ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights film and television director Martha Coolidge who is often celebrated for her popular films Valley Girl (1983) and Real Genius (1985). Included in this chapter is an essay by Coolidge published in 1976 in The Independent Film & Video Monthly about her first narrative film, Not a Pretty Picture, based on her own rape during college; an interview published in The Independent in 1992; and a third original interview based on a conversation with Coolidge from 2018. Coolidge’s prolific directing career has spanned comedies, dramas, documentaries, and shorts, and she has worked on independent and Hollywood films and television episodes. She has garnered numerous awards for her films, such as Rambling Rose (1991), which included an Oscar-nominated performance by Laura Dern, and Introducing Dorothy Dandridge (1999), an HBO feature film that took home five Emmys including one for Halle Berry for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie, as well as numerous other awards. In her 2018 interview, included in this chapter, Coolidge discusses her film legacy as well as her work as the first and, thus far, only female President of the Directors Guild of America (DGA).
