Women's Pictures - Vote For Your Favorite Female Filmmakers!
Thursday, February 26, 2015 at 9:00AM Hello, it's Anne Marie. Since the first month of "Women's Pictures" went so well (and because I have an extra week in February to fill), today I would like to hear from all of you charming readers and commenters. When I first asked for suggestions of female filmmakers on which to focus this series, you all chimed in with over 50 directors from 8 countries and 9 decades in movie history. We can't write about all of them (yet), so I've narrowed the list down to 10 Female Filmmakers. Please know that this is not meant as a list of the best 10 female directors. When winnowing down the original suggestions, I took into consideration size of filmography, ease of access to their films, and reader interest. The goal is to find 10 women within those restrictions who represent a variety of genre, vision, nationality, sexuality, and focus. And these 10 women are pretty incredible.
Vote for as many as you like and tell us why in the comments
In alphabetical order, our ladies are...
Dorothy Arzner - Years active: 1927-1943. Arzner is best known as the "only female director during Hollywood's Golden Age" (more on that at the end of this post). Arzner was a lesbian proto-feminist credited with (among other things) inventing the boom mic, looking dapper in menswear, and dressing Katharine Hepburn in that bizarre Moth Gown. Best known films: The Wild Party, The Bride Wore Red, Christopher Strong.
Kathryn Bigelow - Years active: 1981-present. I mean, we all know who Kathryn Bigelow is, right? She's the only female director to win an Academy Award so far! (For The Hurt Locker in 2010.) Divorced James Cameron in 1991 and beat him for Best Director two decades later. Makes action films, war films, and defies silly questions about what kinds of movies women "usually make." Best known films: The Hurt Locker, Point Break, Zero Dark Thirty
Jane Campion - Years active: 1982-present. For her film The Piano, native Kiwi Jane Campion was the first female director to win the Palm D'Or at Cannes, and became the second woman in the history of the Academy Awards to be nominated for Best Director. Most recently, she returned to the scene of her earlier triumph to be the head judge for the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. Best known films: The Piano, Bright Star, Sweetie
Sofia Coppola - Years active: 1999-present. Another fruit that fell from the ever-blossoming Coppola family tree. In 2004, Sofia Coppola became the third woman in Oscars history to be nominated for Best Director for her film Lost In Translation. Since then, she's taken on everything from historical fiction to memoir to true crime, all with a distinct pop art sensibility. Best known films: The Virgin Suicides, Lost in Translation, Marie Antoinette.
Mira Nair - Years active: 1979-present. Indian director Mira Nair has had a globe-trotting career over the past few decades. She's made documentaries, big budget Indian movies, indie films set in the American South, period pieces, shorts and more. About the most consistent thing you can say about Nair's career is that she's consistently refused to be tied to just one genre. Best known films: Monsoon Wedding, Vanity Fair, Salaam Bombay!
Miwa Nishikawa - Years active: 2003-present. Miwa Nishikawa is the newest addition to this list, having only 7 films and a little over a decade of experience so far. However, while her movies haven't travelled much outside of Japan yet, she is already heralded as a strong new voice in Japanese film. (Thank you, reader BRB for the suggestion!) Best known films: Dreams for Sale, Dear Doctor, Wild Strawberries.
Leni Riefenstahl - Years active: 1932-1958, 2002. Best known for her Nazi propadanda film, The Triumph of the Will. It was supposedly so well-made that when the US government requested that Hollywood re-edit the movie to show Germany negatively, they were told it couldn't be done. She pushed forward documentary film & experimented with genre. Best known films (besides that one): Olympia, Lowlands, Underwater Impressions.
Julie Taymor - Years active: 1999-present. This MacArthur Genius Grant recipient is a theater director-turned film director-turned theater director who turned off the dark (and the safety precautions) for Spiderman on Broadway. Before that, she turned lions into puppets for Disney's The Lion King. Her films are visually vibrant, beautiful, and totally bonkers. Best known films: Frida, Across The Universe, Titus.
Agnes Varda - Years active: 1955-2011. The only female member of the talented boys club that was the French New Wave. Varda was an artist before making her way to film, a journey for which she attributes her unique perspective. She's still alive and kicking (and occasionally at film festivals), but seems to be enjoying resting on her well-deserved laurels now. Best known films: Cleo from 5 to 7, Vagabond, The Beaches of Agnes.
Lina Wertmuller - Years active 1965-2009. This Italian director was the first woman ever nominated for Best Director, when the Academy nominated her in 1975 for her film Seven Beauties. One of her films also holds the record for longest title (it was shortened to Blood Feud). A highly vocal political activist, many of her characters reflect her more extreme stances. Best known films: Seven Beauties, The Seduction of Mimi, Swept Away.
Who do you vote for? (You may vote for more than one.)
Coming in March: IDA LUPINO
The noir-actress-turned-writer/producer originally became a director out of necessity, but quickly made a name for herself by writing the kinds of films that the big studios wouldn't touch. Using her buddy Howard Hughes's money and support, Lupino started a production company, and a directing career that lasted two decades. Follow along as we watch a blonde bombshell turn herself into a behind-the-scenes bigshot.
March Schedule:
3/5 - Never Fear (1949) - Ida's first directing credit about a dancer who contracts polio. (Available on Amazon Prime)
3/12 - The Hitch-Hiker (1953) - A foray into film noir with a hitch-hiker holding two men hostage. (Available on Amazon Prime)
3/19 - The Bigamist (1953) - Ida Lupino and Joan Fontaine are married to the same man. (Available on Amazon Prime)
3/26 - The Trouble With Angels (1966) - Lupino's last feature film involves Rosalind Russell, Hayley Mills, and nuns. (Available on Amazon Prime)
Reader Comments (36)
I voted for MIra Nair because her films are underdisscussed and both MONSOON WEDDING and SALAAM BOMBAY are so rich.
Don't forget about Agnes Varda's Le Bonheur!
Shout out to Sarah Polley! She's stil young, I know, but still hasn't made a movie I haven't enjoyed (or, in most cases, loved).
I voted for Campion but I would love to read about Agnès Varda. I don't know enough about her.
Ditto what Nathaniel said. Mira's 'Monsoon Wedding' and 'Salaam Bombay' would make for interesting discussion. I loved 'The Namesake' too.
For me Campion and Holy Smoke is her best except the ending. The film's last scene must be when Winslet and Keitel were behing the truck. And with Annie Lennox Primitive.
I voted for Sofia Coppola, because Lost in Translation alone is a true masterpiece.
Jane Campion is a bit of a hit and miss for me personally, because I just couldn't love The Piano or Portrait of a Lady outside from the performances and score. I loved Bright Star, though.
I'd choose Nicole Holofcener (who's not on the list). Especially for "Lovely and Amazing" and "Please Give". Although there's also much to admire in "Walking and Talking" and "Friends with Money".
Le Bonheur is one of my top 20 movies ever, the second best directed by a woman (the first one is Larisa Shepitko's The Ascent).
(I don't get how Miwa Nishikawa is here but Naomi Kawase isn't?)
Well, I am so voting for Varda, because of Le Bonheur. Its cinematography surely deserves a Hit me With Your Best Shot - what about a crossover? Jean Rabier was such a masterful cinematographer, from The Umbrellas of Cherbourg to his long fruitful partnership with Chabrol...
But that's it, I love Le Bonheur. It's so beautiful that I can't even ellaborate
Leni Riefenstahl! I find that the way people can't seem to separate her art from her life, is pure sexism, given that history is always kinder to men who go through the same. Her films as an actress proved how magnetic she was as a screen presence, but with that two-puncher of "Olympia" and "Triumph of the Will" she really should be talked about in the same way we discuss Welles and Kubrick. Her latter work as a documentary filmmaker is also brilliant!
I voted first for Arzner, Riefenstahl and Wertmüller (don't forget the umlaut). Your capsule bios (especially of Arzner) make the case. I also voted for Varda, because I'm less familiar with her work and I've always wanted to get into it.
cal roth - I actually am mostly unfamiliar with Naomi Kawase and Miwa Nishikawa, so it was not an omission based on aesthetic judgement. It really came down to whose films I was able to find more easily.
Everyone, thanks for the shout outs to directors who aren't on the list. I'm saving who you nominate for future Women's Pictures polls.
Bright Star is so intoxicatingly romantic. I can talk about it for days, and I would gladly rewatch it over and over just to hear Ben Whishaw read poems.
Enjoying this feature so far, and thanks for this particular list. I'm currently working on a film syllabus where I am trying to self-consciously insert some more diverse filmmakers but have been coming up a bit short so far. Looks like I have some homework!
Anne Marie: Did anyone nominate DORIS WISHMAN in the first round? I know I forgot. A wild and Mondo Bizarro type of character from the '60s, she directed about 25 exploitation-genre features (two words: Chesty Morgan) and her work was very familiar to (if not directly influential on) John Waters. There's been a TV mini-doc on her and I just heard from a friend involved that a biopic is in development.
Bigelow. I consider The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty to be masterpieces. She should have two Oscars.
Exciting to see this take shape!
I voted for everyone except Coppola (whose films seem to get duller and more insular with every entry), Bigelow (overexposed at this point), and Taymor (blech).
Most excited for discussions about Arzner, Varda and Wertmuller. I know more about their reputations than their films. Same for Ida Lupino -- bring it on!
Paul Outlaw: Doris Wishman did not make the first round cut, but you can bet on everything beautiful and camp that she will be in the second round! I am here for any director who makes a movie called "A Night To Dismember."
I've been interested in Bigelow's early work since her recent rise to fame - I swear I've even had Point Break in my apartment, but somehow haven't seen it. My next choices would be Mira Nair, then Sofia Coppola. I missed the initial request list - if we have a Round 2, I'd love to see Lisa Cholodenko, Lynn Shelton (I recommend her entire filmography), Penny Marshall and Lone Scherfig. So nice to see so many choices brought up in the comments - let Hollywood try to tell us there are no female directors available!
My favorite female director is Claire Denis.
Wonderful list Anne Marie, and when I read these comments I'm so impressed by the depth of knowledge of FTE readers.
I loved Lina Wertmuller films back in the day, but I have no idea how they will hold up. I also went with Jane Campion & Julie Taymor. I find both of them to be hit & miss but there is no denying they have an artistic vision that has been very influential.
Future list: I like Lynn Shelton's work, but let us not forget some more commercial directors.
Nora Ephron & Peggy Marshall are both more mainstream but they were very good with actors. Comedy is not easy.
Wertmuller
Campion
Traymor
Riefenstahl
Bodil Ipsen won the Palm d'Or before Campion, if that counts.
Has anyone at TFE done a write-up or commentary on nyt mag's profile of female filmmakers and their influences? I loved it so so much. http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/08/13/sam-taylor-johnson-lisa-cholodenko-sarah-polley-and-other-female-directors-on-the-movies-that-influenced-them/
Can't wait for Jane's segment when it comes. You know that first time you see a movie so primordial and different from anything else you've seen before, that your entire universe shifts and it dawns on you that there's a wide world of possibility in film beyond the ones you've grown up with? That was The Piano for me, back in my sophomore (?) year of high school. For that, she'll always be my favorite. Am also very excited and intrigued by the coming sequel for Top of the Lake.
where the f*ck is Claire Denis?! she should definitely be on this list
Along with Denis, I would also choose her compatriot, Catherine Breillat.
I voted for Sofia because she's my favorite filmmaker.... ever!
Where's Lynne Ramsay?
I love Agnes Varda too so i'm hoping she comes up soon. I am going to try to watch along because i haven't seen any of these Ida Lupino movies.
Well, I suggested Nishikawa (*and* Kawase, cal!), so maybe I don't count, but I do think including a non-Western director (I mean in milieu, not heritage -- I also love Mira Nair!) would spice things up, so to me the lack of votes for Nishikawa might be a vote of its own kind in its...favor? Also, I do recommend "Sway" if you go with her, it's available in English-subtitled DVD form [KimStim] and is an interesting intertext with her more indie [Wild Strawberries] or more mainstream [Dear Doctor] efforts. My two cents!
I am also fascinated with Agnès Varda as an artist and sensibility, and I feel like she's marginalized within people's general impression of the New Wave, so she was my other vote.
Yay for you and this series!
Where on earth is Chantal Akerman!? :(
Hi Anne Marie,
Don't know how I missed the series up till now! I haven't been looking in as regularly and I guess on the wrong days. Very cool subject. I voted for Dorothy Arzner, Mira Nair and Julie Taymor.
So glad I found it just before Ida Lupino was the subject of the month. Love her as an actress and she's a fascinating director. A real trailblazer.
I know their films are hard to come by but were you planning on looking at the women who directed during the silent era such as Lois Weber and Alice Guy-Blache?
On a side note which relates back to A Year with Kate. I finally caught up with Grace Quigley this week! Ugh! You were right it was pretty bad, I'd still rate Spitfire, Dragon Seed and The Iron Petticoat below it but that's hardly a compliment since they stunk as well. However I've now seen Kate's complete filmography so it served it's purpose for me.
This is a topic that I am really passionate about, do here my thought on ot. I would like you to consider female directors that underdiscussed in today's. So ai would suggest no Jane Campion, no Coppola (though they're great, they come up nearly in every list regarding best female directors, and there are a lot of other names around that go unnoticed). I would suggest the list to be more diversity.
Based on region/ nationality:
Asia:
-Ann Hui (Hong Kong): The grand figure in Hong kong cinema which her focus on social issues in Hong kong (best films: Boat People, A Simple Life, The Golden Era)
-Naomi Kawase (Japan): Cannes-favorite, known for her documentary-realism style (Shuzaku, The Mourning Forest, Still the Water)
-Miwa Nishikawa (Japan): Like you said above
-Gina Kim (Korea): her early features garnered impressive critical acclaim and were shown at prestigious film festivals, Harvard university took notice of her and in 2004, she became the first Asian film director to teach at the school. (Invisible Light, Never Forever)
So Yong Kim (Korean-American): an independent filmmaker whose concerns on the life of immigrants (For Ellen, Inbetween Days, Treeless Mountain)
Middle East:
-Mina Nair (India): Like you said
-Deepa Mehta (India-Canada): She also has a very impressive filmography, and Water was the first Canadian non-French language film that nominated for Oscar Best Foreign Language (Water, Midnight's Children, Earth)
-Samira Makhmalbaf (Iran): She's the daughter of the director Mohsen Makhmalbaf, and she was very impressive with her first debut at the age of 17. Many of her films were screened in Cannes Main Competition (At 5 in the Afternoon, Blackboards, The Apple)
-Nadine Labaki (Lebanon): Her second film Where Do We Go Now won the People's Choice Award at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival. (Caramel, Where Do We Go Now)
France:
For me, the following 3 are no -brainers: they really deserved to be on the list
-Agnes Varda: Like you said
-Claire Denis: Her work has dealt with themes of colonial and post-colonial West Africa, as well as issues in modern France, and she happens to be one of the best working directors right now. (Beau travail, 35 rhums, The Bastards)
-Catherine Breillat: the ever-controversial Catherine Breillat. She is most well known for her raw depicts of sexual themes (Fat Girl, Romance X, Abuse of Weakness)
Europe:
-Jessica Hausner (Austria): an impressive filmography for a relatively young directors. I pretty have a high hope for her (Lourdes, Lovely Rita, Amour Fou)
-Alice Rohrwacher (Italy): She 2/2 for me; and since her films are semi-autobigoraphy; I'm also interested to see what is her next project.
-Mia Hansen-Løve (France): I'm looking to see her Eden real soon (Father of My Children, Goodbye First Love, Eden)
-Isabel Coixet (Spain): Prominent voice in Spanish cinema (My Life Without Me, Elegy, Learning to Drive)
-Susanne Bier (Denmark): She is one of the few who enjoyed crossover success (In a Better World, After the Wedding)
-Kira Muratova (Russia): Also a prominent figure in Russia cinema, her films underwent a great deal of censorship in the Soviet Union. (The Tuner, Brief Encounters, Three Stories)
-Larisa Shepitko (Russia): was a very promising director until the car accident that took her life (The Ascents, Wings, You and I)
Latin:
-Lucrecia Martel (Argentina): the very reason why I made this post. I think she's the one should be on the list. (The Headless Woman, The Holy Girl,La Cienega)
-Claudia Llosa (Peru): Her debut film The Milk of Sorrow won the Golden Bear and continued to nominated for Oscar Best Foreign Language (The Milk of Sorrow, Aloft)
And I haven't even touched the English speaking directors, which I feel equally important, and deserve to be on the list like the Aussies (Cate Shortland, Sarah Watt, Rachel Ward), the independent directors (Lynne Ramsay, Andrea Arnorld, Kelly Reichardt), the documentary directors (Laura Poitras, Jehane Noujaim, Clio Barnard); or even animation directors (Marjane Satrapi, Nina Paley, Yamamoto Sayo).
I also seriously think Pedro Almodovar should be considered to the list, given his feminist approach and his unconditional love and passion for almost every female characters he written.
I voted for Wertmuller because I would love to hear more about the context of her nomination. Theories on how she broke through, how the film sits with it competitors for that year, what the reaction was to her movie and nomination, what HER reaction was, etc...
joel6 - Glad (I think?) that you've seen Grace Quigley, and that you'll be joining us for Ida Lupino.
tombeet - Wow! That is a truly fantastic and in-depth list. Thank you so much. I am adding these suggestions to the list for research. I only recently saw my first Lucrecia Martel film, and I agree that she's absolutely incredible, so I'll definitely find a way to turn the discussion to her. If you think of any more directors, please let me know.
Over here DYING of excitement that you'll be focusing on Ida Lupino, who is my absolute HERO! Particularly thrilled that you'll be discussing The Trouble with Angels as it was one of my favorite movies as a girl and so few people talk about it. I adore the William Donati biography of her, she had such a crazy life and was so talented.