(Tamara Jenkins | Photo courtesy of BendFilm)
BendFilm announced writer and director, Tamara Jenkins as the 2022 IndieWoman of the Year and First Features Honoree. Jenkins will receive her award in person as audiences celebrate her career during the 19th annual BendFilm Festival running October 6 – 23, 2022. BendFilm will host a screening of two of her films, Slums of Beverly Hills and Private Life, along with a guided Q&A session moderated by former Director of Sundance Film Festival John Cooper. Jenkins will share insights from her 20-year career and reflect on gender inequities in the industry.
Oscar nominated writer and director Tamara Jenkins was described by actor Philip Seymour Hoffman as “not a compromiser.” Rolling Stone said this of Jenkins’ work: “… her microscopic looks at human beings in all their complexities and vanities are vital to the cinematic landscape. Her stories are not didactic. They are observational and communal — a hug, not a finger-point. She is scrupulous not just with the female character closest in age to her; Jenkins takes years to write a script because she wants to walk in the shoes of every character until she gets them right.”
“Tamara Jenkins is a rare filmmaker who has a knack for finding a balance of humor and desperation in characters we instantly warm to,” BendFilm Head Programmer Selin Sevinc said. “We always feel personally comforted by the fact that her characters exist in this world, and that Jenkins exists in today’s world of indie filmmaking despite working with stars like Laura Linney, Natasha Lyonne, Alan Arkin, Kathryn Hahn, Paul Giamatti, and Philip Seymour Hoffman. For her uncompromisingly independent attitude to filmmaking and ongoing inspiration to us all, we’re honored to name Tamara Jenkins IndieWoman of the Year.”
Tamara is the writer and director of the films Private Life, The Savages, and Slums of Beverly Hills as well as several award winning shorts. Her films have screened at the New York Film Festival, the Telluride Film Festival, Cannes, and Sundance Film Festival. Among the honors she has received are an Academy Award nomination, an Independent Spirit Award, a Los Angeles Film Critics prize, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. Tamara attended NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts where she received her MFA and met her husband, the screenwriter, Jim Taylor, with whom she occasionally writes. Jenkins lives in NYC with Jim and their daughter, Mia.
Tickets for Tamara Jenkins’ films set to screen during the 2022 BendFilm Festival are now live at BendFilm.org.
Private Life | Written & Directed by Tamara Jenkins
3:15pm Saturday, October 8 at Tower Theatre
Richard and Rachel, a couple in the throes of infertility, try to maintain their marriage as they descend deeper and deeper into the weird world of assisted reproduction and domestic adoption. When their doctor suggests third party reproduction, they bristle. But when Sadie, a recent college drop out, re-enters their life, they reconsider. After A Private Life, Tamara Jenkins will participate in an on-stage conversation with John Cooper about the film and her career.
Slums of Beverly Hills | Written & Directed by Tamara Jenkins
7pm Friday, October 7 at Cascades Theatrical Co.
In 1976, a lower-middle-class teenager struggles to cope living with her neurotic family of nomads on the outskirts of Beverly Hills. After Slums of Beverly Hills, Tamara Jenkins will participate in an on-stage conversation.