Kelly / Robson Celluloid Ceiling

Women Film Directors Breaking Through
1. Auflage 2014
ISBN: 978-0-9566329-5-1
Verlag: Aurora Metro Books
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 0 - No protection

E-Book, Englisch, 384 Seiten

An extensive overview of female film directors worldwide, showing how they are breaking through the 'Celluloid Ceiling', and succeeding in a still very male-dominated industry. The book contains exclusive interviews with women film directors, explores the impact of digital technology, and reaches some surprising conclusions.

Now that Kathryn Bigelow has made history as the first woman to win an Oscar for directing, we ask whether this is a new era for women filmmakers. This unique international overview highlights emerging women directors and groundbreaking pioneers, and provides a one-stop guide to the leading film directors of the 21st century, and the people who inspired them.

From the blockbusters of the Hollywood studios to emerging voices from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Laos, we learn of women making films in traditionally male-dominated areas such as action, fantasy and horror. There are contributions from countries with film industries in every state from nascent to mature, and this book demonstrates how economic and technological change is creating new opportunities for women film directors everywhere.
***** 'BEST BOOK ON WOMEN DIRECTORS DUE TO ITS GLOBAL OVERVIEW' - Diane, Amazon 

***** 'Gabrielle Kelly and Cheryl Robson have crafted a watershed work. CELLULOID CEILING is essential reading for anyone who wants to know how women directors are helping reshape filmmaking.' - D.A. Morris, Amazon

***** 'This book is an essential resource for anyone tracking the inspiring work being done by women film directors from around the world.' - UCF Film
'The level of public consciousness about the barriers faced by female filmmakers is higher than it has ever been. Despite this, the discussion more often than not centres around North America and to a lesser extent, Europe, Australia and New Zealand (and I am guilty as charged). This is perfectly understandable, but clearly women do make films outside of these countries, and it can be illuminating to consider how their experiences reflect or differ from those with which we are more familiar.
To this end, the arrival of a new book, 'The Celluloid Ceiling,' could not be more timely. Edited by Gabrielle Kelly and Cheryl Robson, it takes a purposefully global overview of the status quo and in doing so provides some fascinating stories and insights, reminding us of what is lost when we limit the discussion to Anglophone directors.'
- Matthew Hammett Knott, indiewire

Autoren/Hrsg.

Kelly, Gabrielle

Robson, Cheryl

Leseproben

1. African Women Directors:
Edited Version of a Speech Given at the Colloquy ‘Francophone African Women Filmmakers: 40 Years of Cinema, Paris (1972–2012)’
Beti Ellerson
We read and hear incessant lamentations regarding the absence of women and the dearth of realistic and positive representation, lack of funding, of support, and all the other misfortunes that exist for women directors the world over. I would like to take into account the potentials and assets rather than the disadvantages. Emerging during the independence movements in Africa in the 1950s and 60s, African cinema reappropriated the camera as a tool to fight against the colonial gaze which had dominated visual representations of Africa. The emergence of women in cinema coincided with this nascent period in the course of which a group of women professionals positioned themselves in the creation of a veritable African film culture. Notably, the pioneer of Senegalese media culture, Annette Mbaye d’Erneville, who was the first Senegalese to receive a diploma in journalism. Upon her return after studying in Paris, she immersed herself in her work, eventually broadcasting a seminal radio programme on cinema. More than a generation later, Congolese Monique Mbeka Phoba continued this practice, leading her to filmmaking. Inversely, Chadian Zara Mahamat Yacoub, also a filmmaker, is at present the president of the Chadian association of independent radio stations and directs radio programming in Chad. Annette Mbaye d’Erneville has dedicated her life to cultural policy issues in the country and has forged important institutions such as the Senegalese Film Critics Association, RECIDAK, a Dakar-based film forum, and the Henriette Bathily Women’s Centre. And as portrayed in Mère-bi, a film about her life by her son Ousmane William Mbaye, she continues still today. In the same spirit, Guadeloupan Sarah Maldoror, a diasporan already with a pan-African perspective, united in Paris with other artists from Africa and the Caribbean during the course of an intense period of cultural, intellectual and political discovery. Sarah Maldoror’s contribution to lusophone African cinema was of seminal importance. In the 1960s she studied cinema in Moscow, and already active in the pro-independence movements, it is inevitable that she would follow the same anti-colonialist path in the themes of her films. Maldoror has always worked at the intersection of African and women’s liberation and is mentor and reference to numerous women filmmakers, notably Togolese filmmaker Anne-Laure Folly whose film Sarah Maldoror ou la nostalgie de l’utopie traces the politically-engaged filmmaker’s life. Similarly, the experiences of Annette Mbaye d’Erneville and Sarah Maldoror reflect that of other students and artists living in Paris during a period of heightened consciousness, such as the trinity of négritude, Senghor, Césaire and Damas, of Africa and the diaspora, who came together to address important political issues using culture as a weapon. After independence the call evolved into a cry of the heart, and the role of culture would be an important tool to highlight Africa’s contribution on a global scale. In 1966, six years after its independence, Senegal stepped on the world stage as its poet-president, Leopold Sedar Senghor hosted the first World Festival of Black Arts. The young teacher Safi Faye was the official guide during the festivities, an experience that undoubtedly opened her eyes to the significance of culture and African art in the world. Moreover, the work of Thérèse Sita-Bella and Efua Sutherland (both deceased) bears witness to the first cinematographic contributions of women. In 1963, Cameroonian Sita-Bella produced Tam Tam à Paris, a thirty-minute filmed reportage of the tour of the National Dance Company of Cameroon, presented at the first FESPACO in 1969. Dramaturge and writer, Ghanaian Efua Sutherland produced the documentary Arabia: A Village Story in collaboration with the American broadcasting company, ABC. While they only made one film each, their trajectory reflects that of many African women who marry filmmaking with their other professions and social, political and cultural interests. For instance, Anne-Laure Folly who is also an international lawyer, and writer Tsitsi Dangarembga. In the Maghreb and its diaspora in France, women took initial steps which would come to fruition in the 1970s. In 1968 Tunisian Moufida Tlatli went to France to study cinema, though at the time women were directed towards careers as editors. Nonetheless she immersed herself in cinema studies developing the requisite skills of filmmaker, which led to the production of her first film, Le silence du palais in 1994. Arriving in France as a young adult in 1960, Moroccan Izza Genini immediate plunged into its cultural life, and in 1973 she created her production and distribution company. Similarly, the renowned writer Assia Djebar since the 1960s, elected to the Academie Française in 2005, took a sabbatical from the world of literature to enter into the landscape of image-sound with her first film La Nouba des Femmes du Mont Chenoua in 1978. At the beginning of the professionalisation of cinema in Africa, with the emergence of emblematic institutions such as FESPACO and FEPACI in the 1960s, women were at the forefront. While other institutions have developed since, these two structures remain a reference for continental cooperation and organisation in the cultural domain. Pioneer actress Zalika Souley of Niger, sat on the founding committee of FEPACI (Pan African Federation of Filmmakers), while Burkinabé Alimata Salembéré, a founding member of FESPACO (Pan African Film Festival of Ouagadougou), presided over the organising committee of the first festival which her compatriot Odette Sangho was also a member. Spurred by the United Nations Decade for Women (1975–1985), the 1970s launched a call to action in all areas of women’s lives, according unprecedented global attention to women. Evolving into a universal movement for the promotion of women’s rights and of feminist activism, it also played a significant role in raising consciousness throughout the continent. Following into the 1980s many women reiterated the UN Decade themes in their films, focusing on the empowerment of women and highlighting a woman’s vision of economic, social and cultural development. Following the growth of the second wave of feminism, its influence was apparent in several developments during the 1970s: women’s studies in the academy, feminist film theory, and the critical analysis of the visual representation of women. From this seminal decade, a presence of African women in cinema slowly emerged. As one of the rare African women enrolled at the École Nationale Supérieure Louis-Lumière in the 1970s in Paris, pioneer Safi Faye recalls the curiosity around her enrolment at this prestigious film school. The 1980s also witnessed a marked growth in film production by women. Many of the first generation of Burkinabé women in the 1980s, notably Fanta Régina Nacro, Valérie Kaboré and Aminata Ouedraogo, to name a few of international renown, entered the doors of INAFEC, the historic film school, based in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso which operated from 1976 to 1987. Moreover, in East Africa, the first wave of Kenyan women of cinema began to study in the Film Training Department at the Kenya Institute of Mass Communication in the 1980s. As Kenyan scholar Wanjiku Béatrice Mukora observes, they have played a determinant role is the formation of a national cinema in Kenya. This tendency spread to other regions, notably in Southern Africa. In Zimbabwe in the 1990s a cadre of women professionals of cinema was formed around the organisation, Women Filmmakers of Zimbabwe (WFOZ). In 2001, WFOZ launched a women’s film festival, and in 2009, established the Distinguished Woman in African Cinema award. In the same way, the 1990s witnessed the strengthening of networks and a visible presence on a continental and international scale. Having already established the groundwork at the colloque Images de Femmes (Images of Women colloquy) at Vues d’Afrique in Montréal, Quebec in 1989, an organised movement emerged. The 12th edition of FESPACO in 1991 marked a historic moment for African women in the visual media, forging an infrastructure for the association which is presently known as the Pan African Union of Women Professionals of the Image. The continental meeting, presided by Annette Mbaye d’Erneville outlined the following key objectives, which are often reiterated in other women’s organisations: • to provide a forum for women to exchange and share their experiences • to ensure that women have equal access to training and production • to be aware of the concerns of women professionals • to ensure a more realistic visual representation of women • to establish the means for transmitting their point of view. Since this emblematic moment, projects initiated by women throughout the continent extending to the diaspora, gained momentum in their efforts to promote African cinema and develop infrastructures. While all of the initiatives have not been able to come to fruition, their encouraging presence indicates the desire to create sustainable and accessible structures in support of African cinema and the empowerment of women practitioners...