THE 2ND SEX &amp; THE 7TH ART: WOMEN DIRECTORS IN FILM

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Bite-sized blog post: Stacy Title

STACY TITLE began as an investigative journalist before directing her first short film Down on the Waterfront (1993) which played at Sundance and was nominated for an Academy Award.

Her first feature film The Last Supper (1995) starred Cameron Diaz and Courtney B. Vance. Her upcoming feature The Bye Bye Man written by her husband Jonathan Penner is a thriller co-produced by Los Angeles Media Fund.

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AMAZON (Streaming)

Bite-sized blog post: Desiree Akhavan

DESIREE AKHAVAN produced a television series The Slope after attending NYU for an MFA.

She then went on to make the feature film Appropriate Behavior (2014) which premiered at Sundance and garnered Akhavan a nomination for best debut script at the Independent Spirit Awards.

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VIMEO

THE SLOPE ON VIMEO

Bite-sized blog post: Jill Soloway

Emmy Award winning director of the Amazon show Transparent JILL SOLOWAY began her career as a writer and only recently took on the role of director when she told her husband she wanted to invest in a feature film and take it to Sundance.

In 2013 her feature directorial debut Afternoon Delight debuted at Sundance.

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AMAZON (DVDs for PURCHASE)

VIMEO

Bite-sized blog post: Patty Jenkins

PATTY JENKINS attended AFI and then made her first feature film Monster (2003) starring Charlize Theron – who won an Oscar for her portrayal of serial killer Aileen Wuornos.

Jenkins then was signed to direct Marvel superhero movie Thor 2 before disagreements with the studio led to her being let go (much to star Nathalie Portman’s disapproval). She is now set to direct Wonder Woman.

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HULU

Bite-sized blog post: Kimberly Pierce

KIMBERLY PEIRCE began working on her first feature Boys Don’t Cry (1999) while a graduate student at Columbia film school. She started by making a self-funded short catching the attention of producer Christine Vachon who would help her turn it into a feature.

The remake of the Stephen King classic Carrie (2013) directed by Peirce was only one of two female helmed films to be in the top 100 grossing films of that year.

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AMAZON (PRIME STREAMING)

HULU

Bite-sized blog post: Amy Heckerling

AMY HECKERLING studied at NYU and then went on to get her MFA at AFI. Shedirected the now classic film Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) and went on to direct the cult classic Clueless (1995).

She most recently directed for the Amazon series Red Oaks.

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Bite-sized blog post: Jane Campion

The first woman to win the Palme d’Or was JANE CAMPION for her film The Piano (1993) which also made her the second woman nominated for an Oscar for Best Director (Lina Wertmüller was nominated before Campion in 1976 for her film Seven Beauties).

In 2013 Campion took over as Cannes Jury President, the year after a petition was circulated when no women directors were represented at the festival. As Campion said about the sexism in the industry, “Excuse me gentlemen, but the guys seem to eat all the cake. It’s not that I resent the male filmmakers. I love all of them. But there is something that women are thinking of doing that we don’t get to know enough about. It’s always a surprise when a woman filmmaker does come about.”

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Bite-sized blog post: Jodie Foster

JODIE FOSTER grew up in Hollywood and in 2013 she won the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award for “outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment.” She went after directing with as much force and insight as she did in pursuit of acting roles. At one point she reached out to French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet and expressed interesting in appearing in a film of his convincing him her French was up to par and she would play any size role despite her Hollywood status because she so admired his filmmaking.

In 1993 Jodie Foster started her own production company Egg Pictures after directing her first feature Little Man Tate (1993). She found out about the Netflix series Orange is the New Black and intrigued by the book it was based on and the show itself she reached out to get a directing gig on the show for which she was nominated for an Emmy.

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Bite-sized blog post: Kasi Lemmons

In 1997 Roger Ebert. wrote of KASI LEMMON’s first feature film, “There has been no more assured and powerful film debut this year than Eve’s Bayou.” She won the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature that year.

Lemmons appeared as an actor in several films before her directorial debut and has gone on to direct several feature films with notable actors and in 2002 gave the tribute to Sidney Poitier at the 74th Academy Awards celebration.

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AMAZON (PRIME STREAMING)