But this year begins with a bang and Zoe gets her own film.  She stars as the Exploding Girl in Bradley Rust Gray’s new film.  He wrote it for Zoe after they spent a lot of time walking and talking together.  Zoe plays Ivy a young college student home for spring break.  She’s at the beginning of a new relationship with a guy at school and this week away has made Ivy unsure of how they feel about each other.  Ivy is a typical 20 year old and spends a lot on time on the phone.  The cell phone is basically a character in the film.  The conversations with Ivy and the boyfriend are full of awkward silences and remind us that while we might be more connected to people, at the same time it’s even harder to truly connect.

The emotions of a young woman not yet an adult and no longer child are written all over Zoe’s face.  She’s at the stage where everything feels slippery and unsure.  She doesn’t yet know where she fits into the world and to complicate matters she also has to deal with a chronic medical condition that has made her grow up much faster than others around her.  For example, she might have a hard time having children because of the medication she takes.  That’s just her reality.  She also can’t take a bath alone because she could have a seizure and drown.  But she manages this chronic condition with the help and understanding of her long time friend Al (played by Mark Rendall), and their week together (his parents rented out his room so he sleeps on Ivy’s mom’s couch) brings to the fore feelings she really never knew she had.

Zoe Kazan is the real deal.  She’s going to have a long career in film and theatre as an actor and a writer since she is also a playwright.  I am excited to keep watching her work.  Count me as a big fan.

But now it looks like Hardwicke has gotten the green light from Warner Brothers for The Girl with the Red Riding Hood starring Amanda Seyfried (who will be feted next week as Showest’s breakthrough star.)

The premise for the red riding hood redo came from Leonardo DiCaprio and his production company will produce along with Warner Brothers.

Here’s a description from EW:

[The film] is about a girl who tries to uncover the true identity of the wolf that’s been terrorizing her village for the  two decades. She must also resolve her feelings for her wealthy fiance and the town’s bad boy.

I guess that Warner Brothers has seen the writing on the wall and has moved on from the days not too long ago when they supposedly did not want to see any scripts with female leads.  I’m sure it helped to have Leonardo DiCaprio’s name attached to this one.  According to Screen Daily, the budget is a little over the budget of Twilight which was $37 million so Warners commitment is contained.

Hardwicke will receive the Honorary Director Award from the Female Eye Film Festival in Toronto later this month.  Here’s what she said about the award:

“Thank you, Female Eye Film Festival, for honoring me with this award.  It’s such a privilege to be a part of a festival that recognizes what all the women filmmakers around the world have to offer. Looking forward to chilling with my northern sisters!”

Details on the Female Eye festival.

Hardwicke set to shoot Riding Hood in Vancouver (Screen Daily)

Film opens next Friday, March 19.  Writer/director Floria Sigismondi will be our next guest on In Conversation- Women & Hollywood’s online radio show next Tuesday, March 16th at 1pm EST.  Listen here.

What do you think?  Does the trailer make you want to see the film?

Well thanks to the statistics that we released by the MPAA with barely a blip yesterday, (thanks David Poland for the heads up) the news is that not only do women go to movies, we go more than men.  Yes, folks — women go to the movies more than men do.

This news should rock each and every executive in Hollywood more than the Bigelow Oscar win.  Cause this is something they understand.  This is money and women are delivering the money.  Big time.

So I am officially holding a funeral for the term “women are not a film market.”  I never want to hear it uttered again.  I am going to keep these statistics next to my computer (or maybe make them my screensaver but that would mean removing my picture of Kathryn Bigelow holding two Oscars) because every time someone says that women don’t go to the movies I’m just going to throw the stats in their faces.

I know exactly why the 2009 numbers increased.  If you follow the business it’s not too hard to figure it out.  The reasons are New Moon and The Blind Side with a side of The Proposal (now Sandra Bullock’s Oscar makes even more sense.)  Maybe folks are going to try and say that it is a fluke because there were two female centric successes and we don’t have those frequently.  Friends, that is the whole fucking point.  It’s like that line from Field of Dreams – “if you build it they will come.”  It is only looked at as a fluke because of the shortsightedness of people who won’t believe that women will continue to go to the movies.  There is nothing in any of the data that I have looked at the gives me any indication that women won’t go to the movies in the future.  In fact, I would venture to say that if they continue to make movies that attract women we will continue to be there.

Another line that I want to bury for good is that young men go to the movies more than anyone else.  That’s just bullshit.  Younger men don’t go to the movies more than younger women.  Younger people in general go to the movies more, but based on the MPAA numbers of frequent moviegoers (ones who go more than once a month) in the coveted demographic of 18-24, women make up 3.4 million filmgoers while men make up 3.1 million.  Suck on that Hollywood!

Don’t believe me, check out the numbers from the MPAA:

See the yellow?  That’s the women.

Here are the other stats:

• In 2009 there were 217 million moviegoers.  The total admissions was 1.4 billion dollars.
• Women are 113 million of the moviegoers and bought 55% of the tickets.
• Men are 104 million of the moviegoers and 45% of the tickets.

Here’s the money quote from the MPAA:

“A higher percentage of women than men are moviegoers in all categories of frequency.”

In. All. Categories. of. Frequency.

Women make up 9 million more filmgoers than men.

Bottom line: The future is female.  The upside is great.  The market is there ready to be tapped.  The only issue is who will take advantage of it.

World Narrative Feature Competition (Women directors account for 3 out of 12)

Paju, directed and written by Chan-ok Park. (South Korea) – North American Premiere. Joongshik and Eunmo live in Paju: a gray town where the urban landscape is as bleak as the fate of its residents. In writer/director Chan-ok Park’s emotionally intense follow-up to award-winning Jealousy Is My Middle Name (TFF ’03), the personal travails of two antiheros are delicately unveiled through an anachronistic period of eight years, demonstrating how easily the lines of development and destruction are sometimes blurred. In Korean with English subtitles.

Snap, directed and written by Carmel Winters. (Ireland) – World Premiere. With a fresh and intense style, playwright-turned-director Carmel Winters composes a gripping psychological drama about three generations of a family poised to repeat the mistakes of the past. Aisling O’Sullivan (The War Zone) commands the screen as a calloused mother who will do anything to protect her son—even deny her own past. From the producers of TFF award winner Eden and the Academy Award® winner Once.

When We Leave (Die Fremde), directed and written by Feo Aladag. (Germany) – North American Premiere. When young Turkish-German woman Umay can no longer stand her husband’s ill-treatment, she flees from Istanbul with her five-year-old son into the arms of her family in Berlin. But love, affection, and loyalty soon become irrelevant as they struggle to reconcile Umay’s willful self-determination with the social system that governs their lives. This passion piece on female flight from oppression builds its considerable dramatic intensity to a glowing payoff. In German, Turkish with English subtitles.

World Documentary Feature Competition (Women directors account for 6 out of 12)

American Mystic, directed by Alex Mar. (USA) – World Premiere. Set against a vivid backdrop of American rural landscapes, Alex Mar’s meditative documentary artfully weaves together the stories of three young Americans exploring alternative religion: a Wiccan in California mining country, a New Ager in upstate New York, and a Native American father and sundancer in South Dakota, all yearning for fulfilling spirituality in disparate but often strikingly similar ways.

The Arbor, directed by Clio Barnard. (UK) – World Premiere. Brilliantly blending the borders of narrative and documentary filmmaking, artist-cum-director Clio Barnard beautifully reconstructs the fascinating true story of troubled British playwright Andrea Dunbar and her tumultuous relationship with her daughter. Working from two years of audio interviews, Bernard uses classic documentary techniques, actors, theatrical performance, and Dunbar’s own neighborhood to generate a unique cinematic feast while unraveling the truths of a dark family past.

Budrus, directed by Julia Bacha. (USA, Palestine, Israel) – North American Premiere. In one of the most conflicted parts of the world, a Palestinian family man unites rival parties Fatah and Hamas, Western activists, and even groups of progressive Israelis in a nonviolent crusade to save his village from being destroyed. Award-winning documentarian Julia Bacha (Encounter Point, TFF ’06) captures with rawness and galvanizing intensity the power of ordinary people to peaceably fight for extraordinary changes. In Arabic, English, Hebrew with English subtitles.

Earth Made of Glass, directed by Deborah Scranton. (USA) – World Premiere. This powerful investigative documentary by the Oscar®-nominated director of The War Tapes (best doc, TFF ’06) skillfully weaves interviews with President Kagame of Rwanda and Jean-Pierre Sagahutu, a survivor of the horrific 1994 genocide. When a president and a citizen—bound together by a profound love of country and an unquenchable desire to see the truth revealed—fight to expose the truth behind a murder and France’s hidden role in the Rwandan genocide, their stories will inspire and uplift. In English, French, Kinyarwandan with English subtitles.

Monica & David, directed by Alexandra Codina. (USA) – North American Premiere. Monica and David are in love. Truly, blissfully in love. They also happen to have Down syndrome. Alexandra Codina’s affectionate and heartwarming documentary is an intimate, year-in-the-life portrait of two child-like spirits with adult desires. Supported (and, for more than 30 years, sheltered) by endlessly devoted mothers, Monica and David prepare for their fairy tale wedding and face the realities of married life afterward.

Sons of Perdition, directed by Jennilyn Merten, Tyler Measom. (USA) – World Premiere. In the polygamist community cultivated by the notorious (and now incarcerated) “prophet” Warren Jeffs, women are a commodity, children are reared to be ignorant, and free thought is surrendered. For a group of teenage boys, the desire for autonomy means banishment from their homes and families. This fascinating documentary explores the heartbreaking losses and hopeful determination of these exiles as they struggle to make new lives in mainstream America.

Showcase (Women directors account for one out of seven)

A Brand New Life (Yeo-haeng-ja), directed and written by Ounie Lecomte. (South Korea, France) – New York Premiere. When her father offers to take her on a trip, nine-year-old Jin-hee happily sings him a love song, the bittersweet notes inaudible to her own ear, until she realizes he has abandoned her at a Catholic orphanage. Celebrated from the Cannes to Berlin film festivals, Ounie Lecomte’s directorial debut, a semi-autobiographical portrait of 1970s South Korea, masterfully captures the emotional journey of loss, friendship, and starting anew. In Korean with English subtitles.

One of her quotes:

I think when you have strong powerful women standing up and speaking out about these issues, not to mention how many women represent us in the Senate and the House of Representatives, you’re going to start to see a major change in these areas,” stated the actress.

Here’s an interview she did with ET talking about the importance and the responsibility she has in doing this work.  She is in circus training getting ready to start her next film based on the best selling novel Water for Elephants, with Robert Pattinson and Christoph Waltz.

Here’s why they put together the list:

There are nowhere near enough women in positions of power and influence, whether it be in the cultural and creative industries or other sectors. We need to do everything we can to enable and encourage the next generation.

Nominees were submitted and were judged by a high profile panel of men and women heading by BBC radio’s Jenni Miller.

The list of women was released this week.  Check them out.

• Bridget Nicholls
• Claire Whitaker
• Carol Bell
• Cathy Woolley
• Claire Cunningham
• Clare Hudson
• Daisy Heath
• Delia Barker
• Emma Stenning
• Emma Underhill
• Freda Matassa
• Gail Parmel
• Geraldine Collinge
• Helen MacNamara
• Hermione Way
• Indy Hunjan
• Jane Finnis
• Jacqui O’Hanlon
• Jenni Lewin-Turner
• Juliana Farha
• Julie Tait
• Kate Bellamy
• Kate McGrath
• Laura Sillars
• Liz Pugh
• Lucy Worsley
• Dr Maria Balshaw
• Maria Oshodi
• Maxine Millar
• Melanie Abrahams
• Moira Buffini
• Nike Jonah
• Pim Baxter
• Purni Morell
• Rachel Holmes
• Rachel Millward
• Rebecca Dawson
• Roanne Dods
• Ruth Daniel
• Ruth Gill
• Ruth Gould
• Sally Goldsworthy
• Sarah Munro
• Seonaid Daly
• Sharnita K Athwal
• Sharon Watson
• Siobhán Bales
• Sophie Thomas
• Theresa Heskins
• Vanessa Reed

It’s not that women aren’t writing plays and trying to get them produced.  It’s impossible without an agent, and agents rudely ignore your query or send your letter back with a note scribbled, “Not interested without a professional recommendation.” There are a lot of closed doors.

As a person who believes fervently in equality, I’ve been working with advocacy groups through the Dramatists Guild and with 50/50 in 2020 to improve opportunities for women to have our work produced in theater and in films. We need your support. Here’s how you can help:

• If you are in NY, use this listing of plays by women from NYTheatre.com.  It has committed to cover as many plays by women playwrights this year as plays by men. They will team with 50/50 in 2020 to create online profiles of women playwrights and theatre companies that specialize in work by women.
• To show our appreciation for this initiative, please opt in to receive weekly updates via email, and a listing of plays by women in NYC.
• Tell theater party organizers (in any city) that you want to see plays by and about women.
• Mention this on Facebook, tell your friends, tell a theatre manager or board member, write letters to editors, tweet, spread the word.
• When a theatre calls asking you to subscribe, ask,”How many women playwrights? How many women directors? How many roles for women? How many women designers?”  Our  support should depend on how close they are to gender parity.
• Celebrate  SWAN DAY/ Support Women Artists Now Day, Saturday, March 27,  at a woman’s art exhibit, concert, film, play, or book reading.

What about women and films?

24% of women work in a key behind-the-scenes role (directors, writers, producers, cinematographers, and editors) on independent festival films, compared with 16% for high budget studio films.  YET WE ARE IN THE MAJORITY IN THE POPULATION. The first step to change is awareness.  Here are some things you can do:

• Attend opening week-end films by and about women to boost their commercial status.
• Subscribe to this blog’s newsletter that keeps you aware of films by and about women.
• Join your local women’s film organization.  In NY, NYWIFT (New York Women in Film and Television) has 2,000 women working in different aspects of filmmaking.  Happily, I’ve found a place where I can work with other professionals to improve the pathetic statistics.
• Check out my new online column, Where are the Women? which is aimed at Tracking coverage of women in the media for NYWICI (New York Women in Communications).

Be aware, be indignant, be pro-active. Onward and upward.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Barbara Sutton Masry is a playwright, screenwriter, producer, and activist whose independent feature film, “A Wake-up Call” is in development.

Here are the women who participated in alphabetical order (check out their sites to learn about their work):

Allison Anders, director Gas, Food Lodging; Anne Bass, director- Dancing Across Borders;  Tracy Lynch Britton, director, Melrose Place; Gabrielle Burton, Five Sisters Productions; Kathi Carey, director – Worth; Wendy Jo Carlton, director - Hannah Free; Jules Dameron; Katherine Dieckmann, director – Motherhood; Emily Dell, director- B-Girl;  Rachel Feldman, director – Beyond the Break and Sisters; Carey Graeber, director- Rediscovering Dorothy; Rhianon Elan Gutierrez, director- When I’m Not Alone;  Deborah Kampmeier, director-Hounddog; Aviva Kempner, director- Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg; Alex Kondracke, director- GirlTrash; Barbara Kopple, director – Shut Up and Sing, Harlan County USA (Oscar winner); Sue Kramer, director – Gray Matters; Alexis Krasilovsky, Director – Women Behind the Camera; Kasi Lemmons, director- Eve’s Bayou; Suzanne O’Keefe, director- Full Serve; Shamim Sarif, director – The World Unseen; Nancy Schwartzman, director- Where is Your Line?; Dawn Scibilia, director- Home; Nell Scovell, director- It Was One of Us; Therese Shechter, director- I Was A Teenage Feminist; Amy Sewell, director- What’s Your Point, Honey?; Karen Skloss, director- Sunshine; Juanita Wilson, director – The Door (nominated for an Oscar)

Allison Anders

Kathryn was a role model and inspiration several years before I directed my first movie.  And after I first met her, she became a warm beacon and comrade and big sister.  Now, with this Oscar, and the DGA win, she restored all the dreams I didn’t even realize I had allowed to get sidetracked over the years.   My happiness for her is complete, because she worked so very hard for it.  She never whined, even though she is privately well aware of our struggle as women in the industry.  She never became a victim, she did her best, always.

What has been incredible to me about Kathryn’s Oscar win is that women who are not even filmmakers, not in the industry at all, feel her victory is one for all of us.  And true to her nature, I knew she would not acknowledge her gender in her acceptance speech, but it was there, she was fully aware of how momentous her win was for all of us.  I love her and could not be happier for her.  And for every little girl and old girl who was watching with that same dream.

Anne Bass

I find it very interesting that Kathryn Bigelow started her career an artist before she became a director.  One sees it in her work. Her film has an unusually powerful and singular vision which provides an almost perfect expressive form for what is clearly a remarkable script.

Tracy Lynch Britton

Since I was 6 years old I have never missed the Oscars. I have been practicing ( and timing) my speech every year since.  I was shocked to discover as an adult that no woman had EVER won. But last night changed all that – Kathryn Bigelow punched through that glass ceiling with a gritty, realistic, riveting Action War story – a film that could never be called a “chick flick”.  God bless her and the Academy for recognizing talent for talent’s sake and not because she was or wasn’t a woman!  And to have Barbara Streisand be the one to give her the Oscar – WHAT A NIGHT !  FOR HER AND FELLOW FEMALE DIRECTORS ALL OVER THE WORLD – HALLEJUAH!!!!!!

Gabrielle Burton

This is a gamechanger.  We may not see the impact of that change tomorrow, or even this year, and it will continue to be a Promethean struggle for women, but this is a major crack to help shatter the glass ceiling.  It’s like the last Presidential race and what it did to shift people’s perspectives for what is possible.  No one can now NOT think of a woman in this position of honor/power/achievement, and that changes the future for us all.  This is also an inspiring triumph for all filmmakers: for women and men with dreams for films of any size, for artists with a passion, for people who keep at their craft.

Think of all the little girls and boys who saw Bigelow up there; this shifts the paradigm of power in our conscious and subconscious.  Now, new things are possible.

Kathi Carey

The breaking of the gender barrier in acknowledging a female as Best Director in the year 2010 is not dissimilar to Ernie Davis’ breaking the color barrier in winning the Heisman trophy in 1961.  But unlike Davis’ win that took only 26 years from the award’s inception, Kathryn Bigelow’s achievement took 83 years.  Davis’ landmark win was also meaningful because it was in the face of open discrimination against person’s of color.  Women directors have suffered an unspoken, but no less prevalent, attitude of discrimination.  This is not to say that women have not been afforded opportunities to direct major studio films.  They just haven’t been acknowledged by their peers as having the ability or vision to direct anything other than the softer, “women’s” fare — the romantic comedies, the lighter comedies, the romance dramas, etc.  It is my hope that acknowledging Kathryn with this award for this film will open the doors for women to be considered to direct ALL types of films.

Wendy Jo Carlton

This may sound trivial, but the music for the Helen Reddy song, “I am Woman” playing behind Bigelow and Streisand as they exited the stage felt patronizing, reductive and silly. Who was responsible for selecting that as music and why did they think it was appropriate? I’m glad Bigelow won the award, but playing “I am Woman” served to underscore the institutional sentiment of “Okay, maybe now those girls can stop complaining.”   If Lee Daniels had won, were they going to cue up the theme to “We shall Overcome”?  That would be equally condescending to do, as it diminishes the much more complex accomplishment of the skill, talent, effort, and devotion it takes to direct a successful feature film. I’m curious, when Scorsese was given his long overdue Directing Oscar, what did they play then?

Jules Dameron

I believe this is wonderful.  Women for a long time have not been recognized as equals in the film industry, and there is absolutely no reason for us to not be viewed as equals.  There is nothing involved in film that rejects females, physically speaking, so, what’s the point?  It’s time for us to get rid of the car mechanic can be males only mentality and move forward and tell our stories to the world.

My being deaf does add another minority to the challenge, but Kathryn Bigelow has broken one of the biggest challenges for minorities in the film industry– women.

Katherine Dieckmann

In her acceptance speech, KB said “the secret to directing is collaborating….” Has any male director ever said that in quite that way from the podium — e.g., completely shared that moment and acknowledged that no director can get there without the work and support of so many other creative individuals? I really had that sense all night watching “Hurt Locker” win its various awards, up to the two biggies at the end. Whenever one of her team started up to receive an award, and the camera cut to Bigelow, what you saw was such pure unadulterated delight in that win, a selfless kind of delight, a delight that was completely free of ego.

It wasn’t about “oh they worked on MY film,” it was more an aura of “that person worked so hard and was so brilliant and helped make my film great, and here’s his moment in the sun.” (Because, let’s face it, all of them were guys.) I was really struck by that  generosity of spirit and lack of grandstanding on Bigelow’s part — the complete antidote to a puffed-up king of the world stance.

This was one of my favorite aspects of that evening.

For me, Bigelow’s stress on collaboration and evident joy in same was as radical as Jane Campion explaining that it took her so long to make “Bright Star” because she took time off to watch the movie that was her daughter. Again, not really a comment one could imagine flowing freely from the lips of a Scorsese, Almodovar, Eastwood, Tarantino, etc etc. In that sense, let’s celebrate the gender divide, because there can be clear humanistic advantages to the way some women approach these jobs. Consider the way Streisand, so often slammed for her own directing, embraced Bigelow’s moment with a similar radiance and absence of self-interest. Just lovely.

Emily Dell

The sad truth is The Hurt Locker is an outlier, it was made for the Hollywood equivalent of bupkus, and so she was left alone to just work and make it the best it could be.  The people who are in charge of the big money are not going to put a woman at the helm of a multi-million dollar movie, and you’re kidding yourself if you think the people in charge of the money aren’t the people in charge of the whole shebang.

My take-away from the KB win:  we’ve got to control the money.  Please, for the love of God ladies, we’ve GOT to control the f-ing money!  I’m not trying to say “greed is good” but to control your projects you HAVE to understand the financials, you have to love them.  They are inextricably intertwined with all creative choices and when you know them you can maneuver within them, you will have a leg to stand on.  That goes for the film world and beyond.

Rachel Feldman

While I am personally thrilled for this director’s win and am deeply touched by the historic significance, I imagine very little will change in the life of we women directors.  I can only hope that with her win, along with Geoffrey Fletcher’s win for writer’s of color, consciousnesses will shift and awarenesses be made and that the world will see that talent and the ability to tell stories does not have a gender or a race.

Carey Graeber

Congratulations Kathryn, and all of us, what a great way to celebrate International Women’s Day!  To say this is long overdue is an understatement, but as we bash at the glass ceiling with battering rams, we do it for those women who started this struggle long ago and for those who come after, that they never know that being a woman was once “less than.”

Rhianon Elan Gutierrez

I went to order lunch in Hollywood this afternoon and, while waiting, asked the two male servers if they watched the Oscars last night.  They both replied that they had.  I immediately commented that I, as a female director, was pleased that Kathryn Bigelow won for Best Director.  They both agreed and offered positive comments.  I told them that the best part of her win wasn’t her acceptance speech, but what she said in the press room afterwards.  She mentioned how she saw herself as a filmmaker before anything else.  I can especially relate to that statement.  Female, male, black, Hispanic, white, disabled, non-disabled, gay, straight, deaf, or hearing—we are filmmakers before we are anything else.  Certainly any of these labels can inform our choice of subject matter and create communities of people who cheer for us.  These labels are powerful indicators of the desire for representation.  Kathryn’s win represented a victory for women in film—and she won by creating a film that she believed in.  Women everywhere are cheering because they won, too.

When I was presenting on a panel to parents of deaf and hard of hearing children last month, I was asked what I thought about being referred to as a deaf filmmaker.  Like Kathryn, I responded that I want to be seen as a filmmaker first.  My hearing loss is a part of me, but it does not define my identity as a filmmaker.  I won’t deny that it has helped me to not only be sensitive to people of many abilities, but it has also made me an advocate for accessibility and for dynamic, anti-pity representations of deaf and hard of hearing people and people with disabilities on and off screen.  When we add a label (or two) to the title of “filmmaker”, we create something much bigger than the individual.  We create a movement.  I think that Kathryn’s win offers the potential for all sorts of minorities to be active in the change towards Hollywood’s recognition of their filmmaking.

Deborah Kampmeier

GRATEFUL. GRATEFUL. GRATEFUL.

GRATEFUL to Kathryn Bigelow and all of the women directors who have inspired me over the years…Jane Campion, Allison Anders, Catherine Breillat, Mira Nair,  Kimberly Peirce, Niki Caro, Agnes Varda, Nancy Savoca, Kasi Lemmons, Julie Taymor, Sofia Coppola, Lina Wertmuller, Lisa Cholodenko, Chantal Ackerman, Sally Potter, Marguerite Duras, Claire Denis, Martha Coolidge, Barbara Kopple, Julie Dash, Maggie Greenwald, Lizzie Bordon, Catherine Hardwicke, Kelly Reichardt, Lone Scherfig, Courtney Hunt, Maya Deren, Deepa Mehta, Mary Harron, Tamara Jenkins, Patty Jenkins, Gillian Armstrong…I know I’m forgettingsome…

GRATEFUL to ALL women who have made a film.

GRATEFUL to ALL women who have tried to make a film.

GRATEFUL to ALL women who will make a film.

GRATEFUL that we are getting our voices out there. The world needs them. May it be easier for our daughters.

Aviva Kempner

Today on March 8th is International Women’s Day, a celebration for women’s economic, political and social achievements.  Female directors around the world have great news to celebrate. A few minutes before this celebration commenced Kathryn Bigelow became the first women in 82 years to win an Oscar for directing a film.  And after midnight, which was already March 8th, she won another one for producing Hurt Locker, a brilliant war film.  We are all bursting with pride. Kathryn Bigelow is so talented and her speech was so gracious and caring for those soldiers at war.

As female directors celebrate around the world for her victory we can only wish for is that it won’t take another 82 years for a female feature director to win again. After all women have been winning Oscars for directing documentaries for years.  And may Hollywood start green lighting the film projects of so many women directors that nominations for Oscars become the norm instead of a breakthrough phenomena.

Alex Kondracke

A little shot in the arm for all of us.

Barbara Kopple

Kathryn’s win is so exciting and so well deserved, she made such an incredible film.  To me it’s more proof of something I’ve known for a long time – that women are brave, willing to take risks, passionate about the work and committed to great storytelling.  Kathryn and so many other women who direct films have such perseverance, such strong visions and so many important and unforgettable stories to tell.  I hope it inspires women of all ages to take charge, to be visionary artists and let no one stand in their. way.  Kathryn’s wonderful achievement goes to show that gender doesn’t really matter – it’s all about the passion for storytelling.

Sue Kramer

The glass ceiling has been broken or should I say the 50mm lens! It’s been a long time in the waiting but our time is come and this is only the beginning! Women filmmakers should be popping champagne all over the world to celebrate Kathryn Bigelow’s achievement and use this as a launching pad to say…WE ARE HERE, WE ARE TALENTED, WE ARE UNITED, AND WE EXPECT TO BE TREATING LIKE EQUAL—MOVE OVER BOYS AND MAKE ROOM!

Alexis Krasilovsky

This is indeed a much-awaited, monumental achievement.  However, before we finish cheering (and believe me, here at London’s Bird’s Eye View Film Festival, a woman’s film festival with 11,000 attendees- where my film and many others directed by women — the cheering has been long and loud), let’s make sure this win isn’t a token win, and that other deserving women filmmakers — as well as women cinematographers, who have as yet to win an Oscar — are recognized by the Academy and other male-dominated festivals.  If enough women women awards, they, too, will be able to vote for future Academy Award-winners.  If enough women are hired by the mainstream media as film reviewers, that should also help to bring enough attention to more films by women to have them nominated in the first place.  Once these components are in place, we can expect to see much more gender equity in terms of who gets to make the “important” films.

Kasi Lemmons

I went to bed last night and woke up this morning in a glow. Words cannot express how incredibly inspired and uplifted I am by the image of Katherine Bigelow with an Oscar in each hand…It’s a great day!

Suzanne O’Keefe

When I was growing up, the thought of being a movie director never entered my mind. I loved films, but I thought I’d have to write them if I wanted to have anything to do with making them. I even went to film school and directed and produced a short film that was nominated for best student film (Leo Awards, Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television) , but didn’t consider directing a career path.

Katherine Bigelow’s win IS a critical breakthrough. It is time for women to tell stories in a much larger way. It is time for them to step onto the biggest soap box there is — making movies — and tell things how we see them. I believe the world needs to hear our voices now.

For all the young women growing up now, it’s now obvious that not only is it possible to be a movie director, but also it’s possible to be the best at it in the world. My heart just beams at that thought shifting all those young women’s dreams right now.

Shamim Sarif

It’s been a much-anticipated, and much-appreciated moment. We’d all like to live in a world where it isn’t necessary to comment on the fact that the Best Director is a woman, or to have a Women’s Day, but the fact is, we are not there yet, even in the US and Europe, so a win like this for Kathryn Bigelow is meaningful because it suggests to people that yes, women can be known and successful directors.

Nancy Schwartzman

I’m thrilled that Kathryn Bigelow won the Oscar for best director last night, she is a fierce and talented filmmaker that sure knows how to shoot an action sequence! She’s been at it for 30 years, and she deserves recognition, but I’m also disappointed that they chose to honor her for this film.

We celebrate “The Hurt Locker”, which is a film about war that remains “a-political” and by doing so, tacitly accepts our invasion and occupation as fact, and war as an inevitable reality. We celebrate a female director telling stories about men – men as heroes, men as flawed adrenaline junkies, men who have fear, men who die, men who care about each other. We celebrate “The Hurt Locker,” a film by a woman about men.

Let’s be revolutionary. Let’s celebrate stories about women, that celebrate their risk-taking, their flaws, their losses and their joys. Let’s tell stories about women that are entertaining, thought-provoking, sexy, smart and all things that we women are. Let’s be revolutionary and reflect our visions on a screen of a world free from violence, rape, and full of sex, relationships, drama, and humanity. That’s my vote.

Dawn Scibilia

History has been made, but will it bring change? Although the glass ceiling is now broken, my fear is that this may not matter for female directors making films with female protagonists. That’s the reality we all have to face.

Part of me hoped Bigelow was going to say something similar to what Mo’Nique said, thanking the academy for not letting politics get in the way and then saying something profound about the plight of female directors in the industry. In the end I’m glad she didn’t, and that she avoided any negativity or anger. I say this because I myself don’t like to acknowledge the disturbing numbers. I ignore it. I won’t believe it. I will stay true to why I’m in this in the first place, my love of cinema, and I will never give up. I consider myself a filmmaker, not a female filmmaker. It shouldn’t matter that I’m a woman. At the end of the day it’s not about black or white or male or female, it’s about green. It’s about money. Always was, always will be. Not so much for awards, but certainly for getting hired in the first place. The old adage still holds true, “You’re only as good as your last picture.” Bottom line, If you can make the studios money, you will get work.

Congratulations Bigelow! Congratulations to us all. And thank you Ida Lupino for paving the way!

That said, a female filmmaker shouldn’t have to make male films in order to be able to work or win awards. Unfortunately, it’s widely held that the male audience is where the money is. So, I suppose more women can direct more films, as long as they cater to the male audience. At the same time, it’s great that a woman can be allowed to make a film for the male audience. Years ago when I saw “Point Break” I remember being surprised to learn a woman directed it, that a woman was allowed to direct such a male film. And she did it better than many men could’ve. I loved it, and thought I too could have easily made that kind of film.

Nell Scovell

It’s not surprising that a great director who made a great movie won an Oscar.   If Kathryn Bigelow’s achievement ushers in a wave of opportunity for female directors, I will rejoice. But I do worry that her win merely assuages the industry’s guilt and now they’ll go back to their (white male) business as usual.   Still, I was encouraged by this piece of news.   Apparently, for a few moments during Bigelow’s acceptance speech, Chris Matthews forgot she was a woman.  Hope.

Therese Shechter

The message for me was that sometimes it IS truly about making good work, and believing in yourself and your vision, and pushing ahead, no matter what. We don’t hear that enough as women. I know I’ll be using the image of Bigelow clutching TWO Oscars as my inspiration for a good long time. (Without the “I Am Woman” background music, though. Lame.)

Amy Sewell

So glad it was based on merit and talent and NOT tokenism.  That is the BEST platform with which to now jump.  We need to now see a day when just as many women (of all colors) as men (of all colors) are nominated.  Onward!  Let’s keep keeping on.

Karen Skloss

Now, with the full advent of the 3-D spectacle picture, Bigelow’s win is an important signal about what’s still valued in Hollywood. The timing of this emphasis on story and craft couldn’t be more perfect. It makes me believe that the day might arrive when great storytelling makes gender just an interesting side note. We are not there yet, but what a great stride in that direction – a first tangible step.

Juanita Wilson

I am so delighted for Kathryn and hopefully this will be the first of many awards for women directors.

Mo’Nique

The woman rocks.  She did everything this whole season on her own terms and every time people tried to bring her down and shame her for it, she said I am not playing by your bullshit rules.  The fact that she won proves that art triumphs over bullshit.  She took all the shit that was shoved at her and rose above it, big time.  I really hope Hollywood learns a lesson from how Mo’Nique was treated.  There were racist quips, sexist shit (you know the crap about her shaving her legs) and in general a whole lot of you need to kiss some Hollywood ass if you think you are going to win this award.

Yesterday, on Oprah she talked about dedicating her win to Hattie McDaniel, the first African American woman to win an Oscar which she did for the 1939 film Gone With the Wind.  McDaniel, as Kate Harding at Salon reminds us, was not able to attend the opening of Gone with the Wind because the theatre was segregated.

Here’s what Mo’Nique said about the moment before they announced her name:

They are going through the nominees and I know this woman Hattie McDaniel had to endure so much in this industry.  And because of her is why you sit (talking to Oprah) where you sit and I sit where I sit because she did so much for all of us.

Sandra Bullock

So she beat Meryl and poor Meryl has not won in some 25 years which is unbelievable to me.  Part of it is that everything she does is Oscar worthy so that people think they don’t need to vote for her because she will be back again and again.  News flash people.  She’s taking some time off.  She made two movies this past year, both directed by women directors.  Both made $100 million.

But the thing about this year and the Sandra Bullock factor is that we all know that not everything that Sandra Bullock does is Oscar worthy.  She’s the first to admit it.  The Blind Side hit a chord in the country.  As did Sandra Bullock.  Remember, things suck out there (out here).  No matter how much they tell us the recession is over.  Things are still really hard and The Blind Side gave people a moment to feel better about things and themselves.  That’s why it has made a fortune.

And Bullock rode those waves all the way to the Oscar win. She was so funny talking about her kiss with Meryl that people can’t let go.  She talked about how during the awards season the group of nominees became a sorority and that they all liked and respected each other.  And she tore down some more bullshit about how women hate each other.  Here’s what she said to Oprah:

They pit women against each other all the time.  They don’t do it to the men.  I am so sick of it.

Here’s her wonderful acceptance speech.  I loved how she gave tribute to her mom It is worth watching again:

Barbra Streisand

How poignant must it have been for Barbra to have the honor to announce the first female directing winner when she has been so visibly snubbed by the Academy in the past.  There are of course women who directed great films before Barbra.  One, Lina Wertmuller, was nominated before Barbra made Yentl and The Prince of Tides which was nominated for best picture and best actor for Nick Nolte but she was not nominated for best director.  Barbra chose to direct when she was a gigantic huge acting and recording star.  She chose to direct and got shit for it.  She is a trailblazer and let’s not forget it.  Here’s what she said after she gave the award to Bigelow:

I hope there will come a time when it will not be about a woman director or a man director but will just be about who the best director is.  When there is no regard for gender.  That it’s just about the talent.

Other Thoughts:

I did love Geoffrey Fletcher winning for Precious.  Now I know people are upset because he forgot to thank Sapphire.  In his defense he was beyond shocked.  You could see it on his face and hear it in his voice.  The fact that Precious got that award over the film everyone (including me) expected Up in the Air really shows how much that film resonated within the Hollywood community.

I loved Gabourey Sidibe’s awesomeness on the red carpet.  She showed no signs of nervousness and has come through this Oscar season as the most unexpected and  success.  Every single time I see her I smile.

BEST PICTURE AND BEST DIRECTOR

I never really thought this was possible even six months ago since the gender problem in Hollywood is so pervasive, but DAMN, it happened – a woman won for BEST DIRECTOR.  Director is the ultimate leader in Hollywood, the big kahuna, and now, finally a woman is in the club and that my friends, is a big deal.

After she won last night I was thinking about other female firsts that I have experienced in my lifetime.  I remember when Sandra Day O’Connor became the first female Supreme Court justice; I remember when Madeleine Albright became the first Secretary of State; I remember when Shannon Faulkner became the first female to go to the Citadel; I remember when Eileen Collins became the first woman to command a space shuttle mission; I remember when Nancy Pelosi became the first female Speaker of the House.

And I will remember last night.

I will remember it because it came on the dawn of International Women’s Day, when many of us pause and think about the struggles that many women and girls in the world go through each and every day just to survive.

We all know that last night was symbolic, that one woman winning an award won’t help all the other women working each and every day to get their films made.  But I am betting that this morning women directors around the world will walk a little taller, smile a little brighter, and feel a bit stronger and more confident as they sweep up the glass that Bigelow shattered last night.

I hope that moms and dads around the world take the picture of Kathryn Bigelow and talk to their daughters and sons about the fact that this is a big deal for our world because it had never happened and maybe those young girls will believe that they too can win an Oscar, and maybe those boys will grow up believing that women are their equals in each and every profession.

This really is… There’s no other way to describe it, it’s the moment of a lifetime. First of all, this is so extraordinary to be in the company of such powerful, my fellow nominees, such powerful filmmakers who have inspired me and I have admired for, some of whom, for decades. And thank you to every member of the Academy. This is, again, the moment of a lifetime.

“I would not be standing here if it wasn’t for Mark Boal, who risked his life for the words on the page and wrote such a courageous screenplay that I was fortunate enough to have an extraordinary cast bring that screenplay to life. And Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie and Brian Geraghty. And, I think the secret to directing is collaborating and I had truly an extraordinary group of collaborators in my crew. Barry Ackroyd and Kalle Júlíusson and Bob Murawski, Chris Innis, Ray Beckett, Richard Stutsman and if I could just also thank my producing partners, Greg Shapiro, Nick Chartier and my wonderful agent, Brian Siberell, and the people of Jordan, who were, such a… so hospitable to us when we were shooting. And I’d just like to dedicate this to the women and men in the military who risk their lives on a daily basis in Iraq and Afghanistan and around the world. And may they come home safe. Thank you. (via Alt Film Guide)

Backstage comments (via The Wrap)

First of all, I hope I’m the first of many. And of course I’d love to just think of myself as a filmmaker, and I wait for the day when the modifier can be a moot point.

“But I’m very grateful if I can inspire some young, intrepid, tenacious male or female filmmakers and make them feel that the impossible is possible,” she added.

“I’ve been making films for a while. Only about 30 years. So when I say don’t give up, I mean it. …. Work on stories you really, truly believe in, because then no obstacle is too great.

Abramowitz’ piece In Hollywood, female film directors are still the exception lays out the stats on where women are and how far we still have to go:

Bigelow’s likely ascension to the podium at the Academy Awards has provided a jolt of adrenaline.

For instance, neither Warner Bros., the world’s largest studio, nor Paramount Pictures hired a single female director last year, while Walt Disney Studios and Universal Studios hired just one apiece. No woman has ever been hired to direct an event picture with a budget of more than $100 million, the kind of film most valued by the Hollywood machine.

One apparent growth arena for women is in working for other women. Streep, for instance, told The Times that she attributes her box office renaissance to the fact that she opted to do three films, “Mamma Mia,” “Julie & Julia,” and “It’s Complicated,” that were written and directed by women, as well as backed by studios with women as presidents of production or even higher in rank.

And Schwartzbaum’s piece Kathryn Bigelow: If she wins the Oscar for directing, does that mean it’s been a great year for women?

As a movie-lover, I hope Bigelow wins, because of, well, her great directing of The Hurt Locker. As a woman (and thus, apparently, an oracle for the purposes of his little pre-Oscar feature) I’m aware of and excited about the significance of such a win, since she’d be, oh, the first woman ever to take the trophy in that category (and only the fourth ever nominated). But as a movie-lover, I’d like to think that if a man had directed The Hurt Locker as well as Bigelow did, then he would win the Oscar. I’d like to think that if Bigelow wins, the biggest benefit for women who want to make movies in Hollywood — a Hollywood run, as most of the world is run, by men — would be greater industry-wide recognition that talent comes in all sexes, colors, and sizes. A woman can make an action flick or a war movie; a man can make a feminine romance. All we want is to see stories that move us, excite us, entertain us, challenge us. Sometimes those movies are about alien blue people. More often, those movies are about people with whom we can identify, characters who look as young or old as we are. And as male or female, too.

AMEN.

I was so psyched to see Gabby Sidibe (and Precious) win since she her performance was heartbreakingly beautiful.

I was also very excited to see Lone Scherfig get up there for her film An Education.  Other notable female winners include Lynn Shelton, writer/director/producer of Humpday who got the John Cassavetes Award (for a feature made for under $500,000); and producer Karen Chien received the Piaget Producers Award.  Her new film Exploding Girl starring Zoe Kazan opens Friday.

I’ve also personally enjoyed watching Kathryn Bigelow on all the interviews and how her voice has grown in strength over the season.  A couple of months ago she didn’t say much and seemed quite uncomfortable in the limelight, but in the last few weeks everything she has said has been so outstanding and confident. I also like the fact that because of the content of her film we don’t spend the whole time talking about gender and issues related to women and women’s opportunities (not that those conversations aren’t important too.)

I remember when I worked in women’s organizations and when an important news event happened or an event was scheduled, people would try and get together with some talking points so that people could be on somewhat the same page.  While there is no concerted movement on this topic, I have been pondering some thoughts about what — a Bigelow win or loss –  would mean for women and wanted to know what other people are thinking.

Here are the points I am focused on:

If She Wins:

• A glass ceiling that has been in place for 82 years has been shattered.
• Young women and girls around the world now have an image of seeing themselves as a potential best director winner and hopefully that will dare them to dream bigger than they might have.
• Shows boys and men that women are just as competent as the men.
• That you don’t have to direct a movie about so-called women’s issues as a female director.
• That women can direct kick-ass action films and get noticed for it.
• AND that this is just the beginning and that there are relatively few opportunities (7 percent) for female directors and that we cannot let this win symbolize anything other than the fact that we still have so much farther to go.

If She Loses:

• This is another lost opportunity to break down a glass ceiling that has been held in place for over 8 decades.  Women go to the movies in equal numbers to men, yet our voices and visions are not seen as equal to men’s.  This issue is not going to go away and it’s not just about awards, it’s about opportunities and we need more for women.
• While it would be a huge disappointment, the nomination and all the attention has raised much needed awareness about the lack of opportunities for female directors in a way that has never been highlighted before.
• We need look at this as part of a continued effort to achieve gender equity in all areas of the entertainment business both on the screen and behind the scenes.

In general, I think this is a great opportunity to encourage people to think about the movies that they see and suggest they ask themselves a series of questions before buying tickets.  Who directed this film?  Who wrote this film?  What is this film about?  Sometimes the fact that so few women’s names will come up won’t matter, but if you ask the question enough times it starts to sink in that things are just not right and maybe, just maybe, the next week that person will choose a woman directed film.

Would love to hear your thoughts.

Keep in mind that these are just my picks based on the movies I saw and other things I have been reading.

I hope everyone has a great time on Sunday night.  We’ll be live tweeting: If you want to join in follow me at: @melsil.

Best picture: “The Hurt Locker”
Actor
: Jeff Bridges, “Crazy Heart”
Actress: 
Sandra Bullock, “The Blind Side”
Supporting actor
: Christoph Waltz, “Inglourious Basterds”
Supporting actress: 
Mo’Nique, “Precious”
Director: Kathryn Bigelow, “The Hurt Locker”
Animated feature: “Up”
Original screenplay
: “Inglourious Basterds”
Adapted screenplay
: “Up in the Air”
Best foreign-language film
: “El Secreto de Sus Ojos”
Best film editing: 
”The Hurt Locker”
Art direction: “Avatar”
Cinematography: 
”The Hurt Locker”
Costume design
: “The Young Victoria”
Best documentary feature
: “The Cove”
Documentary short: “China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province”
Makeup
: “The Young Victoria”
Music (original score): 
”Up”
Music (original song)
: “The Weary Kind (Theme from “Crazy Heart”) from “Crazy Heart”
Short film, animated: 
”A Matter of Loaf and Death”
Short film, live action: 
”Kavi”
Sound editing: 
”The Hurt Locker”
Sound mixing: 
”The Hurt Locker”
Visual effects: “Avatar”

The very interesting piece of this nomination is that playwright Michele Lowe is nominated for two of her plays- Inana and Victoria Musica.

According to the story this year

marks the first time a playwright has been independently nominated for two plays in one season, let alone become a finalist for both.

So not only did she write two plays, they were produced by different theatres, recognized as successful and submitted for the award and then were both good enough to make it to the final round.

So how come I never heard of her before today?

Plays are only eligible for if they don’t play in NY during the year they were nominated. I find it very interesting that two of the plays by the guys Equivocation by Bill Cain and Time Stands Still by Donald Margulies both have productions in NY right now at the Manhattan Theatre Club (one on Broadway, one off Broadway), and MTC also commissioned the third male finalist’s play, Perfect Mendacity by Jason Wells.

But none of the plays by the women, Michele Lowe with her two nominations and Karen Zacharias who is nominated for Legacy of Light have NY productions on the calendar.  Could one of the reasons be that two of the three Victoria Musica and Legacy of Light are plays about women?  Donald Margulies can write about women on Broadway as the current success of Time Stands Still which stars Laura Linney shows, but where are the female playwrights on Broadway?

Watch Michele Lowe talk about revising Inana:

Equivocation, Time Stands Still, Inana Are Among Six Finalists for Critics’ Steinberg Award (Playbill)

If you can make it through the first couple of minutes of me talking to myself about Kathryn Bigelow and the Oscars, the show starts to rock when Sasha Stone of Awards Daily joins.

Let me know what you think.

On March 4, in celebration of Women’s History Month, Half the Sky events will be held in movie theatres across the country. You can get information on where it is playing here.

The event will feature Kristof and WuDunn, India.Arie and the premiere of Woineshet a short film co-directed by Marisa Tomei and Lisa Leone.

Description of the film:

“Woineshet” is a new film about a poor Ethiopian girl who ultimately triumphs over sexual violence and discrimination. As a teenager from a small village in Ethiopia, Woineshet and her family bravely fought against brutal local traditions of rape and forced marriage.