Tag Archives: female directors

USC Study On Film And Gender Tells Us What We Already Know

Julie GersteinNovember 23, 2011 //
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Well, surprise, surprise. It looks like women in Hollywood are still screwed, at least according to a recent University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism study. Researchers surveyed all films released in 2009, and found that filmmakers still favor men over women — only around a third of all speaking characters were female. Not only that — women on screen were more likely to be scantily clad — three times more likely — than their male counterparts. Keep reading »

Today’s Lady News: Four Women Directors Compete For Cannes’ Top Prize

Jessica WakemanMay 19, 2011 //
  • A record number of female filmmakers — four! — are competing for the top filmmaking prize at the Cannes Film Festival. [Washington Post]
  • What do we think of this “gender neutral” beer commercial for Copenhagen, a Danish beer? [Tres Sugar]
  • This five-year-old child prodigy speaks seven languages and plays six instruments. Reading about Mabou Loiseau of Queens, New York, is guaranteed to make you feel like a slacker. [The Grio]
  • Selling breast milkl: it’s a big industry. [Wired]

Keep reading »

Catherine Hardwicke Was Told She Couldn’t Direct “The Fighter” Because She’s A Woman

Jessica WakemanFebruary 1, 2011 //

“I couldn’t get an interview even though my last movie made $400 million. I was told it had to be directed by a man — am I crazy? []The Fighter‘] is about action, it’s about boxing, so a man has to direct it. … But they let a man direct ‘Sex and the City’ or any girly movie you’ve ever heard of.”

— “Twilight” director Catherine Hardwicke exposes sexism in Hollywood against female directors and this notion that they can only direct certain types of films. The directorial job on “The Fighter” went to David O. Russell and Hardwicke agreed he did a good job. But it’s complete BS, as she said, that she was told “The Fighter” had to be directed by a man. Keep reading »

Angelina Jolie To Direct, Plus Other Actresses Who’ve Gone Behind The Camera

Kate Torgovnick/Kate-Book.comAugust 26, 2010 //

Directing movies has gone exceptionally well for many leading men in Hollywood. Clint Eastwood has been nominated for the Best Director Oscar four times, and Warren Beatty, Robert Redford, and Kevin Costner have all gotten Oscar nods for stepping behind the camera. Oh, and George Clooney didn’t do too shabby with his directorial debut, “Good Night, and Good Luck,” did he?

Now Angelina Jolie is taking the plunge behind the camera. She’s announced that for her next movie, she won’t be acting—she’ll be directing and producing. Did we forget to mention that she also wrote the screenplay? Keep reading »

Today’s Lady News: Booooo! No Female Directors At Cannes Competition

Jessica WakemanApril 16, 2010 //
  • Hold your horses, people still reveling over Kathryn Bigelow‘s Oscar night win: not one of the 16 films in the upcoming competition at the Cannes Film Festival was directed by a woman. [Women & Hollywood]
  • The White House forced CBS News to a remove a blog post from their website alleging the potential Supreme Court nominee, Elena Kagan, is gay. [Yahoo]
  • Rev. Michael Pfleger, a Catholic priest in Chicago, said in his sermon on Sunday that women should be allowed to be ordained as priests. But Pfleger apologized for his remarks after his sermon was posted on YouTube and he was barraged by critics. [Chicago Sun-Times]

Keep reading »

Female Movie Directors Kick Ass In The Boys’ Club

Daniela GuernicaJuly 20, 2009 //

When I found out that the director of “The Hurt Locker”—a testosterone-rific movie about a team of soldiers disarming roadside bombs in Iraq—was directed by a woman, I wanted to kick myself. Not out of surprise, but because I was surprised. Why did I automatically think that only a man could direct an intense war movie filled with explosions? Nope, the film is being called an “adrenaline-soaked tour de force of suspense” and it’s all thanks to the directing genius of Kathryn Bigelow. It’s not that I think women can’t make amazing war films. Quite the contrary—I think women have a knack for tapping into raw emotions, and Bigelow creatively mixed high-octane action with emotion and personal relationships. My surprise was simply an innocent, unconscious, yet totally sexist brain fart. And I don’t think I’m the only one. Keep reading »