Kelly Reichardt on Power and Hierarchy in the U.S.

“The American story keeps repeating itself,” U.S. filmmaker Kelly Reichardt told the audience of her masterclass Tuesday at Visions du Réel, a documentary film festival in Nyon, Switzerland.

During an onstage conversation that is part of a wider tribute to the director, Reichardt was asked whether she is rewriting the American myth through her films. She instead framed her work as a shift in perspective: “I don’t feel schooled enough to be rewriting history. But as far as the cinematic language of the Western – which is mostly told from the point of view, obviously, of male directors and male protagonists – it is interesting to dive in and change the point of view and see what that does to the mythology.”

That approach informs her revisionist Western “Meek’s Cutoff,” which follows a group of settlers lost in the Oregon desert. Reichardt linked the film to the political context in which she made it. “We were entering the war in Iraq. Meek was this guy with all this hubris – ‘Here we go!’ – heading into some foreign land and mistrusting the Indigenous people,” she said, adding, “The American story keeps repeating itself. The heroicness of might seems like an impossible fire to put out – it just never dies.”

Reichardt’s films touch on power dynamics in the U.S. “A lot of my films are really about hierarchies of power,” Reichardt said. Referring to “First Cow,” she described how a seemingly minor story connects to the broader system: “This small crime – stealing milk from a cow – sits within a bigger picture of corporate greed, recklessness, and crime against nature.”

She added that the film examines an early form of capitalism – before a currency was established but where hierarchy was already in place – and its consequences for both the environment and Indigenous communities.

Reichardt also addressed how her films are often described in terms of pacing. Frequently associated with so-called “slow cinema,” she pushed back while recalling an on-air disagreement she had with NPR host Terry Gross, who had described “Meek’s Cutoff” as slow.

“My sister said, ‘Can’t you get along with anyone? I can’t believe you argue with Terry Gross!,’” she joked, before continuing: “Then I watched the film and I said, ‘Of course this is slow, she’s right,” she admitted, drawing laughter from the crowd. “But I don’t think of slow as a bad thing,” she said. “As time goes on, I feel so manipulated by the pace of commerce, and how much sound and imagery I’m supposed to take in in such a short time. It makes me feel like nobody wants me to look on my own and come to my own conclusion.”

As a professor of film studies at Bard College, she said she sees similar changes in attention linked to screen use. “Sometimes it feels almost political to me, like I’m trying to fight against something. Every year I see that my students have less attention span than the year before… and I see it happening to my own attention span,” she noted.

Toward the end of the session, Reichardt briefly turned to the question of fiction and nonfiction, playfully addressing Visions du Réel artistic director Emilie Bujès, who has argued that Reichardt’s work challenges that boundary. “Everything I do is fake, it’s all made up,” she said with a smile. She then qualified the remark, describing fiction as a constructed process while emphasizing a shared ambition. “You hope that you’re ultimately creating something that speaks some… truth – I don’t even know how to use that word anymore,” she said, before adding: “In documentary filmmaking, you’re entering an existing world and capturing it, as opposed to making it exist.”

Closing the conversation, Reichardt offered a brief message to the audience. “I hope that there’s peace for all of us.”

Visions du Réel runs until April 26.