Dorothy Arzner, who directed 13 films after plus two she was not credited for , only gets mentioned as an auxiliary. Much vital work has been done since by critics, film historians, academics and programmers to write female filmmakers back into history.
The damage, though, is deep-rooted. As Mark Cousins points out in his Dispatches column this month see page 11 , depressing female filmmakers working today, and the justified internet outrage they provoke, tend to obscure those filmmakers who have gone before. Other than decrying the status quo and highlighting and critiquing new films by female directors, what can a film magazine do?
With that in mind, contributors to this feature β who range from filmmakers to critics, academics to programmers β were asked to nominate a film by a female director they believe has been forgotten or unfairly overlooked. We were never in any doubt that there were more out there. Sadly, a far simpler proposition would be to note those female filmmakers who are appreciated, and whose work is regularly seen in cinemas β though such a shortlist might reveal still deeper problems, dominated as it would be by white Europeans and Americans.
Few female filmmakers have had the luxury of making more than a couple of features. So how do you achieve auteur status with so few films to your name? And how much more quickly do your films fade from history as a result? As the number of films listed here by actresses turned directors shows, women have often had to acquire power in front of the camera before being allowed behind it. Of course, looking only at directors masks those women who work in other film industry roles β particularly those in the silent era, when women played a major part in all facets of filmmaking.
Nor should it obscure the fact that women were making great films outside Hollywood at that time β in the UK , Norway, Mexico, China and beyond. Time for a disclaimer: this list is far from definitive, but we hope it gives a sense of some of the great, unduly neglected films made by women throughout film history from all over the world β and of the many others. Dressed as a Confederate soldier, the girl spy plants an explosive in a Northern supply wagon and runs forward in the frame, ducking into the tall grass in the foreground just as the wagon explodes in the background β in one shot.
