British mag
Total Film just published a list of the greatest 100 film directors of all time. You can find part I
here , which begins with
Abel Ferrara at 100, and part II
here , which ends with
Alfred Hitchcock at #1.
You know what's depressing about this list? There is only one woman on it! In the history of cinema, they could come up with only one woman for a list of 100 greatest directors of all time. And I don't even agree with their choice: Sofia Coppola . I'm a huge fan, don't get me wrong, but does her body of work measure up to, say, Jane Campion's ? When looking around for other women I thought should be included, I became even more depressed. There are a lot of excellent female directors out there -- Mira Nair , Kimberly Pierce , Rebecca Miller , Mary Harron , Julie Dash -- but they don't have a large body of work. Hmmmm, wonder why that is? Could it be opportunity and funding?
Daughters of the Dust
Julie Dash is a perfect example - a black woman whose first film Daughters of the Dust was incredibly beautiful. When I saw it on the big screen, I was mesmerized. The film came out in 1991 and guess what? It was the first film by an African American woman to be released in theaters. In 1991! What happened to Julie Dash? She hasn't made another film since.
That said, here's why the list is fun: It's a pretty decent representation of male directors. Although, I was sad to see that Wes Anderson didn't make it. I'd kick off Rob Reiner and add him. Who else is missing? Let me know.
The list is also fun because they did the whole Vanity Fair Hollywood issue thing where they gave the directors names like "The Outsider" or "The Visionary." Personally, I'd like to see them get a little wacky with this device - which they did at times. Abel Ferrara got "The Street Punk" and Roman Polanski got "The Poison Dwarf." I love Nicholas Ray's : "The Romantic Pessimist."
