What It Looks Like When Women Make Movies

When we talk about female representation, we often talk about how it’s important for girls to see women doing what they aspire to do. As Geena Davis says, “If they can see it, they can be it.” This is why the conversation around female characters on film and television and even of Barbie is so weighted. Beyond this, when women are behind the camera shaping stories that are uniquely their own, it’s crucial that we see that too. It’s all too easy to think of Hollywood as a boys club and overlook the incredible women who are fighting for their place—and their films—in the midst of it.

So here, we offer a round-up of images of female directors, kicked off above with a shot from 1910, showing Alice Guy-Blache, a director, producer, and screenwriter who was one of the very first to use the invention of film to tell stories. Essentially, she’s one of the pioneers of the medium of film itself.

Below are a few of the talented women who followed in Guy-Blache’s footsteps.

Celebrating Oscar nominated director @ava on the set of Selma (2015) with DOP Bradford Young#FemaleFilmmakerFriday #Selma #AvaDuVernay #BTS pic.twitter.com/YWb3sLwl1a

— Pathé UK (@patheuk) February 9, 2018

Sofia Coppola on the set of THE VIRGIN SUICIDES 💞 pic.twitter.com/pUtL6UOOPo

— Criterion Collection (@Criterion) April 24, 2018

Lexi Alexander and Ray Stevenson on the set of Punisher: War Zone pic.twitter.com/wkzMk7DNoD

— Martin Kessler (@MovieKessler) February 15, 2016

On set with Gina Prince Bythewood and Gugu Mbatha-Raw. Good times pic.twitter.com/aZwhtbyseg

— Datari Turner (@DatariTurner) April 16, 2014

Sarah Polley on the set of STORIES WE TELL.

Her masterful memoir of family secrets gets a free screening on Jan 13. https://t.co/hvZgZ6L4Sl pic.twitter.com/MOOtX0XQYO

— TIFF (@TIFF_NET) January 10, 2017

Director Amma Asante on the set of her 2013 #indiefilm Belle pic.twitter.com/zwEkOnlawj

— Indie Film Minute (@IndieFilmMinute) May 27, 2017

#GretaGerwig directing the prom scene in #LadyBird while wearing a prom dress herself 🌹 pic.twitter.com/x3sY5jcuem

— The Playlist 🎬 (@ThePlaylist) April 22, 2018

It's #femalefilmmakerfriday and here's the awesome Ana Lily Amirpour (no YOU have a crush) on set of The Bad Batch. #WomenInFilm2018 pic.twitter.com/fON3ACRrfm

— Hannah Leigh Prior (@HanleighPrior) February 9, 2018

I love this GIF of Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot on the #WonderWoman set pic.twitter.com/FneDmJcGCu

— Jarett Wieselman (@JarettSays) June 19, 2017

Kathryn Bigelow on the set of, 'Zero Dark Thirty' (2012)#WomenInFilm pic.twitter.com/SogeXkmxzw

— Skip Bolden (@skipbolden) December 13, 2016

Tazuko Sakane - Japan’s first female director. Films included Children’s Manchuria (1942), Working Women (1942), Healthy Little Citizens (1942), Brides of the Frontier (1943) & more but only few survived. #womeninfilm #directedbywomen #womenfilmpioneers #womenandcameras pic.twitter.com/edJwBICqAN

— Women & Cameras (@WomenAndCameras) January 25, 2018

Mary J. Blige, right, and director Dee Rees on the set of #Mudbound. #Oscars90 #Oscars #Netflix #MaryJBlige pic.twitter.com/7bNBghnMcU

— Rodney (@DJTriumph) March 4, 2018

Haifaa al-Mansour- became, with her film ‘Wadjda’, the first female filmmaker in her country, Saudi Arabia. Since then she directed ‘Mary Shelly’(2017) which is now in post, and she is set to shoot ‘The Perfect Candidate’ back in Saudi Arabia. #womeninfilm #DirectedByWomen pic.twitter.com/Ot6Li2iF8C

— Women & Cameras (@WomenAndCameras) March 28, 2018

Just before the release of her new film YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE, Lynne Ramsay spoke with us about her early moviegoing life in Glasgow, the version of herself that emerges on set, & the mind-expanding power of chess: https://t.co/ojpgFvZzFn pic.twitter.com/NXW56j4m7R

— Criterion Collection (@Criterion) April 16, 2018

Sarah Maldoror is regarded as the matriarch of African cinema. She studied at the Moscow Film Academy where she learned about politically committed cinema, developing a revolutionary aesthetic of her own. #womeninfilm pic.twitter.com/yKoRrx45Iu

— Women & Cameras (@WomenAndCameras) January 30, 2018

Our first photo celebrating women behind camera is of Agnes Varda on the set of ‘La Pointe Courte’ ! #DirectedbyWomen #agnesvarda #womeninfilm pic.twitter.com/kbuPo5YNlM

— Women & Cameras (@WomenAndCameras) January 22, 2018

In researching this piece, I came across the Twitter account Women and Cameras, which offers a near daily dose of film history and inspiration. Check ‘em out.

Did we miss a pic of your favorite female director at work? Share it in comments.

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Kristy Puchko is the managing editor of Pajiba. You can follow her on Twitter.

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