I consider myself an American, and to me part of being American is to consider other people’s cultures and values and assimilate their ideas into my understanding and respect of who they are/where they come from. I don’t think there is a concrete or “correct” way of going about being American, and I don’t want to force other people to learn my language and agree with my philosophies. I think we just have different ideas of what it means to be American.
But we’re really off topic now. I hope you watch the film eventually if you want, and some of the other recommendations other people have posted. Lots of great female directors, even if they’re not mega-stars like Bergman and Kurosawa. More famous does not equal more talented.
oh also, Kino Video definitely distributes The Making of An American Citizen on DVD.
Claire Denis and Chantal Akerman, my favorites female directors.
Interview with Chantal Akerman on Jeanne Dielman.
http://www.veoh.com/collection/dissidenzTV/watch/v6581464cRWxXnf5
“Claire Denis and Chantal Akerman”
but how can one name only two unless he hasn’t a number enough to say that????
From my country, Icíar Bollaín, the adolescent lead of Erice’s The South.
Most acclaimed film: Take My Eyes. Personal favorite: Flowers from Another World.
@JASON TROCHESSET, @EMILY - What are you both rambling on about?! This isn’t a space for you to bore us with your political beliefs, this for interesting dialogue about films, in particular this thread is about female directors.
Who, coincidentally are doing very well atm. Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker was the success story of the Baftas on sunday, winning six awards including best film and director, now she’s tipped to win best director at the oscars. Also Andrea Arnold’s Fish Tank won outstanding british film, and it thoroughly deserved to do so.
Ok, let me try this here before starting a new thread.
I have seen Varda. I thought, meh.
I have seen Campion. The Piano was great, but Angel at my table was just meh.
I have seen Ackerman, and I was bored by the pace.
Deren is great, and I am going to get the dvd that has her 7 short films on it.
I’m going to get Nair’s Monsoon Wedding and Amelia soon.
What else should I look into?
I also liked “Whale Rider”
if Varda and Angel at my Table were “meh” for you, i suggest you avoid ANYTHING Nair made after Monsoon and just focus on her debut.
plus, you’re prejudiced against women, it’s alright, you just haven’t figured it out yet.
p.s.: it also depends which Akerman you\ve seen, i was personally bored by Bergman’s 70’s pace, yes…a fuckin’ man.
“I have seen Varda. I thought, meh.”
Cleo and Vagabund meh? Really?
Bergman was a bore in the 70s.
The Ackerman I’ve seen is the one at the train station, and one that all takes place in one room. Are there some that are more tollerable?
Is Amelia not any good? I like Swank, and I like the use of colors, so I was attracted to the movie.
Cleo was meh. I was always tempted to go and buy the Varda set from Criterion, but could never convince myself to based on Cleo.
you mean Meetings of Anna? Night and Day is more…..talkative, so i don’t quite know what you mean by tolerable, there are plenty of male directors who are generally "slow’’, if that’s your notion here.
if you care more about Swank than Varda and Akerman, then i wash my hands. seriously, i do, because you’ll find Shepitko and Wertmuller excruciating.
Jason,
Please give Varda a second chance, but listen to what she has to say about her films. The way she explains La Bonhour puts her up there with Bresson.
I just think that Swank is a decent actress.
If I had said that she sucked, you were be giving me a hard time about that.
Hotel Monterey is the Ackerman that I was checking out that is just a bunch of shots of different rooms. Very static. And D’est is the one at a train station or something. Just one long tracking shot.
aaaa, that was her docu, From the East which i haven’t seen. then you can give it a shot with both Anna and Night and Day, no? although they respectively belong in different periods, her relationship motives are the core element of her philosophy.
yes, Swank is trash, what’s wrong with that? she’s as trash as Adrien Brody, Charlize Theron and Aaron Eckhart, no hard time about anything.
Swank a decent actress and yet Varda is “meh” for you as an artist?
Well, I hold my directors to a higher standard than I do my actors.
Meetings of Anna (1978)
is there another name for Night and day? What year did it come out?
1991, i’m pretty sure Netflix or a DVD exists in your area because it’s difficult to download it and i fortunately caught it on a TV channel.
sure thing but you did compare female artists from other artistic fields, my right to compare acting and directorial individuals.
Can someone please explain to me the greatness and originality of Maya Deren, as i’m still a bit underwhelmed considering her central place in avant-garde history. How do Meshes of the Afternoon and At Land markedly progress from the European avant-garde surrealism of the late 20s, say? There seem similarities with films like La Perle (d’Ursel), her hubbie’s own Aimless Walk, as well as Man Ray, Epstein, Cocteau and Germaine Dulac.
On the other hand, Alice Guy-Blaché deserves more attention as an early pioneer, started in 1896. Well, Dulac too should be better known
There’s much more to Varda than Cleo and Vagabond; La Pointe Courte has a face merging image years ahead of Bergman’s in Persona, and she was the true mother of the New Wave. Le Bonheur is excellent, and she has many fine shorts to her credit..
Monsoon Wedding’s win at Venice was something of a travesty i.m.o- inferior to the earlier Festen, with which it has some similarities, and too caricatured, certainly in the first half. Salaam Bombay at least had plenty of vitality and was more engaging
Lucile Hadzihalilovic’s Innocence is one of the great debuts in cinema, composed, mysterious and beautiful, far surpassing Noe’s aggressive style.
Sorry, Kenji, don’t know
Another thought – Mostly Martha (2001) Sandra Nettelbeck.
This was a great thread. I really appreciated the suggestions for female directors to watch. It really annoys me that I had to read through a bunch of misogynistic disrespectful bullshit to get to the points, being film… I would again encourage people to keep their mouths shut if they don’t have anything constructive to say.
ive only seen one of Deren’s all the way through and that was a while ago so i apologise if what i write next is completely unrelated but i was thinking about Kenji’s post earlier and wasnt Meshes of the Afternoon the film with the dream like figures repeating the protagonists actions from earlier in the film and then expanding on them while the protagonist is asleep?
i suppose at the time this was quite surreal and in its own right avant garde but i thought Deren was more well known for the psychology she employed in her films, the symbolism linking her in with various psychoanalytical filmmakers.
again i may be completely off topic but if im right it might go some way to partially explaining why she holds a central place in avant garde history
hope i was at least a little help there Kenji
The Fall of Berlin (1945) Elizaveta Svilova
Oriana (1985) Fina Torres (won the la Caméra d’Or at Cannes in ’85)
Maggie Peren – Special Escort (2007)
I’m actually a little bit surprised that there aren’t more people on the “What? White dudes aren’t privileged!” boat. Cheers to the folks who understand that the plight of the woman artist is very real and based in a long and sad history.
If I may preach to those who are not members of the choir: the paltry number of women directors isn’t due to lack of desire or ability. It’s not a bootstraps thing. It’s an institutional issue.
Yet to be mentioned:
Dorothy Arzner
Mai Zetterling
Jürgen Vsych
Nadia Tass
Nnegest Likké
Xiaolu Guo
Neema Barnette
Samira Makhmalbaf
Nina Paley
Shari Springer Berman
Debra Granik
Vicky Jenson
Andrea Arnold (Fish Tank)
Lucrecia Martel
Nora Twomey
Valerie Faris
Kátia Lund
Kasi Lemmons
Anne Fontaine
Lucille Hadzihalilovic
Hilary Brougher
Mary Lambert
Tamra Davis
Nia Vardalos
Jennifer Lynch
There’s a neat (albeit short) bibliography and time line at the end of the Wikipedia article on women’s cinema.
I’m surprised it took this long for Lucretia Martel to be mentioned. The Headless Woman & The Holy Girl are wonders.
dope fiend willy
If I were to move to France, just to take advantage of their great health care system, for as long as France itself can finance the thing; but I refuse to learn French or doing anything that would be considered French, I should be regarded as an Infidel; and the French people would have a right to boot me out. I shouldn’t be allowed to live in France for the next 20 years until they run out of money to fund their fantastic public health care system, and their 30 hour work weeks.