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dga quarterly 79 the auspiciously titled My Brilliant Career (1979), featuring an elec- trifying performance by Judy Davis. The film is based on a memoir by Miles Franklin, the Louisa May Alcott of Australia, with Davis as the personification of the island continent: free-spirited, brash, im- petuous, and rough around the edges. Armstrong came to the movie after nearly a decade making shorts and documentaries and dem- onstrated an eloquent command of film language. This is a movie about textures, colors, and social contrasts. The vivid heroine comes from the outback, where the land, trees, and pig slop are the same dun colors. To acquire social polish, she is sent to her grandmother in town where the interiors are floral wallpapers, oriental rugs, and lace curtains. Armstrong frames Davis as the raging bull in the china shop of her grandmother's serene world. Armstrong would eventually bring her talents to the United States to make Mrs. Soffel (1984) and Little Women (1994) and in Australia she directed such films as High Tide (1987) and Oscar and Lucinda (1997), all about heroines who live against the grain. Not all the female directors of the '70s had the opportunity to continue making features. Yet every one of these women pushed the boundaries and helped make way for Amy Heckerling, Martha Coolidge, and Nora Ephron in the '80s; Nancy Meyers, Gina Prince- Bythewood, and Betty Thomas in the 1990s; and Sofia Coppola, Ava DuVernay, and Anne Fletcher in the new century. ® FEATURING: Filmmakersdestination.com 818.777.7OPS (7677) DOWNLOAD MOBILE APP FROM APPLE APP STORE AND GOOGLE PLAY STORE Universal Studios Everything you need On The Lot PRODUCTION AND POST-PRODUCTION SERVICES FOR: TELEVISION COMMERCIALS FEATURES STILL SHOOTS SPECIAL EVENTS AND MORE . . . NBCU Studio