We kicked off today’s class with a fantastic clip from the 1991 film, Point Break, directed by Kathryn Bigelow. This piece sums up some of the insights on the scene and the challenges Bigelow overcame to deliver a seminal foot chase scene.
Kathryn Bigelow established herself as a prominent director known for her intense action-thrillers, a genre traditionally dominated by men. Beginning her artistic journey as a painter before studying film, Bigelow’s work consistently explores themes of violence and power. Notably, she was the first woman to have won an Academy Award for directing (of three total female winners as of 2025). Eschewing the typical celebrity persona, Bigelow prefers her films to speak for themselves, carving a unique path distinct from other female directors and drawing comparisons to the pioneering Ida Lupino. Her early works, including the experimental short The Set-Up and the stylized biker film The Loveless, hinted at her future focus on visceral narratives, though they varied in their success.
Bigelow’s career gained significant momentum with films like the gritty vampire tale Near Dark and the taut thriller Blue Steel, which featured a rare female protagonist in her filmography. Her major breakthrough arrived with the wildly entertaining Point Break, followed by the ambitious sci-fi neo-noir Strange Days. While subsequent films like The Weight of Water and K-19: The Widow Maker lacked her characteristic intensity, Bigelow returned triumphantly with the critically acclaimed and Academy Award-winning Iraq War thriller The Hurt Locker, and later with the controversial Osama bin Laden pursuit film Zero Dark Thirty. Despite a relatively small but impactful filmography, Bigelow’s cohesive body of work solidifies her as a significant and influential director in the action-thriller genre, making her achievements as a woman in this field particularly noteworthy.