Berlin: WOGA complex at Lehniner Platz, Universum cinema, Kurfürstendamm 153-163 (1927/1932) by Erich MendelsohnZentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte
Women have been making movies since the start of cinema, and yet seldom have been given the same credit as their male counterparts. Here we take a closer look at four female moviemakers who pushed boundaries and helped to level the playing field.
Alice Guy-Blaché
A truly pioneering filmmaker, Alice Guy-Blaché was one of the first directors to make a narrative fiction film, and is widely believed to be the first ever female movie director. Working from the late 1890s onwards, she was perhaps the only contemporary female voice in cinema.
In 1910, Guy Blaché and her husband set up their own movie studio and she largely gave up directing. Her pioneering role in cinema history was largely forgotten until Pamela B. Green’s 2018 documentary Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché reclaimed her legacy.
Jane Campion (2009) by Peter Brew-BevanNational Portrait Gallery
Jane Campion
Campion is a groundbreaking director and the only female to have been twice nominated for Academy Awards for Best Director, winning once. Born in Wellington, New Zealand in 1958, Campion's films include the critically acclaimed The Power of the Dog and The Piano.
LIFE Photo Collection
Campion's work often centers around gender and sexuality issues, with often unflinching portrayals of sexism and misogyny.
Lotte Reiniger
German born Lotte Reiniger pioneered the use of silhouette animation and directed one of the first feature-length animated films, 1926's The Adventures of Prince Achmed. She also developed a multi-planed camera that would later be adopted by Walt Disney.
Fleeing Germany during World War II she relocated to London in 1948 where she would build a career making children’s films for the BBC. Even though her cinematic career was cut short, her importance in the history of movie animation is unquestionable.
Filmmaker Agnès Varda by Fotógrafo no identificadoFundación Televisa Collection and Archive
Agnés Varda
Originally a photographer, Agnés Varda made the transition to moving images with her 1955 debit La Pointe Court. Often regarded as the godmother of French New Wave cinema, Varda's prolific career spanned more than six decades, including a stint in Hollywood.
Agnes Varda
Her film Vagabond claimed The Golden Lion prize at the Venice Film Festival in 1985 and she was Academy Award nominated in 2017 for her documentary Faces Places, receiving an honorary award the following year.
Berlin Kinos 32 - Delphi Filmpalast am Zoo (2017) by Fredrika Eriksson and Linn BergströmThe kulturspace Foundation
Although overwhelmingly male dominated, the world of movie making does have a strong history of women directors running through it. You can find out more about the role women have played in culture here.
