There’s a small controversy raging around Danny Boyle’s Oscar win for Slumdog Millionaire; small, because in the eyes of many it’s not important. During the shooting of the film Boyle received such invaluable support from his casting director, Loveleen Tandan, that he elevated her to co-director. But he was unable to share his Oscar win with her. The sad thing is that the positive press that a win could have received would have done the cause of women in film much good. Instead it has left a bitter taste in the mouth of the gender equality watchdogs.
Catherine Hardwicke came to grips with skateboarding in the Lords of Dogtown. Her film on the birth of Christ, The Nativity, shows another side of her filmmaking abilities.
To date, only three women have been nominated for an Oscar for Best Director, and none have won the coveted golden statuette. Sofia Coppola was nominated for Lost in Translation, Jane Campion for The Piano, and Lina Wertmuller received a nomination for Seven Beauties. That doesn’t mean that women make bad directors. Some recent films directed by women that are well worth watching are The Lords of Dogtown by Catherine Hardwicke; Monster, by Patty Jenkins; Frida, by Julie Taymor and Marie Antoinette by Sofia Coppola. It’s a sad day for the arts when a medium as important as film is seen as the sole preserve of men.
(Originally written April 2009)
Shoot for the Heart 