Zoe Dirse facts for kids

Zoe Dirse is a Canadian cinematographer (someone who operates the camera for movies), film director, writer, and professor. She is well-known for her camera work at Studio D, which was part of the National Film Board of Canada. Studio D was the first film studio funded by a government that focused only on women filmmakers.

Zoe Dirse's Journey in Film

Before working in movies and TV, Zoe Dirse studied psychology and teaching at the University of Toronto. While at university, she took some film classes and became very interested in French New Wave cinema, a style of French filmmaking from the 1950s and 60s.

She started her film career in 1979. At that time, she was one of only two female camera assistants in a big film workers' union called IATSE 644. Her first big chance came when producer Christa Singer asked her to work on a documentary called Adoption Stories for TVOntario. Zoe was hired as an assistant to help the teenage people in the documentary feel more comfortable with a camera person around.

After Adoption Stories, Zoe worked on commercials and helped out on many Hollywood and TV shows. She wanted to work on films that could help make social changes. This led her to the National Film Board of Canada, where she worked from 1982 to 1997.

Working at the National Film Board

While at the National Film Board of Canada, Zoe Dirse worked on over 70 film projects. Many of these were important documentaries made by Studio D. Some of these films include:

• Wisecracks (1992)
• Forbidden Love: the Unashamed Stories of Lesbian Lives (1992)
• Jane Rule: Fiction and Other Truths (1996)

In 1997, the camera department at the NFB closed. Zoe then moved to Toronto to start her own company, Zoe Dirse Productions. While making documentaries and movies for TV, she also earned a master's degree in Fine Arts at York University. During her time at York, she gave a talk in 2003. This talk led to her ideas about the female gaze in film being published in a book called Women Filmmakers: Refocusing.

Since 2000, Zoe Dirse has taught cinematography and documentary filmmaking at Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario. She is also on the board of directors for the Canadian Society of Cinematographers.

Understanding the Female Gaze in Film

Zoe Dirse explores the idea of the female gaze through her work as a cinematographer, especially in documentary films. She looks at how films are made and how the camera's point of view can change what the audience sees and feels.

Dirse believes that when a woman is the cinematographer, it changes the experience for both male and female people in the film. She says that the way the film is seen by others also changes. For example, she noticed that when she filmed in a crowd of men, she was sometimes pushed around. But when she filmed private moments between women, she was hardly noticed. She thinks that the female gaze is important in all kinds of art because it is often missing from popular culture.

Awards and Special Recognitions

Zoe Dirse has received several awards for her work:

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

Selected Films by Zoe Dirse