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

Bite-sized blog post: Neema Barnette

NEEMA BARNETTE is the first African-American sticom director and she has directed numerous sitcoms.

Barnette has joined forces with Ava Duvernay on her new show Queen Sugar which brags an all female directing slate. She graduated with a BA from the City College of New York and an MFA from NYU Tisch School o f the Arts.

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

Where to watch her films:

Bite-sized blog post: Debbie Allen

DEBBIE ALLEN, a well-known dancer and choreographer, began directing regularly for television when starring in the series Fame in the eighties.

She continues to direct for television and the stage.

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

Where to watch her films:

Bite-sized blog post: Anne Fletcher

After a successful career as a choreography ANNE FLETCHER directed romantic comedy hits including 27 Dresses (2008) and The Proposal (2009).

Thanks to The Proposal Fletcher is one of only a handful of women to have directed a movie that grossed more than $100 million.

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

Where to watch her films:

Bite-sized blog post: Lynne Littman

LYNNE LITTMAN began her career as an investigative journalist and then won an Oscar for her short documentary Number Our Days (1976).

She then went on to direct the feature narrative Testament (1983) which was screened at Sundance and premiered at Telluride Film Festival. Her advocacy for women directors along with five other women and the DGA helped change the landscape for female filmmakers in Hollywood in the eighties and nineties.

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

Where to watch her films:

AMAZON (BluRays/DVDs for PURCHASE)

YouTube

Bite-sized blog post: Sam Taylor-Johnson

SAM TAYLOR-JOHNSON is a fine-artist and filmmaker from England who infiltrated Hollywood to direct Fifty Shades of Grey (2015) for Universal.

Her first feature film Nowhere Boy (2009) was about the childhood of Beatles icon John Lennon.

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

Where to watch her films:

AMAZON (BluRays/DVDs for PURCHASE)

Bite-sized blog post: Nora Ephron

Famous for her romantic comedies NORA EPHRON began as a writer and was nominated for three Academy Awards for Best Writer.

She directed iconic films including Sleepless in Seattle (1993) and You Got Mail (1998).

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

Where to watch her films:

NETFLIX

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.

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

Where to watch her films:

AMAZON (PRIME-STREAMING)

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.

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

Where to watch her films:

AMAZON (PRIME STREAMING)

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.”

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

Where to watch her films:

NETFLIX

AMAZON (PRIME-STREAMING)