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The term women's cinema usually refers to the work of women film directors. It can also designate the work of other women behind the camera such as cinematographers and screenwriters. Although the participation of women film editor, costume designers, and production designers is usually not considered to be decisive enough to justify the term "women's cinema", it does have a large influence on the visual impression of any movie. [edit] Silent filmsAlice Guy-Blaché made the very first feature film La fée aux choux in 1896. More than 700 films followed, working in France and the U.S. [1] Lois Weber was among the most successful film directors of the silent era. Actresses like Lillian Gish, Mary Pickford, and others were the stars. Women screenwriters were highly sought after including Francis Marion, Anita Loos, and June Mathis. June Mathis was the first female executive in Hollywood and produced and wrote several silent films. [edit] Classic HollywoodIn the twenties large banks had assumed control of Hollywood production companies. Production supervisors began to standardize film making. The introduction of sound demanded new investments which further increased the control of the banks. In 1929 Hollywood accepted a list of taboos which was later to become the Hays Code. Any unconventional film maker had a hard time. Women film makers could afford economic failures even less. Dorothy Arzner was the only women film maker to survive in this unfriendly environment. She did so by producing well made but formally rather conventional films. Nevertheless, she succeeded in smuggling in feminist elements into her films. [edit] Experimental and avant-garde cinemaGermaine Dulac was a leading member of the French Avantgarde film movement after World War I, and Maya Deren's visionary films belong to the classics of experimental cinema. Shirley Clarke was a leading figure of the independent American film scene in New York in the fifties. Her work is unusual, insofar as she directed outstanding experimental and feature films as well as documentaries. Joyce Wieland was a Canadian experimental film maker. The National Film Board of Canada allowed many women to produce non-commercial animation films. In Europe women artists like Valie Export where among the first to explore the artistic and political potential of videos. [edit] Impact of second-wave feminismIn the late sixties, when the Second Wave of Feminism started the New Left was at its height. Both movements strongly opposed the 'dominant cinema', i.e. Hollywood and male European bourgeois auteur cinema. Hollywood was accused of furthering oppression by disseminating sexist, racist and imperialist stereotypes. Women participated in mixed new collectives like Newsreel, but they also formed their own film groups. Early feminist films often focused on personal experiences. A first masterpiece was Wanda by Barbara Loden, one of the most poignant portraits of alienation ever made. [edit] Representing sexualityResisting the oppression of female sexuality was one of the core goals of Second Wave Feminism. Abortion was still very controversial in many western societies and the feminists opposed the control of the state and the church. Exploring female sexuality took many forms: focusing on long-time censured forms of sexuality (lesbianism, sado-masochism) or showing heterosexuality from a woman's point of view. Birgit Hein, Elfi Mikesch, Nelly Kaplan, Catherine Breillat and Barbara Hammer are some of the directors to be remembered. [edit] Resisting violence and violent resistanceResisting patriarchal violence has always been a key concern of Second Wave Feminism. Consequently many feminists of the second wave have taken part in the peace movements of the eighties, as had their foremothers in the older pacifist movements. Nevertheless the patriarchal cliché of the 'peaceable' woman needed to be criticized. Women film directors documented the participation of women in anti-imperialist resistance movements. In their Kali films Birgit and Wilhelm Hein assembled found footage from 'trivial' genres, the only domain of cinema in which the portrayal of aggressive women was allowed. [edit] African-American women's cinemaJulie Dash's Daughters of the Dust (1991) was the first full-length film with general theatrical release written and directed by an African-American woman. Since then there have been several African-American women who have written, produced or directed films. Neema Barnette (Civil Brand), Maya Angelou (Down in the Delta), Kasi Lemmons (Eve's Bayou), Cheryl Dunye (My Baby's Daddy), Stephanie Allain (Biker Boyz), Tracey Edmonds (Soul Food), Frances-Anne Solomon (A Winter Tale) and Dianne Houston (City of Angels) are among these filmmakers. In 1994 Darnell Martin became the first African American woman to write and direct a film produced by a major studio when Columbia Pictures backed I Like It Like That. To date, Nnegest Likké is the first African American woman to write, direct and act in a full-length movie released by a major studio, Phat Girlz (2006) starring Jimmy Jean-Louis and Mo'Nique. [edit] AfricanThe first African woman film director to gain international recognition was the Senegalese ethnologist Safi Faye with a film about the village in which she was born (Letter from the village, 1975). Other African women filmmakers include Sarah Maldoror, Anne Mungai, Fanta Régina NacroEvelyn Cindy Magara (Uganda) Sr. Dominic Dipio(Uganda). [edit] AsianMira Nair, Aparna Sen, Deepa Mehta and Gurinder Chadha are among the best known Indian women filmmakers, partly because of commercial success of their films. However there are a number of other Indian women filmmakers who have made some remarkable films that address a variety of issues. Other noteworthy Indian women filmmakers include Nisha Ganatra, Sonali Gulati, Indu Krishnan, Eisha Marjara, Pratibha Parmar, Nandini Sikand, and Shashwati Talukdar. In Japan for a long time Kinuyo Tanaka was the only woman to make feature films. She was able to do this against fierce resistance because she enjoyed a status as star actress. Using genre conventions her films showed women "with a humorous affection rare in Japanese cinema of the period" (Philip Kemp). The most known nowadays women filmmaker of Japan may be Naomi Kawase; 2007 she won the Grand Prix in Cannes, while Memoirs of a fig tree, the directorial debut of well-known actrice Kaori Momoi, saw the light of the day in 2006. The sociocritical adventure film K-20: Legend of the Mask by Shimako Sato's was a breakthrough into a bigger budget; it starred Takeshi Kaneshiro and got released all over the world. Similary in South Korea Lim Soon-rye landed a box-office-hit with Forever the Moment, while So Yong Kim got some attention for her film In Between Days and Lee Suk-Gyung made the women-themed and subtly feminist The Day After. One of the important 5th generation filmmakers of China is Ning Ying, who won several prices for her films; in contrast to the controversy over some of her 6th generation colleagues such as Zhang Yimou, who got accused of having sold out their ideals, Ning Ying has went on to realize small independent films with themes strongly linked to chinese daily life, therefore also being a link between the 5th and 6th generation. The 6th generation has seen a growing number of women filmmakers such as Liu Jiayin, best known for her film Oxhide, and Xiaolu Guo; in 2001 Li Yu caused quite a stir with her lesbian lovestory Fish and Elephant. The most famous women filmmaker from Hong Kong is undoubtly Ann Hui, who has made a wide array of films ranging from the wuxia genre to drama; Ivy Ho and taiwanese Sylvia Chang also are known names in the Hong Kong industry, while in Taiwan queer filmmaker Zero Chou has gotten acclaim on festivals around the world. In Pakistan, where film industry is not very big, some prominent and brilliant directors are working. Conventional film industry has directors like Sangeeta and Shamim Ara who are making films with feminist themes. Specially on Sangeeta's credit there are some issue based films. Now some new directors from television industry are also coming towards the medium of films. Sabiha Sumar and Mehreen Jabbar are two new names for films in Pakistan and are making brilliant films. Both of these directors has made films which are not only issue based addressing national issues but also these films have won international awards at different film festivals. [edit] IranianRakhshan Bani-Etemad, a writer and a director, is probably Iran's best known and certainly most prolific female filmmaker. She has established herself as the elder stateswoman of Iranian cinema with documentaries and films dealing with social pathology. Samira Makhmalbaf directed her first film The Apple when she was only 17 years old and won Cannes Jury Prize in 2000 for her following film The Blackboard. [edit] Latin AmericaMarta Rodriguez is a Colombian documentary film maker. Brazilian Cinema has an expressive number of women directors whose works date from the 1930's. Brazilian women directors' most prolific era unfolds from the 1970's. Some contemporary names include: Ana Carolina, Betse De Paula, Carla Camurati, Eliane Caffe, Helena Solberg, Lucia Murat, Sandra Kogut, Suzana Amaral, Tata Amaral. [edit] EuropeanElvira Notari was a pioneer of Italian cinema. During the "golden age" of "Classical" French cinema Jacqueline Audry was the only woman to direct commercial films. In 1959 writer Marguerite Duras wrote the script for Alain Resnais' Hiroshima Mon Amour. She turned to directing with La Musica in 1966. Among the best known French women film makers are Agnès Varda, Claire Denis, Nelly Kaplan and Catherine Breillat. The work of many more French female directors is rarely screened outside France. German woman filmmaker Helke Sander was also one of the pioneers of the feminist movement. Other prominent female film-makers include Margarethe von Trotta and Helma Sanders-Brahms. Monika Treut has also won recognition for her depictions of queer and alternative sexuality. In Hungary Marta Meszaros has been making important films for decades. Sally Potter is a prominent British feminist film maker. British filmmaker Ngozi Onwurah explores the legacies of colonialism. [edit] (Re-)entering the mainstream?Since the beginning of sound cinema, with very few exceptions, the films of women had been absent from mainstream cinema for more than half a century.[citation needed] Sometimes actresses enjoying a star status turned to directing (like Barbra Streisand). Though directed by men, Thelma & Louise and The Color Purple showed the acceptability of feminist themes. Kathryn Bigelow works in male-dominated genres like science fiction, action, and horror. Dörris Dörrie landed a box office hit with her satire Men. Italian Lina Wertmüller has directed a great number of popular films on the war of the sexes, with various artistic success. [edit] BibliographyBooks
Journals
[edit] Films (small selection)[edit] 1890s-1940s
[edit] 1950s-1960s
[edit] 1970s
[edit] 1980s
[edit] 1990s
[edit] 2000s
[edit] Film festivals
[edit] See also |
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