Campion laments lack of female directors

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tavernier
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Re: Campion laments lack of female directors

#76 Post by tavernier » Mon Aug 24, 2009 4:06 pm

Funny that they mention Ephron but not Bigelow.

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puxzkkx
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Re: Campion laments lack of female directors

#77 Post by puxzkkx » Mon Aug 24, 2009 8:42 pm

I think there are many great female directors working today - only they aren't necessarily getting a lot of attention. There are a ton of great female directors working in foreign markets - Claire Denis (obviously), Chantal Akerman (obviously), Agnes Varda (obviously), Vera Chytilova, Lina Wertmuller (blech... but unfortunately, obviously), Samira Makhmalbaf (and her mother and sister), Iciar Bollain, Doris Dorrie, Alicia Scherson, Claudia Llosa, Jessica Hausner, Maren Ade, Doris Dorrie, Jasmila Zbanic, Jeong Jae-eun, Lee Suk-gyung. And currently lots of actresses are moving over to directing (Julie Delpy, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Diane Keaton, Sarah Polley, Drew Barrymore et al)

I think America does have a rich scope of female directors, only most of them are 'under the radar'. Just look at Sofia Coppola, Nicole Holofcener, Lisa Cholodenko, Adrienne Shelly (maysherestinpeace), Miranda July, Rebecca Miller, Tamara Jenkins, Kimberly Peirce... the list goes on. Female directors are making some of the best American films of today, but they hardly get any recognition for it. I love Jane Campion but I think she needs to look closer.

I think that the trend of female directors appearing to be only skilled at directing female stories is misleading. Perhaps it is only because many of them feel that the lives of women are underutilized as stories in film. But the films of Claire Denis, Iciar Bollain, Nicole Holofcener, Sofia Coppola, Tamara Jenkins etc show a keen eye for complex male characters - some of them (like, say, Tosar's character in Bollain's "Take My Eyes") more shaded, complex and layered than most male characters written and directed by male filmmakers nowadays. And Claire Denis pretty much broke the gender barrier in half with "Beau travail", which is one of the best, most empathetic and most troubling films of late about what it means to be a man - on its own terms and in relation to other men.

And I'm not sure that Nora Ephron counts as a 'director', seeing as she rapes screenplays for a living.
Last edited by puxzkkx on Wed Aug 26, 2009 8:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Jun-Dai
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Re: Campion laments lack of female directors

#78 Post by Jun-Dai » Mon Aug 24, 2009 9:13 pm

As much as I think it's unfortunate that there aren't more female directors (or minority directors) working these days, I think that the lack of strong female or minority protagonists is a much bigger concern, since that has a much larger effect on society as a whole. There are too many rules in Hollywood that have a reality-distorting effect—e.g., Kim's virginity must be emphasized in Taken, Wikus must redeem himself at the end of District 9, Batman never actually has to make the decision between the one and the many, women are almost always in need of rescuing by men, etc., etc., and a lot of these rules result in a pretty severe set of double standards. It is pretty amazing to me how consistently mainstream films follow these sorts of rules, since they seem to be unwritten.

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mikkelmark
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Re: Campion laments lack of female directors

#79 Post by mikkelmark » Tue Aug 25, 2009 1:09 am

Jun-Dai wrote:As much as I think it's unfortunate that there aren't more female directors (or minority directors) working these days, I think that the lack of strong female or minority protagonists is a much bigger concern, since that has a much larger effect on society as a whole. There are too many rules in Hollywood that have a reality-distorting effect—e.g., Kim's virginity must be emphasized in Taken, Wikus must redeem himself at the end of District 9, Batman never actually has to make the decision between the one and the many, women are almost always in need of rescuing by men, etc., etc., and a lot of these rules result in a pretty severe set of double standards. It is pretty amazing to me how consistently mainstream films follow these sorts of rules, since they seem to be unwritten.
I think if theres any unwritten rules now, its because the its how most people want it (happy ending etc.). I dont think those rules apply to most of the movies discussed in this forum, but i do think it applies to movies thats selling most of the tickets nowadays. Its not like in the noir days where you had to follow a code to get past the cencors (no murder escapes justice in the end).

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Gregor Samsa
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Re: Campion laments lack of female directors

#80 Post by Gregor Samsa » Tue Aug 25, 2009 2:26 am

I think 'the rules' have a way of popping up throughout the system, at a level well before the films are even made. This story is a pretty interesting example of how deep-set some cultural assumptions are when it comes to trying to get past them.

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Jun-Dai
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Re: Campion laments lack of female directors

#81 Post by Jun-Dai » Tue Aug 25, 2009 3:28 pm

mikkelmark wrote:I think if theres any unwritten rules now, its because the its how most people want it (happy ending etc.). I dont think those rules apply to most of the movies discussed in this forum, but i do think it applies to movies thats selling most of the tickets nowadays. Its not like in the noir days where you had to follow a code to get past the cencors (no murder escapes justice in the end).
I think that's a bit of a cop-out. I think the rules apply to what the filmmakers (particularly the producers) are comfortable making, and what they feel is the safest appeal to the widest applicable audience for a given film, but that doesn't mean that it's best choice, even in terms of what audiences want. It's a bit like taking standard measures to avoid legal liability (e.g., release forms), even when you're not aware of a threat of being sued.

But the biggest problem is that it's a complete loop: filmmakers want to appeal to their target audience in the broadest sense, avoiding taboos, appealing to a standard of beauty, masculinity, etc., but it's also filmmakers (and advertisers, etc.) that are responsible in a large sense for constructing those cultural norms.

I would agree that some of the rules don't apply to most of the movies here and most of the rules don't apply to some of the movies here. But of course it depends on the rules we mean. But to my digression of Campion's point, I think that Hollywood and off-Hollywood both present us with very few female role models, because they generally trade on their insecurities and inadequacies rather than on personal strengths, and to me that's an even bigger concern than the dearth of women directors. And I think it's been getting worse.

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MichaelB
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Re: Campion laments lack of female directors

#82 Post by MichaelB » Wed Aug 26, 2009 7:27 am

puxzkkx wrote:I think there are many great female directors working today - only they aren't necessarily getting a lot of attention. There are a ton of great female directors working in foreign markets - Claire Denis (obviously), Chantal Akerman (obviously), Agnes Varda (obviously), Lina Wertmuller (blech... but unfortunately, obviously), Samira Makhmalbaf (and her mother and sister), Iciar Bollain, Doris Dorrie, Alicia Scherson, Claudia Llosa, Jessica Hausner, Maren Ade, Doris Dorrie, Jasmila Zbanic, Jeong Jae-eun, Lee Suk-gyung. And currently lots of actresses are moving over to directing (Julie Delpy, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Diane Keaton, Sarah Polley, Drew Barrymore et al)
Márta Mészáros is an obvious addition to that list, not least because of the longevity of her career - which I think outstrips everyone mentioned above. She started in the 1950s, won the Golden Bear at Berlin in 1975 (for Adoption), and is currently in post-production on her latest film - and shows no sign of flagging.

I served on a festival jury with her recently, and you'd never guess she was in her late seventies - like her ex-husband Miklós Jancsó, she has more energy and drive than plenty of people a good twenty years younger.

Incidentally, I just checked the thirteen films in the New Polish Cinema competition we judged, and three of them were directed by women: Kinga Dębska, Katerzyna Rosłaniec and Małgorzata Szumowska. We also awarded the Best Debut prize to Rosłaniec (for Mall Girls) - a unanimous decision reached more or less instantly.

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Ovader
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Re: Campion laments lack of female directors

#83 Post by Ovader » Sat Sep 12, 2009 8:22 am

Campion says there is slow progress for female directors and she uses the example of the three nominations of women in the Academy Awards' 82-year history to make her point. As mentioned in this thread there are plenty of female directors making films over the years so I think that is progress overall internationally instead of emphasizing about the Oscars and Hollywood. At least she admits she doesn't need Hollywood so good for her but I still think the quip about the Oscars is a weak point and easy target. I still stand by my first post in this thread.

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Lemmy Caution
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Re: Campion laments lack of female directors

#84 Post by Lemmy Caution » Sat Sep 12, 2009 10:08 am

NyTimes article on the prevalence and prominence of female directors at this year's Toronto Film Fest (and the recent past).

In Toronto, Directing Is Clearly Women’s Work

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Ovader
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Re: Campion laments lack of female directors

#85 Post by Ovader » Thu Mar 03, 2011 12:03 pm

This article in my province has really pissed me off!
A gender quota could be one way to encourage more women to work in the film and TV industries.
As mentioned elsewhere in this thread maybe the majority of women have no interest in being a filmmaker. A quota in the film industry is an insulting and an ignorant statement to make since I know very gifted talented males struggling to establish themselves as filmmakers and to have such a quota would infringe upon their opportunities and rights. I know the woman who made that statement and to be honest she is a terrible filmmaker with low production values, bland direction and mediocre writing abilities. It gives the impression she is trying to convince females to try a career in film which is very hard for both genders if you are unknown as I know many indie filmmakers struggling to make a go of it.

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Ovader
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Re: Campion laments lack of female directors

#86 Post by Ovader » Wed Apr 20, 2011 6:10 pm

Jodie Foster says, "I don’t think it’s a plot and these guys sat around and said let’s keep these women out" in this article: Jodie Foster: Even female studio execs 'see female directors as a risk'.

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Ovader
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Re: Campion laments lack of female directors

#87 Post by Ovader » Wed Jul 23, 2014 1:25 pm

What percentage of a film crew is female? A firestorm on Twitter involving myself occurred with basically the same remark I had at the beginning of this thread.

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movielocke
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Re: Campion laments lack of female directors

#88 Post by movielocke » Wed Jul 23, 2014 5:14 pm

He says he can't figure out why it has gotten worse. It's because of television. Better stories better storytelling more career options more career stability, slightly less nepotism. And increasing budgets of movies has made pay higher on film combined with more risk averse behavior because of the budgets and more tribalism in terms of doling out jobs to people like you/buddies. That latter is why casting has gotten more female as the male dominated fields more male. Both are in negative reinforcing spirals because of the same shifty incentives/pressures.


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