Donna Deitch

• Name — Donna Deitch • Born — 8 June 1945 • Birthplace — San Francisco, California, U.S. • Occupation — * Director • producer • writer • Years Active — 1975–present • Known for — Desert Hearts (1985) • Website — donnadeitch.com

Deitch segued from documentary filmmaker to producing and directing Desert Hearts, the landmark hit of the 1985 Telluride and Toronto International film festivals, and the 1986 Sundance Film Festival. It was picked up for worldwide distribution by The Samuel Goldwyn Company and established Deitch as a prominent lesbian filmmaker. Desert Hearts is an adaptation of Jane Rule's 1964 lesbian novel, Desert of the Heart.

The most prominent themes in Desert Hearts include gender, sexuality, and family, specifically the ways in which lesbian identity can subvert Western-Colonial standards and ideals. This is witnessed through the setting of Reno, Nevada and the Western structures that the main characters navigate while carrying on a secret relationship. The main character, Vivian Bell (Helen Shaver), is a rigid University professor who travels to Reno following a divorce. Cay Rivvers (Patricia Charbonneau) is younger, free-spirited, and impulsive. "In her wildness, Cay embodies the characteristics associated with the reckless male outlaw figure of a traditional Western, even referring to her cottage as her “hideout'," with Vivian representing rigid social structures and repression of sexuality. Lesbian eroticism and same-sex gaze are prominent themes in Desert Hearts. Deitch demonstrates Vivian and Cay's attraction to each other through subtle glances and touches, as well as the pivotal sex scene between the two towards the end of the film. Deitch uses the women's mutual, exchanging gazes to subvert the typical male gaze formula (a term coined by film theorist Laura Mulvey) where women in film are sexualized by being looked upon voyeuristically as objects. "Vivian and Cay engage in homoerotic visual interchanges that involve mutuality and reciprocity rather than dominance and submission."

Shortly after seeing Desert Hearts, Oprah Winfrey hired Deitch to direct the Emmy-nominated four-hour miniseries The Women of Brewster Place. Deitch directed, photographed, and edited Angel On My Shoulder, a feature-length documentary about her best friend, actress Gwen Welles, and her experience with terminal cancer. The film won the Gold Hugo for Best Documentary at the 1998 Chicago International Film Festival. In a 2008 interview, she said she was working on obtaining financing for Blonde Ghost, a screenplay adapted from Stella, the 1992 non-fiction book by Peter Wyden about Stella Goldschlag, which takes place in Berlin during World War II. That same year, Deitch said that she was writing a sequel to Desert Hearts which would be set "in NYC in the late 60s."

Deitch is openly lesbian. Her partner is writer Terri Jentz.

• Year — Title — Role — Notes • 1969 — Several Friends — Short film • 1985 — Desert Hearts — Hungarian Gambler — Cameo appearance

• Year — Title — Director — Notes • 1989 — The Women of Brewster Place — Miniseries • 1990 — WIOU — 1 episode • 1991 — Prison Stories: Women on the Inside — TV film. Segment "1" • 1991 — Veronica Clare — 1 episode • 1992 — Sexual Advances — TV film • 1994 — A Change of Place — TV film • 1994 — Robin's Hoods — 2 episodes • 1995 — ER — 2 episodes • 1995-1997 — Murder One — 5 episodes • 1995-2003 — NYPD Blue — 13 episodes • 1996 — Second Noah — 1 episode • 1996 — Moloney — 1 episode • 1997 — Murder One: Diary of a Serial Killer — Miniseries (final 6 episodes of Murder One) • 1997 — EZ Streets — 1 episode • 1997 — Total Security — 1 episode • 1997 — The Visitor — 1 episode • 1997 — Dellaventura — 1 episode • 1998 — Nothing Sacred — 1 episode • 1998 — C-16: FBI — 1 episode • 1999 — The Devil's Arithmetic — TV film • 2000 — Common Ground — TV film • 2000-2001 — The $treet — 2 episodes • 2001-2007 — Crossing Jordan — 9 episodes • 2002-2011 — Law & Order: Special Victims Unit — 3 episodes • 2003 — Judging Amy — 1 episode • 2003 — L.A. Dragnet — 1 episode • 2004 — Wild Card — 1 episode • 2005 — South of Nowhere — 2 episodes • 2006 — Bones — 1 episode • 2006 — Heroes — 1 episode • 2007 — Eureka — 1 episode • 2009-2010 — Private Practice — 4 episodes • 2010 — Grey's Anatomy — 1 episode • 2010 — Army Wives — 1 episode • 2011 — Off the Map — 1 episode • 2011 — A Gifted Man — 1 episode • 2013 — The Glades — 1 episode • 2016 — Greenleaf — 1 episode

• Year — Work — Award — Result — Ref • 1986 — Desert Hearts — Special Jury Prize – Dramatic • Sundance Film Festival • 1986 — Desert Hearts — Grand Jury Prize – Dramatic • Sundance Film Festival • 1996 — NYPD Blue, episode "These Old Bones" — Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Series • Directors Guild of America • 1998 — Angel on My Shoulder — Gold Hugo – Best Documentary • Chicago International Film Festival — center| • 2000 — The Devil's Arithmetic — Emmy Award – Outstanding Directing in a Children's Special • National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences • 2008 — Heroes — Hugo Award – Best Dramatic Presentation - Long Form • World Science Fiction Society • 2008 — Outfest Achievement Award • Outfest