Karyn Kusama /// Race…An American Blind Spot /// E039

Karyn Kusama is an American film and television director. She made her feature film debut with the 2000 film Girlfight,[2] which she wrote, directed, and produced,[3]. She went on to direct the 2005 sci-fi action film Æon Flux, based on Peter Chung's animated series of the same name, and the 2009 cult horror comedy Jennifer's Body. She has recently worked as a television director.[4] In 2017 she directed a segment in the film XX, an all-female horror anthology. Her latest film is the 2018 crime thriller Destroyer, starring Nicole Kidman.

Topics we cover:

• Family and career balance
• Family tragedy and how it shaped her life, her career trajectory and focus on what she needed to do
• The American Blind Spot on Race
• Her experience growing up as the "Japanese Family" and what a school transition did to her perspective
• Dynamics of power struggle in groups fighting power
  • How defining demographics keeps the in group divides
• How words are not necessarily a reflection of our thoughts but our upbringing
• How we have empathy toward people with whom we disagree