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

Bite-sized blog post: Dee Rees

DEE REES began studying business and then went on to get her MFA from NYU. She interned for Spike Lee before making her first feature film Pariah (2011) based on the short she directed of the same name. The film premiered at Sundance and she then went on to write and direct the Emmy award winning HBO film Bessie (2015).

She is currently developing a television series with Shonda Rhimes.

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Bite-sized blog post: Amy Seimetz

AMY SEIMETZ began her career producing and directing shorts. Her first feature film Sun Don’t Shine (2008) was simultaneously released theatrically and digitally by Factory 25.

She has gone on to direct for the television series The Girlfriend Experience based on the film by Stephen Soderbergh.

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Where to watch her films:

AMAZON (PRIME STREAMING)

Bite-sized blog post: Cheryl Dunye

After directing and producing several shorts CHERYL DUNYE made her first feature film The Watermelon Woman (1996) exploring sexuality and race and film, funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment of the Arts.

After the success of The Watermelon Woman and the HBO movie Stranger Inside (2001) Dunye directed the Hollywood vehicle My Baby’s Daddy (2004) written by Eddie Griffin. She continues to write and direct as well as teaching at various Universities in California.

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FIRST RUN FEATURES

AMAZON (PRIME STREAMING)

VIMEO

Bite-sized blog post: Agnès Varda

Despite being only a few years older than Truffaut and Godard AGNÉS VARDA is known as the Grandmother of the French New Wave. With a background in art not cinema, her first film La Pointe Courte (1955) was made in her hometown without film training but by her simply picking up a camera and making it happen which has proven the inspiration for many of her subsequent films.

Varda did a brief stint in Hollywood where she directed Lions Love a film about New York transplants (including some of the famous Warhol crowd) in Los Angeles and a short documentary about the Black Panthers. Her time in Los Angeles was short lived but she returned to France to continue making movies and just last year at the age of 87 premiered her short Les 3 boutons at the Venice Film Festival.

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AMAZON (DVDs for PURCHASE)

Bite-sized blog post: Bette Gordon

When BETTE GORDON attended film school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison MFA film program she was one of two woman and one of her professors joked when they were working with a Bolex camera “do you girls even know how to use that thing?” She became an expert and has gone on to teach film classes at Columbia as well as continuing to direct award winning features including Luminous Motion (2000) based on the novel by Scott Bradfield and Handsome Harry (2009).

Her most recent feature starring Josh Charles and Julia Stiles, Border Crossers is in post-production.

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AMAZON (DVDs for PURCHASE)

VIMEO

Bite-sized blog post: Debra Granik

Before attending New York University’s MFA program in Film DEBRA GRANIK worked as a videographer for trade unions where she first became interested in characters and sharing their stories.

In 2011 her film Winter’s Bone was nominated for an Academy Award and catapulted Jennifer Lawrence into the category of A-list actor.

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Where to watch her films:

AMAZON (DVDs for PURCHASE)

Bite-sized blog post: Nancy Savoca

NANCY SAVOCA graduated with an MFA from NYU and then went on to self-fund her first feature True Love (1989) which won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. She then went on to direct Dogfight (1991) for Warner Brothers.

She continues to direct independent films and for television. Her company Cine-Si is a collaboration with her husband, film producer Rich Guay.

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iTunes

Bite-sized blog post: Leslie Harris

LESLIE HARRIS was the first African American woman to win a Special Jury Prize at Sundance with her debut feature film Just Another Girl on the I.R.T. (1992). She got distribution for the film with Miramax for the self-financed, self-produced feature which she edited on her own in her apartment.

Harris teaches at New York University and is fundraising for her feature I Love Cinema.

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Where to watch her films:

VIMEO

Bite-sized blog post: Nicole Holofcener

At the beginning of her studies at Columbia’s MFA program NICOLE HOLOFCENER considered herself a screenwriter but soon realized she liked directing her own work.

After graduating she directed her first feature, a Sundance Film Festival favorite Walking and Talking (1996) and her character driven comedies have led to comparisons with Woody Allen but she has a style all her own.

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