Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox film
|name = Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision
|image = Maya Lin- A Strong Clear Vision.jpg
|caption =
|director = Freida Lee Mock
|producer = Freida Lee Mock
Terry Sanders
|writer = Freida Lee Mock
|starring =
|music = Charles Bernstein
|cinematography = Don Lenzer
Ed Marrick
|studio = American Film Foundation
|distributor = Ocean Releasing
|released = {{film date|1994|10}}
|runtime = 105 minutes
|country = United States
|language = English
|budget =
|gross = $62,186[http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=mayalin.htm Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision] Box Office Mojo Retrieved 2013-06-07.
}}
Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision is a 1994 American documentary film made by Freida Lee Mock. It explores the life of American artist Maya Lin, whose best-known work is the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.{{cite web|first=Roger |last=Ebert |authorlink=Roger Ebert|url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/maya-lin-a-strong-clear-vision-1996 |title=Reviews: Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision |website=Roger Ebert.com |date=March 29, 1996 |accessdate=July 30, 2022}} The film won the 1994 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. While a number of movie critics objected to it receiving this award, Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision met with mostly positive reviews, garnering praise for its look at the controversy surrounding the Vietnam Veterans Memorial design and Lin's growth as an artist.
In 2023, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Reception and legacy
=Accolades=
The film won the 1994 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvXsfo_5l7U Documentary Winners: 1995 Oscars]{{Cite web|url=http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1995 |title=The 67th Academy Awards (1995) Nominees and Winners|accessdate=2015-05-12|work=Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences|date=5 October 2014 |publisher=AMPAS}} It later aired on the PBS series POV.
The award was mired in controversy as acclaimed films such as Hoop Dreams failed to receive a nomination. Film critic Roger Ebert also suggested that the nomination of Maya Lin stemmed from cronyism, since Mock was the chair of the committee which makes the nominations (though she stepped aside for the year that Maya Lin was under consideration), and was thus close friends with many of the committee members.{{cite web |title=The Brady Bunch Movie, Just Cause, Billy Madison, Mr. Payback, 1995 |url=https://siskelebert.org/?p=5504 |website=Siskel and Ebert Movie Reviews |accessdate=28 July 2019}} Event occurs at 18:15-19:07. Mock denied that the nomination in any way stemmed from cronyism and hired an attorney to respond to the press criticism.{{cite web|first=Edward |last=Guthmann |url=https://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Freida-Lee-Mock-s-Strong-Clear-Vision-Director-3020546.php |title=Freida Lee Mock's Strong Clear Vision / Director says 'Lin' stands on its own |website=SFGate |date=8 November 1995 |accessdate=July 30, 2022}} Ebert and his associate Gene Siskel publicly apologized to Mock after seeing Maya Lin, with Ebert saying "I think it's a good film and deserved to be nominated.", but other prominent critics such as Janet Maslin maintained that while Maya Lin was a good film it was clearly outshone by documentaries such as Hoop Dreams and Crumb which were passed up for nomination.
In 2023, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".{{Cite web |last=Tartaglione |first=Nancy |date=2023-12-13 |title=National Film Registry: 'Apollo 13', 'Home Alone', 'Terminator 2', '12 Years A Slave' Among 25 Titles Added This Year |url=https://deadline.com/2023/12/national-film-registry-2023-list-apollo-13-home-alone-terminator-2-12-years-a-slave-1235665956/ |access-date=2023-12-13 |website=Deadline |language=en-US}}
=Reviews=
Roger Ebert, despite his earlier outrage over Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision being nominated for an Academy Award, admitted in his review for the film that "It was not the best documentary of the year, but it is a valuable document. If you have been to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, you will want to see it. If you have not, it will make you want to go." He applauded the scenes showing Maya Lin's struggle against opponents of her design for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial as "arresting" and "illuminating", though he criticized the film for not exploring Lin's private life. He gave it three out of four stars. Writing in The Austin Chronicle, Alison Macor agreed with Ebert that the Academy Award controversy "may have obscured what is a powerful, inspiring account of a supremely talented woman's professional transformation from a 20-year-old undergraduate architectural student at Yale to an accomplished and renowned architect and sculptor." Particularly praising Maya Lin's recount of her mixed feelings over winning the memorial design competition and the resulting controversy, and the way the film shows insight into Lin's design philosophy, she gave Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision three-and-a-half out of five stars.{{cite web |last=Macor |first=Alison |title=Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision |url=https://www.austinchronicle.com/events/film/1996-03-22/138248/ |website=The Austin Chronicle |access-date=30 July 2022 |date=March 22, 1996}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb title|id=0110480|title=Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision}}
- [http://www.americanfilmfoundation.com/order/maya_lin.shtml Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision] at the American Film Foundation
- [http://www.pbs.org/pov/watch/mayalin/ Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision] at POV
{{AcademyAwardBestDocumentaryFeature1981-2000}}
Category:1990s English-language films
Category:American documentary films
Category:Documentary films about visual artists
Category:Documentary films about Asian Americans
Category:Films directed by Freida Lee Mock
Category:Films scored by Charles Bernstein
Category:Vietnam Veterans Memorial
Category:POV (TV series) films
Category:Best Documentary Feature Academy Award winners