuit, winning numerous awards and being nominated at Cannes more times than any other Chinese filmmaker in the festival’s history, Jia found a fitting way to give back to the international film community. In 2017, he established the Pingyao International Film Festival in his hometown of Shanxi to empower the next generation of filmmakers in China and beyond. A leading figure in China’s Sixth Generation film movement, Jia is known for depicting modern life in urban China with social and human realism, blurring the lines between narrative and documentary. This made him a pariah with China’s state-run film industry early in his career, but even as he gained state approval later on, Jia is still considered to be one of China’s greatest underground filmmakers—a testament to his uncompromising artistic vision.
Two of Jia’s most significant works are streaming now on Kino Film Collection:
A Touch of Sin
Mountains May Depart
Guy Maddin
Canadian director Guy Maddin gives new meaning to what it takes to be an auteur. Not only is he one of the most original visionaries in avant-garde filmmaking, Maddin is also a celebrated installation artist who often melded the two disciplines to redefine the cinema experience. Influenced by filmmakers like Jean Cocteau, Luis Buñuel, and David Lynch, and surrealist photographers like Man Ray, Maddin developed an incomparably unique cinematic style that has been described as abstract, hallucinatory fever dreams of image and sound. But with a longtime muse like Isabella Rossellini and actors that range from Shelley Duval to multiple cast members of the popular Canadian series The Kids in the Hall, Maddin’s surreal and bizarre dreams are the kind you wake up from and immediately want to write down. In addition to his work in cinema, Maddin has produced over 70 installation performances that explore the consumption of film, which often incorporate live elements like music, narration, and even live streaming. This May, Maddin premiered his latest film Rumours at Cannes. Starring Cate Blanchett and Alicia Vikander, the satire follows a group of world leaders who get lost in the woods while drafting a joint statement on a global crisis. Look for it in theaters this October.
You can now stream three of Maddin’s most surreal films on Kino Film Collection:
Archangel
Tales From the Gimli Hospital
The Forbidden Room
Jafar Panahi
Sometimes auteurs are so driven by a singular force that nothing will stop them from creating, not even a 20-year ban specifically designed to do just that. Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi became a leading figure in the Iranian New Wave movement with his humanistic depictions of life in Iran, focusing on disenfranchised groups like women, children, and the disabled and the social and political obstacles they face. While his work earned him the praise of international critics and audiences, it also painted a target on his back with the Iranian government. In 2010, Panahi was sentenced to six years in prison and received a 20-year ban on filmmaking. As a testament to his fighting spirit, Panahi defied the ban and made several award-winning films, including one that was smuggled out of Iran via a USB drive hidden in a cake and went on to be screened at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. In 2014, Panahi spoke to IndieWire about his unstoppable desire to create: “I want you to put yourself in my shoes as a filmmaker who can't do anything else but make films, and doesn't want to do anything else.”
Stream two of Panahi’s films on Kino Film Collection:
3 Faces
Taxi
Ken Loach
Ken Loach is widely considered to be the king of the underdogs. For the entire breadth of his career, which began in the 1960s, Loach has cast an unflinching eye at the myriad issues that plague the working class in England and beyond. He often explores challenging subjects such as homelessness, domestic abuse, addiction, and unemployment. His hyper-realistic style of storytelling is anything but warm and fuzzy, but that’s exactly why critics and audiences admire, and respect, Loach. His hardened, life-worn characters are studies in everyday resilience and even when their ambitions are modest, they send a resounding message about the human spirit. Loach’s latest film, The Old Oak, makes its exclusive streaming debut on Kino FIlm Collection this month. Following a group of Syrian refugees who move to a once-thriving mining town in Northern England, the film explores prejudice, friendship, and finding hope in the unlikeliest of places. In other words, it’s quintessential Loach.
Stream Ken Loach on Kino Film Collection:
The Old Oak
Sorry We Missed You
Patricia Rozema
Perhaps the truest test of auteurship is transcending genre, and Canadian director Patricia Rozema passes this test with flying colors. Rozema eclectic filmography includes her magic realism debut feature, I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing; the quiet apocalyptic drama Into the Forest; a controversially loose adaptation of Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park; the children’s film Kit Kittredge: An American Girl (based on the American Girl doll franchise); the lesbian story When Night Is Falling, which has been cemented in the queer film canon; and several TV projects, including HBO’s Grey Gardens, which Rozema co-wrote. Despite her genre-jumping resumé, there is a throughline that remains prevalent in Rozema’s entire body of work, which the director herself describes as “a humane and tender sensibility.”
You can stream I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing now on Kino Film Collection, while three more of Rozema’s restored films will premiere on the platform later this month.
I’ve Heard the Mermaids Sing
Coming August 15:
Mouthpiece
When Night Is Falling
White Room