Female & Lesbian Filmmakers
Not only are lesbian filmakers hugely under-represented in the film industry but in general why is Hollywood still so boystown? Lights, Camera, Stats! I wanted to be a cinematographer - a massive stats attack!
According to the Annenberg Institute, of the top 1,200 films from 2007 to 2018:
Female Filmmakers / Directors
. 4% of those films were directed by women.
. 17.4% of those female directors, had gotten to direct another movie beyond their debut feature
. 13% directed a second, 2.2% a third, and 2.2% a fourth.
. women worked across four decades (from their 30s through their 60s, making one to four films).
Male Filmmakers / Directors
. 96% of those films were directed by men.
. 45.7% of men who made a top movie in the last decade, had gotten to direct more movies after their feature film debut
...
. 21% directed a second, 13.1% a third, 6.2% a fourth and 5.5% a fifth or more.
. Men's careers spanned seven decades (from their 20s to their 80s, making one to 17 films)
Poignant, of the top 100 grossing movies from 2019
. 10.6% of the directors were women (up from 4.5%, in 2018)
...of course men can vote for female-directed films. Slick female-directed movies tend to deal with relationships between women, and sometimes the men in these movies are ancillary to the plot. So most of the screen time belongs to... hurrah... the ladies. Check out the past Academy Award movie winners in the last ten years Parasite, Green Book, The Shape of Water, Moonlight, Spotlight, Birdman, 12 Years a Slave, Argo, The Artist, The King's Speech.
Now check out which female filmmakers / directors have been nominated over 93 years as best Academy Award film directors:
. Lina Wertmüller (in 1976, for Seven Beauties),
. Jane Campion (in 1993, for The Piano),
. Sofia Coppola (in 2003, for Lost in Translation),
. Kathryn Bigelow (in 2009, for The Hurt Locker - winner)
. Greta Gerwig (in 2017, for Lady Bird).
. Chloé Zhao (in 2021, for Nomadland - winner).
. Emerald Fennell (in 2021, for Promising Young Woman).
Wohoo - it's a boy's celluloid world: portrayals of female characters in the top grossing films of 2019
. The percentage of top grossing films featuring female protagonists rose from 31% in 2018 to 40% in 2019, reaching a recent historic high.
. 68% of all female characters were white in the top 100 films of 2019. 20% were Black, 7% were Asian, and 5% were Latina according to womenandhollywood
. 43% of films featured male protagonists, and 17% had ensembles or a combination of male and female protagonists.
Behind-the-Scenes Employment of Women on the 250 Films of 2019, from womenintvfilm:
. Women comprised 13% of directors working on the top 250 films in 2019, up from 8% in 2018, and up 2 percentage points from the previous high of 11% in 2017.
. Women working in these roles on the top 250 grossing films experienced a slight increase from 20% in 2018 to 21% in 2019.
. By role (on the top 250 films), women comprised 19% of writers, 21% of executive producers, 27% of producers, 23% of editors, 5% of cinematographers, 6% of composers, 40% of music supervisors, 9% of supervising sound editors, 4% of sound designers, 23% of production designers, 31% of art directors, 4% of special effects supervisors, and 6% of visual effects supervisors.
We are going into the 2020's, come on boy's embrace talented lesbian and female filmmakers!
Alice Guy-Blaché
Alice Guy-Blaché was a French pioneer filmmaker who was one of the first women to direct a film, making more than 1,000 films, many of which put women to the fore. In 1910 she started her own company, Solax.
Her 1896 silent movie, La Fée aux Choux (The Cabbage-Patch Fairy) features cross-dressed fairies kissing!
French Film Director: 1873 –1968
Mercedes de Acosta
Though Acosta's writings did not receive great acclaim, she was hugely successful as a key member of "The Sewing Circle" - a discreet women's "club" for Hollywood's underground lesbians.
Her tell-all autobiography reveals her love affairs with Alla Nazimova, Greta Garbow, Isadora Duncan, Marlene Dietrich, Eva Le Gallienne...
American Screenwriter: 1892 – 1968
Dorothy Emma Arzner
During the "Golden Age" of Hollywood, Dorothy Arzner was the only woman director. She made 3 silent movies and 14 "talkies" and became the first woman to direct a talky, Manhattan Cocktail (1928). Moreover, Arzner was one of the first directors to create a boom microphone, in 1929.
Her long-time "companion" (of 40 years, bravo) was Marion Morgan, a choreographer.
American Film Director: 1897 – 1979
