Director Karyn Kusama returns to the spotlight with The Invitation
When Karyn Kusama released Girlfight in 2000, she was hailed as a bright new talent with a promising creative future. However, that didn't end up being the case.
Kusama went through a kind of Hollywood exile, struggling to get films made — that is until her recent movie The Invitation. In this case, the game changer was just that; Gamechanger Films, whose mandate is to support the work of female directors, stepped in to fund the production. While this proved good news for Kusama, it highlighted an unfortunate truth about the industry with regards to how it handles women's stories and their ownership of them.
"It's very difficult to figure out, for me, what stops really talented young female filmmakers from having the kind of careers that their really talented young male counterparts are having," she tells Shad.
The Invitation is a tragic and frightening film about the "sometimes grim realities of adulthood" that takes place at a suspicious dinner party to which a woman has invited her ex-husband. The words Kusama uses to describe the story, and what drew her to it, include paranoia, denial and discomfort. The Invitation is just an example of what Kusama wishes she saw more of — frank depictions of women's lives on film.
"There's got to be more room for other voices and other kinds of characters who walk us through humanity," Kusama adds.