Marleen Gorris facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Marleen Gorris
Marleen Gorris (1982)
Born	(1948-12-09) 9 December 1948 (age 76) Roermond, Netherlands
Nationality	Dutch
Occupation	Film director, screenwriter
Known for	Antonia's Line (1995)

Marleen Gorris (born 9 December 1948) is a Dutch former writer and director. She is known for supporting equal rights for women (feminism) and for gay and lesbian people. These ideas are often shown in her films. Her movie, Antonia's Line, won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 1995. This made her the first woman to win an Oscar in this category. She has also won two Golden Calf awards and many other nominations.

Early Life

Marleen Gorris was born on 9 December 1948 in Roermond, a town in the Netherlands. Her parents were working-class and Protestant, living in a mostly Catholic area.

She studied drama at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. She also earned a master's degree in Drama from the University of Birmingham in England. Gorris started making films with very little experience. Her first film, A Question of Silence, was released in 1982. The Dutch government helped pay for this project.

Film Career

Marleen Gorris started writing film scripts when she was about 30 years old. She first showed her script to Belgian filmmaker Chantal Akerman. Akerman told Gorris that she should direct the film herself.

Her first film, A Question of Silence (1982), became very well-known around the world. It tells the story of three women who commit a crime and a female psychiatrist who questions them. The film explored ideas about women's feelings and their place in society. It was praised for its quality but also surprised many viewers. In 1982, she won the Golden Calf for Best Feature Film for A Question of Silence. She won this award again in 1995 for Best Direction for her famous film Antonia's Line.

After her first film's success, Gorris released Broken Mirrors (1984). This film was similar to A Question of Silence in its themes and the people who worked on it. Broken Mirrors also looked at women's experiences and how power works in society. It suggested that women could find strength by working together. After this, she did not make another film until The Last Island (1990). This movie was about a group of plane crash survivors on an island.

In 1995, Gorris had her biggest international success with Antonia's Line. This film was highly praised by critics and won many international awards. These included a Golden Calf and an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film.

Her next film was Mrs Dalloway (1997), based on a book by Virginia Woolf. Famous actors like Vanessa Redgrave were in it. This film also won several international awards. She then directed The Luzhin Defence (2000), based on a book by Vladimir Nabokov. It starred John Turturro and Emily Watson. It tells the story of a chess champion and a strong-willed woman who fall in love. Her film Carolina (2003) was released directly to video in 2005.

Gorris's 2009 film Within the Whirlwind was not released widely. The main actress, Emily Watson, said this was because the film market crashed around that time.

In June 2017, Marleen Gorris announced that she had stopped making films. A few years before, she had experienced severe stress and exhaustion (burnout) while filming. Another director, Mike van Diem, took over her last project.

Legacy

In 2012, the London Feminist Film Festival chose A Question of Silence as a 'Feminist Classic'. They celebrated it with a special screening for its 30th anniversary. The film has been shown often in the UK since then.

Personal Life

Marleen Gorris has a partner named Maria Uitdehaag. Maria worked as the first assistant director on Antonia's Line. Marleen Gorris mentioned Maria in her acceptance speech when she won the Academy Award.

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and Nominations

See also

In Spanish: Marleen Gorris para niños

• List of female film and television directors
• List of lesbian filmmakers
• List of LGBT-related films directed by women