ABSTRACT
This chapter includes a biography of American artist, writer, and filmmaker Miranda July, an essay that July wrote for The Independent Film & Video Monthly experimental film issue she guest edited in July 2002, and an original interview with July from 2018. In film circles, July is best known for her two critically acclaimed features that she wrote, directed, and starred in—The Future (2011) and Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005). This chapter focuses on what led her to making these films. Yet she’s earned just as much acclaim, if not more, for her fiction writing, performance art, and museum pieces, and for generally placing originality and sincerity above all else. This combination could be the one through line in all of her work and draws strong reactions from both ends of the love-hate spectrum. July is also a committed feminist. She has supported the circulation and preservation of other women filmmakers’ work (through Joanie 4 Jackie) and can be counted on to trouble gendered expectations in her own storytelling. In the two plus decades since she’s been making films, she’s laid the groundwork for future generations of women-driven movies while remaining persistently ahead of her time in her own evolving artistic presence.
