Just a quick scroll through her Instagram, you’ll see countless red carpets and interviews promoting her new film, Honey Boy, plus various calls to action empowering female directors in support of her nonprofit company Free the Bid and its sister site, Free the Work. It’s a wonder when this superwoman ever gets a minute of sleep. 

In addition to her impressive directing reel, Har’el founded Free the Bid in 2016, a website-turned-movement that calls for a more transparent and equal representation of women in the commercial advertising/tv hiring process. Championing the phrase “Diversity = Creativity,” Har’el has set out to change industry standards by ensuring Ad agencies and brands get (at least) one woman director’s bid on every job (which, shockingly, was a revolutionary idea until recently). Free the Bid has since expanded to include Free the Work, a community database of underrepresented creators intended to help both artists and brands discover quality talent. Always a vocal advocate for women and a beacon of light for creators everywhere, Har’el debuted her narrative feature, Honey Boy, at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival (which has steadily remained in my top ten films of the year). 

In celebration of this trailblazer, here are three works by Alma Har’el to check out before you watch Honey Boy, in theaters this Friday.

LoveTrue

A visually stunning blend of documentary and surreal dramatization, LoveTrue, executive produced by Shia LaBeouf, profiles three young adults facing personal heartache at various stages of their lives. A young stripper with low self-esteem believes no one will love her the way her boyfriend does, and therefore is afraid to fully be truthful about her work conditions. A single-dad surfer who was blindsided by a cheating scandal claims, “I don’t really know what love is, I guess. I thought I did.” A teen musician whose life is centered around her family’s band questions her faith after her dad disrespected her mom, questioning, “I don’t understand how Mommy can have faith in someone who’s not faithful.”

Showing the dark side of vulnerability and fully trusting someone with your heart, Alma knows how to tap into her subjects’ innermost emotional faucet and turn it up to full blast. LoveTrue is a poignant exploration of emotions that suggests that maybe true love isn’t all it’s cracked up to me. Harsh, but realistic. 

LoveTrue is available to stream on Netflix.

Sigur Rós | Fjögur Píanó

One of my favorite bands of all time is the Icelandic post-rock group, Sigur Rós. Known for their limitless creative expression and beautiful atmospheric soundscapes, they are my go-to artist for when I need to reconnect with myself. For the accompanying music videos for the release of their 2012 album, Valtari, Sigur Rós went the unconventional route by putting all of the creative control in the hands of various filmmakers. Their brief stated: “We never meant our music to come with a pre-programmed emotional response. We don’t want to tell anyone how to feel and what to take from it. With the films, we have literally no idea what the directors are going to come back with. None of them know what the others are doing, so hopefully it could be interesting.” 

Har’el took the track Fjögur Píanó and created a stunning experimental short film that stands as one of my favorite music videos to date. Her constant collaborator Shia LaBeouf partners with actress and dancer Denna Thomsen as they play a couple experiencing the emotional journey of a relationship through interpretive dance. Raw and uninhibited (including full-frontal nudity), the film is a delicate ballet of vulnerability, which Har’el describes as a “shifting relationship beautifully charted by the shifting of their bodies.”

Fjögur Píanó is available to stream on Vimeo. The “Making Of” video is also available here.

Bombay Beach

2011’s Bombay Beach is Alma Har’el’s debut feature film and put her on the map of talents to watch. A breakout of the Tribeca Film Festival, the 86-minute experimental documentary profiles three people of various ages living in one of the poorest communities in southern California: Bombay Beach, located on the shores of the Salton Sea. There are few opportunities for personal or professional growth here as the residents of Bombay Beach, including a high school-aged NLF hopeful, an overly-medicated young boy and his family with a history of neglect, and a bigoted older man who illegally sells cigarettes, give audiences a glimpse into their very humble lives.    

Har’el shows how unforgiving the desert can be as she combines fly on the wall filmmaking with interspersed choreographed and stylized vignettes. Songs by Bob Dylan and original songs by Beruit play to the film’s sense of desperation while offering glimpses of hope and resilience. Bombay Beach is an eye-opening documentary that shines a nonjudgemental light on a group of misfits and is a perfect complement to the themes in Honey Boy.

Bombay Beach is available to rent on Amazon.