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Clare Major

Camera

Biography

Clare Major is a cinematographer and documentary filmmaker based in Oakland, California, who specializes in handheld observational camerawork and in stories that illuminate the intersection of cultures and the lives of women and girls. Clare's work has played at festivals around the world and appeared on HBO, PBS, the Discovery Channel, Netflix and the New York Times, among many others. Her recent documentary work includes roles as Cinematographer on Belly of the Beast (Human Rights Watch Film Festival 2020; Peabody Award Nominee 2021; Emmy winner 2021), which exposes a pattern of illegal sterilizations in California women's prisons; Cinematographer for the Oscar-shortlisted short documentary Holding Moses (SFFILM Festival 2022), which tells the raw and emotional parenthood journey of Randi, a queer, non-binary dancer, and Moses, her disabled son; Cinematographer on The Ants & The Grasshopper (Mountainfilm & Sheffield DocFest 2021), which follows a Malawian farmer activist who travels around the US to convince Americans that climate change is real; Vérité Cinematographer on Ahead of the Curve (Frameline 2020), which tells the story of Curve Magazine and its founder's push for lesbian visibility; and Director of Photography for We Are the Radical Monarchs (SXSW 2019), which follows a group of young girls of color on the front lines of social justice in Oakland, California. Born and raised in Louisiana, Clare graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with degrees in American Studies, Plan II, and Radio-TV-Film and earned a Master of Journalism from the University of California, Berkeley. Her thesis film, the short documentary Feast & Sacrifice, was a Student Academy Awards national finalist and won First Place Documentary at the 2011 College Television Awards. Clare served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Senegal and has walked from Mexico to Canada on the Pacific Crest Trail. In 2020 she was named one of DOC NYC's "40 Under 40" filmmakers to watch

Known For

Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool
7.1

An immersive look at the eventful life and brilliant artistic career of visionary American jazz trumpeter Miles Davis (1926-1991).

Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool

2019
Birthing Justice
N/A

BIRTHING JUSTICE, a feature-length documentary film, captures the experiences and challenges of Black women, their families, caretakers and advocates, and examines the structures and systems that determine disparate rates of mortality.

Birthing Justice

2023
The Meme Machine
6.0

An exploration of the origins of memes, how they spread, and the stories behind some of the most popular “human memes” like Ermahgerd Girl, Overly Attached Girlfriend, and Chocolate Rain Guy.

The Meme Machine

2016
Belly of the Beast
7.2

When a courageous young woman and a radical lawyer discover a pattern of illegal involuntary sterilizations in California’s women’s prison system, they take to the courtroom to wage a near-impossible battle against the Department of Corrections. With a growing team of investigators inside prison working with colleagues on the outside, they uncover a series of statewide crimes - from dangerously inadequate health care to sexual assault to coercive sterilizations - primarily targeting women of color. But no one believes them. This shocking legal drama captured over seven years features extraordinary access and intimate accounts from currently and formerly incarcerated women, demanding our attention to a shameful and ongoing legacy of eugenics and reproductive injustice in the United States.

Belly of the Beast

2020
Ahead of the Curve
7.3

With a fist full of credit cards, a lucky run at the horse track, and a title that called to mind a certain French film star, Franco Stevens launched the best-selling lesbian lifestyle magazine ever published, connecting her community in an unprecedented way. AHEAD OF THE CURVE is a new feature documentary about the extraordinary woman who started Curve magazine, and by doing so helped accelerate the political and social evolution of the nation.

Ahead of the Curve

2021
We Are the Radical Monarchs
7.0

A group of tween girls chant into megaphones, marching in the San Francisco Trans March. Fists clenched high, they wear brown berets and vests showcasing colorful badges like “Black Lives Matter” and “Radical Beauty.” Meet the Radical Monarchs, a group of young girls of color at the front lines of social justice. Set in Oakland, a city with a deep history of social justice movements, the film documents the journey of the group as they earn badges for completing units including being an LGBTQ ally, preserving the environment, and disability justice. Started by two fierce, queer women of color, we follow them as they face the challenge to grow the organization, both pre/post the 2016 election

We Are the Radical Monarchs

2019
The Riot Report
8.5

In 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed the Kerner Commission to investigate why Black neighborhoods all over the country were “rioting” in protest. He was blindsided by the findings, which blamed the government for race-exclusive policies that fomented poverty, housing crises, unemployment, and discrimination. The film commemorates the landmark report and hints at lessons for a world where racism continues to be a divisive, damaging force.

The Riot Report

2023
World's Biggest Great White?
4.2

Three great whites are spotted in the waters off Oahu, but another one could be lurking just below the surface.

World's Biggest Great White?

2019
Amy Tan: Unintended Memoir
8.2

Amy Tan has established herself as one of America’s most respected literary voices. Born to Chinese immigrant parents, it would be decades before the author of The Joy Luck Club would fully understand the inherited trauma rooted in the legacies of women who survived the Chinese tradition of concubinage.

Amy Tan: Unintended Memoir

2021
Lesbian Custody
N/A

A video essay about the personal and political context of a landmark lesbian feminist documentary film from 1977 called "In the Best Interests of the Children" about lesbian mothers fighting to regain custody of their children in the 1970s. As a nearly forgotten period of LGBTQ+ history, this documentary short introduces us to now retired filmmaker Frances Reid (award winning cinematographer and director) and her “step-daughter” Julie Stevens while they look through the film’s archives, discuss the making of the film and their personal relationship.

Lesbian Custody

2025
Thanks, Babs!
N/A

Meet Babs, an optimistic octogenarian speed-racing through life, one five-year plan at a time. Like a modern day Maude from Harold and Maude, Babs moves through life at breakneck speed. She spars with her ex over her 5-year plan for relationships, admitting to a reputation for always having her vibrator. She lap-dances at a party celebrating the 41st anniversary of her 39th birthday, threatening to kick anyone who says “80” out the door. A trip to the AIDS memorial grove on the heels of aquacise class at the Jewish Community Center sparks a glorious rumination on a possible afterlife.

Thanks, Babs!

2025
OUTCRY: Alchemists of Rage
N/A

A short film that follows artist and activist Whitney Bradshaw as she photographs womxn mid-scream during transformational gatherings where participants reclaim the power of their voices. Facing an onslaught of hostile legislation, Whitney works to spread OUTCRY’s radical empathy and community-building nationwide.

OUTCRY: Alchemists of Rage

2024
In the Bones
N/A

In the Bones is a lyrical documentary that explores the personal and political by interweaving the lives of 12 characters living in Mississippi during a legislative session in which equal pay for equal work and abortion rights are being decided. Although set in three distinct regions of Mississippi, In the Bones is a much broader exploration of our culture, an unsettling portrait of America that shines a light on the weight women live under in this country and also the resilience expressed in everyday acts of survival.

In the Bones

2022