Zoe Dirse

Zoe Dirse is a Canadian cinematographer, film director, writer and professor. She is best known for her cinematography work for Studio D under the National Film Board of Canada, the first government-funded film studio in the world dedicated to women filmmakers.

Career Before her work in film and television, Dirse earned a degree in psychology and teaching at the University of Toronto. While in university, she took some theoretical film courses and fell in love with French New Wave cinema. Her first “break” in her career began when she was called to work by producer Christa Singer on the documentary Adoption Stories for TVOntario. Brought in as an assistant, Dirse was hired to help the teenage subjects of the documentary feel “less threatened” by having her behind the camera. As the camera department closed at the NFB in 1997, Dirse moved to Toronto to start her own company titled Zoe Dirse Productions.

Female gaze Dirse looks at the female gaze through her cinematography work in the documentary film genre, analyzing aspects of pleasure and viewer identification. She analyzes the gaze at the points of production (not reception), and "perception" being where sexual difference happens. She notes that if "the bearer of the look is female, the subject is female, and the subject subverts the gaze and gazes at herself". Dirse argues that having a female cinematographer alters the experience for both female and male subjects, and the perception of the film changes, citing her experiences of being shoved while filming in a crowd of men, and going by nearly unnoticed when filming intimate moments between women. WIFT Mentorship Award, 2018 1984 Margaret Atwood: Once in August Cinematographer 1986 Firewords, Part 1-3 Cinematographer 1988 A Song for Quebec Cinematographer 1990 The Burning Times Additional/assistant camera 1991 Sisters in the Struggle Cinematographer 1992 Wisecracks Cinematographer 1992 Forbidden Love: The Unashamed Stories of Lesbian Lives Cinematographer Won at the 14th Genie Awards for Feature Length Documentary. Won the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Film (Documentary) 1993 Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance Cinematographer Won the Silver Sesterce at Visions du Réel festival in 1993, a Special Jury Award given to a cinematographic work. Won Best Canadian Film at the 1993 Toronto International Film Festival. 1993 Long Time Comin''' Cinematographer 1993 Baltic Fire|Director; Cinematographer Dirse's directorial debut 1994 Motherland: Tales of Wonder|Cinematographer 1996 A Balkan Journey: Fragments from the Other Side of War|Cinematographer 1997 Erotica: A Journey Into Female Sexuality|Cinematographer 1998 Shadow Maker: Gwendolyn MacEwen, Poet|Cinematographer 2004 Madame President|Director; Cinematographer; Writer 2010 Sisters in Arms|Cinematographer