A post on Indiewire this morning reported that screenwriter James Vanderbilt has signed on to make his directorial debut with the forthcoming drama Truth starring Cate Blanchett and Robert Redford. The post highlighted the uncomfortable fact that this kind of story - where a first-time director gets a huge break on a high profile film - never happens to women.It's not a controversial statement to claim that film industries around the world are patriarchal spaces (what industry isn't?). It's very difficult for women to get directorial assignments, and certainly all-but-impossible for them to get backing to make larger-scale films within the studio system. Whenever this problem is raised in filmgoer conversations, someone inevitably points out Kathryn Bigelow, director of The Hurt Locker and Point Break, as if the presence of one woman in Hollywood somehow argues for the presence of many others. The same goes for the late Nora Ephron, who found enormous commercial success with her romantic comedies, as well as Nancy Meyers, whose oddly misogynistic comedies (What Women Want, Something's Gotta Give) once made her the most commercial successful female director in the world.
In the interests of furthering the conversation on women in film, I figured it might be worth pointing out 10 great contemporary films directed by women. This isn't some kind of "best films directed by women list"; it's simply 10 films, released since 2000, that were directed by women other than Kathryn Bigelow (because we all seem to have her covered) and that are well worth tracking down and watching. Please feel free to add your own suggestions in the comments.
