This course focuses on women’s contributions to filmmaking and film culture–behind the camera, on screen, and as audiences and critics. We will examine both achievements by women in film and the reality of “women’s continuing underemployment in key behind-the-scenes roles in film” (The Celluloid Ceiling). Some of the key topics we will explore include: the circulation of women’s films as world cinema in the contemporary moment; the challenge of doing women’s film history; and the contradictions around women filmmakers in Hollywood. We will primarily explore narrative features, but we will also encounter documentary and experimental cinema, both of which have been vital to women’s film expression. Filmmakers will likely include: Maya Deren, Dorothy Arzner, Barbara Loden, Cheryl Dunye, Chantel Akerman, Julie Dash, Ida Lupino, Nadine Labaki, Mouly Surya, Barbara Hammer, Kathryn Bigelow, Chloe Zhao, Agnes Varda, Kelly Reichardt.
Students will be required to attend film screenings and events that center women in film; additionally, invited guest speakers will join us to discuss career paths for women in film.