Bite-sized blog post: Susan Seidelman

Susan-Seidelman-on-the-set-of-Desperately-Seeking-Susan-2

After graduating from NYU Susan Seidelman did what many filmmakers did in the eighties and made an indie film on a shoe string budget which received critical acclaim, Smithereens (1982).

Following the success of Smithereens Seidelman went on to make the classic Desperately Seeking Susan giving her neighbor Madonna her first film role

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Where to watch her films:

NETFLIX

FANDOR

AMAZON (PRIME-STREAMING)

AMAZON (DVDs for PURCHASE)

Read more about her:

ONLINE
In Praise of Madonna’s DGAF Style inDesperately Seeking Susan
Once More Into the Groove: ‘Desperately Seeking Susan’ Turns 25, New York Times
The Hollywood Interview
Interviewing Susan Seidelman: From Madonna to Menopause
Sets and the City: On the History of Smithereens
Wikipedia

FILMOGRAPHY (from imdb):

2011Musical Chairs
2009-2010The Electric Company (TV Series) (4 episodes)
Jules Quest (2010)
 2009Madonna: Celebration – The Video Collection (Video) (video “Into the Groove”)
 2005Boynton Beach Club
 2005Stella (TV Series) (2 episodes)
Paper Route (2005)
Office Party (2005)
 2004The Ranch (TV Movie)
 2002Power and Beauty (TV Movie)
 2001Gaudi Afternoon
 1999Now and Again (TV Series) (1 episode)
 1999A Cooler Climate (TV Movie)
 1998Sex and the City (TV Series) (3 episodes)
The Baby Shower (1998)
Sex and the City (1998)
 1996Tales of Erotica (segment “Dutch Master, The”)
 1996Early Edition (TV Series) (1 episode)
Thief Swipes Mayor’s Dog (1996)
 1995The Barefoot Executive (TV Movie)
 1993The Dutch Master (Short)
 1989She-Devil
 1989Cookie

Bite-sized blog post: Elaine May

mayshooting

 

Known for her comedy, ELAINE MAY was one of very few women in Hollywood to direct films in the 1970s. An actor and director she has helmed now classic films such as Neil Simon’s The Heartbreak Kid (1972).

After the financial and critical disaster of Ishtar May has acted in several films but hasn’t directed since (arguably a fate that would not have befallen an equally skilled male director). She is slated to direct a documentary on her comedian partner Mike Nichols who passed away in November 2014.

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Where to watch her films:

FANDOR

AMAZON (PRIME-STREAMING)

AMAZON (DVDs for PURCHASE)

Read more about her:

ONLINE
The Autobiography of a Soul
Elaine May to Direct Mike Nichols Documentary for PBS
Jewish Women’s Archive
Film Directors’ Site
Unpacking the short but prickly filmography of Elaine May
Wikipedia

FILMOGRAPHY (from imdb):

 1987Ishtar

Bite-sized blog post: Chantal Akerman

Chantal Akerman

 

I had the opportunity to study with CHANTAL AKERMAN right before she left this world in October 2015. She was definitely eccentric in her brilliance and never filtered her points of view … which sometimes caused for controversy… nonetheless she clearly cared about film and those studying it and her passion for it never dulled.

Best known in academic and art house circles for her feminist epic Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975) which she directed at the young age of 25 Akerman vacillated between documentaries and fiction but always remained faithful to expressing the truth as she saw it.

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Where to watch her films:

FANDOR

HULU

AMAZON (PRIME-STREAMING)

AMAZON (DVDs/BluRays for PURCHASE)

CRITERION COLLECTION

Read more about her:

ONLINE
Chantal Akerman: extraordinary artist of the everyday who we will miss for ever
Travelling Shots in Chantal Akerman’s D’est (aka From the East, 1993)
Then as Now, the Terrors of the Routine
New York Times Obituary
The New Yorker
Sense of Cinema
Wikipedia

FILMOGRAPHY (from imdb):

2015No Home Movie (Documentary)
 2009À l’Est avec Sonia Wieder-Atherton (TV Movie documentary)
 2007State of the World (segment “Tombée de nuit sur Shanghai”)
 2006Down There (Documentary)
 2003Avec Sonia Wieder-Atherton (TV Movie documentary)
 2002/IFrom the Other Side (Documentary)
 1999Sud (Documentary)
 1997Cinéma, de notre temps (TV Series documentary) (1 episode)
 1993From the East (Documentary)
 1993Monologues (TV Series) (1 episode)
 1991Lest We Forget (segment “Pour Febe Elisabeth Velasquez, El Salvador”)
 1986La paresse (Short)
 1986Le marteau (Short)
 1986Mallet-Stevens (Short)
 1986Seven Women, Seven Sins (segment “Portrait d’une Paresseuse”)
 1984Paris vu par… 20 ans après (segment “1 “J’ai faim, J’ai froid”)
 1983L’homme à la valise (TV Movie)
 1983On Tour with Pina Bausch (TV Movie documentary)
 1983Les années 80 (Documentary)
 1980Dis-moi (TV Movie)
 1977News from Home (Documentary)
 1975Jeanne Dielman, 23 Commerce Quay, 1080 Brussels (as Chantal Anne Akerman)
 1973Hanging Out Yonkers (Short)
 1973Le 15/8 (Short)
 1972Hôtel Monterey (Documentary)
 1972La chambre (Short)
 1968Saute ma ville (Short)

Bite-sized blog post: Maggie Greenwald

Maggie Greenwald

Unlike many up -and-coming filmmakers in the 1980s who went the film school route MAGGIE GREENWALD learned the ropes of filmmaking directly through working on sets, driving vans, editing and exposing herself to the ins-and-outs of the industry before making her first feature Home Remedy (1987).

Her film noir The Kill-Off (1989) based on the novel by Jim Thompson is listed as one of the top 100 American Independent Films by the British Film Institute. Greenwald went on to direct The Ballad of Little Joe (1993) taking over the traditionally male-genre of the Western and putting a woman at the center of it and she continues to direct films and for television.

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Where to watch her films:

NETFLIX

AMAZON (PRIME-STREAMING)

AMAZON (DVDs for PURCHASE)

Read more about her:

ONLINE
Find her on Twitter
Maggie Greenwald’s Website
IndieWire – INTERVIEW: Imagecatcher; The Ballad of Maggie Greenwald
BFI
Filmdirectors Site
Wikipedia

FILMOGRAPHY (from imdb):

 2011Good Morning, Killer (TV Movie)
 2005Wildfire (TV Series) (1 episode)
The Party (2005)
 2003Comfort and Joy (TV Movie)
 2003Tempted (TV Movie)
 2002Get a Clue (TV Movie)
 2001What Makes a Family (TV Movie)
 2000Songcatcher
 1996-1997The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo (TV Series) (9 episodes)
Inspector 34 (1994)
Sick Day (1994)

Bite-sized blog post: Julie Dash

Julie Dash behind the camera

The first film directed by an African-American woman to be released theatrically didn’t happen until 1991 with Daughters of the Dust directed by JULIE DASH.

Dash was first exposed to cinematography in an after-school program at the Studio Museum in Harlem where she and a friend believed they were enrolling in a class on still photography, not knowing what cinematography was. She went on to study at AFI with cinema legends such as Ingmar Bergman and UCLA at the tail end of the movement that became known as the LA Rebellion. Keep an eye out for Travel Notes of a Geechee Girl coming soon!

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


Where to watch her films:

AMAZON (DVDs/BluRays for PURCHASE)

WOMEN MAKE MOVIES FILM CATALOG

VIMEO

Read more about her:

ONLINE
Find her on Twitter
Find her on Facebook
Watch her interview for the 2nd Sex
Flavorwire Interview
Julie Dash and the ongoing struggle of black women filmmakers 
UCLA – Julie Dash & the LA Rebellion
Wikipedia

FILMOGRAPHY (from imdb):

 2002The Rosa Parks Story (TV Movie)
 2000Love Song (TV Movie)
 1999Incognito (TV Movie)
 1997SUBWAYStories: Tales from the Underground (TV Movie) (segment “Sax Cantor Riff”)

 1997Women: Stories of Passion (TV Series) (1 episode)

 1982Illusions (Short)
 1975Four Women (Short)

Bite-sized blog post: Dorothy Arzner

Dorothy Arzner

After returning home from the first World War  where she worked in the ambulance corps DOROTHY ARZNER decided against medical studies and chose to pursue a career in film directing. She began her career as a writer and editor at Paramount Pictures and eventually leveraged her success in those arenas by telling the powers that be at Paramount if they didn’t give her a directing opportunity she would move to rival studio Columbia.

Paramount gave her Fashions for Women (1927)  to direct which was a financial success and led to her being the only woman working as a director in the studio system at the time.

Tying a microphone to a pole during a scene in an attempt to get better sound she invented what is now known as the boom!

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Where to watch her films:

FANDOR

AMAZON (PRIME-STREAMING)

AMAZON (DVDs/BluRays for PURCHASE)

Read more about her:
BOOKS
Directed by Dorothy Arzner by Judith Mayne

ONLINE
Columbia University Women Film Pioneers Project
Dorothy Arzner is the focus of a retrospective by UCLA Film and Television Archive
UCLA
Sense of Cinema
Sophisticated: The Hollywood Story of Miss Dorothy Arzner
Wikipedia

FILMOGRAPHY (from imdb):

 1937The Last of Mrs. Cheyney (uncredited)
 1934Nana
 1930Galas de la Paramount (sequence director)
 1930Behind the Make-Up (uncredited)
 1922Blood and Sand (additional footage, uncredited)

Bite-sized blog post: Jessica Yu

Jessica Yu behind the camera

The 1996 documentary short Breathing Lessons: The Life and Work of Mark O’Brien won JESSICA YU an Oscar for Best Documentary Short where she quipped, “You know you’ve entered new territory when you realize that your outfit cost more than your film.”

Yu never attended film school but has gone on to direct for television, as well as documentary and fiction features and experimental films – including the 2008 film Ping Pong Playa.

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Where to watch her films:

NETFLIX

FANDOR

AMAZON (PRIME-STREAMING)

AMAZON (DVDs for PURCHASE)

VIMEO

Read more about her:

ONLINE
Find her on Facebook
DGA Close-up
Director Jessica Yu Paves The Way For Women in Filmmaking
Indiewire Interview
Los Angeles Times Interview
Wikipedia

FILMOGRAPHY (from imdb):

 2013The Guide (Documentary) (completed)
 2015American Crime (TV Series) (1 episode)
Episode Nine (2015)
 2012-2014Parenthood (TV Series) (4 episodes)
Too Big to Fail (2014)
 2014/IMisconception (Documentary)
 2012Scandal (TV Series) (1 episode)
Blown Away (2012)
 2012Meet Mr Toilet (Short)
2006-2011Grey’s Anatomy (TV Series) (6 episodes)
Heart-Shaped Box (2011)
 2011Last Call at the Oasis (Documentary)
 2009The Kinda Sutra (Documentary short)
 2007Protagonist (Documentary)
 2001-2004The West Wing (TV Series) (3 episodes)
Real-To-Reel (2004)
 2004In the Realms of the Unreal (Documentary)
 2003The Lyon’s Den (TV Series) (1 episode)
Pilot (2003)
 2003Mister Sterling (TV Series) (1 episode)
The Sins of the Father (2003)
2003The Guardian (TV Series) (1 episode)
You Belong to Me (2003)
 2002ER (TV Series) (1 episode)
Bygones (2002)
 1998The Living Museum (Documentary)
 1998Better Late (Short)
 1993Sour Death Balls (Short)

Bite-sized blog post: Lynn Shelton

Lynn Shelton

Seattle-based filmmaker LYNN SHELTON directed her first film We Go Way Back (2006) in her late-thirties after being inspired by a lecture with French director Claire Denis where Denis informed the audience she hadn’t made her first film until she was forty proving it was possible.

Shelton has continued to write and direct indie features including Humpday (2009) and Your Sister’s Sister (2011) which have both been remade by French filmmakers.

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Where to watch her films:

NETFLIX

AMAZON (PRIME-STREAMING)

AMAZON (DVDs/BluRays for PURCHASE)

HULU

Read more about her:

ONLINE
Find her on Facebook
Find her on Twitter
Director Lynn Shelton on Her Female Quarter-Life Crisis Film, Laggies
Lynn Shelton on Whether to Call Herself a ‘Woman Director’
‘Laggies’ Director Lynn Shelton on the Need for More Flawed Women on Screen
Wikipedia

FILMOGRAPHY (from imdb):

Fresh Off the Boat (TV Series) (6 episodes)
The Big 1-2 (2015)
Shaquille O’Neal Motors (2015)
Family Business Trip (2015)
Showdown at the Golden Saddle (2015)
Persistent Romeo (2015)
Show all 6 episodes
 2015 Master of None (TV Series) (2 episodes)
Ladies and Gentlemen (2015)
Old People (2015)
 2014-2015 The Mindy Project (TV Series) (2 episodes)
Danny Castellano Is My Nutritionist (2015)
I Slipped (2014)
 2012-2014 New Girl (TV Series) (5 episodes)
Dice (2014)
Mars Landing (2014)
First Date (2013)
Pepperwood (2013)
Injured (2012)
 2014 Laggies
 2013 Touchy Feely
2012 Ben and Kate (TV Series) (1 episode)
The Trip (2012)
 2011 Your Sister’s Sister
 2010 Mad Men (TV Series) (1 episode)
Hands and Knees (2010)
 2009 $5 Cover: Seattle (TV Series)
 2009 Humpday
 2008 My Effortless Brilliance
 2008 What the Funny (Video)
 2006 We Go Way Back

Bite-sized blog: Maria Giese

Maria Giese

When Saturday Comes (1996), the first feature directed by MARIA GIESE came directly on the heels of her matriculation at UCLA – in fact the deal to get the movie made was inked before she even graduated.

That first feature led to her being signed by the iconic agency William Morris. After facing years of closed doors with male only signs she started her own blog and went to the ACLU to get those doors open for all female filmmakers!

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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 on Twitter
Maria’s Website
Women Directors: Navigating the Hollywood Boys’ Club
“Troublemaker” Who Launched Hollywood’s EEOC Gender Probe: I “Don’t Regret” Starting the Fight
Female film directors are on outside looking in, but will ACLU flip the script?
Wikipedia

FILMOGRAPHY (from imdb):

 2001Hunger

Bite-sized blog post: Ava DuVernay

Ava DuVernay

After being told, “African Americans don’t go to indie films so we can’t fund your indie film with an African American cast,” AVA DUVERNAY made Middle of Nowhere (2012) without industry support and it screened at Sundance where she became the first African American woman to win Best Director at the festival. Using her experience as a publicist she formed a distribution company AFFRM to distribute her own films and those of other African American filmmakers.

Her next feature  film Selma (2013) was nominated for an Academy Award and she re-branded her distribution company AFFRM to ARRAY to encompass female filmmakers as well as people of color.

 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)

VIMEO

Read more about her:

ONLINE
Find her on Facebook
Find her on Twitter
Ava DuVernay’s Website
ARRAY Website
Ava DuVernay’s AFFRM Rebrands as ARRAY, Acquires 2 Films
Barbie Made An Ava DuVernay Doll
Selma Director Ava DuVernay Says the Oscars Are “Just a Room in L.A.”
Wikipedia

FILMOGRAPHY (from imdb):

2015Queen Sugar (TV Series) (pre-production)
 2015For Justice (TV Movie)
 2014Selma
 2013Scandal (TV Series) (1 episode)
Vermont Is for Lovers, Too (2013)
2013Nine for IX (TV Series documentary) (1 episode)
Venus vs. (2013)
 2013/VIIIThe Door (Short)
 2009Compton in C Minor (Short)
 2008This Is the Life (Documentary)
 2006Saturday Night Life (Short)