Criterion Deep-Dive: 31 Films Celebrating Women's History Month! (Part One of Two)
Highlighting 31 Films by Women Directors from The Criterion Collection & The Criterion Channel
The Criterion deep-dive continues! Last month I compiled a list of cinematic gems from The Criterion Collection and The Criterion Channel to celebrate critically-acclaimed films made by Black directors. [Click here to read Part One and Part Two]. It is now March, and in honor of Women's History Month, I decided it was a perfect opportunity to discuss a sampling of great films directed by women filmmakers.
Despite some recent box office blockbusters, women directors are still woefully underrepresented in films by major Hollywood studios. And yet women have been making powerful film masterpieces for over a century! Which is why I've chosen to represent the films on this list in chronological order, to give a sense of the vast scope and scale of women's contributions to film herstory.
I’ve delved into the Criterion catalog to bring you 31 renowned films by women directors that are currently available via The Criterion Collection (Blu-ray & DVD) and/or The Criterion Channel (streaming). One great film for each day of Women’s History Month! Part One is below. Check back next week for Part Two!
31 Critically-Acclaimed Films by Women Directors from The Criterion Collection & The Criterion Channel: Part One of Two (in chronological order)
Shoes (1916) – directed by Lois Weber
This early feminist film was directed by Lois Weber, an unsung heroine of early cinema, who directed between 200 and 400 films during the silent era. In addition to being the first American woman to direct a feature film (in 1914) and the first American woman to own her own film studio (in 1917), Weber was also a technical innovator (she created the split screen technique and was one of the first directors to experiment with sound). Her heart-wrenching 1916 drama Shoes demonstrates Weber’s passionate commitment to social justice and the desperate plight of working women. [currently streaming on The Criterion Channel]
The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926) – directed by Lotte Reiniger
The earliest surviving animated feature film was directed by a woman! As a child, German artist/director Lotte Reiniger was fascinated by the ancient Chinese art of paper cutting and silhouette puppetry, a medium which Reiniger would later transform into a series of whimsical and visually striking animated films. The Adventures of Prince Achmed, a kaleidoscopic fairytale mash-up of characters and stories from One Thousand and One Nights, was a labor of love. Reiniger worked nonstop for three years creating and color tinting every single image by hand, one frame at a time. During this period she also invented the multiplane camera, one of the most important technologies in animation before the digital era, which was later used by someone named Walt Disney in films like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. But Lotte Reiniger did it first! [currently streaming on The Criterion Channel]
Dance, Girl, Dance (1940) – directed by Dorothy Arzner
If you love Katharine Hepburn, Lucille Ball and Rosalind Russell as much as I do, you can thank Dorothy Arzner for launching their careers. The doors she opened! With the exception of the aforementioned Lois Weber, Dorothy Arzner was the only woman director working in Hollywood between 1927 and her retirement in 1943. She made 20 films with many of the leading actresses of the Golden Age, and Dance, Girl, Dance (starring Maureen O'Hara and Lucille Ball), features the choreography of Marion Morgan, Arzner’s partner of 40 years. The tale of two struggling dancers in a burlesque show, Arzner literally turns the camera around on the male gaze, showing us the leering, jeering audience from the woman’s point of view. Dance, Girl, Dance is another groundbreaking feminist classic. [available on Blu-ray & DVD]
Forever a Woman (1955) – directed by Kinuyo Tanaka
This month, The Criterion Channel released the complete directorial works of Kinuyo Tanaka, one of Japan’s most celebrated actresses as well as a brilliant filmmaker in her own right. I fully intend to watch all six films, but I was completely blown away by the sheer cinematic power of Forever a Woman, Tanuko’s 1955 masterpiece about the life of tanka poet Fumiko Nakajō. Way ahead of its time, this film revolves around an independent woman artist played by the astounding Yumeji Tsukioka. Fumiko struggles to maintain her creative, sexual and bodily autonomy despite the obstacles of an arranged marriage, divorce, single motherhood, breast cancer and a double mastectomy, as well as the highly competitive, capricious and sexist world of publishing. This film is an aesthetic triumph, and Kinuyo Tanaka deserves to be hailed as one of cinema’s greatest auteurs. [currently streaming on The Criterion Channel]
Araya (1959) – directed by Margot Benacerraf
“On this land nothing grew. And all was desolation, wind, and sun. All life came from the sea. And from the marriage of Sea and Sun, Salt was born on this land.” Thus begins the incandescent 1959 documentary, Araya, which follows the daily rhythms of a small community of salt miners and fishermen in northeastern Venezuela. Unrelenting physical labor and brutal hardship are contrasted with tender moments of familial bonds and the startling beauty of the bleak landscape. Venezuelan director Margot Benacerraf is one of the founding mothers of Latin America cinema, and Araya, her only feature-length documentary, is Benaceraff’s poetic tribute to a long-vanished way of life. [currently streaming on The Criterion Channel]
Daisies (1966) – directed by Věra Chytilová
Are you ready for an experimental, surrealist, feminist, proto-punk, anti-authoritarian, Czechoslovakian new wave comedy? Then Daisies is the film for you! Headlined by two riot grrrls who just might be the direct ancestors of Patsy and Eddie from Absolutely Fabulous, Marie 1 and Marie 2 take a look at their life behind the Iron Curtain and decide that if the world is so bad, then they're going to be bad too. They are going to do whatever they want, whenever they want, social decorum and totalitarian authorities be damned. And they’re hungry. Very hungry. Upon its initial release Daisies was immediately banned and nearly all prints were destroyed. Fortunately, surviving copies were found in France and Belgium, and the restored version of the film delightfully revivifies all of the sheer chaos and anarchic exuberance of the original. [available on Blu-ray, currently streaming on The Criterion Channel]
Portrait of Jason (1967) – directed by Shirley Clarke
None other than Ingmar Bergman said “The most extraordinary film I’ve seen in my life is certainly Portrait of Jason. It is absolutely fascinating.” Film historian Vito Russo wrote that “two hours with Jason Holliday is like a month in another country.” At 9pm on Saturday, December 3, 1966, director Shirley Clarke turned her camera on the inimitable Jason Holliday (aka Aaron Payne, aka one of the most interesting people to ever be recorded on film), who then proceeded to tell stories, crack jokes, re-enact scenes from classic films, and talk about his life as a hustler, houseboy and cabaret performer for 12 hours nonstop until 9am the next morning. Clarke then edited that footage into this outrageous 105-minute documentary that has to be seen to be believed. [currently streaming on The Criterion Channel]
Sambizanga (1972) – directed by Sarah Maldoror
Set during the immediate prelude to the Angolan War of Independence, this fiercely political drama is also deeply grounded in the lived experience of a brave family whose lives are shattered by autocratic forces beyond their control. Born in France to parents from Guadeloupe, director Sarah Maldoror cast many non-professionals who were themselves actively involved in African anti-colonial movements, making Sambizanga (the first feature film produced by a Lusophone African nation) a truly radical expression of defiance in the face of oppression. [available on Blu-ray & DVD, currently streaming on The Criterion Channel]
From Spikes to Spindles (1976) – directed by Christine Choy
From Spikes to Spindles is a priceless documentary record of New York’s Chinatown in the 1970s, specifically the Chinese-American community’s grassroots demonstrations against racism, police brutality and gentrification. Director Christine Choy, born in Shanghai to a Chinese mother and a Korean father, moved to New York City at age 14, joined the Black Panther Party, and co-founded Third World Newsreel, one of the oldest and longest-running alternative media arts organizations in the United States. She’s been making politically charged documentaries for over 50 years, and the issues raised in From Spikes to Spindles still feel urgently relevant today. [currently streaming on The Criterion Channel]
Harlan County USA (1976) – directed by Barbara Kopple
One of the most class-conscious films in American cinematic history, Barbara Kopple’s Oscar Award-winning 1976 documentary sheds light on the relentless struggle of impoverished Kentucky coal miners and their wives against the Duke Power Company. Many of these striking miners were living in homes without basic utilities or running water, regularly working long hours for meager wages in unsafe, unhealthy and miserable conditions, all the while subject to violence and even murder at the hands of the company’s “gun thugs.” Director Barbara Kopple and her “hippie crew from New York” spent years with the coal miners and their families, at points risking their own lives in the process. A brave and powerful denunciation of inequality, Harlan County USA should be required viewing for every American. [available on DVD, currently streaming on The Criterion Channel]
Vagabond (1985) – directed by Agnès Varda
Martin Scorsese famously praised Agnès Varda as “one of the Gods of Cinema,” and The Criterion Collection has since compiled The Complete Films of Agnès Varda, a gorgeous 15-disc Blu-ray box set (also available to stream on The Criterion Channel). My personal favorite (and not just because of the title) is her 1985 masterpiece, Vagabond, starring Sandrine Bonnaire as Mona, a mysterious young woman who abandons her conventional life to roam aimlessly through the south of France. And just as Mona leaves behind a potent impression on everyone she meets, Varda’s consummate filmmaking ensures that Vagabond will be a cinematic experience the viewer will never forget. [available as part of a 15-disc Blu-ray box set - The Complete Films of Agnès Varda, currently streaming on The Criterion Channel]
A Dry White Season (1989) – directed by Euzhan Palcy
Marlon Brando came out of retirement to appear in this powerful denunciation of apartheid, joining a stellar cast including Donald Sutherland, Zakes Mokae and Susan Sarandon. Born in Martinique, Euzhan Palcy became the first Black woman to direct a major Hollywood studio film, as well as the only Black filmmaker to succeed in making an American feature film protesting apartheid during the 27 years of Nelson Mandela’s imprisonment. [available on Blu-ray & DVD]
Paris Is Burning (1990) – directed by Jennie Livingston
“Legendary! Tens, tens, tens across the board!”
“Why you all gagging so? She brings it to you every ball.”
“Touch this skin, darling, touch this skin honey, touch ALL of this skin!”
I can probably quote every single line from Paris is Burning, which I daresay is the most influential queer film of all time. There’d be no RuPaul’s Drag Race without Paris is Burning. The documentary’s entire lexicon has been universally embraced by the LGBTQIA+ community worldwide. (I’ve seen kids from Montreal to Macedonia to Manila vogueing, reading, throwing shade and shouting “Slay! Stomp that runway!”) Directed by Jennie Livingston, this trailblazing milestone spotlights the experiences of Black and Latinx gay, queer and trans performers in NYC’s 1980s ballroom scene. A fabulous time capsule bursting with sequins and glitter, this cult classic has forever preserved the heretofore marginalized voices of legendary icons like Pepper LaBeija, Venus Xtravaganza, Dorian Corey, Octavia St. Laurent, Willi Ninja, and of course emcee Junior Labeija: “O-P-U-L-E-N-C-E. Opulence! You own everything. Everything is yours.” Did I mention I can quote every line? [available on Blu-ray & DVD, currently streaming on The Criterion Channel]
Daughters of the Dust (1991) – directed by Julie Dash
This is honestly one of my favorite films of all time. A cinematic masterpiece, Daughters of the Dust is the first feature film directed by an African-American woman to receive a wide theatrical release. This poetic, matriarchal tale about three generations of Gullah islanders is also one of the most beautiful, enchanting and profound films ever made. [currently streaming on The Criterion Channel]
Mississippi Masala (1991) – directed by Mira Nair
This film is so gorgeous! Especially in the recent restoration by Criterion! One of the most scintillating and sensuous romances of the late 20th century, Mira Nair’s breakout film moves between Greenwood, Mississippi and Kampala, Uganda (with each locale featuring its own unique color palette and soundtrack). The on-screen chemistry between stars Denzel Washington and Sarita Choudhury is palpable, and kudos to Mira Nair for defying the Hollywood studio execs who demanded she cast white actors in one or more of the leading roles. Born and raised in India, director Mira Nair has had an illustrious career in both film and television. And even though I can’t believe it’s been almost 33 years since it premiered, Mississippi Masala retains its power as one of the greatest films of the 1990s. [available on Blu-ray & DVD, currently streaming on The Criterion Channel]
Check back next week for the rest of the list! And if you’d like to read about 29 critically acclaimed films by Black directors, have a look at my two-part article from last month:
