Eleanor Coppola

The daughter of a political cartoonist and home-maker, Eleanor Coppola attributes her love of the natural world to the environment in which she grew up, on Sunset Beach, an oceanfront community south of Los Angeles. Eleanor met her future husband, Francis Coppola, in 1962, while working on Dementia 13, the first feature film he wrote and directed. Family responsibilities made the practice of art ever more challenging. Ellie credits other women artists for support, inspiration and practical guidance. A book by feminist artist Judy Chicago, Through the Flower, was especially useful. Increasingly, she came to embrace the artistic possibilities of everyday life, allowing her to "do what I could, when I could," even as she fulfilled her role within her family. She developed a creative ethos, "the art of the everyday."

Mill Valley Film Festival