It’s a beautiful time to be women, in particular when we are talking about strong women who create “the new” every single day: women who have the courage and strength to raise their voices and to express themselves. One of the jobs that allow people (no matter what gender) to tell and speak about something is the marvelous, magic and open minding world of Cinema.
So, for sure in Hollywood it’s the right time to be a strong and creative woman. Speaking of that, we can refer to two things that happened at Cannes recently: Sofia Coppola became the second woman to win as Best Director, and the juror and actress Jessica Chastain gave a speech on the importance of letting the space to female directors and storytellers, after noticing the “disturbing” portrayals of women in this year’s movies which where presented at the Festival.
For sure there is still so much work to do in the industry, but here we present you the most outstanding female directors from the 50s (yes, the 50s!) ‘till now.
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Ida Lupino
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Born in South London, Ida Lupino moved to Hollywood where she wanted to realize her dream of becoming an actress. Bored of other people having all the fun, she started writing, and moved into directing after the man in charge of a film she had co-written fell ill. She set up her own production company, and worked all through the 50s and 60s. She was the first ever actress to choose to became a director.
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Jane Campion
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Speaking of Cannes, Jane Campion is the first woman to have won the Palme d’Or as best Director, which is the most prestigious prize at the Festival. She has won it for the movie “The Piano”, a dramatic love story set on 1850 and which sees as protagonist a mute woman.
Her most recent success is “Top of The Lake”, a mystery drama television series, which sees Elisabeth Moss in a hard and compelling role, which gave her the Golden Globe as best actress in a mini TV series. A comeback to Cannes for the Director this year: she presented the entire second season, which follows Elisabeth Moss in a new adventure, this time followed by who seems to be the actress of the year: Nicole Kidman.
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Sofia Coppola
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In 2017, finally another female director to win the Best Director Prize at Cannes: the second woman ever to win it. For Sofia, it all started in 1999 with the movie “The Virgin Suicides” accompanied by her friend and muse Kirsten Dunst who followed her also for her last successful movie at Cannes: “The Beguiled” (Sofia was also the writer and the producer). She previously won as best Movie at Cannes for “Somewhere” with Elle Fanning (she also stars in “The Beguiled”) and her “Marie Antoinette” (Kirsten again) receive a best movie nomination.
The movie that sky rocked Sofia into the Olympus of directing was “Lost in Translation“, for which she won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.
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Patty Jenkins
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A debut, a success, an Oscar. The Oscar wasn’t for Patty though. On 2003 she debuted (directing and writing) with the movie “Monster”, and Charlize Theron won the Oscar for her portrayal of the serial killer Aileen Wuornos. Now she is in theaters with the huge feminist movie about Wonder Woman, our first woman and hero from the DC or Marvel in a very, very long time (if we exclude the apparition of Cat Woman in 2012, but it was a Batman movie).
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Nancy Meyers
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Nancy is the comedy-romance Queen. She is well known for masterful directing movies such as “The Holiday”, “What Women Want” (who doesn’t remember the stunning performance of Mel Gibson?!), “Something’s Gotta Give”, “The Intern” and “The Parent Trap” (maybe the best movie played by a “double” and young Lindsay Lohan.)
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Ava DuVernay
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After the touching movie “Selma” (2014), which is based on the 1965 Selma to Montgomery voting rights marches led by Martin Luther King, she directed the documentary “13th” that is titled after the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which freed the slaves and prohibited slavery. Now she is directing “A Wrinkle in Time” (2018), she will became the first woman of color to direct a film with a $100 million budget.
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Lone Scherfig
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“An Education”? A powerful portrait of young women by Carey Mulligan. “One Day”? We are still crying. “Their Finest”? Her last movie where Gemma Arterton plays a woman who joins a propaganda film outfit during the Second World War. A very feminist and powerful movie we can’t wait to see this summer.
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Kathryn Bigelow
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Kathryn is a true specialist of thriller and action movies. But, most of all, she is the only woman to have ever won the Oscar for Best Director (“The Hurt Locker”, 2009). Her movie “Zero Dark Thirty” (2011) also received a few nods, like Best Picture and Best Actress in a Leading Role thanks to the intense portrayal by Jessica Chastain of the woman at the head of the hunt for the terrorist leader Osama Bin Laden. Speaking of thrilling movies, she’s coming out this year with the film “Detroit”. The movie narrates about the fighting scene in Detroit during July 1967.
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Nora Ephron
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Thanks God for Nora Ephron. The late American director wrote and directed some of our favorite romantic movies of all times, such as “Sleepless in Seattle”, “When Harry Met Sally” and “You’ve Got Mail”. Her last movie as a director is “Julie and Julia” (2009).
She was a director, a journalist, a blogger, screenwriter, and a producer.
The Tribeca Film Festival honors her with the Nora Ephron Prize: a $25.000 awards for a female writer or filmmaker with a distinctive voice.
