Not a Pretty Picture

1976 film by Martha Coolidge

Michelle Manenti
Jim Carrington
Anne Mundstuk

Cinematography

Don Lenzer
Fred Murphy

Edited by

Suzanne Pettit
Martha Coolidge

Music byTom Griffith

Production
company

Coolidge Productions

Distributed byFilms Inc.

Release date

1976 (1976)

Running time

83 minutesCountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglish

Not a Pretty Picture is a 1976 American docudrama film. The film was written, produced and directed by Martha Coolidge, marking her narrative feature film directorial debut, after years of working as a documentary filmmaker in the early to mid-1970s.

The film is a retelling about Coolidge, who was date raped when she was sixteen years old.^[1]^[2] The film follows the aftermath of the incident on the main character.^[3]^[4] In 2022, The Academy Film Archive in partnership with Martin Scorsese's Film Foundation restored 'Not a Pretty Picture', with funds generously provided by the George Lucas Family Foundation. The Restoration premiered on December 8, 2022, at the Academy Museum in Hollywood. In 2023 Not a Pretty Picture screened at Berlinale, selected by Céline Sciamma.^[5] In August 2024 the film will be released on Blu-ray and DVD by the Criterion Collection.^[6]

Cast

Michele Manenti as Martha at 16
Jim Carrington as Curly
Anne Mundstuk as herself
Reed Birney as Fred
John Fedinatz as West Virginia
Diana Gold as Jane
Stephen Laurier as Brian
Lillah McCarthy as Nancy
Janet Morrison as Bunny
Melissa Murdock as Leah
Hal Studer as Mr. Cullen
Amy Wright as Cindy

References

^ Martha Coolidge profile , SheMadeIt.org Archived February 2, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
^ Not a Pretty Picture (1976), TCM
^ "Not a Pretty Picture (1976)" – via letterboxd.com.
^ "Four Decades On, Martha Coolidge's "Not a Pretty Picture" Is Still Paving the Way". The Village Voice. June 7, 2018.
^ "2023 Retrospective "Young at Heart – Coming of Age at the Movies"". Berlinale.
^ https://www.criterion.com/films/33619-not-a-pretty-picture