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

Bite-sized blog post: Martha Coolidge

MARTHA COOLIDGE was the first female president of the Directors Guild of America from 2002-2003. She got her MFA at NYU before moving to Los Angeles to begin her career as a director.

Her first feature film Not a Pretty Picture (1976) is a hybrid documentary fiction film exploring a date rape Coolidge suffered as a young woman. She went on to direct commercial fiction feature films starting with Valley Girl (1983) which launched Nicholas Cage’s career as well as her own.

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Where to watch her films:

VIMEO

Bite-sized blog post: Ida Lupino

One of the only women to work as a director in Hollywood in the 1940s IDA LUPINO began her career as an actress and succeeded directing and acting in numerous films of the era – specializing in noir.

Well before “indie film” became a household phrase she, along with her husband, ventured out on her own to direct and produce her own work outside of the studio system. As the only woman in the DGA meetings opened with, “Gentleman – and Mrs. Lupino.”

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Where to watch her films:

FANDOR

AMAZON (DVDs for PURCHASE)

Bite-sized blog post: Deborah Kampmeier

DEBORAH KAMPMEIER made her first film Virgin (2003) with a budget of only $65,000.00 thanks to digital technology and to actress Robin Wright who agreed to take part in the film despite the lack of a big budget because she loved the script and knew and respected Kampmeier. The film went on to critical acclaim and to receive the accolades of audiences.

Kampmeier’s second film Hounddog (2007) was plagued with controversy due to a rape scene involving the then 12 year old Dakota Fanning. The scene in no way exploited Fanning due to the way in which it was shot but the controversy eclipsed the reality and ignored the horror of the story being told which is a reality for many young girls and focused on the fictional circumstances of the actress playing the scene. Kampmeier teaches acting in NYC and continues to direct.

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Bite-sized blog post: Mira Nair

MIRA NAIR began her career as a documentarian and then went on to make fiction films including one of Denzel Washington’s first features Mississippi Masala (1991).

Born and raised in India, Nair moved to the United States to study on a scholarship at Harvard before embarking on her film career.

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Bite-sized blog post: Jennifer Phang

San Francisco-based filmmaker born in Berkeley JENNIFER PHANG attended AFI for an MFA and went on to make sci-fi films Half-Life and Advantageous.

Phang is one of six women chosen for the 2015-2016 Women of Sundance Fellowship.

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Where to watch her films:

VIMEO

Bite-sized blog post: Susan Seidelman

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:

FANDOR

AMAZON (DVDs for PURCHASE)

Bite-sized blog post: 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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Bite-sized blog post: Ava DuVernay

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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.

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