Wikipedia

Cassie Jaye

Cassie Jaye(born May 1, 1986)[2]is an Americanfilm director,best known for directing the 2016documentaryfilmThe Red Pillabout themen's rights movement.[3][4]

Cassie Jaye
Jaye in 2018
Born
Cassandra Nelson[1]

(1986-05-01)May 1, 1986(age 38)
Fort Sill,Oklahoma,U.S.
Occupation(s)Film director, producer
Years active2004–present
Notable workThe Red Pill
Spouse
Evan Davies
​
(m.2018)​
Websitewww.jayebirdproductions.com

Early life and work

edit

Jaye was born inFort Sill,Oklahoma,to Nena Jaye.[5]When she was aged 6, her parents divorced.[6]When she was 14, Jaye moved toLas Vegas,where she attendedPalo Verde High School.[7]

At age 18, she moved toLos Angeles,where she was anactressfor five years before moving toMarin County, Californiain 2008.[2]Jaye disliked thestereotypical rolesshe was cast in, which she described as "cute girl-next-door who always died inhorror films."Along with several incidents ofsexual harassment,this led her to embracefeminism.[8]

Documentary career

edit

After leaving the acting field, Jaye stayed in films, but as adocumentaryproducer, director, and editor. She formedJaye Bird Productions,a film production company, in 2008.[8][9]Her mother is her production partner.[10]

Daddy I Do(2010)

edit

Jaye directed and produced the 2010 American documentary filmDaddy I Dowhich examinessex educationandsexual abstinenceprograms in America.[11]Daddy I Doincluded interviews with the founder of theSilver Ring ThingDenny Pattyn, feminist writerAmanda Marcotte,andDouglas Kirby.The film also discusses personal stories from women facingteenage pregnancy,single motherhood,abortionandsexual assault.[11][12]Bustmagazine praised "Jaye for exposing the truth about abstinence-only programs, the stories of teenagers who buy into it, and its consequences".[13]

In December 2018, Jaye publishedDaddy I Doon her channel on YouTube.[14]

The Right to Love: An American Family(2012)

edit

Jaye directed and produced her second feature documentary filmThe Right to Love: An American Familyin 2012. The film chronicles a family known as "Gay Family Values" onYouTubein the aftermath of2008 California Proposition 8.[15]

The film premiered in February 2012 at theCastro TheatreinSan Franciscowith guest speakerZach Wahls.[16][17]The film went on to screen at theFrameline Film Festival.[18]

In December 2018, Jaye publishedThe Right to Loveon her channel on YouTube.[19]

The Red Pill(2016)

edit
Main article:The Red Pill

Jaye directed and produced the 2016 American documentary filmThe Red Pillabout themen's rights movement.Jaye spent a year interviewing men's rights figures, such as Paul Elam, founder ofA Voice for Men;Harry Crouch, president of theNational Coalition for Men;Warren Farrell,author ofThe Myth of Male Power;[20]andErin Pizzey,who started the first domestic violence shelter for men in the modern world.[21]She also interviewed critics of the movement, such asMs.magazine executive editorKatherine Spillar,[20][22]and sociologistMichael Kimmel.[23]

Jaye initially relied on her own money to fund the film, as well as that from her mother and her boyfriend,[23]as she found difficulty finding backers from traditional sources after it became known that the film would take a "balanced approach"[24]view of the men's rights movement.[25][21]In what she called a "last resort", she started a campaign on thecrowdfundingplatformKickstarter.[25]The Kickstarter project promised to be a "fair and balanced" look at the men's rights movement.[25]She received support fromBreitbart NewscolumnistMilo Yiannopoulos.[26][27][28]

At the end of the film, Jaye states that she no longer identifies as afeminist,[29]saying that she now believes that "feminism is not the road to gender equality". Although she no longer calls herself a feminist, she has stated that she is "still an advocate of women's rights and always will be" but is now "adding men to the discussion."[30]

Jaye gave aTEDxspeech about her experience makingThe Red Pill.It focused particularly on how the process initially affirmed her feminist sense ofotherismand outrage against the men's rights movement, but then later broke it down. It was an "uncomfortable and humbling experience", and one that turned her "from feminism to gender equality activism".[9]

In 2019 Jaye said that the video diaries she recorded during filming allowed her to remember what her views on feminism were before she started working on the film, and why she thought that way. Looking back on the diaries, she could see that her previous views weren't necessarily malicious, but just uninformed.[31]

Criticisms and backlash

edit

Jaye's effort for the Kickstarter project was strongly criticized by some feminists[32]including David Futrelle, who runs a website calledWe Hunted the Mammothand who said it looked like propaganda.[33]The film hadscreenings canceled in Australiafollowing petitions, protests, and threats against those holding the screening.[34][35][36][37][38][39]

David Futrelle accused Jaye of soliciting funding from members of the men's rights movement, which she portrays sympathetically.[27][40]She has said that the suggestion the film was funded by MRAs (men's rights activists) is "a common lie that keeps spreading,"[23]and that the film's backers and producers would have no influence or control of the film.[23][25]It has also been criticized by Alan Scherstuhl ofThe Village Voice,among others, for failing to challenge controversial comments and behavior from men's rights figures such as Elam.[27][33]Jaye has defended the film as being "extremelybalanced"and that people were" heard in context without manipulation ".[30]

In a 2017 interview with Australian TV showThe Project,whenCarrie Bickmoreasked her about a recent high-profile murder of Luke Anderson by his father, Jaye emphasized that it was a specific example of amale victimofdomestic abuse,whereWaleed Alytersely rebuts, "that's the lesson you took from that?" (from the murder). Jaye responded that "we have to distinguish between victims and perpetrators, or criminals, because a boy who is being abused by a parental figure, that is a boy that deserves care and compassion and resources if he needs to find help."[41]Jaye described the interview as "hostile and aggressive", and initially pulled out of some interviews following the incident.[42][41]Later she resumed interviews but made her own recording of the discussions, as she stated she had been "misquoted so much".[29]

In an interview on the Australian TV showWeekend Sunrise,Jaye asked the show's hostsAndrew O'KeefeandMonique Wrightdirectly "Did you see the film?". The co-hosts said they had not.[29][43]After receiving a wave of comments critical of the hosts and supporting Jaye,Sunriseremoved the video of the interview from theirFacebookpage. Jaye uploaded the interview to her own page, where it was removed shortly after as a copyright violation. When asked about the removal from Facebook a spokeswoman for the Seven network which producesSunrisedeclined to comment. Jaye also posted screenshots of emails to prove thatSunrise'sproducer had received a copy of the film a month before the interview and plenty of time for the hosts to have watched it. This was to disprove the hosts' claim that they did not receive a copy of the film.[44]

Filmography

edit

Awards

edit

Personal life

edit

Cassie Jaye and Evan Davies married in June 2018.[10]Davies worked as director of photography onThe Red Pill.[52]

In September 2018, Jaye discovered that she was pregnant, but then miscarried about a month later. She recorded the events of her pregnancy and miscarriage in footage code-namedRobin,the name she gave to the miscarried baby. She has given consideration to produce a documentary project based on that footage, which would be named,Waiting to Miscarry.[10]

References

edit
  1. ^Hightower, Jeff."Cassie Jaye: The New School of Hollywood".www.jeffhightower.com.
  2. ^abSchwartz, Don (August 21, 2011)."Cassie Jaye: A Filmmaker Births Herself".CineSource.Archivedfrom the original on September 24, 2011.RetrievedJune 24,2019.
  3. ^"Feminist filmmaker faces backlash over men's rights documentary".womenintheworld.com.Women in the World. November 11, 2015. Archived fromthe originalon June 12, 2018.RetrievedJuly 26,2018.
  4. ^Catsoulis, Jeannette (September 13, 2012)."Making a Case for Same-Sex Marriage".The New York Times.
  5. ^"Filmmaker's 'The Red Pill' a bitter one for feminists to swallow".Archived fromthe originalon September 7, 2018.RetrievedSeptember 7,2018.
  6. ^"Larkspur mother, daughter make 'Daddy I Do,' a documentary about abstinence-only movement".October 4, 2010.
  7. ^"Cassie Jaye: The New School of Hollywood".www.jeffhightower.com.
  8. ^abc"What makes a feminist create a film on MRAs?".The Daily Dot.November 10, 2015.RetrievedJune 4,2018.
  9. ^ab"Cassie Jaye".TEDxMarin.RetrievedAugust 25,2020.
  10. ^abc"Waiting to miscarry".August 30, 2019.
  11. ^abSeltzer, Sarah (November 10, 2010)."Daddy I Do:" Purity "World is Tough for Women".Rewire.
  12. ^Antunes, Marina (May 10, 2010)."Review:Daddy I Do".Row Three.
  13. ^"Exposed: The Gift of Virginity and Purity Balls".RetrievedJune 4,2018.
  14. ^ab"Daddy I Do (2010) - FULL DOCUMENTARY",Cassie Jaye's YouTube channel, 21 December 2018.
  15. ^"A Strategy to Change Minds: Focus on the Gay Family".The Advocate.November 8, 2011.
  16. ^"We live to love & we love us an olive".The Bay Area Reporter.February 2, 2012.
  17. ^"Zach Wahls Has a Confession to Make to Gay Activists in San Francisco".GayCities. January 27, 2012.
  18. ^"Histories of Acting Up: Frameline at 36".International Documentary Association.July 9, 2012.RetrievedFebruary 6,2018.
  19. ^ab"The Right To Love: An American Family (2012) - FULL MOVIE",Cassie Jaye's YouTube channel, 21 December 2018.
  20. ^abDeFore, John (November 2, 2016)."'The Red Pill' Review ".The Hollywood Reporter.
  21. ^abArndt, Bettina(October 29, 2016)."Cassie Jaye's Red Pill too truthful for feminists to tolerate".The Australian.RetrievedOctober 22,2017.
  22. ^Daubney, Martin (November 12, 2015)."The Red Pill: the movie about men that feminists didn't want you to see".telegraph.co.uk.Telegraph.RetrievedOctober 21,2017.
  23. ^abcdLiberatore, Paul (November 8, 2016)."Bay Area filmmaker's new film, 'The Red Pill,' is a bitter one for feminists to swallow".Mercury News.
  24. ^Hunt, Elle (October 26, 2016)."The Red Pill: Melbourne cinema drops men's rights film after feminist backlash".The Guardian.
  25. ^abcdScott, Catherine (November 10, 2015)."Meet the feminist who is making a film about the men's rights movement".The Daily Dot.
  26. ^Daubney, Martin (November 12, 2015)."The Red Pill:the movie about men that feminists didn't want you to see ".The Telegraph.
  27. ^abcGillespie, Katherine (October 26, 2016)."Why Australian Men's Rights Activists Had Their Bullshit Documentary Banned".vice.com.Vice.
  28. ^Lee, Benjamin (November 11, 2015)."Feminist film-maker criticised for making 'balanced' men's rights documentary".The Guardian.
  29. ^abcCallaghan, Greg (July 29, 2017)."Cassie Jaye's film on the men's rights movement shocked Australia. Why?".The Sydney Morning Herald.Fairfax Media.
  30. ^abChaplain, Chloe (December 1, 2016)."Feminist filmmaker: women's rights are now silencing men".Evening Standard.
  31. ^"Cassie Jaye - Gender Politics | Exploring Minds w/ Michele Carroll Ep. 15"(at 29m10s),Exploring Minds with Michele Carroll,7 April 2019.
  32. ^"Why Australian Men's Rights Activists Had Their Bullshit Documentary Banned".Vice.October 26, 2016.RetrievedAugust 19,2017.
  33. ^abLee, Benjamin (November 11, 2015)."Feminist film-maker criticised for making 'balanced' men's rights documentary".The Guardian.
  34. ^Mahoney, Neve (October 1, 2016)."Men's rights activists need to take a chill pill".Eureka Street.26(21).
  35. ^"Queensland police asked to investigate threats of violence ahead of movie screening".couriermail.com.au.Courier Mail. January 3, 2017.(subscription required)
  36. ^Bolt, Andrew (June 8, 2017)."Red Pill Screening Stopped: You may not watch".heraldsun.com.au.Herald Sun.
  37. ^Bolt, Andrew (June 9, 2017)."The Red Pill: US 'former feminist' Cassie Jaye stuns Project panel with men's rights spiel".thenewdaily.com.au.The New Daily.
  38. ^"The Red Pill: The film feminists don't want you to watch".abc.net.au.ABC Radio Brisbane. June 8, 2017.
  39. ^Jepsen, Belinda (June 8, 2017)."Director of" anti-feminist "documentary leaves The Project panel in stunned silence".mamamia.com.au.Mamamia.
  40. ^"Feminist filmmaker faces backlash over men's rights documentary".The New York Times.November 11, 2015.RetrievedOctober 22,2017.
  41. ^abCoy, Bronte (June 10, 2017)."The Project hosts left speechless during interview with controversial US film director".news.com.au.
  42. ^"Red Pill director Cassie Jaye pulls out of Hack Live special on male privilege".abc.net.au.ABC. June 20, 2017.
  43. ^"Men's rights film banned in Australia".Sunrise.
  44. ^Chung, Frank (June 15, 2017)."Seven forces Facebook to remove Sunrise interview with The Red Pill director Cassie Jaye".news.com.au.RetrievedOctober 21,2017.
  45. ^Harvey, Dennis (August 6, 2012)."The Right to Love: An American Family".Variety.RetrievedJune 1,2018.
  46. ^"Official Action on Film 2010 Award Winners and 1st Runner Upsin the categories ofFilm, Video, Documentary, Experimental and Animation"(PDF).From: AOF Action On Film Festival, Awards And Nominations.July 30, 2010. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on October 20, 2017.
  47. ^"Cassie Jaye returns to film fest"(PDF).Idyllwild Town Crier.December 19, 2013. p. 10. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on October 20, 2017.In 2010, Jaye's film, "Daddy I Do," premiered at the IIFC and was awarded Best Documentary.
  48. ^"Action On Film 2012 Official Award Nominated Films"(PDF).AOF Action On Film - Results.Archived fromthe original(PDF)on October 20, 2017.
  49. ^"Award Winners of LIFF 2017 – The Louisiana International Film Festival".Louisiana International Film Festival.August 30, 2017. Archived fromthe originalon August 30, 2017.RetrievedAugust 5,2019.
  50. ^"Awards – IIFC 2017".Idyllwild International Festival of Cinema.Archived fromthe originalon October 20, 2017.
  51. ^Callaghan, Greg (July 28, 2017)."Cassie Jaye's film on the men's rights movement shocked Australia. Why?".Sydney Morning Herald.Jaye, who won a Women in Film award for The Red Pill at the Hollywood DigiFest festival
  52. ^"How to Lead Under Stress: Filmmaker Cassie Jaye".November 30, 2017.
edit
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cassie_Jaye&oldid=1231792666"