Zoe Dirse is a Canadian cinematographer, film director,

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

and

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

. She is best known for her cinematography work for Studio D under the

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...

, the first government-funded film studio in the world dedicated to women filmmakers.

Career

Before her work in film and television, Dirse earned a degree in psychology and teaching at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...

. While in university, she took some theoretical film courses and fell in love with French New Wave cinema. When she began her career in the film industry in 1979, she was one of only two female camera assistants in

IATSE The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States, Its Territories and Canada, known as simply the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE or ...

644. Her first “break” in her career began when she was called to work by producer Christa Singer on the documentary ''Adoption Stories'' for

TVOntario TVO Media Education Group (often abbreviated as TVO and stylized on-air as tvo) is a publicly funded English-language educational television network and media organization serving the Canadian province of Ontario. It is operated by the Ontario ...

. Brought in as an assistant, Dirse was hired to help the teenage subjects of the documentary feel “less threatened” by having her behind the camera. After shooting ''Adoption Stories,'' Dirse began working on commercial shoots as well as second-unit and second-assistant jobs on numerous Hollywood and television projects. Upon looking for more varied work, Dirse sought to work on films that involved social change, ultimately leading her to the National Film Board of Canada, where she worked from 1982 until 1997. While working at the National Film Board of Canada, Dirse worked on over 70 film projects, including a number of groundbreaking documentaries produced by Studio D including: ''Wisecracks'' (1992); ''Forbidden Love: the Unashamed Stories of Lesbian Lives'' (1992); and ''Jane Rule: Fiction and Other Truths'' (1996). As the camera department closed at the NFB in 1997, Dirse moved to Toronto to start her own company titled Zoe Dirse Productions. While developing documentaries, features, and movies for television, Dirse pursued a master's degree in Fine Arts degree at

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...

. During her time at York, a lecture she gave at a conference in 2003 resulted in her theory of the

female gaze The female gaze is a feminist theory term referring to the gaze of the female spectator, character or director of an artistic work, but more than the gender it is an issue of representing women as subjects having agency. As such all genders can cre ...

in film being published in ''Women Filmmakers: Refocusing''. Since 2000, Dirse has taught cinematography and documentary at

Sheridan College Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning (formerly Sheridan College of Applied Arts and Technology) is a public polytechnic institute of technology located in the west- Greater Toronto Area in Ontario, Canada. Founded i ...

in Oakville, Ontario. She currently holds a position on the board of directors for the

Canadian Society of Cinematographers The Canadian Society of Cinematographers (CSC) (''French:'' Société canadienne des cinéastes) is a non-profit Canadian trade organization with over 500 members whose mission is to promote the artistic creativity and required skills for cinemato ...

Female gaze

Dirse looks at the

through her cinematography work in the

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

genre, analyzing aspects of pleasure and viewer identification. She analyzes the gaze at the points of production (not reception), and "perception" being where sexual difference happens. She notes that if "the bearer of the look is female, the subject is female, and the subject subverts the gaze and gazes at herself". Dirse argues that having a female cinematographer alters the experience for both female and male subjects, and the perception of the film changes, citing her experiences of being shoved while filming in a crowd of men, and going by nearly unnoticed when filming intimate moments between women. She concludes that the female gaze is necessary in all forms of art, as it is mostly absent from dominant culture.

Praise and criticism

Dirse was awarded in 2018 by Women In Film & Television Toronto (WIFT) with the Mentorship Award, due to her "collaborative spirit" and willingness to guide first-time directors. Longtime collaborator Lynne Fernie praised Dirse for having “an incredible gift for relating to the people she's filming so that they are relaxed and open when the camera is rolling... When we were shooting the interviews for ''Forbidden Love'', she not only lit the women beautifully, she enjoyed meeting and talking to each woman. So when the lights turned on and the camera began to roll - we were shooting in 16mm - our subjects were very comfortable talking about sexuality and telling difficult stories about their lives even while surrounded by all of this technology and our crew.”

Awards and honours

* Rogers-DOC Luminary Award, 2018 * WIFT Mentorship Award, 2018

Selected filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dirse, Zoe Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Canadian women cinematographers Canadian women film directors University of Toronto alumni York University alumni Sheridan College faculty Canadian documentary film directors Canadian cinematographers National Film Board of Canada people Canadian women documentary filmmakers