I was tagged by the Dancing Image to make a director’s list, but not just any kind, one centered on females working in the industry. I feel absolutely inadequate in terms of listing my favourite female directors but I am more honoured to be tagged, so I will give it a go. I am limiting it to just five filmmakers, if only because I have no idea what I’m doing. This is not a revolutionary list, but hopefully you can still find some value in it! I also wish I had something to say about these filmmakers but I am short on time and even if I wasn’t, though I’m listing some of these wonderfully talented women, I STILL am not too familiar with their overall work. I have a lot of catching up to do.
Honourable mentions to Holland, May, Wertmuller and Cavani
Catherine Breillat
Essential Film: Anatomy of Hell
Claire Denis
Essential Film: Trouble Every Day
Sofia Coppola
Essential Film: Marie Antoinette
Jane Campion
Essential Film: Bright Star
Ida Lupino
Essential film: Outrage
Where’s Varda? You have to have Varda!!
I actually somehow forgot Varda. She wuoold have been there :/ How could I forget easily cinema’s most famous and iconic female director? I have no idea.
Oh, it happens to us all . . .
Still, makes me feel so clever
Cheers!
Wow, Justine, just saw this – sorry for the late response! A great list – and a great guide for future viewings. Your choices for essentials are interesting and somewhat offbeat – which I like. Breillat and Denis are filmmakers I still need to check out – though both Fat Girl and 35 Shots of Rum, among others, have been on my shortlist for a while (they would have been viewed in a series I was doing, watching unseen acclaimed films from the past decade, based on the They Shoot Pictures Don’t They round-up, but I stopped at 100. 35 Shots was, I think, #101! I need to find another excuse to get to them…).
My own list would definitely include Varda, Chytilova, and Coppola, whom I think is very underrated (I suppose you have to be in the right mood to get on board with her, but if you click with that mood, nobody does it better…as the Cameron Diaz knock-off sings in that hotel lounge…). All 3 would probably have made my own top directors’ list if I’d seen more of their films (or in Sofia’s case, if she has one more of the caliber of Lost in Translation though I’ve enjoyed all her movies so far).
Thanks for your contribution.
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