Kelly Reichardt
Kelly Reichardt is an American film director, film editor and screenwriter. She is known for her minimalist films closely associated with slow cinema, many of which deal with working-class characters in small, rural communities. Reichardt made her feature film debut with River of Grass (1994) and subsequently directed a series of films set and filmed in Oregon: the dramas Old Joy (2006) and Wendy and Lucy (2008); the Western Meek's Cutoff (2010); and the thriller Night Moves (2013). In 2016, she wrote and directed the Montana-set drama Certain Women. Since 2019, Reichardt has returned to directing Oregon-set dramas, with First Cow (2019) and Showing Up (2022). Reichardt's ninth film, The Mastermind, premiered at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival.
Biography adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
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Defining films
Critical context
Kelly Reichardt is a most unlikely ambassador of current American independent cinema. Her films are not remotely violent or boundary pushing. She has never competed for a Palme d’Or or piqued the attention of Oscar voters. She does not write scintillating dialogue and shocking twists are not in her vocabulary. She is certainly political but her work has not reached a remotely wide enough audience to thrust her into the discourse dominated by provocateurs like Michael Moore. She is not out to…
