Ladies... keep on rocking!

I went to see a Bergman film yesterday, The Seventh Seal, to remember this master and to celebrate the fact that I've finished my second rewrite (actually more like to take my mind off of my scrīpt...)  I got to the cinema early and picked up one of their monthly issues to read about the coming-soon films and related articles.  Then I saw this heading, "It's A Man's Man's Man's World"... sounded interesting, so i read on... and the first few paragraphs just grabbed my heart:

"In June, the American Film Institute published its annual rundown of the 100 greatest American movies.  How many female filmmakers made it to the list? None....  In May, Cannes celebrated its 60th birthday by inviting 35 directors to shoot a short homage to cinema.  The result, Chacun Son Cinéma, was graced by the contribution of a single female, Jane Campion.  Her segment, The Lady Bug, featured a woman in an insect outfit being unceremoniously stomped on in a movie theatre.  Spot the metaphor....  There have been powerful women in the film industry since the days of Mary Pickford, but the fact remains that in the canon of great movie directors, female filmmakers are noticeable by their absence.  Despite that poor showing at Cannes, however, it's France that offers a glimmer of hope for how women can compete in this man's world...."   I was surprised by the AFI "statistics", but I quickly reminded myself it's America, so it's expected... but I was really stunned to know that the similar thing happens in France, and in Cannes no less... actually, most of all, I was shocked that they didn't invite Agnès Varda (French New Wave 'directrice' of Vagabond, Cléo from 5 to 7) to make a homage!!  Or Claire Denis, or Lynne Ramsay...

The article went on with the interview of Pascale Ferran, the French female director whose film Lady Chatterley won the César this year in France.  She talked about her experience of being a female director etc...  "The problem, is that, [Ferran thinks,] there is still an institutional bias towards female directors.  While Ferran suggests this is less true in the world of independent cinema, she is forced to concede that of seven women from her film school class she's the only one to have been offered a feature film."   Then I remembered what Kelly Reichard (Ode, Old Joy) told me.  I was so lucky to have one of my film heroines to be my first directing teacher!  During my very first day of film school, my very first directing class, the 12 of us - young, innocent, hopeful film students - all sat around a long table staring at Kelly at the head of table, waiting for her to say the first word.  I thought it'd be like what we've heard before at orientation, "Welcome... psyched to have you guys... enjoy and challenge yourself in the next few years etc..."   She smiled and finally opened her mouth, "Ladies first....  think really hard if this is what you wanna do, it's not your world, especially if you're like this big (she raised up her pinky), let alone being a minority, you're gonna work and fight twice as hard compared to the boys, so if you're not cut out for this, you shouldn't be here..."  I was sitting across the table from my classmate Nicole (an African-American), who was the only other pinky-size-female-minority in the classroom... we just stared at each other, completely traumatized...  Up to this date, Nicole still feels resentful of Kelly's "opening speech", thinks that it's just too cruel and discouraging... on the contrary, I found it extremely inspiring and motivating (after the first few traumatized minutes.)  And I was (and still am) very grateful for that.  From time to time, especially during the down moments, her words and her image at that table would come back into my head.

Both Kelly and the article was right on.   Personally, I try not to delve into the gender issue too much (and can't really...)  I just want to continue to make films and strive to make good films that I hope would speak to both man and woman... but this article got me thinking... though I do have quite a few filmmaking heroines, most of the ones whom I admire are male (and half of them dead anyway...)  There are quite a number of female filmmakers/film students out there (I think 50% was female in my year at film school,) so why aren't there more female directors' features?  Are we that shit?  Are we not as good as the male directors?

I think Ferran is right about the problem being the institutional bias.  It's less obvious in the independent world but it still exists.  I sat through many "biz/pitch" meetings in which those "macho" producers just stared at me with their patronizing eyes, wondering if I could even direct...  Frankly, I know my projects aren't the most commercial, so it's hard to try to raise fund for them, be it for a man or a woman...  But sometimes, I do wonder if I'd have an easier time if I just wanted to make an 'Asian-American romantic comedy,' so I could play the Nora Ephron role with an ethic twist.   Once in a blue moon, a female director would get a chance to prove herself, like Kathryn Bigelow (Point Break, Strange Days,) but how many Bigelows do we know?  So if the institutes, the systems, the studios don't give enough chances for female directors to make features... it is no wonder we don't see their films out often... and since there seemingly aren't that many female director films...  the big $$ bosses wouldn't want to take risk to give them a chance to direct a feature... the vicious cycle continues....  It's the same kind of vicious cycle for the more challenging independent filmmaking, the problem always goes back to:  the big $$ bosses are biased and don't want to take risk.

I'll leave you with this, from the same article I read:

"If a new generation of female filmmakers is to emerge, the powers that be need to open their eyes to the contribution that women have made and will make to world cinema.  After all, this is a man's world, but it wouldn't be nothing without a woman." 

k.

p.s.  The Seventh Sealwas really sublime, I walked out crying...