The Golden Globe nominees were just announced, and not surprisingly, there were no women nominated for Best Director.
The serious lack of female directors in cinema was an issue I’ve been wondering about for the past few days. I found an older, decent article about the topic on Salon that explores some of the more popular explanations on why this is so.
Who are some of your favorite female directors? Favorite movies directed by women? Why do you think these ladies “made it” while other women did not?
I like Sofia Coppola.
There, I said it. I don’t care that she doesn’t make specifically feminist films, or that she makes solipsistic art films. You can hate her and Wes Anderson on an equal basis, but don’t pretend she’s “worse” than he is because she makes the exact same kind of movies. It really bugs me that she gets bashed but idiosyncratic directors like David Lynch and Anderson get worshiped when they have the exact same flaws.
Sorry, that’s been building up for a while.
Allison Anders is pretty good, if a little scattered in quality. Kasi Lemmons is REALLY good, but doesn’t get good distribution — she blew me away with “Eve’s Bayou.”
Miranda July. Though predictably I have a major crush on her.
Easy there. Anderson’s recent one-horse-cowboy output has made him a pariah these days on the internets. Meanwhile, I’ve never seen anyone label Lost In Translation as anything other than the excellent film it is.
I like Sofia Coppola too, though Marie Antoinette didn’t do a darn thing for me.
Jamie Babitt! (Oh, I know, I’m a lesbian. How predictable.)
Mary Harron is one of my favorite directors, I love everything she’s done. Here Bettie Page biopic was very under rated.
Julie Taymor! Julie Taymor! Julie Taymor!!!
Also, a shoutout is definitely in order for Shine Louise Houston who directed The Crash Pad and In Search of the Wild Kingdom and other awesome queer porn that’s by women, for women. That’s right, I’m suggesting a porn director.
I used to want to create an entire website on female directors.
I love Sofia–the Virgin Suicides especially. I love Julie Taymor, though I didn’t see Across the Universe. I really loved Miranda July’s Me and You and Everyone We Know. I heart Mary Harron (American Psycho, though I thought The Notorious Bettie Page was only so-so). I like Catherine Hardwicke (Thirteen, Lords of Dogtown), ditto Mira Nair (though I missed The Namesake). I liked A Love Song for Bobby Long, directed by Shainee Gabel, and Bend it Like Beckham of course, by Gurinder Chadha.
Whatever happened to Jane Campion?
I heard Sarah Polley’s Away from Her was excellent, too. And apparently August Rush was directed by Kirsten Sheridan, Jim Sheridan’s daughter and co-writer on In America, and The Savages by Tamara Jenkins.
I’ve kind of been under a rock for a while, so I’ve missed many movies that I’d otherwise have seen, but this year my favorite woman-directed flick was Julie Delpy’s 2 Days in Paris. She wrote, directed, starred, did the music, and basically was amazing.
I know that was probably more than you needed, but it’s a subject that gets me going.
I like Mary Harron too. And Sophia Coppola.
I too have a gigantic crush on Miranda July.
So basically, everything everyone has already said….
I’m really embarrassed that I don’t know more female directors. It makes me sad. Perhaps I’ll go on a hunt for some more.
For a while I was on a big French film kick and was watching a lot of Catherine Breillat films, but I’m not sure how I felt about most of them. They all made me uncomfortable at some point.
i looooooooooove slums of beverly hills directed by tamara jenkins, i second miranda july, and i enjoy amy heckerling who wrote and directed clueless and directed fast times at ridgemont high and then there’s amy sherman palladino who created, wrote, directed, and produced gilmore girls, wrote and produced on roseanne and is developing a new series starring parker posey called the return of jezebel james
Lena Wertmuller. She wasn’t afraid to tackle sweeping themes, and she had a harder edge than so-called macho directors like Peckinpah or Huston. I wonder why she’s dropped off the radar?
I think what’s happened is a lot of these directors (especially women who did well in the big indie “boom” of the ’90s) are doing TV now; it’s a steadier paycheque and there’s not the hassle of setting up funding like you have with indie movies, plus there’s a lot of freedom with cable. Allison Anders has done a bunch of TV. So has Rose Troche (of Go Fish fame) (she’s worked on The L Word a lot). Mary Harron, same thing.
That’s not just ladies, lots of male directors who did well at Sundance and such in the ’90s are doing TV now too; I actually think it’s part of the reason TV’s gotten so good in the last few years.
As for favourites, Agnes Varda = win.
Another salute to Agnès Varda, particularly “Les Glaneurs et la Glaneuse.”
delurking:
Mira Nair, Agnes Varda, Deepa Mehta, Patricia Rozema.
relurking now.
I’m pretty ignorant about movies, but:
Mira Nair. Julie Taymor. Gurinder Chadha.
Penelope Spheeris.
(It would be nice if the Decline of Western Civlization series made it to DVD some century…)
Kasi Lemmons. Lisa Cholodenko. Oh, and for pride-in-my-heritage’s sake I should mention Agnieszka Holland (one of the few women in the Polish New Wave).
Julie Taymor.
Breillat is a bit shocking and you never forget her films. I’m not sure what happened to Rebecca Miller who directed the edgy Personal Velocity.
The Piano was never a feminist film to me.
Then again neither was Thelma and Louise because they die at the end. What kind of feminist message is that? You escape your abuser then kill yourself?
A League of Their Own was directed by Penny Marshall
Wayne’s World was directed by Penelope Spheeris
There are probably more “mainstream” movies directed by women, we just aren’t aware of it.
I am very fond of Deepa Mehta, although I thought Earth was weak.
I loved (loved) Mira Nair’s Monsoon Wedding, but not The Namesake.
Sue me, but I absolutely adore Nora Ephron’s You’ve Got Mail.
Gurinder Chadha. I love Bend It Like Beckham (I played growing up, in a neighbourhood right near where the movie was based) and I love Bride and Prejudice. That movie is just…fun. Really fucking good fun.
Deborah, consider yourself sued — You’ve Got Mail is horrible! (Sorry, couldn’t resist teasing you. Truth be told, though, it was ably directed. I just couldn’t stand what the script did to “The Shop Around the Corner,” with its product placement/materialism issues and anti-feminist message).
Rosanna Arquette’s made two documentaries thus far, including “Searching for Debra Winger,” which I liked a lot (and a lot more than I thought I would). Salma Hayek directed “Frida” and has generally been badass behind the scenes in the last couple of years. Just to name a couple of people who haven’t been named yet.
While I think that the dearth of female directors is regrettable, given the influence of directors on the artistic visions in film, there are areas in which it seems like women have exerted more influence. For instance, the studio hierarchy has included a number of high profile women, most notably Sherry Lansing. In addition, many women have acquired enough producing power to greenlight movies, such as Kathleen Kennedy. Several bankable female stars have worked production companies into their studio deals, such as Reese Witherspoon, Drew Barrymore and Sandra Bullock, increasing their power and their career longevity beyond their “cute” years in a way that women didn’t have in prior decades. There are still large gender disparities in Hollywood and in film, but I don’t know that the director’s chair differences are the most important.
Of prominent Kiwi directors, you’ve already mentioned Jane Campion but you definitely have to give it up for Niki Caro who directed both Whale Rider and North Country.
Frida! Salma! Yes!
Gurinder Chadha definitely.
All great names so far; I thought I’d bring up the work of (1) South Korean director Jeong Jae-eun, who has done several good movies, most notably Take Care of My Cat, and (2) Fanta Régina Nacro, who was listed as the first female sub-Saharan African director of a feature film, 2005′s The Night of Truth (a truly horrifying and Shakespearean tale worth checking out), and (3) American documentarian (and sometime TV director) Jessica Yu, who did the remarkable In The Realms of the Unreal in 2005.
Also, when discussing documentarians, one can’t forget the groundbreaking work of Barbara Kopple (1977′s Harlan County, U.S.A., and the more recent documentary on the Dixie Chicks).
Zoe Cassavetes’ Broken English is a very good film.
Now that I’m in the “industry”, so they say (I hate that term) it’s true that there aren’t a lot of women directors, but there are a lot of women working in other departments. It is a bit disconcerting, however, when you’re one of two females in the upper-level film class amongst a bunch of boys. Most of the boys are nice, but… sigh.
Anyway, Maya Deren. Meshes of the Afternoon.
Doris Doerrie. Always spot on, and hilarious to boot.
Claire Denis and Catherine Breillat are two of my favorite directors working today. Agnes Varda, Chantal Akerman and Lotte Rieneger (who directed the first feature-length animated film) are some other favorites.
Kathryn Bigelow, she directed Near Dark, a flipping fabulous vampire flick. She’s great.
Julie Dash. Especially Daughters of the Dust– it is astonishing. Although, she, too, was relegated to TV for most of the 90s. I think she’s got some new films in development though.
Delurking. Claire Denis, Margarethe von Trotha, Chantal Akerman.
I thought Julie Taymor directed Frida?
Yes, you’re right. No wonder everyone’s nuts for Taymor.
Mira Nair, of course. Also, Sofia Coppola. And Kira Muratova (I find her films very difficult to watch, but she’s brave and different and… yeah).
I know the day will come when there’s a female Michael Bay, but I’m not really looking forward to it.
;-)
I’m surprised no one has mentioned Marleen Gorris, the director of Antonia’s Line. Wonderful film.
I”m going to print this and take it to my Netflix queue with me.
My NF queue just got better. Thanks!
Martha Coolidge.
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I love Samira Makhmalbaf. She’s the Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf’s daughter, and is absolutely incredible. She directed her first film, The Apple, when she was 17!
Also have to third/fourth/etc. Deepa Mehta and Sarah Polley.
Oh, and I love Amy Heckerling, of Fast Times at Ridgemont High/Clueless fame. Not artsy, but very very fun.
Julie Taymor directed The Beatles based musical, Across the Universe, and it’s completely amazing. She’s one of the best, innovative directors working today, period.
Alex Sichel! All Over Me is fantastic, one of my favorite New York movies ever. She is mentioned in the linked Salon article, actually.