Dirty Shirley is a short film written and directed by French artist Julie Béna. Shot over four days in locations throughout Colorado, the project continues Béna’s prior artistic investigations into societal expectations experienced by women, including STRAKATI (2022), MILES (2021), and Who wants to be my horse? (2019). Across this succession of films, a cosmology of nightmarish characters, settings, and sounds are used to subvert assumptions of femininity.

Following a protagonist played by the artist and based on America’s Depression-era “little darling” Shirley Temple, Dirty Shirley exposes the psychological underpinnings of our culture’s exploitation of celebrity. A cast of twisted characters accompany the film’s protagonist through settings that reference Americana aesthetics—mid-century game shows and the classic road trip. In this way, Béna locates Dirty Shirley in an environment which conceptually reflects the psychological landscape women and girls navigate as they work to develop their own image, profession, and esteem.

Dirty Shirley was co-produced by Black Cube Nomadic Art Museum, PLATO in Ostrava, Czech Republic, and moloko film. Dirty Shirley exhibited at PLATO in May 2024 during Fantasy, a survey of Béna’s work.