Today's director for our Female Filmmakers series is a total badass. She is an American indie filmmaking queen who brings her edgy spirit with her to every film she does. It's Allison Anders!
Allison Anders has an interesting backstory in the world of film and she has a rocker chick vibe that has been with her since the beginning. That is what I think is so cool about this particular director. She grew up in Kentucky and had a rough childhood. She was a young punk in Los Angeles in the 1980s and she was already a single mother battling alcoholism before she got any kind of a break.
She admired director Wim Wenders and felt a kinship with his work from afar. In fact, she was certain that he could become her mentor if he just knew that she existed. So what did she do? She did the very curious thing of making him a mixtape. Seriously. Why? She said that she felt he would get it. She sent him the tape and a few letters, but they all went to his agent. She started to think that he wasn't getting the letters himself.
She managed to track down his actual phone number in New York City (it turned out that he was listed in the Yellow Pages) and she actually gave him a call. According to Allison herself, Wim told her that he remembered her mixtape and he liked it. He then told her that she could keep writing to him if she wanted to and that he would take the time to read her letters.