The journey for International Women's Month began back in 1969. Feminist activist Laura X organized a march on International Women's Day, frustrated that this poignant holiday was quickly overlooked. In 1987, Congress passed a resolution to make it an official month.
But even before the establishment of the month-long celebration of women's progress in history, they were still a pivotal part of the movie-making industry, both in front of and behind the camera. Some of the names and films may be familiar to you, but perhaps you will see them in a different light and know the women behind them.
Women in Acting
My Old Ass (2024)
Maisy Stella
What would you do if you could talk to your older self? A mushroom trip brings 18-year-old Elliot (Maisy Stella) face-to-face with her 39-year-old self (Aubrey Plaza). This is Stella's first leading role in a feature film, and it's already a huge undertaking; she and her scene partner play two sides of the same person. Not to mention that a screen veteran is playing the other side. Young Elliot is at odds with what's being told to her as indisputable fact and the events of her life playing out in front of her. She plays Elliot's inner turmoil and indecision so well, almost too well, at a constant crossroads with the advice she's getting from her older self. Without giving spoilers, Elliot's monologue at the end of this film brings happy tears to the eyes. She gives the arrogance of youth and the fear of the future that we all felt at seventeen.
Ever After (1998)
Drew Barrymore
A phenomenal Cinderella retelling set in Renaissance-era France stars a young Drew Barrymore as Danielle/Cinderella. It is considered a modern third-wave feminism retelling of the classic take. But beyond the romance and renaissance inspiration, one scene takes the cake for one scene in particular.
After Henry leaves Danielle heartbroken at the ball, Danielle returns to the home of her stepmother, Baroness Rodmilla de Ghent (Anjelica Huston). In a moment of brevity, Daniella admits that Rodmilla has always denied her the one thing she's ever wanted. Rodmilla is the only mother she has ever known and asks if she has ever truly loved Danielle. Such a simple scene highlights a tragedy that Cinderella retellings rarely touch upon. Danielle did not seek out this film searching for love, but she's been missing the love we're supposed to get from our parents. The lack is felt more than the hate.
Women in Directing
Birds Of Prey (And The Fantabulous Emancipation Of One Harley Quinn) (2020)
Cathy Yan
Harley Quinn has been called a "pick-me" girl since before they coined the term. Since her 1992 debut, she has been known mainly as the Joker’s side chick in his war on Gotham. But her dramatic makeover from objectified eye candy in Suicide Squad to the baddass protagonist in Birds of Prey (And The Fantabulous Emancipation Of One Harley Quinn) is thanks to Cathy Yan.
Yan is not only the first Asian director to write and direct a superhero film but also the first person to see Harley beyond her relationship with the Joker. Her take on Harley Quinn is perfectly fun, colorful, and crazy, perfect for a character whose name stemmed from a French character archetype whose purpose is to get laughs and entertain. A true highlight of her work is in the film's third-act fight scene, where the group must fend off some mobster lackeys in a semi-operational funhouse. The excessively over-the-top setting creates an exciting action sequence with different layers of violence and combat methods. It is always a relief when comic book films throw away any means of realism in place for the zaniness of their origins. A film starring Harley Quinn should be utterly outrageous, and Yan understood that.
Acroess the Universe (2007)
Jule Taymor
Before Yesterday, there was another Beatles-inspired movie that was not actually about the Beatles. While the two films aren't easy to prepare, Across the Universe is much better. A story of life, love, and war, a group of hippies learn to live despite the political tension of the sixties. They get by with a bit of help from their friends and a lot of help from the psychedelics. Truly night appreciated at the time of its release, Taymor directs with a perfect love letter to the Beatles' music without actually using the actual Beatles. She understands that the political circumstances around the song matter more than the four who wrote it. After all, the Beatles may be British, but there was a reason their music struck a chord across the United States when they did. Classic hits such as 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, 'I am the Walrus, and 'Hey Jude' are mere paintbrushes for Taymor to paint a psychedelic trip of a nostalgia film.
Women in Screenwriting
Waitress (2007)
Adrienne Shelly
Jenna (Keri Russel) is a young woman trapped in a small town and an abusive marriage who faces an unwanted pregnancy while working as a waitress. A woman who struggles to break free of a long life faced with abuse, the duration of her whole pregnancy makes Jenna ask herself: What’s it gonna take to make me happy? A film about love, bravery, and sweet, sweet pie. This was director Adrienne Shelly’s final film before her death and her final on-camera appearance as Jenna's friend Dawn. This film is quite a unique take on impending motherhood and victims of domestic abuse. Waitress shows us the unseen potential of what her career would have looked like had she gotten a chance to grow her career.
The Farewell (2019)
Lulu Wang
Based on an Actual Lie. When her grandmother is given a terminal diagnosis, Billi (Akwafina) returns to China only to find out her family has decided to keep Nai Nai (Zhao Shuzen) in the dark about her health. Instead, the family throws an impromptu wedding for one last celebration with their grandmother. This heartfelt A24 dramedy by from Lulu Wang is loosely based on an alaborate ruse that her own family enacted. While such a ruse seems inconceivable and impossible to Americans, it is more feasible to carry out in China, which is the heart of Billi’s internal conflict in The Farewell. As a Chinese American immigrant, she feels caught between the Chinese culture she grew up with and the Western culture she lives in now and how they view death. But this issue is based on Billi and her family's strong familial love for Nai Nai. Wang makes the struggle of mourning someone who hasn’t passed feel all too real and overwhelming. Its tone is a bittersweet melancholy that is pockmarked within growing up and leaving your homeland. In 2019 The Farewell was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Golden Globes and Akwanafina won Best Actress in a Musical of Comedy. She was the first performer of Asian descent to win a Golden Globe Award in a lead actress film category.
Women in Costume Design
Cinderella (2015)
Sandy Powell
Another excellent Cinderella movie, the 2015 live-action film is more faithful to the 1950 animated Cinderella. Even if you haven’t seen the film, you’ve seen Lily James’s glittering magical dress. All that is thanks to academy award winning costume designer Sandy Powell. Powell understands the relationship between character and costume like no other, designing for films such as Shakespeare in Love, Young Victoria, and The Favorite. She combines fantasy elements with 1950s silhouettes. Of course, the most crucial part of a Cinderella retelling is the dress gifted to her by fairy godmother, it has to eminate typical fairy tale magic and romanticism. Powell does not disappoint. Ella's ball gown is a feat of both design and engineering. Dozens of layers of crinolines of lavender, lilacs, and greens, and ten thousand Swarovski crystals created a dress that moves like a dream. If that wasn't enough, the structural design of the skit makes it move like a dream; it flows like water during Ella and Kit's ballroom dance.
Black Panther (2018)
Ruth E. Cartier
Designer Ruth E. Carter was the first African-American and black woman to be nominated and win an Academy Award for Best Costume Design. Carter took inspiration from indigenous people across Africa and afropunk fashion, which shows a range of black fashion. In every piece of this fictional kingdom, you can see where Carter left traces of Maasai, Himba, Dogon, Basotho, Tuareg, Turkana, Zulu and Suri people, and many others, in her designs.
The world of Wakanda is created through its people’s clothing, mixing such a long-lasting, ancient city with the elements that show this fictional world’s technological advancements. How do you put mighty royals like Queen Romanda next to her tech-loving daughter Princess (Queen? Next Black Panther? Hard to say) Shuri? This combination of generations of culture with contemporary fashion and tech is Carter's way of giving Wakanda a kind of “afrofuturisim”, incorporating black culture in contemporary art forms.
Women in Editing
Moonlight (2016)
Joi McMillon
American film editor Joi McMillon made Oscar history as the first African American woman nominated in the editing category with the 2016 coming-of-age drama Moonlight, the story of a young boy’s struggle to find himself across three chapters of his life. It is one of this film’s exceptional visual qualities. Not an ounce of screen time was wasted; everything was vital in showing our leading character Chiron's (Alex R. Hibbert, Ashton Sanders, Trevante Rhodes) outlook on his life. With a character who says so little, the timing and framing of shots and sound are integral in letting the audience understand Chiron as a person. There is a particularly fascinating sequence when we witness Chiron's mother (Naomie Harris) calling her son a derogatory term in a fit of rage. The lack of diagetic sound and the slower frame rate takes attention off of her and puts more of it on the effect her unheard (by the audience) words have on young Chiron. But McMillon and co-editor Nat Sanders felt the film's most challenging and essential sequence is the final ten minutes, when Chiron reunites with Kevin (Andre Holland) in the diner. Keeping a scene's focus on one place for so long is difficult, but McMillon’s work makes it feel organic.
Bonnie & Clyde (1967)
Dede Allen
A huge part of Women’s History Month is to shed light on the women who paved the way before us. American film editor Dede Allen elevated the craft of editing decades before what it became today. The 1967 biographical crime film Bonnie and Clyde has French New Wave influence written all over its film production. Allen was the first film editor - man or woman - to have a solo credit appear on screen alone at the beginning of a film. Before then, editors had been studio employees, and editing was a low-profile job considered partly manual labor. Everyone knows that Bonnie and Clyde’s lives ended in a police ambush in 1934. This final shootout is where Allen’s work stands out, with the juxtaposition of quick cuts and slow motion of the bullets capturing the distortion of time. Still, she takes time in the editing for the audience to see the criminal pair's faces, their dawning realization and acceptance of death all within a moment's notice. Topped off with an explosion of energy from bullets of the firing squad. It was a testament to her craft then and now.
Women in Cinematoused the opportunitgraphy
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Ellen Kuras
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a strange sci-fi romance fusion. The story of two heartbroken exes who decide to get a procedure done to erase each other from their memories. The film goes through the mind and memories of Joel Barish (Jim Carrey) as he tries to erase his ex-girlfriend, Clementine (Kate Winslet), from his mind. The cinematography of these memories must capture the eccentric, tragic relationship he’s trying to erase. Cinematographer Ellen Kuras took the opportunity to distort the time and space of memories in Joel's mind. We are in the confines of his memories, but they are, in fact, not all that confining. Kuras has an endless playground to work with here, she can use shots to establish the tumultuous relationship of Joel and Clemetine the way words cannot. The subconscious imagination is limitless, reflecting what Clementine is to Joel.
tick, tick... BOOM! (2019)
Alice Brooks
A semi-autobiographical musical from the creator of Rent, the 2021 film adaptation of tick, tick... Boom! tells the story of Jonathan Larson (Andrew Garfield), an aspiring composer who worries about his career choice as he approaches his 30th birthday. This was legendary songwriter Lin Manuel Miranda’s directorial debut. What was once a gritty one-man stage show became an extraordinary cinematic experience. Larson was a genius artist, not appreciated in his time and gone too soon. Cinematographer Alice Brooks shows Larson’s creativity with her own creativity. There is a healthy balance of realism in the warping of time and space that musicals require, and confining Larson to our world's laws would be a shame. Why not let the audience step into his. Brooks can find when and where Larson would find inspiration daily: in the pool, at a shop, or even in his break up. But at the same time, it also tells us so much about how isolated he felt about his place in life. For such a small-scale narrative, Brooks makes tick, tick... BOOM! emotional conflict feels like the audience's own tender wound being prodded.
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