Interview with Diana Martinez, Artistic Director of Film Streams
Interview by Alexandra Hidalgo
Copy Edited and Posted by Megan Elias
Film Streams is a nonprofit organization based in Omaha that operates two arthouse cinemas. As its artistic director with a PhD in Film and Media Studies, how did you become involved with the organization, and what have you most enjoyed about the experience?
I was at the University of Oregon for six years working on my PhD and teaching film classes. My research focused on women filmmakers, asking the question, “What are the obstacles women directors face, and how do some directors leverage their stardom, talent, and Hollywood connections to create thriving careers in an inhospitable environment?” While I was there, I worked with amazing professors who were also feminists writing about women in film, so I had tremendous support and encouragement.
My coming to Omaha was pure serendipity. While in grad school, my friend posted a job for Education Director at Film Streams on her Facebook page and it was absolutely what I was looking to do. I love teaching and was looking to move into a space where I could work in the arts outside of a university setting. I was Education Director from July 2016 to May 2020, when I began my role as Artistic Director.
As Education Director I launched Courses, our adult education seminars which have been the highlight of my time at Film Streams. The courses are five weeks long and cover various themed topics aimed to teach film analysis. I’ve taught classes about the films of Sofia Coppola, Gen X media, and horror films, to name a few. Through these classes, I have gotten to know our patrons better and it’s been great to hang out with them and talk about film. They are the most open-minded group of filmgoers I’ve ever come across. I’m so glad that we began that program. Lifelong learning is important, and adults need space to discuss art and play with ideas too.
Diana Martinez
You just launched See Change, an initiative that seeks to provide more awareness to films directed by women. How did the initiative come about, and what are you hoping to accomplish with it?
Every three years, Film Streams updates its strategic plan, which shapes our focus, goals, and vision for the organization. For years now we have been actively tracking the number of films we show by women directors. During our latest strategic planning process for 2019 through 2021, it became clear that our staff, board members, educators, and our patrons want to help us do more. Our initiative, See Change, was a natural extension and institutionalization of a commitment that had become a bigger and bigger part of how we choose what you see onscreen. Our goal is to screen 50% women-directed films (virtually and in theaters when we reopen) by the end of 2021. We want gender parity to be reflected across all our programs including new releases, repertory, education programs, and our community-led programming.
Gender parity was important to Rachel Jacobson, our founder and original Executive Director. I had come into Film Streams with experience researching and writing a dissertation about women in film, so naturally this felt like something we were both not just passionate about, but could approach knowledgeably.
We hope See Change makes people be more mindful and deliberate in the choices of what they watch. We want them to not just pay attention to upcoming films by women directors, but to also think of how their experience with film has been shaped by historical gender disparities. By shining light on the work of Ida Lupino to Bora Kim we hope that people realize women’s mediamaking is rich, vital, and goes beyond the handful of women directors in the spotlight today (though they’re important too!).
A still from House of Hummingbird, one of the woman-directed films available to stream on Film Streams.
The initiative also aims to garner attention for films made by women of color, a population that receives a fraction of the already miniscule amount of attention that women’s films receive. As a woman of color yourself, why do you think it’s important for our stories to be told on the screen and watched by audiences?
For See Change to responsibly make a difference it has to highlight work by women of color. Being a Latina, it was additionally important to me that women of color get more opportunities for their work to be seen so that audiences begin to see the diversity of work being created by people of color around the world. Work by women of color has been historically marginalized because it’s not considered to be “universal,” which is just such a loaded term. But we cannot ignore that there is a certain kind of film by WOC that is expected and championed within Hollywood. Those tend to be stories about trauma or tragedy. There are certainly social injustices that disproportionately affect communities of color, but there is also joy and happiness within those communities. I would like to see more stories that do not lean into the narratives white America already has about us to reach our audiences and impact them the way films by white filmmakers get to.
Our goal with See Change is to model a film industry that recognizes, values, and speaks to the differences among us. We want to demonstrate that a more inclusive theatrical experience is, simply put, a greater theatrical experience.
If people are interested in engaging with See Change to watch and promote women-directed films, how should they go about it?
FilmStreams.org/SeeChange is where we will be updating our progress as well as posting the latest in research and resources. Anyone can rent any virtual release through the Home Movies link at filmstreams.org. All films with a woman director or co-director have a director’s chair icon. They can also follow us @filmstreams on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook to keep up with the latest.
But most importantly, there are so many concrete actions being taken by other non-profits, universities, and publications. The film industry is huge and the effort for gender parity in film involves change at a lot of different levels. So whether someone watches a film, volunteers time, or donates to different film funds there is something for anyone passionate about seeing change at the cinema.
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Your cinemas are now closed because of the pandemic, but audiences can stream films. Can you tell us what that process is like from your end as an administrator and for audience members watching from home?
The indie film industry has responded in remarkable ways to keep offering movie fans chances to see new releases and repertory during theater closures. Distributor Kino Lorber was the first to offer their film Bacarau through “virtual release” and other distributors we work with quickly followed suit, partnering with us and other arthouses around the country for streaming releases only available through our theaters (so no iTunes, Prime, etc.). Typically we get 50% of the grosses and that box office income means a lot to us. We’re grateful distributors acted so quickly.
Like any other startup venture, this also means that there are technical difficulties, not everyone is using the same platform, and the pricing is more than what our audiences in Nebraska may be used to, though less than what they might pay for a film in New York. Places like the Salt Lake Film Society have found innovative ways to use their resources to create their own streaming platform and streamline the experience for patrons. Distributors have suggested that virtual releases are here to stay, even when theaters reopen, so I’m sure we’ll see more companies and arthouses stepping up to polish what was an emergency response to a bad situation.
Do you have any stories of working through the pandemic that have brought you new ways of thinking about your work and about the power of independent film?
Arthouses tend to mean a lot to the communities they’re in. We’re lucky that so many patrons have kept their memberships current, have rented virtual releases, and donated directly. I think that support is cultivated by the real connections we make with moviegoers that go beyond what the multiplex can offer.
But I also would like to point out that like any non-profit, we rely on government funding and private philanthropy to stay afloat and that support is not guaranteed and is variable from state to state, city to city. It’s devastating to think that some arthouses have already closed, and depending on how much longer our government remains unresponsive to the realities of COVID-19, many more may close. It’s humbling that we have the privilege of launching See Change while other arthouses are just trying to make it day to day.
A still from John Lewis: Good Trouble, a woman-directed film available on Film Streams.
Without arthouses there would be few places in our country that would play films like Mounia Meddour’s Papicha or the upcoming A Thousand Cuts by Ramona S. Díaz. I think if I said no one can ever make horror films again, people would be upset. “Independent” is also a genre and mode of filmmaking. It’s not just about having smaller budgets. I hope to think of and promote independent film in a way that will make people realize they should care about preserving it and supporting the exhibitors who work to get these films seen.
It’s hard to tell in the middle of a crisis what we will learn from it once it’s over, but do you have any inkling of how COVID-19 will transform cinemas and the film industry as a whole? Do you see any silver lining on the horizon right now?
None of my inklings are silver-lined at this moment, haha! Historically, in times of financial instability, Hollywood has become incredibly conservative in how it spends money. The Golden Age that many remember so fondly was largely a response to war and recession—Hollywood’s version of cinematic comfort food. It meant women could be bold and sassy as long as they got married in the end, people of color were all but erased, the studio system locked bankable talent into long, exploitative contracts .… you can see where I’m going here. I worry that Hollywood will continue making fewer films with even bigger budgets, and provide even fewer opportunities for women and people of color—since Hollywood has always thought, no matter how much data proves the contrary, that projects by women and POC don’t make money. I could be wrong. I hope I am.
What I do know for certain is that filmmakers will keep making their films one way or another. And Film Streams is gonna do what we can to make sure that work is seen.
You can learn more about Diana Martinez and Film Streams on the organization’s website, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Learn more about Alexandra on her profile.