Female Film Directors Research Articles

Complicating Legacies

In 2020 the Albanian Cinema Project’s restoration of Tomka Dhe Shoket e Tij (Tomka and His Friends, 1977) premiered on Turner Classic Movies in their “Women Make Film” series. This event marked the culmination of my work to bring the films of Albania’s first female film director, Xhanfise Keko, into global distribution. A key aim for these projects was to begin to open up a space for Albanians at home and in the diaspora to address the silences that persisted around their years under an extreme, isolationist dictatorship. This article maps the project of re-education that I embarked on as an archivist, curator, and media historian. Now, with ACP shuttered and the benefit of hindsight, I reflect on the work of restoring and re-releasing Albanian films as a project of re-programming (double entendre intended) Albanian socialist-realist cinema for contemporary, global publics.

Breaking the Celluloid Ceiling: Exploring the Unique Female Inuit Perspective in Before Tomorrow (Marie-Hélène Cousineau and Madeline Ivalu 2008)

While acknowledging the diverse designations and feminist perspectives associated with female directors in mainstream cinema, this paper explores the intricacies of female film directing in the context of mainstream cinema, which historically encountered significant challenges. Filmmaking faced notable difficulties before the 1980s, the exploration of female film directing becomes particularly complex, given the predominantly patriarchal nature of the film industry. The paper highlights Arnait Video Productions as a remarkable phenomenon, emphasizing its ability to convey a unique Indigenous female perspective through cinematic production, particularly in the film Before Tomorrow (2008), directed by Marie-Hélène Cousineau and Madeline Ivalu. The study aims to analyze and elucidate the nuances of this distinct female Indigenous collective filmmaking style, exploring its broader implications for the revitalization of Indigenous culture as portrayed in Before Tomorrow. The present article navigates the multifaceted discourse surrounding female film directors while focusing on the specific context of Indigenous cinema and the significance of Arnait Video Productions in preserving and mediating Indigenous culture through the medium of cinema.

A Study on the Film Director Lee Mi-rye: Genre and Popularity of Chungmuro Female Film Director in 1980s

A Study on the Film Director Lee Mi-rye: Genre and Popularity of Chungmuro Female Film Director in 1980s

Representation of the images of army and military man in the U.S. mass cinematography of the 2010s

The author explores the problematic of the images of army and military in mass cinematography on the example of U.S. film industry of the second decade of the XXI century. The object of this research is the sociocultural representation of army and war via expressive means of cinematographic art. Within the Russian science, this problematic is poorly studied; at the same time, its relevance cannot be overestimated, since cinematography is an important component in formation of “soft power” of the country. According to the testimony of numerous Russian experts, namely cinematography of the United States has highest impact potential and forms mental images of the army and military not only among the U.S. citizens, but also for the Russian society, which always triggers questions related to the cultural aspects of national security. It is worth noting that modern U.S. military cinematography becomes the special subject of scientific research for the first time. The author comes to the conclusion that in the recent decade, U.S. film production in military genre has undergone substantial transformations. The films on the World War II and the Vietnam War are replaced with the films on global war on terrorism and local national conflicts. Among other peculiarities of recent years in U.S. military cinematography, the author notes female film directors in this sphere, personification of the images of enemy, deconstruction of the image of military man as a mythological defender and rescuer. The latter noticeably contradicts the Russian film tradition and culture, for which the army and military history remain the important points of national self-identity, key components of formation of images of the great past and common future.

“Her-story”: contemporary female film directors in post-Yugoslav cinema

The subject of this paper is a new generation of female directors in former Yugoslav (Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina) cinematography. It considers the stylistic, narrative and representational strategies in the films Clip (Klip, 2012) by Maja Miloš, Sonja and the Bull (Sonja i bik, 2012) by Vlatka Vorkapić, Our Everyday Life (Naša svakodnevna priča, 2015) by Ines Tanović, Zagreb Cappuccino (2014) by Vanja Sviličić, Trampoline (Trampolin, 2016) by Zrinka Katarina Matijević, You Carry Me (Ti mene nosiš, 2015) by Ivona Juka, and Quit Staring at My Plate (Ne gledaj mi u pijat, 2016) by Hana Jušić. The movies are related through conceptual, thematic and/or stylistic features. They examine the position of female protagonists in a patriarchal society and their daily experiences, wherein they dissect gender, economic and social problems that exist in countries in the territory of former Yugoslavia.

Professional Competences. Reconstruction of the Opinions of Polish Female Directors

Abstract The aim of this work is to reconstruct the convictions and opinions of Polish female film directors concerning work competences that actuate work and success in the field of film directing. Qualitative data are presented in the text, which were collected by the Author herself in free interviews carried out with twelve Polish female film directors.

The reel world: Interview with female film directors Susanne Bier and Haifaa Al Mansour, from Denmark and Saudi Arabia

The reel world: Interview with female film directors Susanne Bier and Haifaa Al Mansour, from Denmark and Saudi Arabia

Wang Ping and Women’s Cinema in Socialist China: Institutional Practice, Feminist Cultures, and Embedded Authorship

AbstractThis essay examines Wang Ping, the first Chinese socialist female film director, and her most representative film, The Story of Liubao Village (1957), retheorizing female cinematic authorship as a contingent articulation embedded within dynamic interactions among a multiplicity of historical forces. This analysis addresses critical issues in Chinese studies and cross-cultural feminist analysis: the dismissal of socialist cinema as mere propaganda, the influence of the Cold War on the study of socialist China and women since the 1980s in American academia, and the liberal and radical feminist approaches to gender, which tend to separate gender from other political, social, and cultural practices by adhering to a Western-centered universalism. Methodologically, this essay rehistoricizes and reconstructs the practice of early Chinese socialist cinema (1949–57) as experimental and situates Wang Ping within that dynamic filmmaking context to reconfigure women’s cultural agency as a historical effect of...

아네스 바르다의 >방랑자<와 형식적 실험

아네스 바르다는 자신만의 영화세계를 구축해 온 프랑스의 대표적인 여성 영화감독이다. 특히 주관성과 객관성을 혼합하는 실험적인 방식은 가장 돋보이는 특성이다. 이를 뒷받침하는 방식은 고전적 영화 방식과 상이한 영화적 형식에 대한 탐구에서 비롯한다. 이러한 접근은 현대영화의 형식을 치밀하게 분석하여 구조를 발견하는 노엘 버치의 방법론과 같다. 그래서 아네스 바르다의 대표작 중 하나이면서 1985년 베니스영화제에서 황금사자상을 수상한 바 있는 <방랑자>를 대상으로 주제와 형식의 유기적 결합을 통한 현대영화의 구조 산출이라는 형식미학적 분석하고자 한다. 인간 사이의 관계성과 접촉의 회복을 표류하는 삶의 비극적 죽음을 통해 전달하고자 한 영화의 주제는 영화의 형식적 실험을 통해 새로운 영화적 구조를 낳았다. 그 형식적 실험은 영화의 도입부의 보이스오버와 파편적이고 반복적인 구성으로서 인물과 상황 제시 방식, 서사적 양식과 비서사적 양식의 배합, 그리고 영화적 물리적 질료성을 폭로하는 방식으로서 카메라의 움직임과 편집, 그리고 플래쉬백과 사운드의 독특한 사용으로 이루어져있다. Agn<TEX>$\grave{e}$</TEX>s Varda is a French representative female film director. In particular, the method combining subjectivity and objectivity is the most outstanding characteristics. However, it can be said that the method to support this is not only theme of the film but also creation of structure including the exploration for the filmic form different from classical film form. Such an approach accords with No<TEX>$\ddot{e}$</TEX>l Burch's refined analysis of filmic form. Therefore, This study aims to aesthetical analysis of the form of producing the structure in modern movies through <Vagabond> which is one of the representative work by Agn<TEX>$\grave{e}$</TEX>sVarda and won the Golden Lion award in 1985 Venice Film Festival. The theme of the film, the recovery of relationships among people and contacts through the tragic death of drifting life, created a new filmic structure by formative experiment of the film. The formative experiment is the fragmented and repetitive construction with the introductory voice-over, and consists of movement and editing of camera and specific use of flashback and sound through the representation of figures and situations, mixture of narrative and non-narrative style.

Adriënne Solser, Koningin der kluchten

In the minor film producing country of the Netherlands Adriënne Solser (1873-1943) was a relatively prolific actress producer and director of silent feature films in the 1920s. She was one of only two female film directors of Dutch silent films and her films were considerably successful. Nonetheless her thematic and aesthetic choices deviated from the aspirations held by most of her colleagues: instead of gloomy dramas and artistically ambitious films Adriënne Solser produced cinematically unpretentious and emphatically local farces which moreover were always intended to be shown with a live performance by Solser herself. Solser's success as well as her consistent choice for the popular and the lowbrow prompted interdisciplinary and intertextual research into popular stage genres and traditions that were much more related to her work than to most Dutch film productions of the era. The research considers most notably the popular stage genre of <em>Jordaan</em> plays as well as the traditions of mixing live performances with film screenings. Both are explored in their multiple and successive historic manifestations. It becomes clear that Solser not only drew her ideas from a specific and rather unknown variant of the <em>Jordaan</em> genre but that she then created her own variant of it for cinema. In addition she can be said to have continued a comic film tradition that originated from the revues of the 1910s and that embedded film in the comic performance. Adriënne Solser transferred and adapted this hybrid tradition to the cinema of the 1920s and in doing so became an exponent of Dutch comic film of the era.

Wanda Jakubowska’s Cinema of Commitment

The purpose of this article is to provide a general overview of the work of Wanda Jakubowska (1907–98), the first Polish, female film director to gain national and international recognition. Her career spanned over 50 years, in which she directed 14 full-length feature films, thus being the longest working film director in the history of Polish cinema. She was also one of the highest profile filmmakers to join the Polish communist party after the Second World War and in subsequent years represented the ‘party line’ among her fellow film-makers, and lobbied the party on behalf of the cinema industry. The article looks at style, ideology and the most important themes of Jakubowska’s work. Its focus is on her films about concentration camps and about contemporary Poland. The article also attempts to establish whether and to what degree Jakubowska was a feminist.