A female directors thread, because why not.

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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.



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.

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.



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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.
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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?



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



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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?



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



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).
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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.



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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.



It's true that I'm not a fan of out of sequence movies, it seems like a fad thing to do.
Sometimes I'm amazed at how different our tastes are considering how many things we seem to agree on.
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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?

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.
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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.



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.
There you go. Exactly.



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



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

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.
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.

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.
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.

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?
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.