Finding Vivian Maier -- This netflix documentary explores the story of a prolific photographer whose work was only discovered after her death. A private and eccentric and at times cruel nanny to those who knew her, Vivian Maier was also a brilliant artist whose photography is now well-known as iconic representations of human existence. And all because some young guy happened to come across a box of her negatives. It is a fascinating portrait of a mysterious woman.
The Diary of a Teenage Girl -- This 2015 film is essentially the story of a teenage girl's transformation into adulthood as she explores her sexual identity (context: in the 70s in San Francisco). While several situations in the film are dark and disturbing, it is also beautiful because the main character is strong and compelling AND the film integrates multi-media type effects, i.e. bringing drawings to life (as the main character is an artist). Like the film Obvious Child, I found this a refreshingly dynamic portrayal of female coming-of-age. The film is based on a graphic novel by Phoebe Gloeckner.
I have less to say about the two books that I am simultaneously reading because, well, I'm reading them simultaneously and not particularly frequently so I'm still only 50-100 pages into each book... that being said, both books are fantastic so far and both are by and about women. So I would definitely recommend The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts by Maxine Hong Kingston (memoir weaving Chinese folk tales and the Chinese-American experience) and Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff (a thick book of nonfiction, but very readable!).
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