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Women's cinema primarily describes cinematic works directed (and optionally produced too) by women filmmakers. The works themselves do not have to be stories specifically about women, and the target audience can be varied.
It is also a variety of topics bundled together to create the work of women in film. This can include women filling behind-the-scenes roles such as director, cinematographer, writer, and producer while also addressing the stories of women and character development through screenplays (on the other hand, films made by men about women are instead called Woman's film).
Renowned female directors include Alice Guy-Blaché, film pioneer and one of the first film directors, Agnès Varda, the first French New Wave director, Margot Benacerraf 1959, the first woman to win the Cannes International Critics Prize and be nominated for the Palme D'Or,Yulia Solntseva, the first woman to win the Best Director Award at Cannes Film Festival (1961), Lina Wertmüller, the first woman nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director (1977), Barbra Streisand, the first woman to win the Golden Globe Award for Best Director (1983), Jane Campion, the first woman to win the Palme D'Or at Cannes Film Festival (1993), and Kathryn Bigelow, the first woman to win the Academy Award for Best Director (2009),[1] along with many other female directors from around the world such as Dorothy Arzner, Ida Lupino, Lois Weber, Leni Riefenstahl, Mary Harron, Sofia Coppola, Kira Muratova, Claire Denis, Chantal Akerman, Catherine Breillat, Lucrecia Martel, Lynne Ramsay, Céline Sciamma, Claudia Weill, and Julie Dash. Many successful cinematographers are also women, including Margarita Pilikhina, Maryse Alberti, Reed Morano, Rachel Morrison, Halyna Hutchins,, and Zoe White.
Women's cinema recognizes women's contributions all over the world, not only to narrative films but to documentaries as well. Recognizing the work of women occurs through various festivals and awards, such as the Cannes Film Festival, for example.[2]
"Women's cinema is a complex, critical, theoretical, and institutional construction," Alison Butler explains. The concept has had its fair share of criticisms, causing some female filmmakers to distance themselves from it in fear of being associated with marginalization and ideological controversy.[2]
- ^ The Guardian 2010.
- ^ a b Butler 2002, pp. 1–3.