Why I have a serious fan-crush on Miranda July
I first discovered Miranda July when she created a whole website to promote her book of short stories, No One Belongs Here More Than You, using only a dry-erase board. But because she didn't have a dry-erase board she used her refrigerator and stove.
When I got the book I sipped it, letting myself read just one story a day lest the book be over too soon. It is as off-beat as her promotion of it. Her beguiling odd but thoroughly seductive tales are built of simple and sturdy lines like: “Inelegantly, and without my consent, time passed.”
She was born in Vermont and raised in Berkley. After dropping out of film school at UC Santa Cruz she moved to Portland, OR where she took up performance art and one-woman shows. According to her she has not worked a day job since she was 23 years old. Today she is an accomplished filmmaker, actor, writer, musician and spoken word artist. Her power, to me, is rooted in a calm insouciance that initially belies the huge brain and fearless gumption that drives her work.
In this video she describes her approach to filmmaking. It is not 60 seconds long, it's not really a film school, and there were no episodes 1-4. But it is a very good trailer for her film Kajillionaire, which she wrote and directed.
Video: 60 Second Film School | Miranda July | Episode 5