Alexis Krasilovsky

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Alexis Krasilovsky
Prof Alexis Krasilovsky.png
Born1950 (age 74–75)
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)Filmmaker, writer, professor

Alexis Krasilovsky is an American film producer, director, screenwriter, poet, and activist known for her international collaborations and multi-sensory forms, often portraying societal problems in unexpected or humorous ways. Her work, which spans more than 50 years, includes provocative films, books, documentaries, and video poems. She continues to explore themes of women’s experience, environmental encroachments and concerns, artistic relationships, human rights, [a] more and more on a global scale.

Contents

Early life and education

Krasilovsky is the daughter of children's book author Phyllis Krasilovsky and entertainment attorney William Krasilovsky. She grew up in Chappaqua, New York. After studying at Smith College and the University of Florence, she graduated with honors from Yale University and received her MFA in Film/Video from the California Institute of the Arts. [1]

As an undergraduate at Yale, one of Krasilovsky’s teachers was film historian Jay Leyda, who taught at Yale 1969-1972. [2]

It was through a Yale course with filmmaker Murray Lerner in conjunction with the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program that she created her first film, End of the Art World. [3]

Career

Film

End of the Art World is the first film made by a female undergraduate at Yale. It developed during her independent study at the Whitney Museum in New York as Krasilovsky focused on intimate and rarely filmed glimpses into the lives of avant-garde artists under the mentorship of Michael Snow. The film looked at the contemporary (1971) New York art world, featuring interviews with and works by Jo Baer, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Andy Warhol, and others. Krasilovsky used her interviews with the artists themselves to reflect on their art: “With a quality of humor possible only with depth of understanding, Alexis Krasilovsky presents a catalogue of interviews with modern artists in which the shooting style as well as the aural material’s format rehearses the personal style, the aesthetics, and the assumption of each artist about the nature of his art.” –Joan Braderman, Artforum [4] [5]

Kevin Thomas of The Los Angeles Times describes Krasilovsky’s approach: “With ferocious wit, Ms. Krasilovsky sends up New York’s art scene in End of the Art World. "In essence, Ms. Krasilovsky uses the sounds and images of the usual art documentary to create her own work of art. In the process—or reprocess—she satirizes the fatuity of the standard interview with the artist and by the end identifies art with revolution as she fantasizes the quite literal obliteration of the Metropolitan Museum's 20th-century art curator, Henry Geldzahler.” [6]

The Yale Film Archive recently restored and preserved the film through a federally funded grant from the National Film Preservation Foundation, [7] [8] and the new print was featured at a screening in New Haven in March 2024. Krasilovsky noted at the screening that her 1971 film directly addressed the concept of “the end of the art world,” but that in later years, the still male-dominated art world failed to acknowledge that a woman had portrayed – through her art – the very concept in 1971.

She said that she was inspired, as a college student, by Czech filmmaker Vera Chytilova’s film, Daisies, which was shown in New Haven in conjunction with the release of restored End of the Art World. “[I] left the film totally identifying with her [Chytilova’s] vision and feeling like I should be a filmmaker.” She also stated that Chytilova’s sense of resolve had impressed her and that Krasilovsky’s later film, Let Them Eat Cake, drew on this influence. [9]

While End of the Art World broke new ground, it also garnered criticism for presenting “contradictory views on ‘the art world’ that are never fully resolved” while conceding that the film “manages to convey the playfulness of the art of the sixties and early seventies.” [10]

Her experiences at Yale in the first class of women undergraduates sensitized Krasilovsky to the difficulties facing women in the male-dominated world of film. This helped prepare her to persevere in her work and also set a framework for many of her artistic subjects. Feminism and gender disparities are themes woven through much of her work, [11] but she also takes on environmental fragility and consequences of climate change; and several aspects of global inequality. Many of her works have been artistic collaborations, and she has extensively documented the accomplishments of women in the film world.

Blood (1975) is a punk film of middle-class juveniles challenging norms, seeking connections. Krasilovsky was ahead of her time in creating a talking vagina years before Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues opened in 1996. Kevin Thomas of TheLos Angeles Times described the film: “In its stream-of-consciousness way 'Blood' (1975), evokes Manhattan street life even more powerfully than Martin Scorsese’s 'Taxi Driver'.'” [6] The essence of the film is about the exploitation of women.

After a screening of her films at the Theatre Vanguard in Los Angeles in 1976, Krasilovsky moved from New York to Los Angeles in the 1970s to pursue filmmaking, writing and directing through her company, Rafael Film.

Krasilovsky's documentary Beale Street (1981; co-directed with Ann Rickey and Walter Baldwin) followed the last march of Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis, Tennessee. [12] Barbra Streisand has said of Krasilovsky's 1984 documentary Exile, "Such films do more than increase East-West understanding and reduce tensions; they also serve to emphasize that we are all essentially one people, which may be the best hope for our world."[ citation needed ] The film traces Krasilovsky's family roots back to Prague and Austria and explores the effects of fear, exile, and loss on a family and community. [13]

Exploring new techniques and topics, in the 1980s Krasilovsky incorporated zooming and dissolves for the first time in 360° integral hologram in her film Created and Consumed by Light (1975). [14] She also used holographic images to develop a pro-choice film, Childbirth Dream, “a holography of feelings women have about giving birth.” She noted that her film layered real-life shots with animation, a first. [15] An in-progress version of Childbirth Dream was exhibited in 1987 at the Georges Popidou Centre in Paris.

Epicenter U. was filmed in 16mm by Krasilovsky and her Cal State Northridge film students following the 1994 Northridge Earthquake. Crafted in makeshift facilities in the aftermath of the 6.7 magnitude disaster that rocked their campus and their homes, the film records not only the devastation of the event but also how young filmmakers' lives were shaken. [16] [17]

Krasilovsky's 2014 film Let Them Eat Cake contrasts the role of pastry from those who overindulge to people in Third World countries who have never consumed a pastry. This documentary feature addresses issues of food production challenges, access to foods, and global inequalities, with footage across many cultures in more than 10 countries. The film underscores undeniable extremes between those with resources and those who go hungry. From portraying exquisite French pastries to starving children, the film’s format is more “poetic essay” than straightforward reporting.

The underlying premise of the film is that the world needs to recognize and deal with the chasm between those who have too much to eat and those who don’t have enough to eat. “I began to think of pastry as the magical amulet that could seduce viewers into examining the stories behind the ingredients ‒ sugar, wheat, rice, corn and chocolate. [Images of] the farmers toiling in sugarcane fields of India and the flooded cornfields of Peru, workers rolling out the dough in a baklava factory in Turkey, children harvesting cocoa in West Africa and rickshaw drivers in Bangladesh who were on the brink of starvation.” [18]

As Zen Buddhist Abbot Shodo Harada Roshi is quoted, "Equal food distribution is fundamental for constructing a society in which there is true peace." [19] The film documents the ingredients, creation of pastries, and the effects that pastry has—including obesity and diabetes—in several countries including Bangladesh, France, India, Japan, Mexico, Peru, Somalia, Turkey and the United States. The film has screened worldwide at several festivals, and includes music from Jenny Eloise Rieu, Ed Finney, Yasumi Miyazawa and Minoti Vaishnav. [20]

Film and Book Projects: Women Behind the Camera: Conversations with Camerawomen and Shooting Women: Behind the Camera, Around the World

Krasilovsky’s feature-length documentary tells the stories of female filmmakers and crew members across 17 countries. When this documentary was released, women made up a tiny percentage of cinematographers of feature films in the US; statistics in other nations were not much better. [1]

The inspiration for Women Behind the Camera came from acquaintance with Brianne Murphy, ASC, whose career in cinematography broke gender barriers, including becoming the first female allowed to join the International Cinematographers Guild. [1]

“Brianne was my inspiration because she had the tenacity, the courage and sense of humor that enabled her to survive at a time when the industry was inhospitable to camerawomen.” [1]

Krasilovsky’s interviews with cinematographers and crew members underscore the problems facing women in the field, including perceptions that women needed to stay home with children, that they weren’t capable of handling the heavy equipment, that women shouldn’t be in the vicinity of danger (including war zones) and of general derogatory sexist attitudes encountered from interview through worksite experiences.

The film was preceded by the book, Women Behind the Camera: Conversations with Camerawomen (1997), which focused on American camerawomen, and was followed by a book with an international scope, Shooting Women: Behind the Camera, Around the World, which was authored with Harriet Margolis and Julia Stein.  "[Shooting Women] shares insights into what it takes to succeed as a camerawoman… .” [11] Krasilovsky states that the book “tells women what it’s really like, and it encourages women considering this profession by exploring the paths (film school/training programs/mentors/rental houses/on-the-job learning/social activist filming/etc.) towards making a living as a cinematographer.” [11]

Harriet Margolis highlights the value of “identifying general problems that can be solved collectively rather than allowing individual women to feel that they are alone in the world with problems that they can’t solve by themselves.” [11]

Writing

In addition to poetry books and others about screenwriting and filmmaking, Krasilovsky is the author of several articles that have appeared in Creative Screenwriting. She has also contributed chapters to the books The Search for Reality: The Art of Documentary Filmmaking (ed. Michael Tobias, Michael Wiese Productions, 1998) and Women and Poetry: Tips on Writing, Teaching and Publishing by Successful Women Poets (ed. Carol Smallwood, McFarland, January 2012). [21]

Krasilovsky is a member of the Writers Guild of America West. She is also a member of the Association of Women Directors, the International Documentary Association and Women in Film.[ citation needed ]

Academics

Krasilovsky is Professor Emerita in the Department of Cinema and Television Arts at California State University, Northridge, where she taught film production, screenwriting, media theory and film studies in the Department of Cinema and Television Arts from 1987 to 2022. [2] [22]

Personal life

Alexis Krasilovsky lives in Los Angeles. She continues to make films, write, and promote opportunities for women behind the camera.

Selected filmography

Krasilovsky at the presentation of the film Women Behind the Camera, IFFI (2008) Ms. Alexis Krasilovsky (Director) addressing at the presentation of the film "WOMEN BEHIND THE CAMERA", during the 39th International Film Festival (IFFI-2008), in Panaji, Goa on November 26, 2008.jpg
Krasilovsky at the presentation of the film Women Behind the Camera, IFFI (2008)

Books

Awards

Notes

  1. ↑ See, for example, Beale Street and Let Them Eat Cake films

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Fisher, Bob (28 February 2008). "Distaff DPs | International Documentary Association". www.documentary.org. Retrieved 19 October 2025.
  2. 1 2 "Woman Behind the Camera". www.womenbehindthecamera.com. Retrieved 19 October 2025.
  3. ↑ "Film Notes: DAISIES / END OF THE ART WORLD | Yale University Library". web.library.yale.edu. Retrieved 19 October 2025.
  4. ↑ "Canyon Cinema : Now Available: New Digitization of Alexis Krasilovsky's End of the Art World" . Retrieved 19 October 2025.
  5. ↑ Braderman, Joan (1 September 1972). "Report: The First Festival of Women's Films". Artforum. Retrieved 21 October 2025.
  6. 1 2 Thomas, Kevin (24 February 1976). "Movie Review: Feminist Films at the Vanguard". Los Angeles Times. pp. Part IV, 9.
  7. ↑ "Library wins grant to preserve first film by an undergrad woman at Yale | Yale Library". library.yale.edu. Retrieved 19 October 2025.
  8. ↑ "National Film Preservation Foundation64 Orphan Films to be Preserved Through the NFPF's 2021 Grants". www.filmpreservation.org. Retrieved 19 October 2025.
  9. ↑ Ponzio, Karen (8 March 2024). "Film Archive Celebrates End Of The Art World". New Haven Independent. Retrieved 19 October 2025.
  10. ↑ "FILMOGRAPHY – Roy Lichtenstein Foundation" . Retrieved 19 October 2025.
  11. 1 2 3 4 Weinstein, Anna (December 2016). "Documenting Women Behind the Camera". Intellect Discover. Volume 14, Issue 3. pp. 161–168.
  12. ↑ "Kanopy - Stream Classic Cinema, Indie Film and Top Documentaries: "Beale Street"". www.kanopy.com. Retrieved 19 October 2025.
  13. ↑ "Kanopy - Stream Classic Cinema, Indie Film and Top Documentaries: "Exile"". www.kanopy.com. Retrieved 19 October 2025.
  14. ↑ "Created and Consumed by Light". MIT Museum. 1976.
  15. ↑ Arkatov, Janice (24 September 1987). "Celebratory Projects Go In Search of 'A Woman's Place'". Los Angeles Times. p. 99.
  16. ↑ Slater, Eric (5 October 1994). "'Epicenter .' Captures Earthquake Aftermath". The Los Angeles Times. pp. 49, 53.
  17. ↑ Vejar, Alex (17 January 2014). "The art of chaos: CTVA professor and her students make a documentary about the Northridge earthquake". Daily Sundial. Retrieved 23 October 2025.
  18. ↑ Mascarinas, Joanna (24 October 2016). "Let Them Eat Cake provides an ironic twist on global issues". The Cougar Chronicle (Cal State San Marcos). Retrieved 26 October 2025.
  19. ↑ ""Let Them Eat Cake"". FilmFreeway. Retrieved 19 October 2025.
  20. ↑ IMDB Let Them Eat Cake
  21. ↑ Women and Poetry: Tips on Writing, Teaching and Publishing by Successful Women Poets (ed. Carol Smallwood, McFarland, January 2012)
  22. 1 2 3 4 Sanchez, Sergio (5 June 2011). "Cal State Northridge Professor Wins 'The Gate of Freedom' Award at Festival – Newsroom – California State University, Northridge". California State University Northridge. Archived from the original on 5 June 2011. Retrieved 11 June 2024.

Further reading

Abir, Rahad, Interview "Shooting Women" about film and book, Women Behind the Camerain The Daily Star Weekend Magazine, (Bangladesh) Volume 7, Issue 46, 21 November 2008 https://www.thedailystar.net/magazine/2008/11/03/interview.htm Accessed 21 October 2025

Elrod, Nickii. "Riverside Finds Filmmaker Advocate," The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, 16 December 1977, p. 26. "The heavies of the film will be chemical plant smokestacks, beer cans and the dump fires that send animals, and often the residents, scurrying for safety."

Shedde, Meenakshi. "Women don’t only bear kids, they bear witness," Sunday Times of India, Mumbai, 28 December 2003 p. 4.

Thomas, G. Murray, "Reviews: ‘The Earthquake Haggadah’; ‘What Memphis Needs,’" Next: Guide to So Cal Poets, Vol.2 No.8, October 1995, p.18.

Walston, Joan. "’Exile’: A Jewish Filmmaker’s Journey of Self-Discovery," The Jewish Journal. 3–9 October 1986, pp.17, 21. "Watching it, we can realize how at times we have felt both blessed and cursed by the fate that caused our parents and grandparents to leave their homelands and settle in America, the fate which enables most of us to be alive today."

Williams, David E., "Another View: Alexis Krasilovsky's 'WOMEN BEHIND THE CAMERA' Sheds Light on a Diverse Array of Female Directors of Photography", DV Magazine, January 2008, www.dv.com. Accessed 27 November 2011.

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