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

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Bite-sized blog post: Tamra Davis

TAMRA DAVIS began her career directing music videos for popular bands in the eighties and nineties including the Bangles, Depeche Mode and NWA.

She has gone on to direct feature films including Chris Rock’s “rockumentary” spoof CB4 (1993) and Billy Madison (1995) starring Adam Sandler, direct for television and direct and produce a documentary about her friend, the renowned artist Jean-Michel Basquiat.

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YOUTUBE

AMAZON (PRIME STREAMING)

Bite-sized blog post: Michelle MacLaren

MICHELLE MACLAREN began her career as a production manager and producer. While producing X-Files she directed an episode and then went on to direct for critically acclaimed series including Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead.

MacLaren was originally slated to direct the Warner Brothers feature film Wonder Woman.

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AMAZON (PRIME STREAMING)

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: Penny Marshall

Penny Marshall began her career as an actress who became famous for her role as Laverne on Laverne & Shirley. She directed a couple of episodes of the long-running sitcom and then went on to direct the feature film Big (1988), the first film directed by a woman to gross over $100 million.

Her film Awakenings (1990) was nominated for Best Picture by the Academy, however she was not nominated for Best Director for the film.

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Bite-sized blog post: Allison Anders

ALLISON ANDERS made her first feature film Border Radio (1987) while still a student at UCLA, shooting with classmates Kurt Voss and Dean Lent and reaching out to punk music icons to act in the film which is now a Criterion classic. She has gone on to direct features as well as for television.

For The Miramar Summit in the spring of 2000, well before the issue of the lack of women directors became mainstream news, Anders gathered women in the film industry to discuss the challenges facing female filmmakers in Hollywood.

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Where to watch her films:

AMAZON (PRIME STREAMING)

CRITERION

Bite-sized blog post: Lexi Alexander

LEXI ALEXANDER went from being a World Kick-boxing champion to a stunt woman to making an Academy Award nominated short film.

She then took her fighting skills to the screen and directed Green Street Hooligans (2005) and Marvel’s Punisher: War Zone (2008) before writing a scathing article on the hypocrisy of Hollywood liberals and gender discrimination.

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Where to watch her films:

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: 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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Bite-sized blog post: Lena Dunham

LENA DUNHAM began her career making short films that got tons of hits on Youtube.

Her parents told her that they would pay for her to go to graduate school or fund a feature film. Dunham chose to make her first feature Tiny Furniture (2010).

She went on to utilize social media to gain notoriety and create the hit series Girls for HBO.

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