Campion laments lack of female directors

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Poncho Punch · #26 Post by **Poncho Punch** » Wed May 23, 2007 2:22 pm

miless wrote:And, they're wrong... as Indigènes (Days of Glory) was an official selection contender last year (and even won two awards)... and it's from Algeria... unless the folks who are complaining are not counting Saharan Africa (which in its own way could be seen as discriminatory)

Well, when the film is directed by a man born and raised in France...

skuhn8 wrote:Their gripe would have a lot more validity if they cited some specific African films from the past year that they feel were Cannes-worthy. Anyone can look at a list and cry foul if underrepresented.

Read it again. It says "the last decade", which is pretty appalling. Ousmane Sembene (who has a long relationship with the festival) not being selected for Moolaade is enough to make me seriously consider their point.

domino harvey wrote:My film wasn't shown at Cannes, so therefore Cannes is discriminating against me

Don't be a cunt.

malcolm1980 · #27 Post by **malcolm1980** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 7:12 am

On this issue on the 'lack of women directors', I subscribe to the notion that the reason is not because the big bad studios are discriminating against women but females in general tend to be less inclined into film than males.

Look at any film message board on-line. 80% to 90% of all posters are males between the ages of 15 and 35.

skuhn8 · #28 Post by **skuhn8** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 5:19 pm

s.j. bagley wrote:personally, i thought it was quite well done and it's a shame that it's one of so few films by women directors that the criterion collection have released.

Do you honestly think that the CC is behind on women directors? Jane Campion. Night Porter. Fat Girl. Given the lack of substantive female directors in the film industry in general I'd say that the CC has been pretty even handed. Or is there a quota demand that I'm missing?

s.j. bagley · #29 Post by **s.j. bagley** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 5:49 pm

Yes, I do, and it has nothing to with any notions of 'quotas' or any such claptrap. I also disagree with you about there being a substantive lack of female directors.

Saarijas · #30 Post by **Saarijas** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 8:21 pm

Well, I think everyone would take you much more seriously if you were to learn where the shift key is placed.

As for actually responding to your comment, he said their was a lack of substantive female directors, not a substantive lack of female directors. Which utterly changes the meaning in his comment. As for the lack of substantive female directors, I have to agree. How many great female auteurs can you name? Nothing against women, but they just haven't really penetrated the director field yet.

tryavna · #31 Post by **tryavna** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 11:49 am

Saarijas wrote:How many great female auteurs can you name?

Chantal Akerman

Agnes Varda (who is represented)

Margarethe von Trotta (who is also represented, though that may be because of the Schloendorff connection)

Lina Wertmuller

Leni Riefenstahl

Ida Lupino

Mai Zetterling

Alice Guy Blache

Claire Denis

Dorothy Arzner

To name just a few. Criterion really could be doing better on this front.... And of course, there's the whole can of worms that, if companies like Criterion gave existing female directors better representation, perhaps it would lead to even more women becoming directors.

Saarijas · #32 Post by **Saarijas** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 2:14 pm

Personally, I would hardly call half of them great autuers, but lets not derail this thread anymore then it already has been.

tryavna · #33 Post by **tryavna** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 5:34 pm

Saarijas wrote:Personally, I would hardly call half of them great autuers, but lets not derail this thread anymore then it already has been.

Well, each of the women I named can easily be considered "auteurs." I suppose it depends on what you mean by "great." But I'm pretty convinced that each of them has made at least one "great" film.

BTW, was the line about women not having "penetrated" the profession a Freudian slip?

jbeall · #34 Post by **jbeall** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 5:56 pm

Deepa Mehta

Person · #35 Post by **Person** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 7:15 pm

Danièle Huillet and Jean-Marie Straub were unique talents.

ptmd · #36 Post by **ptmd** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 10:03 pm

Danièle Huillet and Jean-Marie Straub were unique talents.

Absolutely, and they have always emphasized the collaborative nature of their work. Other major female art-house directors that haven't been mentioned would include Marguerite Duras, Kira Muratova, Naomi Kawase, and, arguably, Sally Potter (I'm not a big fan of most of her work, but she's certainly an important figure). A large number of major avant-garde filmmakers also happen to be female including Maya Deren, Marie Menken, Yvonne Rainer, Su Friedrich, Babette Mangolte, Marjorie Keller, and Rose Lowder.

Gropius · #37 Post by **Gropius** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 10:26 pm

Person wrote:Danièle Huillet and Jean-Marie Straub were unique talents.

That sentence in this thread implies Straub was female, although I suppose a male-female pairing is in a sense androgynous.

#38 Post by **zedz** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 12:32 am

This topic has been hashed / rehashed before, but as soon as you take into account the last 40 years of cinema history, Criterion's gender gap is indefensible. Some more of the as-yet unmentioned (sorry if I skimmed past a prior namecheck): Vera Chytilova, Claire Denis, Pascale Ferran, Rakhshan Bani Etemad, Ulrike Ottinger, Marta Meszaros, Heddy Honigmann.

If you haven't heard of any of these great filmmakers, blame cultural gatekeepers like Criterion, not any presumed absence of female directorial talent.

Antoine Doinel · #39 Post by **Antoine Doinel** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 12:57 am

I'm sure Criterion are not actively nor blindly keeping women out of the collection. Like any other of the multiple of directors or films we'd love to see in the collection, the first consideration they have to contend with, are rights issues.

Michael Kerpan · #40 Post by **Michael Kerpan** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 9:35 am

Ann Hui's work over the course of decades has been quite impressive. She strikes me as being as worthy of attention as Varda (who is worthy of plenty of attention).

Awesome Welles · #41 Post by **Awesome Welles** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 11:19 am

Saarijas wrote:How many great female auteurs can you name?

Tryavna has already answered this question more than adequately, but I would like to add (although my experience of women director's films is limited) films by Lynne Ramsay and Andrea Arnold, which I thought were fantastic. I highly recommend Morvern Callar by Ramsay for those who have not seen it.

Barmy · #42 Post by **Barmy** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 11:23 am

Chantal Akerman

Agnes Varda (who is represented)

Margarethe von Trotta (who is also represented, though that may be because of the Schloendorff connection)

Lina Wertmuller

Leni Riefenstahl

Ida Lupino

Mai Zetterling

Alice Guy Blache

Claire Denis

Dorothy Arzner

What a sad, sorry list. Very few if any of those directors have a popular following or have had any influence.

skuhn8 · #43 Post by **skuhn8** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 11:28 am

FSimeoni wrote:
Saarijas wrote:How many great female auteurs can you name?
Tryavna has already answered this question more than adequately, but I would like to add (although my experience of women director's films is limited) films by Lynne Ramsay and Andrea Arnold, which I thought were fantastic. I highly recommend Morvern Callar by Ramsay for those who have not seen it.

Would you say that Morvern Callar is a great film or a great film by a female director? Does anyone on this thread honestly believe that the CC intentionally avoids acquiring the rights to films because these are directed by females? Probably not, but given the sheer amount of bellyaching about why did they release filmX when they should release another film by RenoirLangBressonOzuOnandOnandOn I can hardly blame them for holding back on Hui. Any of the women mentioned here are deserving but when you starting crying foul based on ratio rather than specific arguments for specific titles then it's quota...and quota is utter bullshit for determining output.

Michael Kerpan · #44 Post by **Michael Kerpan** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 11:40 am

I NEVER complained about Criterion not releasing films by Ann Hui. I simply suggested that her work might be worth considering for future release.

I don't complain about the slowness of Criterion's Ozu releases (indeed I've explained why the slowness has been reasonable -- give Criterion's position) or their Naruse ones (though I WAS disappointed that they issued only the standalone "Woman Ascending" instead of the three film box set that had been previously rumored).

Why the vitriol, skuhn?

skuhn8 · #45 Post by **skuhn8** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 11:50 am

Michael Kerpan wrote:I NEVER complained about Criterion not releasing films by Ann Hui. I simply suggested that her work might be worth considering for future release.

I don't complain about the slowness of Criterion's Ozu releases (indeed I've explained why the slowness has been reasonable -- give Criterion's position) or their Naruse ones (though I WAS disappointed that they issued only the standalone "Woman Ascending" instead of the three film box set that had been previously rumored).

Why the vitriol, skuhn?

What vitriol? I chose Hui at random from the above and my comment about the complaints was from that ridiculous thread about "2006 Releases" or some such nonsense. This isn't about you, MK, or any one else in particular. Though I do think quotas in the arts are pretty lame.

There's all kinds of names being scraped up but I don't see any specific films being mentioned (i.e. Olympia needs a CC release because it's the fucking bomb on sports/docu filmmaking and the historical context is fascinating.). But then again I think releasing Leni because she fills a need for more women directors in the collection is an insult to her value as a filmmaker.

But I would love to see Marta Meszaros in the collection. I'm surprised no one seeks her stuff out.

Awesome Welles · #46 Post by **Awesome Welles** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 12:27 pm

skuhn8 wrote:Would you say that Morvern Callar is a great film or a great film by a female director?

A great film. I don't think like that. That said though I wouldn't distinguish between a male and female director I think it is interesting when looking at, say a feminist film to consider the gender of the director. For example looking at a film like A Question of Silence has obvious discussion for a film by a female director, I think this is where gender distinction in artistry has any worth.

#47 Post by **Jeff** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 12:40 pm

Before this turns into a thread about female directors in the Criterion Collection, I'll remind you that such a creature already exists over here.

Michael Kerpan · #48 Post by **Michael Kerpan** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 12:55 pm

skuhn8 wrote:What vitriol?

Okay, not vitriol -- fulmination

I chose Hui at random

Glad to hear it. ;~}

MEK (who agrees that artistic achievement and quotas havelittle to do with each other)

jbeall · #49 Post by **jbeall** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 3:01 pm

Barmy wrote:What a sad, sorry list. Very few if any of those directors have a popular following or have had any influence.

Perhaps, but there are plenty of male directors in the collection who don't have a popular following or any influence.

For example, Jim Jarmusch. Don't get me wrong--I think it's cool that Night on Earth is on its way, but how popular is he beyond this internet circle of movie geeks? How influential is he?

My point is simply that "popular following" and/or "influence" can be quite overrated. Criterion is trying to include important films in their collection, but often these important films were/are neither popular nor influential. I think the work of several of those directors could easily be considered important, even if nobody saw the film.

Barmy · #50 Post by **Barmy** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 3:15 pm

Jarmusch may (or may not) be overrated; but at least he has a fanbase. The very notion of a Chantal Akerman fanbase (that is different from a fan) is laughable.

And am I the only one who thinks Leni is absurdly overrated? She made a grand total of 2 watchable flix.