Who Are the Best Female Film Directors?

You won’t find many female directors among the big blockbuster films or many among mainstream films in general really. If you ask someone to name a female film director everybody could probably name one, some may even name two, but to name three or four would present a challenge to the majority of cinema audiences. I have put together this list of who I believe to be the best 5 female directors working today.

5. Andrea Arnold

Andrea Arnold made her debut with the twenty six minute long short film Wasp, which won her the Oscar for Best Short Film back in 2005. Her films have continued to create a great sense of poverty in Britain and she has gone on to direct Michael Fassbender in one of my favourite films of all time: Fish Tank.

Arnold’s previous 3 films: Red Road (2006); Fish Tank (2009); Wuthering Heights (2011)

4. Deepa Mehta

Mehta is an Indio-Canadian director who is most famous for her Elements trilogy which contained the films Fire, Earth and Water. These films tackled strong political issues in India and due to Mehta making Water from an outsiders point of view (looking back at India from her Canadian home) a lot of controversy was caused in the filming of the climax to her trilogy, involving riots and violence forcing the filming to move to Sri Lanka, rather than India.

Mehta’s previous 3 films: Water (2005); Heaven on Earth (2008); Midnight’s Children (2012)

3. Sofia Coppola

Daughter of Francis Ford Coppola, Sofia has carved out a very different path from the The Godfather director. She won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay after writing Lost in Translation, which was also nominated for Best Picture and Best Director. She continues to write and direct her own films with her latest, The Bling Ring, out this year.

Coppola’s previous 3 films: Marie Antoinette (2006); Somewhere (2010); The Bling Ring (2013)

2. Susanne Bier

Bier never seems to miss the mark with any of her pictures. Despite never being nominated for an Oscar in her career I can’t help but think that she should have been. Bier studied in Jerusalem and London before retuning to Denmark to attend film school. The majority of her films have been made in Scandinavia but she has dabbled in American cinema with Things We Lost in the Fire.

Bier’s previous 3 films: In A Better World (2010); Love Is All You Need (2012); Serena (2013)

1. Kathryn Bigelow

Could it be anyone else? Over the last couple of years Bigelow has become the major figurehead for female film makers. The Hurt Locker defied expectations to take home the Best Picture Oscar when up against Avatar and won Bigelow the Best Director Oscar over James Cameron. She was the first to take on the Osama Bin Laden manhunt with Zero Dark Thirty, which was also nominated for Best Picture. Her next project is unknown at the minute but the Bigelow name seems to be a sure signifier of quality in modern cinema.

Bigelow’s previous 3 films: K-19: The Widwomaker (2002); The Hurt Locker (2008); Zero Dark Thirty (2012)

On The Road Trailer

UK Release Date: 21st September 2012.

On the Road is an adventure drama adapted from Jack Kerouac’s novel of the same name. The story follows Dean and Sal, two young men who are the portrait of the ‘Beat Generation’. Their search for “It” results in a fast paced, energetic roller coaster ride with highs and lows throughout the U.S.

The film has been a long time in the making. In 1957 Jack Kerouac wrote a letter to Marlon Brando himself expressing interest in turning his novel into a film with Brando in one of the lead roles. Brando never replied. Then in 1979 Francis Ford Coppola bought the rights for the film. Since then several of the attempts to adapt novel to film have been shelved but we finally have it this year with Coppola in an executive producer role.

Sam Riley and Garrett Hedlund play the two main characters. Riley is no stranger to these ‘coming of age’ sort of films and should excel in his performance. The supporting cast includes Kristen Stewart, Kirsten Dunst, Amy Adams, Viggo Mortensen, Terrence Howard and Steve Buscemi. Impressed?

The trailer looks like your ordinary story of a generation growing up, going through the highs and lows of life. But that doesn’t mean that the film doesn’t look good. On the Road has long been begging to be made and now it has been it looks like a job well done. We have to wait until September for the final piece but the trailer gives a lot to look forward to and a story to be fond of.