In 2015, freelance film writer Marya E. Gates embarked on a year-long project titled “A Year with Women” in which she watched nothing but films directed by women. Gates learned that there wasn’t a lack of female directors at all, but rather a lack of discussion and awareness around them. They were—and are—out there making films, but they tend to be excluded. Since 2015, Gates has spent her life championing and highlighting the films of women from past, present, and future. Her book, Cinema Her Way, which was released this month, celebrates visionary female directors through their work and interviews carried out by Gates herself. There are, of course, far too many female directors in the history of cinema to include in just one book volume, so Gates chose 19 to showcase in her gorgeous and educational book.
While reading, I came to realise, just like Gates all those years ago, that there really are so many incredible female directors I simply haven’t heard of or just haven’t gotten around to yet. With that in mind, here’s a list of nine films directed by women that I was reminded of in Cinema Her Way, which I simply cannot wait to watch. “Further viewing” films are a mix of films I have and haven’t seen, with me eager to watch the ones I haven’t.
Gas Food Lodging (1992) dir. Allison Anders
Allison Anders’s breakout film, Gas Food Lodging, explores the complex relationships between single mother Nora (Brooke Adams) and her two teenage daughters, Shade (Fairuza Balk) and Trudi (Ione Skye). Set in a small New Mexico town, beautiful and rebellious Trudi drops out of school and gets a job alongside Nora at a truck-stop diner, while the younger Shade spends her time watching Spanish movie matinees and finding a boyfriend for her mother. Their lives are made more complicated when Trudi becomes pregnant and the girls’ absent father returns.
Further watching: Mi Vida Loca (1993) and Grace of My Heart (1996)
Siesta (1987) dir. Mary Lambert
Known for her adaptation of the classic Stephen King novel, Pet Sematary, and directing some early, iconic Madonna music videos (including “Like a Virgin” and “Like a Prayer”), Mary Lambert’s first feature film was actually Siesta, a “very experimental, almost erotic thriller, fantastical adventure and genre defying film,” as Gates puts it. Siesta follows American Claire (Ellen Barkin), who wakes up covered in blood and bruises at an airport in Madrid. While trying to piece together her memories, she has flashbacks from the past few days and suspects she may be connected to a murder. Left wandering the streets without any money or a clear memory, Claire uncovers some shocking truths about herself.
Further viewing: Pet Sematary (1989), Halloweentown II: Kalabar’s Revenge (2001), and Urban Legends: Bloody Mary (2005)
Working Girls (1986) dir. Lizzie Borden
Lizzie Borden’s Working Girls explores a day in the life of a sex worker in a Manhattan brothel as lesbian Yale graduate Molly (Louise Smith) works as a high-priced escort while trying to fund her own photography business as well as support her girlfriend, Diane (Deborah Banks). Gates described the film as having “unflinching honesty and humour.” Borden said she got some flack when Working Girls came out, with people saying it was pornographic. “What is pornographic about it? Any man who went to see it thinking it would get him off would be disappointed and want his money back. Even though there is nudity, none of it is erotic. The film is about labour.”
Further viewing: Born in Flames (1983) and Love Crimes (1992)
Starstruck (1982) dir. Gillian Armstrong
Perhaps most known for feminist period pieces My Brilliant Career and Little Women, Gillian Armstrong also directed the 80s rock musical Starstruck, which follows Sydney teenager Jackie Mullens (Jo Kennedy) who tries to make it as a rock singer with help from her odd 14-year-old cousin*, Angus (Ross O’Donovan). Armstrong told Gates that she hates that everyone always focuses on the women. “See, for me Starstruck is Angus’s story. It’s the little brother. He’s the one who can see Jackie’s talent and wants her to make it. […] For me, a film is about its story and the characters, and that can be about a million themes. So, for me, I thought Starstruck was a lovely, funny, heartfelt story about a brother and sister’s love and resilience.”
Further watching: My Brilliant Career (1979), High Tide (1987), Mrs. Soffel (1984), The Last Days of Chez Nous (1992), and Little Women (1994)
(*Note: The film’s description says Angus is Jackie’s cousin, but Armstrong says brother?)
Smithereens (1982) dir. Susan Seidelman
Susan Seidelman is known for her stories of women who rebel against society’s expectations and forge their own paths. Her debut feature film, Smithereens, was the first American independent feature invited to compete for the Palme d’Or at Cannes Film Festival, and her follow-up feature, Desperately Seeking Susan, helped launch Madonna into superstardom. Smithereens follows Wren (Susan Berman), a narcissistic young woman from New Jersey who runs away to New York City to join the waning punk subculture in hopes of becoming a prominent figure within it. Finding the movement has gravitated towards Los Angeles, Wren engages in a number of parasitic relationships with members of the punk scene to try and pay her way across country.
Further viewing: Desperately Seeking Susan (1985), She-Devil (1989), Cookie (1989), and The Ranch (2004)
Daughters of the Dust (1991) dir. Julie Dash
Julie Dash’s Daughters of the Dust was the first feature film directed by an African-American woman to receive a cinema release in the United States. Set in 1902, the film explores Geechee Gullah culture, centring on three generations of an African-American family living on a sea island off the coast of South Carolina as they prepare to migrate to the North. The film has been praised for its lush visuals, use of Gullah language, and non-linear narrative structure. Gates describes Dash’s films as “visually arresting” and centring on the “rich emotional lives of Black women,” including how they navigate their desires, fears, hopes, traditions, and the futures they dream about.
Further viewing: Illusions (1982) and Funny Valentine (1999)
In the Cut (2003) dir. Jane Campion
Jane Campion’s In the Cut tells the story of Frannie Avery (Meg Ryan), an English teacher who propels herself into a risky sexual liaison with a police detective (Mark Ruffalo) following the gruesome murder of a young woman in her Manhattan neighbourhood. The film shows Ryan’s character “going into places you don’t expect to see a woman going into both internally and externally.” Gates adds that Campion’s films often “explore themes of gender politics and complex portraits of women coming into their power, often through embracing their sexuality, while bucking cultural expectations and social mores.”
Further viewing: Sweetie (1989), An Angel at the Table (1990),The Piano (1993), The Portrait of a Lady (1996), Holy Smoke! (1999), Bright Star (2009), and The Power of the Dog (2021)
Variety (1983) dir. Bette Gordon
Known for her compelling dramas, Bette Gordon’s Variety follows Christine (Sandy McLeod), a repressed woman who takes a job at a New York City pornography theatre and becomes obsessed with both pornography and a wealthy patron who seems to have ties to the mafia. Gates describes Gordon’s films as “interested in examining structures of power, especially as they relate to sexuality and violence.” Variety famously reverses gender roles by setting the female as the subject of the male gaze, rather than as the object. Gordon says, “The woman transgresses the limits of her situation. She is not the enigma to be tamed. She usurps the position of the male, becoming the sleuth whose terrain is the language of desire.”
Angie (1994) dir. Martha Coolidge
While Cinema Her Way focused on Martha Coolidge’s other films, such as Valley Girl and Real Genius, the passing mention of her romantic comedy starring Geena Davis stood out to me. Angie tells the story of the titular Angie (Davis), an office worker living in New York who dreams of a better life. After discovering she’s pregnant by her boyfriend Vinnie (James Gandolfini), Angie decides she will have the baby, but not Vinnie as a husband. Her decision turns the entire neighbourhood upside down as Angie starts on a journey of self-discovery. Gates says Coolidge finds “unique angles for well-worn genres in her films.”
Further viewing: Valley Girl (1983), Real Genius (1985), Rambling Rose (1991), The Prince & Me (2004), and Material Girls (2006)
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