A documentary about the pioneer of independent American cinema and television by sisters Julia and Clara Kuperberg, who specialize in documentaries on American film history. We follow Ida Lupino's journey from being a teenage Hollywood star, through social realism cinema, to her appearances in popular television series. The period when Lupino co-founded the independent production company The Filmakers (1948-1955) gets the most attention. She made films about rape, unwanted pregnancy, bigamy, women's ambitions outside the studio system, at a time when the words sex, divorce, abortion were forbidden at the movies. What was Lupino noir all about? What was her survival strategy in the male world? Who did she ally with to achieve her goals? In what style did she lead a film crew of several dozen? These questions are answered by journalists, historians and Lupino herself with quotes from her literary autobiography Beyond the Camera (2011).
Passionate about American film history and American culture, Clara and Julia Kuperberg created their own film company, Wichita Films, in 2006 to produce and direct documentaries. The Kuperberg sisters work as equal measure as producers, directors, writers and editors on their films. Their films are distributed all over the world. Their This Is Orson Welles and The Women Who Run Hollywood were selected and screened at the Cannes Film Festival 2015 and 2016, and at Deauville American Cinema Festival 2015 and 2016 too, among other prestigious film festivals.
2009 Let's Dance (doc.)
2012 Teen Movies les origines (doc.)
2013 Hollywood et les hommes (doc.)
2016 The Women Who Run Hollywood (doc.)
2018 Hollywood, No Sex Please! (doc.)
2021 Hannibal Hopkins & Sir Anthony (doc.)