Kinda surprised we don't have one already. (P.S. do not misinterpret the previous sentence as an accusation of sexism). We don't have a lot doing worthwhile things. Bigelow gets a lot of good reviews, but does anyone compare her to Scorsese or Nolan? There are great women in directing, but because there are many times more men in the industry, the women may oftentimes get overshadowed, so let's help them out a little.


I was on Imdb looking at many "greatest foreign/international directors" lists, and Agnes Varda hardly ever came up. Kurosawa, Tarkovsky, Bergman, Miyazaki, Jackson and Fellini made it in those lists all the yime, but where's Varda? You could probably include Sofia Coppola in the cream of the crop leagues, but can she leave the same impact her father did? Maybe if Greta Gerwig releases another hit movie, she could end up there. Here's rooting for her.

Re: A female directors thread, becuase why not.
 

Aside from those previously mentioned, some of my favourites include:


Nadia Tass (Malcolm, The Big Steal, Mr Reliable, Amy)
Jocelyn Moorhouse(Proof, Muriel's Wedding, The Dressmaker)
Gurinder Chadha (Blinded by the Light, Bend It Like Beckham, Viceroy's House)
Jane Campion (The Piano, Portrait of a Lady)
Alison Anders (Gas Food Lodging, Mi Vida Loca)
Mimi Leder (Deep Impact, Pay It Forward, On the Basis of Sex)
Sarah Gavron (Brick Lane, Suffragette, Rocks)


Recently have been impressed by a few emerging talents, of particular note Melina Moutsakis (Queen & Slim) and Stella Meghie (The Photograph), and look forward to where they go from here.

Re: A female directors thread, becuase why not.
 

I'm just going to leave this here.

Anyway, "we don't have a lot doing worthwhile things" is not the best way to start a thread about female directors (much less downplaying the best-known ones by saying they're not on the same level as the best-known male directors or that they're not well-known outside the Internet).

Kelly Reichardt
Kelly Reichardt
Kelly Reichardt

My favorite director working today. She doesn't follow the typical now-thing in her direction style. Those are links so take a look at her filmography.

Some of my favorites are:


Penny Marshall (Big, A League of Their Own)
Allie Loukas (Kathryn Upside Down)
Lexi Alexander (Green Street Hooligans, Punisher: War Zone)
Jen & Sylvia Soska (Vendetta, See No Evil 2, Rabid)
Chelsea Stardust (Satanic Panic)
Susan Walter (All I Wish)
Rebekah McKendry (All the Creatures Are Stirring)
Kao Pao-Shu (Blood of the Dragon, The Master Strikes)

Probably? She doesn’t have to have the same impact as her father. She’s a fine director in her own right.

Re: A female directors thread, because why not.
 

In the modern age Bigelow all the way. Gerwig in a few years maybe.


Mira Nair... Is brilliant too.

Re: A female directors thread, because why not.
 

Naoko Yamada is definitely one to keep an eye on.

Agreed. Sofia has her own very unique style. I like what I've seen of her films.

Re: A female directors thread, because why not.
 

I took a film school course, and all the students were male. It would have been nice to have a female perspective in the class, but maybe a lot of women are not interested in being directors as much possibly? Kind of like how whenever we work with the make up department, you will find a lot more women in that department, compared to directors?

I also noticed that there are a lot of female producers in the movie business compared to directors. Barbara Broccoli for example, produces the Bond movies, yet she always seems to want to hire male directors for the movies so far.

I want to get into directing more, and my most influential directors, Sergio Leone, Akira Kurosawa, and Fritz Lang, all happen to be male. If they were female, I would still like them just as much and my opinion wouldn't change, they just all happen to be male.

Bigalow is good cause Point Break is a really good looking well made action movie, but later she adapted the Paul Greengrass documentary type style, I don't like.

The only movie she did that stands out with any strength in my memory is "Lost in Translation", which I thought was good. A smidgeon slow paced for my taste, but good: Has a few scenes I've thought back to over the years.

Re: A female directors thread, because why not.
 

Eliza Hittman is one to watch out for I think. I adored It Felt Like Love and Beach Rats and her latest film seems to been received really well at Sundance.

Second Jen and Sylvia Soska, American Mary, for all its faults, was so creative and original to me. It's stayed with me and introduced me to Katharine Isabelle too :love: Haven't seen their Rabid remake yet but heard mixed things.

Mia Hansen Love knocked it out the park with Things to Come with Isabelle Huppert and I keep meaning to check out her other stuff, but I've never gotten round to it :lol:

I rarely choose to watch a film based on who the director is, let alone am I influenced by their gender.

I know it is different for others, but the identity of the director is usually down the list on what would influence me as far as films go.

There are plenty of films that I enjoyed but had no idea who directed them until years later. As it turns out many of them were women.

I have noticed a few times in my life that patters have emerged in films that I have really enjoyed that had the same director. It happened with Spielberg, Scorcese, Tarantino and Kathryn Bigelow.

I want to appreciate good work regardless of the gender of those producing it.
That said, it does seem that the industry needs to do more to give female directors more opportunities.

Re: A female directors thread, because why not.
 

Do you think that maybe if females owned the scripts they would want to do, they could use that as leverage to direct more? I worked for a female director who wrote her own scripts, and got money to make a couple of them so far, but they weren't going to not invest in the movie, just because the director was going to be a woman.

Same here. Sometimes I have no idea who the director is until the movie ends.

Huh??

Re: A female directors thread, because why not.
 

I only found out about her recently, and no one I know has ever kentioned her until I brought her up on this thread. She's popular in the modern online movie community, but not like Nolan or even Bay.

The late Agnès Varda is a legend in French cinema. Me, I’ve never been able to finish a Christopher Nolan movie, but yesterday I watched Varda’s Vagabond for at least the 3rd time.

Re: A female directors thread, because why not.
 

So after only recently finding out about her yourself (presumably from the all the press after her recent death), you've just concluded that praise for her only, or even largely exists on the Internet — despite her overwhelming international praise over the past several decades?

Not to mention that praise in and of itself does not determine quality.

Re: A female directors thread, because why not.
 

Indeed.

Re: A female directors thread, because why not.
 

Overwhelming praise by what definition? Maybe she had it in France while she was making those movies, but how many people are willing to watch a five hour movie about a woman cooking, cleaning and screwing?

• 3 Orders of Merit from France
• A Golden Lion
• Lifetime achievement award from the
EFA
• Honorary Oscar
• Best Doc Cesar
• Leopard of Hon. at Locarno
• Honorary degree from Belgium
• Honorary Palme and Directors Fortnight awards from Cannes

You say this like it was some insignificant blip of time in film history, and not a career that lasted over half a century that kickstarted one of the watershed movements in cinema with an influence that echoed around the globe.

Now you're confusing Varda with Chantal Akerman — two vastly different filmmakers.

Just to entertain the question though: Not only did many people want see that film (and many still do), but your perspective, based on what you and your immediate peers have heard of, doesn't actually translate into a universal reality.

You beat me to it in your correction. And Jeanne Dielman is one of my favorite movies. Seen it many times.

Re: A female directors thread, because why not.
 

I never said they translate that way. But I read a lot about who influenced who, and some directors just aren't as popular as they USED TO BE, which is what I'm saying. These days, when you mention female directors, the first two mentioned are usually Bigelow and Coppola. Besides, these honors are mostly France exclusive, though an Osvar and a Cannes award is good. Please don-t confuse what I'm saying as some ill-fated attempt at law. It really irritates me.

A director working in the French industry will win French awards, isn't it? What else did you expect her to win? An Indian award?

Re: A female directors thread, because why not.
 

You could argue that Bigelow and Coppola manage to achieve more fame/notoriety than their contemporaries for other reasons like the former working in quote-unquote "masculine" genres like police/war films and the latter being the daughter of an acclaimed male filmmaker, as opposed to Varda almost being overshadowed by her own French New Wave peers like Godard or Truffaut. Still, you see how saying that nobody really knows her outside online film communities can sound just the tiniest bit condescending.

That being said, it does speak to the common issue expressed in this thread and others about how people don't tend to care about whether a film's director is female when considering said film (which made the prospect of running a films-directed-by-women countdown a tricky proposition since it would've involved deeper knowledge and research than simply knowing a movie belongs to a certain decade or genre, hence why it had one of the lowest turn-outs of any voter list on this site). I don't know how much I can truly begrudge people not caring, but I do think it's a factor that is worth considering in a borderline-auteur kind of way - not only does it speak to some level of authenticity when it comes to films about the female experience but it also has the possibility to provide a fresh perspective to genres and movements that can start to stagnate under predominantly male creators (like how Bigelow was the first person to cast Keanu Reeves as an action hero in Point Break, to say nothing of how the Wachowski sisters built on that by casting him in The Matrix).

Re: A female directors thread, because why not.
 

What I'm saying is that's not worldwide fame like Kurosawa or Peter Jackson or Sergio Leone, or more recently, Bong Joon Ho, other foreign directors who have achieved worldwide fame on that scale. Some of these directors have the level of fame that Spielberg or Scorsese have.

Let me ask, how often to you hear mention of Agnes Varda outside of the movie community, especially offline?

I have to agree with the latter sentiment. But I suppose what we personally would/wouldn’t be willing to watch doesn’t in and of itself speak of quality. I started watching Bergman when I was about nine years old and was fascinated, but I do find many female filmmakers extremely boring because they often tackle unexciting subjects. I’m sure some people would feel the opposite way and both POVs are valid. Bigelow is an exception to ‘boring’, but they do sometimes prove the rule. I find Gerwig talented, but her work to me felt simply uninteresting, definitely not rewatch material.

Re: A female directors thread, because why not.
 

Shame no one has mentioned Celine Sciamma yet. Great director. Watched her BAFTA lecture yesterday and loved it. Very inspirational.

If a director’s value is based on how famous he or she is, that’s a sad comment IMO.

Re: A female directors thread, because why not.
 

You know I'm talking about both at once. I was just saying she hasn't impacted the world in the same way. Don't accuse me of saying "only popular directors are good ones." Don't even think it. You know what I was trying to say and don't act like you don't. And don't EVER insinuate I'm dumb enough to believe popularity and quality are exactly the same again.

And answer my question. Bottomline is: Despite being a great director, she hasn't impacted the world the same way some other foreign directors have. If she did, you wouldn't have dodged my question. So answer it.


Even though she's a high quality director, has that quality impacted the whole world to the extent Spielberg, Hitchcock, Kurosawa and others have, or is that influence very largely exclusive to France nowadays?

Re: A female directors thread, because why not.
 

If it's so important for you to treat me like a fool, go to imdb and see how many times Varda makes it into the top 50 greatest foreign directors lists. I checked yesterday and read a lot of lists concerning that. She's usually not even in the top 100. Fellini, Tarr, Kurosawa, Miyazaki, all common. I repeat: I'm not denying her quality. But the evidence is there. Her quality unfortunately hasn't won her many heights in other countries despite deserving it.

I suspect most of the directors in top 100 list are either:

• Long dead, so have had time for their fame to grow.
• Produce Hollywood blockbusters that every one knows.
• Specialized in genres that have huge followings, I.E. anime.

Re: A female directors thread, because why not.
 

Then what's Varda's specialty?

Again, I'm hoping Greta Gerwig gets up there. Her first two movies were huge hits and Oscar nominees. The lack of female appreciation makes me eager to see Greta shine.

To whom are these comments addressed? It’s not at all clear.

Same question as above.

Haven’t a clue. Does she need one?

Re: A female directors thread, because why not.
 

If it's not clear to you, that's your own fault.

Ok, if you need me to phrase it like a third-grader, here you go: Ms. Varda makes a lot of really good movies. A lot of people from her country France learned a lot from her. But not a lot of people in other countries learned a lot from Ms. Varda. Those countries all like Mr. Kurosawa, Mr. Bergman, and especially Mr. Peter Jackson from New Zealand.

Now can you put two and two together? And please add a little extra focus when reading this one, because I hate reiterating my points when someone doesn't understand, meaning you need to go back and read them again.

Re: A female directors thread, because why not.
 

May I suggest that in the next thread you start you don’t get so exercised by differing viewpoints.

A forum, which is what this is, is a place where ideas and views on a particular issue can be exchanged.

IMO Greta Gerwig's Little Women sucked and if that's the best she can do as a director she'd be better off sticking to acting.

So you are wanting to see more appreciation of female directors? How many of Kelly Reichardt films have you seen? I mentioned her name here but I don't recall you commenting on her.

Re: A female directors thread, because why not.
 

Good point. I loved Night Moves (2013), it was brilliant, and I spent years not knowing it was directed by a woman. I do think it comes back to the quality of the work having precedence over anything else and especially the characteristics of the creator.

Glad to hear it! Night Moves is a one of a kind movie, I can't think of another film quite like it.

Re: A female directors thread, because why not.
 

If your view is that I'm sad for beliving something I never once said I believed, such as the bull**** idea that popularity = quality (which annoys me), I tend to be reasonably offended. Your attitude and demeanor when you hinted at that in your post was insensitive. Not getting what I was saying is fine, and so is arguing against me. Actig that way because you misinterpreted it is different, and then you continued to push the issue without even understanding what you did.

Re: A female directors thread, because why not.
 

My question is why your first post had to reference these directors' relative level of fame in the first place, much less measure their impact and influence against that of their male contemporaries (especially since that is a difficult thing to quantify even if you dig through IMDb users' "favourite directors" lists for proof). Also, since the Internet is an information network that connects the entire planet, technically Varda has worldwide fame - after all, it's not like I hear anyone talk about Kurosawa outside of film communities either. Like I said in my first post in this thread, I just have to wonder why you decided that the right way to start a thread on female directors (that, to your knowledge, nobody else on here had really done before) and make the main angle of the post how there weren't a lot of them doing worthwhile things.

I also have to admit it's funny that you apparently count Peter Jackson as a foreign director.

Re: A female directors thread, because why not.
 

Jackson's from New Zealand.

For a better example let's use Hayao Miyazaki. AMC has a Ghibli marathon all year round with a different movie every month. AMC has been the biggest theater company in the world since 2016, and they advertise Miyazaki's name in the billboards along with the titles. And with Disney being the main distributor in America, Miyazaki is a household name here, while other big companies like Studio Canal and Madman handle them worldwide. Has a Varda movie ever had that kind of worldwide treatment? Has she been referenced by as many big name directors as an influence as Spielberg has? How often do people outside of France list her as a favorite director? Not many people talk specifically about directors out there, but when they do, the ones typically spoken of o referenced are Spielberg, Nolan, Wachowskis, Jackson, and foreign ones will typically be Japanese or British directors.

And saying she has worldwide fame just because she's on the onternet seems a bit of a leap. If I write a single that's only big in Hungary, but you can find it anywhere around the world, does that mean everyone has heard of me?

Look, I'm saying female directors need more appreciation, and so far people are saying just because we talk about them on limited film communities they're fine. That doesn't even make sense. Since when do places like Movieforums have a say on worldwide popularity just because it's on the internet? It's not even that popular of a site, so how many people are gonna read it? We usually only have like 12 users online at a time. The internet doesn't seem as interested in Varda as it should be because finding an English dub of a Varda movie is a much more difficult task than necessary. I've been trying. I've found a couple with Arabic subtitles, so I guess she has some appreciation in that region, which is could. But because she has talent, it doesn't mean she has RECOGNITION. And I'm trying to increase the recognition of female artists around the world, which seems like an unnecessary hassle to others who don't really care whether or not they're left in the dust.

And several of Kurosawas movies have been remade into sci-fi films, westerns, and gangster films. The Hidden Fortress served as a lead influence for Star Wars. How many Varda remakes are there?

Re: A female directors thread, because why not.
 

Wow!! 2019’s Little Women was one of my favs of the year (and the decade), what didn’t you like about it?

Re: A female directors thread, because why not.
 

When you say female directions need more appreciation, I thought that most people appreciate directors based on the movies they made. So if female directors are not getting as much appreciation, is just because a lot of really good movies are made by male directors in comparison, even though that sounds unintentionally bad of me to say?

What didn't I like about the Great Gerwig's Little Women...Everything! Mostly it's complete lack of originality, as it was literally scene for scene the same movie as the 1994 Little Women but shown out of sequences. Have you seen the 1994 version? If not you should. It was my nom in the Directed by Women HoF.

Oh, interesting, I'll watch it. I don't think it would affect my love for it though. I guess it's a very modern-style movie, which doesn't seem to be your thing. Too bad you didn't like it:( as I said it's one of my favs (of the year and all time).

I love the Little Women story and have seen every movie made about it, and there's been a lot. I was so bored with the 2019 version that I must have checked the time remaining, a dozen times. I think Greata literally copied the 94 movie and then in the editing room rearranged the scenes to make it look like she had some sort of originality. It's true that I'm not a fan of out of sequence movies, it seems like a fad thing to do.

Re: A female directors thread, because why not.
 

I liked Gerwig's Little Women but I haven't seen the 94' version and it didn't live up to the hype I was seeing. The only part I absolutely loved was Saoirse Ronan. Her speech about women's potential whilst being so lonely was incredible to me.

Sometimes I'm amazed at how different our tastes are considering how many things we seem to agree on.

True:) Have you seen both the 2019 and 1994 Little Women?

Neither. I've never thought they'd be something I'd like.

To be honest if you are talking about just a casual conversation with non-movie buff, they don't even know Kurosawa is. So in that regard, Varda and Kurosawa are at the same level popularity-wise. Leone, a lot of people know coz of his westerns. So just coz a casual watcher doesn't know who they are, doesn't diminish them by any means. And a lot of it may just be down to gender, although I would not like to think so.

Re: A female directors thread, because why not.
 

there bigger chance that casual audience know or at least "heard" the name of kurosawa than varda.
1. Top legendary director from his country
2. Influence: especially New Hollywood.
3. Reference in pop culture

Varda more belong in niche-arthouse circuit, usually take level of cinephiles just to see her name circulated like "oh i saw cleo from 5 to 7" than some random people sung a praise for seven samurai.

Re: A female directors thread, because why not.
 

There you go. Exactly.

Same, I keep thinking I need to watch at least one, but I always find something better. It’s meant to be fairly Jane Austen-ish and I can’t stand her.

(emphasis mine).

What influences would you list off?

Because tensions have been high of late, I'll issue the following clarifications so that folks don't use my question as some kind of excuse to get (yet again) offended.

1. I'm not saying that they didn't have huge influence in Hollywood.
2. I'm not trying to mitigate whatever impact they did have, influential or not.
3. I'm not interested in any pro or anti social justice arguments.

I just want to know what those influences are.

Okay, so if I don't live in the U.S. then I can refer to Spielberg and Scorsese as foreign directors.

I still think you have to keep that kind of thing in perspective. Like it would be good if Varda got more recognition, but it's not exactly surprising that the French avant-garde documentarian doesn't get as much recognition as the directors who make mass-appeal blockbusters or family-friendly animated films.

You don't need to tell me twice - did I already mention how I oversaw a MoFo list for the top 100 films directed by women and got maybe the lowest turnout of submissions of any user-generated list on here? Still, I do have to question how interested (or not interested) the Internet would be in Varda based on your trouble finding her movies (though if you're looking for dubbed versions instead of subbed then I can't imagine you'll have much success) - and again, if your intent is to increase recognition of female artists then it would help if you didn't say that "not a lot of them are doing worthwhile things" in the very start of the thread. Maybe it's a matter of the wrong phrasing, but it seems liked a mixed message.

Eh, It's hard to gauge impact and influence without explicit confirmation by creators (and that's just talking about directly influence specific works) and trying to quantify it through remakes just turns it into a numbers game. Does William A. Wellman become a majorly influential director because A Star Is Born got remade three times?

To be fair, that is a good thing for his movie to be remade three times, but Kurosawa still beats him out because he's had a few movies remade at least twice as opposed to one movie.

Have you seen Lady Bird? That's even better than Little Women and proves to me that Gerwig is one of the best directors working today. Her next project is... a Barbie movie :)

No, I haven't seen that one, but I was thinking about checking it out.

But I thought that people liked the movies for the movies themselves, rather than the gender of the the director. If Seven Samurai, and The Good, the Bad, and The Ugly, were direct by women for example, wouldn't those movies be just as popular, regardless of the director's gender?

But that’s not how life works. If they were directed by someone else - man or woman, just any different person - they would be very different movies.

I thought Ladybird was not bad, but again, for me it lacked excitement... even with teenager-led films, there’s Ladybird, and then there’s Donnie Darko...

Wow, the Gerwig hate needs to stop, she's a queen!!!:(

Lady Bird is also in my top 50 movies, and the 2019 Little Women in my top 100. I think Little Women brought a lot of modern appeal to the story, made it warm and loving, definitely one of the most personal experiences I've had at the theater.

Gerwig also co-wrote Frances Ha, so I sorta credit her for it. That's her "best" movie in my opinion, one of my all time favs.

Ida Lupino

Mostly known for acting but also a good director. Her most well known film would probably be The Hitchhiker (1953), about two ordinary men who are at the mercy of a mere man with a gun.
I liked The Hitchhiker, I felt it delved into themes of a very weird human concept, how a weakling can become the most powerful being imaginable with a heavy piece of metal.

Also to note she directed an episode of 'The Twilight Zone' called 'The Masks'

he technically baby boomers-filmmakers favorite director, especially in context of 'New Hollywood' generation.
if there was no kurosawa, then there was no george lucas created star wars, which mean he probably wouldn't create @Yoda either, which mean this forum wouldn't exist in the first place.
https://youtu.be/_pU6B2zEFeg

Now that chop in Hollywood is already huge deal even to this day, how about the breath he gave to german reject like werner herzog, arthouse mafia like tarkovsky, or even chinese cartoonist which is miyazaki..

I guess let's talk more for the feminine lens shall we. Kurosawa's is just undeniable unless one just too new or hard try contrarian.

Good to see some respect for the pioneer of women directors. Ida Lupino also directed a couple episodes of TV's Bewitched back in the 1960s. It was one of the better episodes too.

I was expressing my personal opinion, no ‘hate’ involved. I watch many films and Gerwig didn’t have an impact on me. ‘Modern appeal’ is not in itself a virtue, in my opinion. Neither is ‘warm and loving’, if it doesn’t result in a high-quality product. I’ve seen Frances Ha and again, I find Gerwig’s work may well be controlled and well-executed - to an extent - but what I said is I simply didn’t enjoy it, and I stand by that. If we must go into detail, there is no conflict in Ladybird, in my opinion - and the same applies to the Olivia Wilde-directed Booksmart. It’s just young women doing things. I’m sure if it was worth someone’s time to explore that question academically, I.e. why most (before I’m accused of generalising and missing out Bigelow, who to me is an exception that proves the rule) films directed by women are less plot-driven, there are fewer events with forward ramifications for the plot, less action, and the conflict element is less prominent. These things to me are the main ingredients of good movies, and hence I don’t enjoy Gerwig’s work, or Wilde’s.

Ahwell was just joking around, he's a good guy! One of the nicest people around here:)

I usually like films directed by women as they are more character driven with emphasis on humanity vs car chases and explosions. Though I'm still not sold on Greata:shifty:

The pioneer was alice guy blache. Not only the first known woman director but also one of the very first that make narrative films.

I don’t know why I got so annoyed tbh, it’s the Coronavirus in the air. No offence intended, Ahwell.

Definitely more character driven. I’ve just remembered I really liked Julia Durournau’s Raw, that was brilliant. I interpreted it as a bit of a satire on vegans, but either way, it was great.

Hey, that's my favorite Twilight Zone episode!

But do people really care if a movie was directed by a man or a woman though? That doesn't really effect the movie does it? I just found out that my favorite Twilight Zone was directed by a woman. Still my favorite one, doesn't change anything.

But maybe a lot of women are not interested in being directors nowadays perhaps and that is why there is a shortage? Even when I went to film school, it was all males in the class, so maybe there is just a lack of interest? Kind of how the make up department is mostly women for example, where as the directors are mostly men? Just different genders prefer different jobs... Is that the reason for the shortage?

It's still fun to draw attention to female directors; People can experience films they might not be aware even existed.

Yeah sorry if that came across as rude, I was joking :), of course you’re entitled to that opinion and it’s valid! I just love me some Gerwig.

I thought I came across as rude tbh. Anyway, glad we’re good.

That's how I read it. (Joking, etc.)


Hmmmmm.....

Is that then the reason that they aren't more common? The movie-going-watching public more often than not wants car chases and explosions?

Re: A female directors thread, because why not.
 

Dorothy
Arzner

IMO, that could be why women directors aren't as popular. Though the main reason is that there's not many women directors making movies. There's a ton of male directors that no one has every heard of before too. And the further we go back in time the less women directors were working.

Yes, I do think that women directors make more subtle, emotional humanistic films (not all of them of course). While men directors tend toward more guy type thinking with direct action, plot driven, (not all of them of course).

But mainly it's the audience that pays to see movies that drive what gets made. And from all the big budget, CG, superhero movies and remakes & sequels...I'd say the audience wants to see crap:p

Re: A female directors thread, because why not.
 

Some time next year we can talk about meeeeeeeeeee :laugh:

Then you'll be so famous you won't talk to us little people:p

I noted earlier how it's kind of the same thinking behind auteur theory - if you care enough about directors in the first place, you'll likely notice it (and even then you'd be forgiven for not paying the utmost attention to whoever directed episodes of an old TV show like The Twilight Zone since TV doesn't put as much emphasis on directors as movies do, especially not in the early years). The difference obviously being that auteur theory favours individuals that are distinguished by their particular filmographies whereas gender is just a matter of arbitrarily sorting people into groups (with one group being so much larger than any other that it's more or less accepted as a default by most people) so it's too broad to be of particular interest.

As for film school, all I can tell you from my own experience with film school is that it's considerably more balanced in terms of gender, but I figure there's also the matter of how many people actually become directors after attending film school as opposed to taking up any other film-related occupation like cinematography or editing or sound - regardless of gender, not everyone wants to be a director (and even then you could make the case that the numbers are going up for women in recent years but they're still outnumbered anyway). Directing is hard to get into and harder to maintain - it's a tough job with limited openings, after all.

Re: A female directors thread, because why not.
 

It's partly the age-old problem that female directors are assumed to be solely making films that are of interest to women, whereas male directors are assumed to be making universal films. There's also the issue that being a boss is considered negative for women, like they're being bossy or overbearing, whereas the same traits in men are seen as marks of confidence. A male-centred industry will favour men, just as a female-centred industry would favour women.

I think it's quite notable that the only female director to have won an Oscar wins for directing a 'masculine' film.

As a whole, I didn't like Gerwig's adaptation of Little Women but there was an interesting line about how the lives of women are considered unimportant (as in portrayals of the lives of women), even though most people in real life live mundane domestic lives.

It's interesting that the one woman director that most guys talk about is: Kathryn Bigelow, as she mainly makes graphic, action, horror type films that most guys seem to like. And women directors who make films who's subject matter and style seem to appeal to women like: (Sofie Coppola, Kelly Reichardt), often don't do as well with male movie goers as would someone like Bigelow.

Re: A female directors thread, because why not.
 

Here are some female actresses who recently delved into directing:


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Allie Loukas - Chicago-based actor and filmmaker who made her directorial debut in 2019 with Kathryn Upside Down. She found her inspiration from John Hughes and the film is seen as a modern day John Hughes-esque film. She also stars in the film as the titular Kathryn, who discovers the plumber she hired to help fix her mom's toilet is the biological father she never met.



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Reine Swart - South African-born actor who is known for her many roles, mainly in the horror genre. She made her directorial debut in 2020 with The Hex (Heks), the story of a UK-based woman who returns to her mom's homeland of South Africa to investigate her murder and learns it may involve a witch doctor's curse. Listening to a recent podcast, she really enjoyed directing and she is planning to direct her second film later this year.



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Meghan Good and Tamara Bass - more known for their acting, real-life besties Good and Bass made their co-directorial debut earlier this year with the drama If Not Now...When? in which they also play two of four former high school friends who reunite and must rely on each other to help with their individual problems, from drug addiction to unstable relationships.

Re: A female directors thread, because why not.
 

Just watched two acclaimed films directed by a female and both were disappointing.

Then I watched a Godzilla film and it was triumphant.

Conclusion? Godzilla is superior to women.

What were the two films you watched?

Some of my favourites:

Jane Campion
Nora Ephron
Greta Gerwig
Patty Jenkins
Penny Marshall
Nancy Meyers
Lynne Ramsay
Céline Sciamma
Doris Wishman
Chloé Zhao

All of those, plus Nia DaCosta

I loved her take on Candyman, but was underwhelmed by The Marvels. I haven't seen Little Woods.

Re: A female directors thread, because why not.
 

Liesl Ahlers, a South African actress who appeared in two horror films (2016's "Friend Request" and 2020's "Triggered") directed a short film in 2018 called "Daylight" and also played a mom who suffers from HIV & AIDS.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8R1a...llc2wgYWhsZXJz

Re: A female directors thread, because why not.
 

Also, shout out to Lois Weber, who directed Shoes (1916) and The Dumb Girl of Portici (1916), two very good silent films.

Ingrid Veninger is another director that I really like and her films don't seem to be very well known. Her best films are I am a Good Person/I Am a Bad Person (2011) and Porcupine Lake (2017). Anyone here seen any of Ingrid Veninger's films?

One was Jane Campion's In the Cut, which felt like a female take on a giallo film, but filtered through trashy early 2000s American aesthetics. It was slow but hardly awarding. Dregs of interesting atmosphere, but it never stayed for longer than a shot. Some people claim it's an interesting take on female sexuality, but I can't see it. Felt like any other cheap erotic thriller but with more focus on cunnilingus and fingering. Felt bland & uninspired.

Kathryn Bigelow's Point Break was better, but nothing special either. A few nice shots and the skydiving & surfing & chase scenes were well-made, but that's about it. Cool "Heat-before-Heat" film, but I don't really like Heat either, so I wasn't taken by it. Still better than the only other Bigelow film I've seen - The Hurt Locker.

Now that's a female director! They don't make 'em like this anymore. :p

Anyway, the best female director ever is Kinuyo Tanaka. I'm flabbergasted it took me so long to realize that. No coincidence she's also one of the best actresses ever.

I think The Marvels is her best (and most underappreciated) film, but have also enjoyed her other work and look forward to her next film.

Re: A female directors thread, because why not.
 

Approximately how many films directed by women have you folks seen?

Who cares? It's not like the director's gender is important.

Well, the thread is about female directors, so...