With some recent chat about Jane "Piano" Campion, I thought a post on the ladies who impacted the screen was in order.
I'm prone to believe that Jim Morrison was right when he said "cinema was created by men for the consolation of men".
Here's the short list of great female directors:
Leni Riefenstahl (Olympia)
Agnes Varda (Vagabond)
Agnieszka Holland (Total Eclipse)
Julie Taymor (Titus)
Lina Wertmuller (Seven Beauties)
Claire Denis (Chocolat)
Ida Lupino (The Bigamist)
Margarethe von Trotta (Rosa Luxembourg)
Sally Potter (Orlando)
Diane Kurys (Entre Nous)
Antonia Bird (Priest)
Martha Coolidge (Rambling Rose)
Mimi Leder (Deep Impact)
Marleen Gorris (Antonia's Line)
Gillian Armstrong (Little Women)
Joyce Bunuel (Dirty Dishes)
Deepa Mehta (Earth)
Nancy Savoca (Dogfight)
Kathryn Bigelow (Strange Days)
Maya Deren (The Living Gods of Haiti)
and
Penny Marshall (A League of Their Own)
Yes, I realize there are scores more, but these ladies make a case for better cinema (is it because they squat when they pee?)
I'm aware of Sofia Coppola, Barbra Streisand, Jodie Foster, Callie Khouri, and all the other "circumstantial" female filmmakers, but they don't make the "great" cut for me- only Penny Marshall has broken that TV curse that Clint Eastwood, Ron Howard and Rob Reiner destroyed. I really like Penny's movies.
There is one "star turned director" who impressed me greatly, but I doubt she'll make any more films: Anjelica Huston's Bastard out of Carolina. Great film.
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