Insurgents' Ink: How Many Female Directors Can You Name?

Thursday, October 22, 2009

How Many Female Directors Can You Name?

I recently realized that almost all of the movies I watched were directed by men, so I turned to my favorite film critic Mick LaSalle, of the San Francisco Chronicle, http://www.sfgate.com/columns/askmicklasalle/archive/ and he gave me a list that started me down the path of several great films and film makers.

One of the names he listed was Jane Campion. Campion has a new film, Bright Star, and was interviewd in the Chronicle a few weeks later. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/09/13/PKU719EBUF.DTL

After reading the article, I realized why I knew so few female directors. As Campion states, in the 82 year history of the Academy Awards, only 3 women have been nominated for best director and none have received it.

Female directors will not receive credit unless we watch their movies, and we can't watch their movies until we know about them. Here is a short list of my favorite female directors. See how many you can come up with and write back...

Jane Campion
Sophia Coppola
Deepa Mehta

6 comments:

EtymologyOctober 24, 2009 at 2:07 PM
Wow...Those Academy Award statistics are frightening.

Honestly, I couldn't name the filmography of any female screenwriter and/or director who's directed over a couple movies, so I couldn't name any favorites. However, there are some movies directed and/or written by female artists that I have enjoyed:

1. Kim Peirce: Boys Don't Cry (Director/Co-Writer) - Which I consider to be a great picture

2. Cheryl Dunye: Stranger Inside (Director/Co-Writer) - A television prison drama that turned out being a pretty decent film

3. Sofia Coppla: Lost in Translation (Director/Writer) - One of my top five films

4. Penelope Spheeris: Wayne's World (Director) - Love that movie!

5. Patty Jenkins: Monster (Director/Writer) - A solid effort

6. Lynne Ramsay: Ratcatcher (Director/Writer) - To this day, this movie has the most beautiful appearance of any movie I've seen

Long live independently financed movies, and long live access to a variety of narratives by a variety of voices.

- Simone
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Annie FinchNovember 1, 2009 at 1:43 PM
I just saw a very good movie directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse, PROOF, which showed I thought a very female level of insight about the relationship between a blind man and the housekeeper who lusts after him.
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UnknownNovember 1, 2009 at 5:00 PM
There's a great female director from the French New Wave movement named Agnes Varda. Her movie Cleo From 5 to 7 shows a young woman pondering life in the streets of Paris while awaiting the results of her cancer biopsy. It's a powerful performance by the director and actress. Mrs. Varda is still working today.
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Teaching PoetNovember 9, 2009 at 3:53 PM
How about Julie Taymor? She directed an amazing film version of Titus Andronicus and the film Frida. She is also the director of the Broadway version of The Lion King.

And what about the incomparable Mira Nair who directed Monsoon Wedding and host of other films?

This is a great thread. I've done some theatre direction and have often wondered about the lack of women directors in stage and screen.
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AutumnNovember 9, 2009 at 9:02 PM
Wonderful, we have 12 female directors so far, and so many films to see! I'm delighted by all these responses!

I have another one: Ida Lupino circa 1940's.

Thank you to all who contributed, and let's keep this going. I have heard some rumors of a viewing/ Insurgents' Ink Female Director Film Fest in the east bay...
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michaelMarch 4, 2010 at 3:02 PM
Kasi Lemmons for Eve's Bayou.
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