Film Directing Tips, Film Making Articles and Online Resources for the Independent Filmmaker » Women in Film

Sundance, Women In Film promote female filmmakers

Peter D. Marshall — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 13:15:33 +0000

by Sandy Cohen.

The Sundance Institute and Women In Film are working together to track female filmmakers who are showing their work at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and plan to use the data to increase women’s presence in all areas of filmmaking.

The aim of the joint effort, announced Monday, is to “initiate a real hard look at why this constant lack of parity seems to exist in terms of the amount of women working in film and media and the amount of men,” said Cathy Shulman, president of Women in Film. “What does it really mean and why is it happening, and instead of talking about it every year as a fact, start to see if we could be part of a solution.”

Keri Putnam, president of the Sundance Institute, said the organizations were motivated by statistics that show that only 5 percent of the top 250 films last year were directed by women. That figure hasn’t changed since 1998.

Read the rest of this article from Associated Press.

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Feminist Films and Women Filmmakers

Peter D. Marshall — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 13:06:49 +0000

from The Bay Net.

St. Mary’s College of Maryland’s fifth annual film series, Out of Bounds: Feminist Films and Filmmakers, will focus on the work of women filmmakers and women’s filmmaking collectives. It kicks off with Yun Suh, who will screen her film “City of Borders” at 8:15 p.m. Monday, Feb. 6, in Cole Cinema in the college’s Campus Center, and answer questions afterwards.

Read the rest of this article from The Bay Net.

Emirati women push boundaries in exploring social issues

Peter D. Marshall — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 13:47:04 +0000

by Imran Mojib.

Emirati filmmakers vying for the prestigious Muhr Awards at the Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) 2011 explore diverse genres and present varied facets of life in the UAE and universal stories through science fiction, animation, music documentaries as well as short and full length feature films.

However, it is three women filmmakers who have surprised movie buffs and critics alike through their investigation of the socio-cultural scenario in the UAE.

London in a Headscarf, by UK-based Emirati director Mariam Al Sarkal, documents the journey of an Emirati girl who moves abroad to pursue higher education. Caught up in a difficult situation of holding onto her cultural identity even when in a foreign country, she realises the consequence of her decision and how her move may impact her eligibility as a potential bride. The film made its international premiere at DIFF.

Read the rest of this article from Gulf Today.

Julie Dash and the ongoing struggle of black women filmmakers

Peter D. Marshall — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 12:35:23 +0000

by Craig D. Lindsey.

In the realm of American independent film, Julie Dash’s Daughters of the Dust is a landmark. Shot on St. Helena Island in South Carolina with an $800,000 budget and starring a predominantly black cast, the film focuses on three generations of Gullah women.

Gullah refers to African-Americans who reside in the low-country Sea Islands of South Carolina and Georgia, and Dash’s story, set in 1902, narrates the emotionally charged conflicts that ensue when several family members decide to migrate to the mainland.

Dust premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 1991, where it was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize and won a cinematography award. It’s worth mentioning that the American indie scene was remarkably fertile in those days: Steven Soderbergh and Quentin Tarantino were finding their legs, and the 1991 Sundance festival included breakthrough films by Richard Linklater (Slacker) and Todd Haynes (Poison).

While those filmmakers went on to great success in both independent and mainstream film, Dash was left, shall we say, in the dust.

Read the rest of this article from Indyweek.

The Experiences of an Ethiopian Migrant Worker and Filmmaker in Lebanon

Peter D. Marshall — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 12:31:33 +0000

by Bini,

Rahel Zegeye from Ethiopia, talks about her passion for filmmaking and her desire to tell the experiences of Ethiopian migrant workers in Lebanon, where she lives and works.

Janie Shen of Migrant Workers Task Force has this to say about Rahel Zegeye: “A very talented and unique woman, she is most probably the one domestic worker in Lebanon (or the world?) who has put all her savings and free time to filmmaking.”

Rahel, you have been living and working in Lebanon for some years and made the film Beirut focusing on the experiences of a group of Ethiopian migrant workers living in Lebanon. What brought you to Lebanon and what inspired you to make the film?

Read the rest of this article from Newsdire.

Lesbian filmmaker Katherine Brooks on new movie, the film industry

Peter D. Marshall — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 12:46:49 +0000

by Carrie Maxwell.

Lesbian filmmaker Katherine Brooks is taking on a new challenge.

Brooks—whose other films include the lesbian love story, Loving Annabelle and the drama/thriller, Waking Madison, as well as stints working on The Osbournes and The Real World—has taken her career in an entirely different direction with Face 2 Face.

The genesis of her new film came when Brooks realized that she wasn’t happy living in Los Angeles so she sold her house and expensive car and moved to New Orleans to reconnect with her roots (she grew up in a small town in the bayou of La. near New Orleans). While living in New Orleans she had major surgery and became bedridden. As she was laying in bed her depression turned into severe depression and she also started running out of money. Brooks knew she would have to go back to LA and get a job in reality TV which she swore she would never do again.

“Here I am recovering from surgery staying with my mother and contacting reality TV producers telling them I needed a job. During that time I ended up trying to kill myself by OD’ing on Demerol,” Brooks explained going on to say “that’s only happened to me two times in my life, the other instance was when I was a teenager just before I left home. … I do believe in a higher power and while I was laying in bed I said. … Help me do something good with my life. Within an instant I got the idea for Face 2 Face.

“I was on my Facebook page and I saw that I have 5,000 friends but I’m completely alone. I’ve been in this bed for two months and no one has come to visit me so I turned on my flip cam and wrote in my status update ‘the first 50 people who say yes, I’m coming to your city to spend the day with you and I’m going to make a movie about it.’ Within ten minutes I had almost 100 people saying yes so I had my 50 and that is how it started.”

Read the rest of this article from Windy City Media Group.

Prime time for women: Fall TV puts female stars at the forefront

Peter D. Marshall — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 12:32:01 +0000

by Chuck Barney.

Promotional spots for NBC’s 1960s-era drama “The Playboy Club” describe Hugh Hefner’s glitzy hangout as a “place where men hold the key, but women run the show.”

That just as easily could be the slogan for the upcoming broadcast-television season.

Of the 26 new network series arriving this fall, at least 14 are directly pegged to female stars and/or lean heavily toward female-centric themes. The trend is reflected in dramas such as “Ringer,” a moody mystery starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, and “Prime Suspect,” a remake of the iconic crime series featuring Maria Bello.

And it’s especially evident on the comedy front, where Zooey Deschanel (“New Girl”) and Whitney Cummings (“Whitney”) lead a pack of estrogen-rich sitcoms.

According to audience research, this influx of femininity would seem to make perfect sense. Women, after all, watch much more television than men – by almost 16 hours per month, according to Nielsen. But the surge in female-driven shows is also fueled by increasing numbers of women working behind the camera.

Read the rest of this article from Fresnobee.

Women urged to take up filmmaking

Peter D. Marshall — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 12:11:31 +0000

by Khulani Nkabinde.

Women should take part in the male-dominated film industry as a way of empowering themselves, an official at a Bulawayo-based filmmaking project has said. Noma Muleya, Bhayi’ Skopo Film Project producer and marketing officer, said women have to rise up and challenge their male counterparts by taking part in filmmaking.

“It is high time that women left the kitchen and did more than cooking. We should make a breakthrough in the male-dominated industries,” said Muleya.

Read the rest of this article from NewsDay.

Women directors bring a dark view

Peter D. Marshall — Thu, 19 May 2011 12:25:37 +0000

by Jay Stone.

At the press conference for the animated sequel Kung Fu Panda 2, someone asked Angelina Jolie whether the powerful fighting tigress, for which she supplies the voice, had a bigger role because a woman directed the movie.

It wasn’t that far-fetched a notion, because under first-time director Jennifer Yuh Nelson the comic adventure had a more pronounced theme of family than the first movie. The exchange prompted Dustin Hoffman -who voices an extended cameo of a wise old warrior -to joke that if a man had directed it, he would have had a bigger part. He was kidding and he wasn’t.

Read the rest of this article from Vancouver Sun.

First-time female directors take top prizes at Tribeca film festival

Peter D. Marshall — Fri, 06 May 2011 12:42:27 +0000

by Ben Child.

Films from two first-time female directors have taken the top prizes at this year’s Tribeca film festival in New York, the event co-founded by Robert De Niro to help reinvigorate the area devastated by 9/11.

She Monkeys, which focuses on the tension between two Swedish girls who become friends and rivals on an equestrian acrobatics team, won the best narrative feature award for director Lisa Aschan. “This film speaks of sex, adolescence, power, and ambition. It is original and authentic,” the jury said.

Read the rest of this article from the Guardian.