Bite-sized blog post: Kathryn Bigelow

Kathryn Bigelow

Of course she is most famous as the first and as of the writing of this post (which hopefully becomes obsolete soon) the only woman to win a Best Director Oscar for her film The Hurt Locker (2008). KATHRYN BIGELOW earned her Master’s in film at Columbia where she studied criticism and theory and finished a short film The Set -Up (1978) which deconstructs the violence in cinema with a soundtrack of philosophy paired with visuals of two men engaged in a fight.

That short informed her subsequent work – and her first feature film after winning the Oscar Zero Dark Thirty (2012). Her artistic abilities were aided by her marketing savvy early in her career which can be demonstrated with films like Near Dark (1987) a vampire-western which Bigelow pursued because she had a desire to make a Western but knew that vampire films were popular at the time.

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Where to watch her films:

NETFLIX

AMAZON (PRIME-STREAMING)

AMAZON (DVDs/BluRays for PURCHASE)

Read more about her:

BOOKS
The Cinema of Kathryn Bigelow: Hollywood Transgressor (Directors’ Cuts) 

ONLINE
Find her on Facebook
Find Zero Dark on Twitter
Variety
Kathryn Bigelow: We Must End Gender Discrimination in Hollywood
The Films of Kathryn Bigelow, Ranked From Worst to Best
New York Times
Wikipedia

FILMOGRAPHY (from imdb):

 2014Last Days (Short)
 2011The Miraculous Year (TV Movie)
 2007Mission Zero (Short)
 2004Karen Sisco (TV Series) (1 episode)
 2000The Weight of Water
 1998-1999Homicide: Life on the Street (TV Series) (3 episodes)
Lines of Fire (1999)
 1995Strange Days
 1993Wild Palms (TV Mini-Series) (1 episode)
Rising Sons (1993)
 1989New Order: Substance (Video short) (video “Touched By The Hand Of God”)
 1987Near Dark
 1978The Set-Up (Short)

Bite-sized blog post: Nancy Meyers

Nancy Meyers

NANCY MEYERS’ first job in Hollywood was as a production assistant on The Price is Right. She then started working as a story editor and wrote her first screenplay Private Benjamin (1980), starring Goldie Hawn.

The first film she wrote and directed was The Parent Trap (1998) – a remake of the 1961 film and she has gone on to make several Hollywood box office hits.

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Where to watch her films:

AMAZON (PRIME STREAMING)

AMAZON (DVDs/BluRays for PURCHASE)

HULU

Read more about her:

ONLINE
Find her on Facebook
New York Magazine
‘The Intern’s Nancy Meyers On The State Of Screenwriting And “Telling Stories About Human Beings”
Nancy Meyers: ‘I don’t see a lot of movies about complicated women … I think it’s gotten worse’
Nancy Meyers on the Importance of Confidence and Why She’s a Writer At Heart
‘Intern’ director Nancy Meyers reflects on changes for working women and in Hollywood
NPR
Wikipedia

FILMOGRAPHY (from imdb):

Bite-sized blog post: Sofia Coppola

 

Sofia Coppola

SOFIA COPPOLA began her career as a still photographer and actress in her famous father’s films, playing an infant in a christening scene in The Godfather (1972).  She learned all about making movies first hand by growing up in the industry and after directing a few shorts made her first feature film The Virgin Suicides (1999) which premiered at Sundance.

She was the third woman to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director with her film Lost in Translation (2003) for which she won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.

More to add to this “bite-sized blog” – please send us a comment!


Where to watch her films:

NETFLIX

AMAZON (PRIME-STREAMING)

AMAZON (DVDs/BluRays for PURCHASE)

HULU

Read more about her:

ONLINE
Fan blog
Sofia Coppola and Brian Reitzell – The filmmaker and her longtime music supervisor on the neon-bright music to new film The Bling Ring, including details on Kanye West’s integral involvement.
Interview
Sofia Coppola – You either love her or hate her. Here’s why.
DGA article by Carrie Rickey
Wikipedia

FILMOGRAPHY (from imdb):

 2010Somewhere
 2005VOID (Video Overview in Deceleration) (Video) (segment “This Here Giraffe”)
 1998Lick the Star (Short)
 1996Bed, Bath and Beyond (Short)

Bite-sized blog post: Jan Eliasberg

Jan Eliasberg

After receiving an MFA from Yale’s drama program and directing for prominent theatre companies JAN ELIASBERG was well-equipped to direct character driven television shows with an emphasis on performance and started out directing for shows such as Cagney & Lacey and LA Law after attending the AFI Directing Workshop for Women.

She was then chosen by Michael Mann to be the first woman to direct an episode of  the action packed TV series Miami Vice which allowed her to segue into directing action. She ended up directing three episodes for the series and then used those action skills to direct her feature film Past Midnight (1991).

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Where to watch her films:

HULU

AMAZON (PRIME-STREAMING)

AMAZON (DVDs/BluRays for PURCHASE)

VIMEO

Read more about her:

ONLINE
Find her on Facebook
Find her on Twitter
Jan Eliasberg Website
HBIC: An interview with kick-ass female director Jan Eliasberg
Jan Eliasberg Expands Career From Stage To Film : A Director Broadens Her Horizons
Wikipedia

FILMOGRAPHY (from imdb):

The Magicians (TV Series) (1 episode)
The Strangled Heart (2016)
 2015Nashville (TV Series) (2 episodes)
Stop the World (And Let Me Off) (2015)
I’m Not That Good at Goodbye (2015)
 2014Reckless (TV Series) (1 episode)
And So It Begins (2014)
 2014Unforgettable (TV Series) (1 episode)
Til Death (2014)
 2011NCIS: Los Angeles (TV Series) (2 episodes)
Greed (2011)
Lockup (2011)
 2011In Plain Sight (TV Series) (1 episode)
Meet the Shannons (2011)
 2011Blue Bloods (TV Series) (1 episode)
Dedication (2011)
 2010Criminal Minds (TV Series) (1 episode)
What Happens at Home… (2010)
 2010Supernatural (TV Series) (1 episode)
You Can’t Handle the Truth (2010)
 2010Parenthood (TV Series) (1 episode)
Seven Names (2010)
 2010Ghost Whisperer (TV Series) (1 episode)
Blessings in Disguise (2010)
 2002-2004Strong Medicine (TV Series) (4 episodes)
Code (2004)
Love and Let Die (2003)
Intensive Care (2003)
Poison (2002)
 1998-2001Any Day Now (TV Series) (5 episodes)
Everyone Deserves to Be Loved (2001)
The Toolshed Behind the Church (2000)
You Promise? I Promise (1999)
Chapter One (1999)
It’s Who You Sleep With (1998)
 2001Nash Bridges (TV Series) (1 episode)
Bear Trap (2001)
 2000Dawson’s Creek (TV Series) (1 episode)
Barefoot at Capefest (2000)
 1997-1999Party of Five (TV Series) (3 episodes)
Haunted (1999)
Go Away (1998)
S’Wunnerful Life (1997)
 1997Early Edition (TV Series) (1 episode)
Phantom at the Opera (1997)
 1991-1995Sisters (TV Series) (8 episodes)
Matters of the Heart (1995)
No Pain, No Gain (1995)
Second Thoughts (1993)
The Things We Do for Love (1993)
The Whole Truth (1993)
The First Time (1992)
The Kindness of Stranglers (1991)
Devoted Husband, Loving Father (1991)
 1991Past Midnight
 1990WIOU (TV Series) (1 episode)
Diamond Dogs (1990)
 1988-1990Wiseguy (TV Series) (3 episodes)
Fruit of the Poisonous Tree: Part 2 (1990)
Fruit of the Poisonous Tree: Part 1 (1990)
Aria for Don Aiuppo (1988)
 1990Brewster Place (TV Series) (1 episode)
The Poet (1990)
 1990Booker (TV Series) (2 episodes)
Father’s Day (1990)
Reunion (1990)
 1990The Outsiders (TV Series) (1 episode)
The Stork Club (1990)
 199021 Jump Street (TV Series) (1 episode)
Change of Heart (1990)
 1986-1989L.A. Law (TV Series) (2 episodes)
The Accidental Jurist (1989)
Raiders of the Lost Bark (1986)
 1989TV 101 (TV Series) (1 episode)
The Last Temptation of Checker: Part 2 (1989)
 1988Dirty Dancing (TV Series) (1 episode)
Save the Last Dance for Me (1988)
 1988Lovers, Partners & Spies
 1988Crime Story (TV Series) (1 episode)
Femme Fatale (1988)
 1986-1987Miami Vice (TV Series) (3 episodes)
God’s Work (1987)
Contempt of Court (1987)
Forgive Us Our Debts (1986)
 1987Jack and Mike (TV Series) (1 episode)
Till Death Do Us Part (1987)
 1986Cagney & Lacey (TV Series) (1 episode)
Act of Conscience (1986)

Bite-sized blog post: Claudia Weill

Claudia Weill

Stanley Kubrick praised CLAUDIA WEILL’s first feature film Girlfriends (1978) as one of the most interesting American films of its time, comparable in quality to European films (high praise from Kubrick).

Weill most recently directed for the popular television series Girls.

 More to add to this “bite-sized blog” – please send us a comment!


Where to watch her films:

HULU

AMAZON (PRIME-STREAMING)

AMAZON (DVDs/BluRays for PURCHASE)

Read more about her:

ONLINE
Find her on Facebook
Find her on Twitter
52 Weeks of Directors – Claudia Weill
Girls on Film: Girlfriends, the most influential film about female friendship you’ve never heard of
Columbia University
Roger Ebert Interview
Wikipedia

FILMOGRAPHY (from imdb):

 2013Girls (TV Series) (1 episode)
Boys (2013)
 1999-2001Once and Again (TV Series) (6 episodes)
Thieves Like Us (2001)
Feast or Famine (2000)
Cat-in-Hat (2000)
Sneaky Feelings (2000)
Thanksgiving (1999)
The Past Is Prologue (1999)
 1999Caroline in the City (TV Series) (1 episode)
Caroline and the 2000th Strip (1999)
 1998Giving Up the Ghost (TV Movie)
 1997Nothing Sacred (TV Series) (1 episode)
Parents and Children (1997)
 1996Critical Choices (TV Movie)
 1995Chicago Hope (TV Series) (1 episode)
Great White Hope (1995)
 1994My So-Called Life (TV Series) (1 episode)
Other People’s Mothers (1994)
 1994Birdland (TV Series) (1 episode)
The Man in the Window (1994)
 1992A Child Lost Forever: The Jerry Sherwood Story (TV Movie)
 1991Face of a Stranger (TV Movie)
 1990WIOU (TV Series) (1 episode)
Pilot (1990)
 1987-1989Thirtysomething (TV Series) (3 episodes)
Politics (1989)
Business as Usual (1988)
Nice Work If You Can Get It (1987)
 1987Once a Hero (TV Series) (1 episode)
Pilot (1987)
 1987Cagney & Lacey (TV Series) (1 episode)
Waste Deep (1987)
 1986Johnny Bull (TV Movie)
 1986Fast Times (TV Series) (1 episode)
Secret Romance (1986)
 1986The Twilight Zone (TV Series) (1 episode)
Monsters!/A Small Talent for War/A Matter of Minutes (1986) … (segment “A Small Talent for War”)
 1984ABC Afterschool Specials (TV Series) (1 episode)
The Great Love Experiment (1984)
 1980It’s My Turn
 1978Girlfriends
 1975The Other Half of the Sky: A China Memoir (Documentary)
 1973Big Town (Short)

Bite-sized blog post: Gillian Robespierre

Gillian Robespierre

GILLIAN ROBESPIERRE co-wrote and directed the Independent Spirit Award nominated film Obvious Child (2014) based on the short she created of the same name after graduating from the School of Visual Arts in New York City.

The film was funded in part by a crowdfunding via a Kickstarter campaign and premiered at South by Southwest.

 More to add to this “bite-sized blog” – please send us a comment!


Where to watch her films:

AMAZON (PRIME-STREAMING)

AMAZON (DVDs/BluRays for PURCHASE)

VIMEO

Read more about her:

ONLINE
Find her on Facebook
Find her Twitter
The 20 Best Breakthrough Directors Of 2014
NPR: The Women Behind ‘Obvious Child’ Talk Farts, Abortion And Stage Fright
Kickstarter page for Obvious Child
Wikipedia

FILMOGRAPHY (from imdb): 

2014Obvious Child
 2009Obvious Child (Short)
 2008Beach (Video short) (collaborating director)

Bite-sized blog post: Gurinder Chadha

Gurinder Chadha

GURINDER CHADA was a BBC news reporter who made award winning documentaries in England before her fiction feature film Bend It Like Beckham (2002) became a US (and international) success.

She continues to direct for the screen and has recently turned Bend It Like Beckham into a stage musical.

 More to add to this “bite-sized blog” – please send us a comment!


Where to watch her films:

NETFLIX

AMAZON (PRIME-STREAMING)

AMAZON (DVDs/BluRays for PURCHASE)

Read more about her:

ONLINE
Find her on Facebook
Find her Twitter
The Guardian Articles
British-Indian director Gurinder Chadha to make film on events leading to Partition
Telegraph interview
Wikipedia

FILMOGRAPHY (from imdb):

 2006Paris, je t’aime (segment “Quais de Seine”)
 1995Rich Deceiver (TV Movie)
 1994A Nice Arrangement (Short)
 1992Acting Our Age (Short)
 1992Pain, Passion and Profit (Video documentary)
 1990I’m British But… (TV Short documentary)

Bite-sized blog post: Mimi Leder

Mimi Leder

MIMI LEDER was the first female graduate of the AFI program in 1973.

She directed the hit film Deep Impact (1998) and has a long list of credits despite having opportunities curtailed because of her gender.

 More to add to this “bite-sized blog” – please send us a comment!


Where to watch her films:

HULU

AMAZON (PRIME-STREAMING)

Read more about her:

ONLINE

DGA
Mimi Leder on the Struggles of Being a Female Director
Heroines of Cinema: Mimi Leder and the Impossible Standard for Women Directors in Hollywood
Lesli Linka Glatter & Mimi Leder Team With Indigenous Media For Made By Women Incubator
The Paley Center for Media biography
Wikipedia

FILMOGRAPHY (from imdb):

Dirty Rules (Short) (completed)
 2014-2015The Leftovers (TV Series) (7 episodes)
I Live Here Now (2015)
Axis Mundi (2015)
Gladys (2014)
 2011-2015Shameless (TV Series) (6 episodes)
Drugs Actually (2015)
A Great Cause (2012)
Three Boys (2011)
 2014Almost Human (TV Series) (1 episode)
Perception (2014)
 2013Full Circle (TV Series) (2 episodes)
Celeste & Tim (2013)
Stanley & Jace (2013)
 2012-2013Smash (TV Series) (2 episodes)
The Workshop (2012)
 2012Nashville (TV Series) (1 episode)
Lovesick Blues (2012)
 2012Luck (TV Series) (2 episodes)
 2011Heavenly (TV Movie)
 2010The Quinn-tuplets (TV Movie)
 2010Human Target (TV Series) (1 episode)
 2009U.S. Attorney (TV Movie)
 1994-2009ER (TV Series) (11 episodes)
 2009/IThick as Thieves
 2006Vanished (TV Series) (4 episodes)
Resurrection (2006)
The Tunnel (2006)
Pilot (2006)
 2006The West Wing (TV Series) (1 episode)
Election Day: Part 1 (2006)
 2005Related (TV Series) (1 episode)
Pilot (2005)
 2005Jonny Zero (TV Series) (4 episodes)
Lost and Found (2005)
Pilot (2005)
 2002-2003John Doe (TV Series) (6 episodes)
The Rising (2003)
Ashes to Ashes (2003)
The Mourner (2002)
Blood Lines (2002)
Pilot (2002)
 2001The Beast (TV Series)
 1999Sentimental Journey (Short)
 1994The Innocent (TV Movie)
 1994Baby Brokers (TV Movie)
 1993House of Secrets (TV Movie)
 1993Rio Shannon (TV Movie)
 1993There Was a Little Boy (TV Movie)
 1993Marked for Murder (TV Movie)
 1992Woman with a Past (TV Movie)
 1991A Little Piece of Heaven (TV Movie)
 1988-1991China Beach (TV Series) (13 episodes)
Rewind (1991)
100 Klicks Out (1991)
You, Babe (1990)
Phoenix (1990)
Magic (1990)
Independence Day (1989)
Skin Deep (1989)
 1990Sisters (TV Movie)
 1989Nightingales (TV Series) (1 episode)
Episode #1.2 (1989)
 1988Midnight Caller (TV Series) (1 episode)
 1988Nightingales (TV Movie)
 1988The Bronx Zoo (TV Series) (1 episode)
On the Land, on the Sea and in the Halls (1988)
 1988Crime Story (TV Series) (1 episode)
The Hearings (1988)
 1988A Year in the Life (TV Series) (2 episodes)
Glory Days (1988)
The Little Disturbance of Man (1988)
 1987L.A. Law (TV Series) (2 episodes)

Bite-sized blog post: Dawn Porter

Dawn Porter

DAWN PORTER is a documentary filmmaker whose directorial debut Gideon’s Army (2013) premiered on HBO. The film about public defenders allowed her to use her knowledge as an attorney as well as skills as a filmmaker.

She runs the production company Trilogy Films and her second film Spies of Mississippi (2014) was part of the PBS Independent Lens Series.

 

 More to add to this “bite-sized blog” – please send us a comment!


Where to watch her films:

NETFLIX

AMAZON (PRIME-STREAMING)

VIMEO

PBS

Read more about her:

ONLINE
Find her on Facebook
Find her on Twitter
Trilogy-Films Website
Dawn Porter took a big leap from lawyer to a filmmaker
PBS
Wikipedia

FILMOGRAPHY (from imdb):

 2016Trapped (Documentary)

 2014Independent Lens (TV Series documentary) (1 episode)

 2014Spies of Mississippi (Documentary)
 2013Gideon’s Army (Documentary)

Bite-sized blog post: Shirley Clarke

Shirley Clarke

SHIRLEY CLARKE began her career as a dancer and choreographer and used those skills as a filmmaker.

Her first feature The Connection (1962) was based on the play by Jack Gelber about heroine addicted jazz musicians, shot in the cinematic realism style of the 1960s Clarke was one of the directors breaking ground in a new style of cinema.

 More to add to this “bite-sized blog” – please send us a comment!


Where to watch her films:

FANDOR

AMAZON (DVDs/BluRays for PURCHASE)

Read more about her:

ONLINE
Senses of Cinema
Shirley Clarke’s ‘Connection’: Will It Click At Last?
Shirley Clarke website
To the Beat of Shirley Clarke
New York Times Obituary
Wikipedia

FILMOGRAPHY (from imdb):

 1985Ornette: Made in America (Documentary)
 1983The Box (Short)
 1982Performance (Short)
 1982Tongues (Video short)
 1981Savage/Love (Short)
 1980A Visual Diary (Short)
 1978One-2-3 (Video short)
 1978Trans (Video short)
 1967Portrait of Jason (Documentary)
 1960Skyscraper (Short documentary)
 1958Bridges-Go-Round (Short)
 1957Brussels Loops (Short)
 1956Moment in Love (Short)
 1955Bullfight (Short)
 1954In Paris Parks (Short)
 1953Dance in the Sun (Short)