The University of Oregon Department of Cinema Studies proudly welcomed award-winning producer Mollye Asher for the sixth annual Harlan J. Strauss Visiting Filmmaker Series.

The Department of Cinema Studies has been honored to bring the Harlan J. Strauss Visiting Filmmaker Series to Oregon for the past six years, thanks to a generous gift by Harlan (PhD ’74) and Rima Strauss. This endowment enables Cinema Studies to bring industry filmmakers and emerging talents to mentor students and hold public conversations. During spring term 2021, award-winning Producer Mollye Asher mentored students, guest lectured in the spring term course “CINE 408: The Art of Producing,” and participated in a series of remote events for students and community members, hosted by Cinema Studies.

CINE 408: The Art of Producing

This class examined the ways in which a producer serves as an essential force behind a film by shaping creative decisions, logistics, and methods of finance. In this course, award-winning producer Mollye Asher guest taught four classes, sharing her approach to film producing with students. Through practical projects and an analysis of Asher’s body of work, students learned how to transform a project from script to screen, support a director’s vision, and utilize different funding models. In the end, this course sought to empower students to produce their own projects and create more ethical and collaborative production communities.

Visiting Filmmaker Series Talk with Producer Mollye Asher

In this year’s Harlan J. Strauss Visiting Filmmaker Talk, producer Mollye Asher spoke with filmmaker and assistant professor Masami Kawai about how Asher got into producing and built relationships with collaborators (like director Chloé Zhao) in film school.

Mollye Asher is a Gotham Award-Winning producer and recipient of the 2020 Independent Spirit Producers Award. Most recently, she produced Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland (2020), which won Best Director and Best Picture Drama at the 2021 Golden Globe Awards, the Golden Lion Award for Best Film at the 2020 Venice Film Festival, and many other honors. Nomadland is one of the most acclaimed films of 2020, with special attention given to the performance of Frances McDormand.

Asher also produced Zhao’s The Rider (2017), which premiered at the Cannes Directors Fortnight and won its top prize. The Rider went on to be nominated for four Independent Spirit Awards, including Best Picture, and won Best Feature at the 2018 Gotham Awards. In addition, Asher produced Zhao’s debut feature Songs My Brothers Taught Me (2015); Carlo Mirabella-Davis’ Swallow (2019), which won Best Actress at the Tribeca Film Festival; Fort Tilden (2014) by writer/director team Sarah-Violet Bliss and Charles Rogers; and Anja Marquardt’s Spirit Award nominated She’s Lost Control (2014). Asher recently co-founded the production company The Population, which is currently in post-production on Josef Kubota Wladyka’s thriller Catch the Fair One. Asher earned her MFA from NYU’s graduate film program and is a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.

Swallow (2019) Screening and Q&A

Students, faculty, staff and the community were invited to a free virtual screening of Carlo Mirabella-Davis’ Swallow (2019) followed by a live, remote Q&A with Producer Mollye Asher who discussed the film and shared how a producer supports a director’s vision. Swallow was an official selection at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival and won Best Actress at the festival.

SWALLOW | 2019 | 94 MIN | RATED R
TW // Self Harm, Eating Disorder; CW // Reference to Sexual Violence
On the surface, Hunter (Haley Bennett) appears to have it all. A newly pregnant housewife, she seems content to spend her time tending to an immaculate home and doting on her Ken-doll husband, Richie (Austin Stowell). However, as the pressure to meet her controlling in-laws and husband’s rigid expectations mounts, cracks begin to appear in her carefully created facade. Hunter develops a dangerous habit, and a dark secret from her past seeps out in the form of a disorder called pica – a condition that has her compulsively swallowing inedible, and oftentimes life-threatening, objects. A provocative and squirm-inducing psychological thriller, SWALLOW follows one woman’s unraveling as she struggles to reclaim independence in the face of an oppressive system by whatever means possible.

Nomadland (2020) Screening and Q&A

Students, faculty, staff, and the community were invited to a free virtual screening of Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland (2020). Produced by Mollye Asher, Nomadland was one of the most acclaimed films of 2020, winning Best Director and Best Picture at the 2021 Academy Awards and Golden Globe Awards in addition to numerous other awards. After the screening, the community was invited to a live, remote Q&A with Producer Mollye Asher who discussd the film and shared how a producer supports a director’s vision. The Q&A included a surprise appearance by the 2021 Academy Award-winning Best Director, Chloé Zhao.

NOMADLAND | 2020 | 108 MIN | RATED R

Following the economic collapse of a company town in rural Nevada, Fern (Frances McDormand) packs her van and sets off on the road exploring a life outside of conventional society as a modern-day nomad. The third feature film from director Chloé Zhao, NOMADLAND features real nomads Linda May, Swankie and Bob Wells as Fern’s mentors and comrades in her exploration through the vast landscape of the American West.

Nomadland is directed by Chloé Zhao (Songs My Brothers Taught Me, The Rider) is based on the book Nomadland: Surviving America In The Twenty-First Century by Jessica Bruder and stars Frances McDormand (Fargo, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri), David Strathairn (Good Night, and Good Luck, Lincoln), Linda May and Swankie. The producers are Mollye Asher (Songs My Brothers Taught Me, The Rider), Dan Janvey (Beasts of the Southern Wild, Heart of a Dog), Frances McDormand (Olive Kitteridge) and Peter Spears (Call Me By Your Name). The director of photography is Joshua James Richards (Songs My Brothers Taught Me, The Rider).