Celebrating female directors and their incredible contributions to filmmaking, the new book “Cinema Her Way: Visionary Women Director in Own Words” (Rizzoli New York, February 25 over remarkable talents and their films from writers, critics and Indieview -grantor Marya E. Gates.
The filmmakers interviewed for the upcoming book are: Allison Anders, Gillian Armstrong, Lizzie Tables, Jane Campion, Martha Coolidge, Julie Dash, Josephine Decker, Cheryl Dunne, Bette Gordon, Marielle Hale, Miranda July, Karyn Kusama, Mary Lambert, Mirair, Mirair, Mirair, Mirair Nair Nair, Sally Potter, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Isabel Sandoval, Susan Seidelman and Cat Shea.
Indieview shares an exclusive excerpt from Gates introduction below.
I first became aware that women could direct movies when I was eight years old and my mom took me to see Gillian Armstrong’s “Little Women.” That movie deeply affected me and has remained my favorite film Ever since then. But for many years after I assumed that there were not so many films directed by women. When I read related articles, they always mentioned the same handful of names, as if only a dozen women had ever taken up a camera and made movies throughout the bio history.
This false idea was further stored by many biggest lists of all time, which rarely included any films directed by women. The same was true of film awards that rarely recognized female directors. I quickly realized that there was no lack of women who directed films, but actually a lack of discussion about and awareness of these filmmakers and their films.
2013 I saw two documentaries that made me rethink everything I had ever thought of cannons: Judy Chaikins “The girls in the band” and Sini Anderson “The Punk Singer.” These films made me realize that just because I’m not aware of a story, it doesn’t mean a story is not there. It is often women’s history that is left outside popular stories. A few months later, I discovered the films from Susan Seidelman. I fell my head over the heels, but also wondered why I had never heard of her before.
It made me think about how many female directors I had never heard of, if they were currently making movies or had made movies before. That insight led me to a viewing project that I completed in 2015 called “A Year with Women”, during which I spent a whole year just watching movies directed by women or non-binary filmmakers. It opened a whole new film world for me that I still explore today.
Ever since that year, I have spent my life advocating the films of women and highlighting films directed by women from the past, the present and coming. Of course, it should say that there are many more female directors in film history than could ever be included in a volume. In fact, it was a challenge to try to choose a handful of filmmakers for this book. But every woman who was so gracious to spend time talking to me is someone whose movies have touched me. These filmmakers come from all over the world and their work extends over decades, from the 1970s to films in production as you read this. Every filmmaker I talked to has made at least three feature films, although some have also made documentaries, experimental video shorts, music videos and even sections of television. These women have worked in the Hollywood system and independence.
I hope that the following conversations that took place from 2022 to 2024 offer an enlightening look into the world of these women’s singular movies and careers. That they show a wide breadth of world views, experiences and expressions. That they shine a light on the cinematic conversations that these women have had with each other, whether they have realized it or not. And also that they show the many ways that these women have navigated in an industry that is often hostile to them, and how their talent and their films have endured regardless.
My work here is dedicated to the many, many filmmakers who have passed away but whose contributions to the cinema I remain forever indebted and inspired by, including Jessie Maple, Safi Faye, Lina Wertmüller, Joan Micklin Silver, Sarah Maldoror, Suzanne Pitt, Agnès Varda, Barbara Hammer, Penny Marshall, Chantal Akerman, Nora Ephron, Ida Lupino, Shirley Clarke, Kinuyo Tanaka, Sara Gómez, Maya Deren, Germaine Dulac, Lois Weber and of course the pioneering movie mother herself, Alice Guy-Blaché.
I would like everyone to remember that the original film grammar was created by a woman, and that the cinema has always been her way.
