THIRTY Great Women Directors

There are two ratios – one overused and unhelpful, one under-appreciated and telling. The first is the ratio of men to women in film-making (huge). The second is the ratio of women film-makers to good women film-makers (in relative terms, tiny). Today in 2014, women arguably lead the world in quality film-making (Lucrecia Martel, Claire Denis, Joanna Hogg) but if we look back in time we see that there have always been great women directors – Riefenstahl, Dulac, Deren, Varda, Huillet, Duras, Campion, the list goes on. They distinguish themselves not just because they bring women’s lives and desires to the screen, but...