DISQUS

Landon_Palmer · 1 month ago

My favorite female directors from this list: Kathryn Bigelow, Claire Denis, Germaine Dulac (who I didn't actually know was a woman until now), Mira Nair, Sally Potter, Sarah Polley (despite having just made one film), and Julie Taymor. Especially Potter; Orlando is incredible...oh, and I love The Hurt Locker, but Strange Days is easily the most fascinating of Bigelow's work.

b.rae · 1 month ago

Claire Denis forever.

Christopher_M · 1 month ago

I love Kathryn Bigelow as well...Strange Days, Point Break, Hurt Locker and Near Dark, are all solid action films...she breaks every stereotype of a female director...I wish she made more movies

Julie Taymor gets a pass for making Across The Univserse because she made Titus, which is still one of my favorite William S. films..

Cole_Abaius · 1 month ago

I don't think the correct action here is for film fans to seek out films by female directors that challenge. I, and I don't take saying this lightly, think that more women should make films that have mass appeal. Remaining niche, making girl power movies or tackling major societal topics is no way to up the numbers.

The most telling thing on that list is the number of women with one movie, a tiny number with two, and almost none with more than two. Why is that? Because it's difficult for anyone (of any of the five genders) to break into film by making esoteric works.

Very few realize that Wayne's World was directed by a woman because 1) Male is sadly the default and 2) because happily no one made a big deal about it. The second step in getting more female directors is not shouting it from the rooftops as a triumph or making a big deal about it. Pretend it's the norm, and it will become the norm.

So make movies about what it's like to be a man, make movies with broad themes, make good comedies that appeal to everyone, makes movies with explosions. I'm not saying that you have to make drivel to sneak in (but don't most male directors have to balance mainstream with passion projects), but making a movie about being a 12-year old Lesbian is not going to help the cause.

Plus, this seems more psychological than systemic.

Landon_Palmer · 1 month ago

It should be noted that this list doesn't feature a comprehensive filmography by these directors, and in many cases just cite two of their better-known works.

Elizabeth · 1 month ago

But how does a woman directing a movie that everyone assumes was directed by a man advance the possibility of women being hired or accepted as filmmakers?

I would say there are plenty of women out there who want to make the types of films you describe. I would also say they're rarely given the chance.

I also would say that deriding a woman who WANTS to make movies about 12 year old lesbians for "not helping the cause" goes against what we should be doing, which is telling all filmmakers regardless of gender to tell the stories that are important to them, regardless of genre or style. If filmmakers of all stripes were given the encouragement and ability to make the movies they truly love and believe in, then you'd have women making action films and men making emotional romcoms and everything in between.

I write stories with women as the main characters. It's what I do, it's what I want to do, those are the stories I like to read and watch myself. I'm not going to change that because somebody thinks that I can't advance the cause of women filmmakers unless I write nothing but male-centric stories. Then I wouldn't be writing what I believe and what I feel, and my writing wouldn't be worth the time and effort anymore.

Cole_Abaius · 1 month ago

The way I see it, female filmmakers can have one of two things but not both. They (as if there's a club that gets together with a single focused strategy) can either continue to make exactly what they want and remain niche or compromise a bit and slip more and more into the mainstream just like every filmmaker regardless of gender has had to do at some point in his or her career.

I love the thought behind your third paragraph, but it's a pipe dream. I am all for filmmakers doing exactly what they want to do, but I think they should be aware of the cost of that freedom. And the cost is articles like this one existing because the continuing lack of female filmmakers being recognized. It's not so much a gender issue as it is an issue of struggling indie filmmakers making niche films not getting into the studio system at that point.

Women directing movies that everyone assumes are directed by men helps out a larger cause because after a certain saturation point, once more and more women do this and as more and more people become quietly aware that the films are woman-directed, there's a huge group of women who have then secretively crept into the mainstream without anyone ever noticing. Then, they are the mainstream. It's subversive. And subversiveness changes things a lot better than shouting about how things aren't equal.

That is, if the goal is to have more female filmmakers. If not, then continue making exactly what you want to make. There's NOTHING wrong with that at all. In fact, it's laudable. But just know that the larger public will dismiss your film as niche. If you're comfortable with that (and you should be) then kudos and keep fighting the good fight. Keep making great movies.

b.rae · 1 month ago

it's definitely more systemic than psychological, because "mass appeal" is biased against women. i'm so often baffled that 50% of the population is largely dismissed, or expected to pander to the other half. it's so weird to me that women's views, work, ANYTHING is considered "minority," as we're, you know, half. proves that patriarchy (not men, but patriarchy) continues to win the day.

ashleyfmiller · 1 month ago

As a woman in film and a woman who has directed short projects, it's next to impossible to make it in the industry as a woman without people pressing you really hard to make "women films". Also, a lot of male directors start off in cinematography and that really is a boys club. I quit working camera because I couldn't stand being treated like a little girl, and I know a lot of women have the same experience. The fact of the matter is that to work in film as a woman you tend to get shunted off into the writer or editor sphere; and even those are dominated by men who want a "female perspective" from you. To make it as a female director you have to put up with a lot of bullshit that most women don't want to put up with.

(Vicky Jenson also directed Shrek <3 her)

b.rae · 1 month ago

I really appreciate your thoughts, Ashley. Thanks for being a woman in film, and for your valuable contribution to this conversation. :)

ashleyfmiller · 1 month ago

Thanks haha

It'd be more valuable if I could come up with viable solutions rather than just complaining!

b.rae · 1 month ago

To be fair, everyone wants Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.

Elizabeth · 1 month ago

You talk about how women only make emotional movies like they really have a choice in the matter.

If a producer came up to me tomorrow and said, "I'll give you money to direct the next Die Hard-type action film, lots of explosions, almost no character development" I'd say "Where do I sign?"

That said, if a producer came up to me tomorrow and offered to finance me at an attempt to direct a rather subtle, emotional screenplay that I wrote last year about a woman's struggles in the real world that does contain relationships but not really a love story, I'd take them up on that too.

Women in Hollywood right now are most making the pictures they're being ALLOWED to make. This last summer I had a screenwriting teacher tell a fellow student that her story about a woman in a battle zone was "too lifetime" and wouldn't work unless she added a male character, maybe a love interest, so that men would be willing to watch it.

It was by far the most offensive conversation I've ever heard in film school, and yet it was a good representation of what's going on right now.

I can tell you twelve fantastic female filmmakers that I have classes with, without even thinking too hard, and all of them would be making amazing and kick ass films, and very few romantic comedies, if they were only given the money and the chance.

b.rae · 1 month ago

Agreed. Completely. It seems like lots women are told to go into producing or just give up. Thank you for your thoughts. Keep 'em coming!