Why are there so few female film directors?

its kinda weird

There are some prominent ones, e.g.,Sofia Coppola.

if women are socialized to be looked at, maybe it's unsurprising that they don't choose/aren't chosen to do the looking

yeah that would explain the dearth of female artists, authors and photographers as well

http://thephoenix.com/BLOGS/blogs/outsidetheframe/nair-mira.jpg

maybe it's rampant entrenched sexism in the film industry

just sayin

artists, authors and photographers are not managers

I know there are a handful active in the Hollywood system (Taymor, Campion, etc.) but the percentages are ridiculously low, especially compared to other creative professions.

do adult men and women predominate among the subject matter of female photographers the way they do in the movies?

who is that in the photo, Allison Anders?

lolz who's gonna rep for Penny Marshall

Sofia Coppola of course has family connections

many prominent female directors seem to come from other countries

who is that in the photo, Allison Anders?

Mira Nair

Kelly Reichardt

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Kathryn Bigelow!

do adult men and women predominate among the subject matter of female photographers the way they do in the movies?

? cindy sherman, nan goldin, mary ellen mark, annie liebovitz, jodi cobb. . . .

I can think of a few reasons:

* Film directing is probably considered a more "technical" (and hence stereotypically more masculine) way of doing art than, for example, painting or dancing. Especially since a lot if not most movie directors start by doing all the technical stuff like editing and shooting themselves, before their career reaches a point where they can hire others to do it.

* Making a movie requires a lot more financial backing, know-how, networking, etc, than painting or writing poems, for example. You've got a better chance of getting all that if you're a member of the Boys' Club.

* A film director is kinda like a CEO, and people stereotypically trust male leaders better than female leaders.

cindy sherman takes pictures of herself

yah--she's an adult woman tho and that's what you were asking about

of Que's list, only Liebovitz would seem to act as a 'director' of straight men in her work, and she does, or originally did, so under the auspices of a male institution (often devoted to puffing up (sometimes gender-bending) men)

all of them take pictures of adult men and women

I think you'll find many of the artistic positions that are more like "leader of a group" than "a solitary artist" to be male dominated: classical conductors, band leaders, theatre directors, etc. That's because in "solitary arts" a women can just say "Screw you!" to all the gender stereotypes and do whatever she wants, whereas with "group arts" you have to depend on financial and social backing from others, so the stereotypes are harder to ignore.

http://dir.salon.com/story/ent/movies/feature/2002/08/27/women_directors/index.html

Women don't belong behind a camera – they belong behind a hot plate.

I'd have to guess that Nancy Meyers (The Parent Trap, What Women Want, Something's Gotta Give, The Holiday) is one of the most successful woman directors these days, box-office-wise.

mimi leder
claire denis
catherine breillat

lol thread is all mangs posting

Especially since a lot if not most movie directors start by doing all the technical stuff like editing

Editing seems to be a a pretty female friendly profession in the film industry

Thelma Schoonmaker, yo.

Jill Sprecher
Susan Streitfeld

Much more common than camera, errrrrrrr, persons for instance!

Susan Seidelman
Sarah Polley

Belladonna

lols I am gross-o

Not that bad a representation when compared to, say, being a music producer or conducting an orchestra

Lisa Cholodenko

Julie Delpy
Robin Swicord
Kasi Lemmons
Nicole Holofcener
Nancy Meyers

Good we have named a whole bunch of people found thru google searches that hardly anyone wld be familiar with; glass ceiling broken.

Callie Khouri

i like that this has turned into "name whatever female directors u can think of off the top of your head"

amy heckerling

That was always going to happen (xp)

xpost Yeah, are we just naming female directors now? Doesn't prove anything, but OK:

Agnes Varda
Mary Harron
Kimberly Peirce
Lynne Ramsay

whole bunch of people found thru google searches that hardly anyone wld be familiar with

sorry, no

it proves that there are not zero female film directors.

wtf is naming female film directors proving, exactly?

it proves that there are not zero female film directors.

asia argento

maybe we're not proving anything ;)

ida lupino

The guy who put out a "Directed by Elaine May" T-shirt a couple of years ago has moved on to "Directed by Barbara Loden" T-shirts.

http://phildellio.tripod.com/loden.jpg

been hearing a lot about Wanda in the last month, trailer looked good. "an American Jeanne Dielman" sounds great

it's a lot shorter...

Watched Wanda around the time of the road movie poll, it's fucking great.

Btw Morbs I can't remember which thread you posted it in, but that female cinematographers season looked really good.

Also, Wanda can't stand the heat, so she gets out of the kitchen.

it was NY film snobs! series just ended at Lincoln Center

xp

Caught a screening of Wanda yesterday, preceded by two 1975 shorts which are apparently the only other films directed by Barbara Loden. The Frontier Experience was quite excellent (she also plays the lead in it).

But... The Boy Who Liked Deer, just 18 minutes long, is perhaps the saddest film I've ever seen. If this was actually shown to school kids, that's incredible.

would love to see that, has the recent Wanda restoration gotten a home video release? I saw it about a month ago, really great, a movie made by its final shot.

The Boy Who Liked Deer is on youtube, I see

Wanda is under the Janus Films umbrella, that means a CC eventually

I watched The Boy Who Liked Deer tonight. It would make a good double bill with Cipher in the Snow.

xp crossing fingers for Kanopy access

I'm in no rush to revisit Wanda, but I'd love to see those shorts on a loaded Criterion (or other label) blu-ray disc.

re Wanda, Elia Kazan and...

Mel Brooks LEGEND pic.twitter.com/IZvkI4mvzp

— Peter Labuza (@labuzamovies) January 9, 2019

btw Criterion of Wanda drops March 19

https://www.criterion.com/films/29450-wanda

Olivia Wilde's Booksmart beats you senseless for an hour--appropriate that "You Oughta Know" figures prominently (first time I've ever not hated it)--but I found the last 20 minutes or so (everything post-party) rather sweet, and I'd guardedly recommend it.

I agree it's an often fraught movie but this is a strange thread in which to post the criticism. It would work in the x movie thread.

I liked booksmart enough that I was bummed it didn’t make me laugh much. It was an 11am showing on a Sunday and the rest of the audience weren’t laughing either so the circumstances were tough. idk it was pretty much exactly this tho

these are the only jokes in like 90% of movies now pic.twitter.com/Qap6VJIK6O

— Nicole Silverberg (@nsilverberg) June 16, 2019

(xpost) I sometimes post thoughts in the last-x thread, but I usually try to find something a bit more specific...not that this is all that specific, but it's the best I could do without starting a new thread (which the film may warrant--as much as Eighth Grade, I'd say).

In retrospect, you're right to keep it here; like you, I think it's not as solid as Eighth Grade.

What I liked best: that the film ends up aligning itself with the time-honored tradition of high school movies that argue there's-more-uniting-us-than-separating-us (which, in the here and now, when you're actually in high school, is a complete fantasy; it's only credible with some time and perspective--and maybe not even then, but it's a nice thought).

One thing that leaves me at a complete loss: where the line of acceptability is for over-the-top caricature. The two gay students...If Chris Rock (or fill-in-the-blank) tried something like that, he'd be run out of town. It doesn't outrage me or anything--I basically never get outraged at the movies, just bored--I'm just curious. If there's controversy over these two characters, it hasn't reached me.

You misread that sentence; it's less polished than Eight Grade (in that it's like a bulldozer), but I think it's a more interesting film.

(I'm talking about the two guys--maybe the gay lead is seen as a fair trade-off.)

A rewatch of Wandayesterday, and that educational short by Barbara Loden about the frontier mentioned above. It's halfway into her interview w/ Dick Cavett from 1970 before the other guests chime in with questions -- Jimmy Breslin and Howard Cosell.

The loser thief Wanda hooks up with is treated with surprising depth, I think, w/out letting him off the hook or painting him as anything but damaged and cruel.

I hadn't realized Loden stayed married to Elia Kazan from '67 til her death; I thought they split up at some point.

Also, I've been to the religious theme park that Wanda and Mr Dennis visit. It's in Waterbury CT, and is essentially in ruins as it closed in 1984.

XP According to the You Must Remember This about Loden, they had agreed to divorce when she got her cancer diagnosis.

They were more or less separated for a lot of the '70s.

pauline kael was so mean to barbara loden in her review

cavett is sort of a prick to her too in that interview

sort of in the way of the era

for sure, tho unusual for Cavett

Not really, bcz he's *trying* to be 1970-woke ("It must be harder to raise money for a film when you're a woman") but then puts his foot in it anyway. Similar Cavett moment in the trailer for the recent Toni Morrison doc. He was nailed by Rick Moranis' namedropping impression on SCTV.

on the history of women editors

https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/6582-hidden-histories-the-story-of-women-film-editors

S.C. centennial

https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/6616-celebrating-shirley-clarke

new Lupino set

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2019/09/ida-lupino-box-set

A woman I grew up with on Fire Island is making quite the name for herself as a director right now and it’s so awesome. Can’t wait to see what she ends up doing. This is her latest project: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.indiewire.com/2019/09/the-rhythm-section-trailer-blake-lively-reed-morano-1202174816/amp/

That Lupino set was announced maaaaybe a day or two after I bought The Hitch-Hiker. Which was pretty annoying. But the set doesn't contain Outrage which is a bit of an outrage unto itself.

Went to see Hustlers the other night, good stuff

I recommend the pre-Code alcoholic romance Merrily We Go to Hell, directed by Dorothy Arzner (who quit directing features in the mid '40s, but later taught F Coppola at UCLA). Fredric March is a newspaperman turned playwright (a warmup lush for his Star Is Born role), Sylvia Sidney is his 'doormat' heiress wife, and when they end up in an open marriage she takes revenge with Cary Grant (one scene). Recently issued on a Universal disc.

https://www.screenslate.com/features/172

^^^ watching this afternoon on Criterion Channel (recently added).

Just watched Working Girls, which the Criterion Channel just put up as a companion to MWGtH. The screenwriters and director must have worked hard to get a happy ending for foolish sister May and wise sister June, in the big city and surrounded by men of varying morals. But they achieved it.

Related topic: Why do discussions of women in film rarely discuss female screenwriters?

well we all love rio bravo

https://www.criterion.com/films/27854-daisies

Great film! I saw Chytilová's follow-up The Fruit of Paradise but don't remember anything other than bewilderment.

My favourite film! Got to see it on the big screen a few times, the best was last year with a p raucous audience of mainly students who were v nonplussed but loved it

There's already an excellent blu-ray of this from Second Run, a label that's shown far greater commitment to East European cinema than Criterion. They also offer other Chytilová films:

https://www.secondrundvd.com/release_daisiesBD.html

Susan Seidelman memoir: https://read.macmillan.com/lp/desperately-seeking-something-9781250328212/

Criterion releasing an early Martha Coolidge film: https://www.criterion.com/films/33619-not-a-pretty-picture

That looks really interesting--amazed I've never heard of it. (Liked Valley Girl when it came out, also a rewatch years later.)