Women Directors Who Made Waves In 2019

With the onset of the Time’s Up and MeToo movements, women struck back with their voices and claimed rightful equal representation in every realm of the film business. The USC Annenberg Inclusion initiative saw a record number of female directors active in the past year. Here are some women directors who made waves in 2019.

Key Takeaways:

• Greta Gerwig’s Little Women explore womanhood just like her successful work in Lady Bird.
• Jennifer lee’s Frozen II becomes the third biggest movie of 2019.
• Captain Marvel is the first Marvel movie to have a female director and protagonist.
• The Farewell bags numerous nominations.
• Lorene Scafaria launches Hustlers giving a tight answer to lifelong sexism that she faced in the industry.

Greta Gerwig- Little Women

After Lady Bird, Greta has again revealed her directorial expertise in exploring female dynamics. Little Women is a coming of age story that revolves around the lives of four sisters who dare to live life on their own terms. Gerwig is known for portraying nuances of womanhood and this time they were packed in a period drama with a stellar cast. Furthermore, the movie grossed more than 80 M dollars worldwide. She is further involved in talks with Margot Robbie for directing a live-action Barbie film.

Lorene Scafaria launches Hustlers giving a tight answer to lifelong sexism that she faced in the industry.

Jennifer Lee- Frozen II (Co-directed with Chris buck)

Adventures of Anna and Elsa have made Frozen II the highest-grossing animated movie ever. A sequel to Frozen, the sequel became one of the biggest movies of 2019. Despite the massive success of both the movies, Lee told Variety that she was “very surprised” by the achievement. The film bagged various accolades including the Academy awards for best-animated feature and best song. The sequel had to break the record since Lee crafted it with every creative tool available. She focused on the characters’ lives revolving around serious questions about adulthood.

Anna Boden- Captain Marvel (Co-directed with Ryan Fleck)

Captain Marvel is the first Marvel movie to have a woman director and a woman for a titular role. It grossed a whopping 1.128 billion dollars internationally. Both the directors of the film did extensive character study to do complete justice to Brie Larson’s character. “I feel incredibly honoured to be given the opportunity to be here with this awesome group of people. It amazes me that I’m the first female director to be doing one of their films, but I’m just kind of trying to tackle it like I would any other job.” Lee tells Marie Claire.

Lulu Wang- The Farewell

Written and directed by Lulu Wang, The Farewell is a movie largely based on her personal experiences. Lulu derives inspiration from her grandmother and experiences of straddling two cultures as an immigrant. It collected 19.6 m dollars at the box office. Moreover, actor Awkwafina made history as she won the golden globe in the category best actress for her portrayal of the protagonist in the movie. In spite of it being a low-budget movie, it is being recognised in the highest of places after several nominations.

Lorene Scafaria- Hustlers

Lorene has been vocal about the sexism she faced in the film business. In 2016, she got the inspiration for the movie Hustlers in a New York Magazine article about a group of strippers who drugged and ripped off their Wall Street clients after the financial crisis across the globe.

“They disagreed. The men in the room identified with the men in the story. And the women in the room didn’t like strippers to begin with.”- Lorene told the Los Angeles Times as she discussed the process of pitching her story.

Nevertheless, the movie ended up having a stellar cast, to begin with. Further, Hustlers charted huge numbers at the box office and award nominations.

Although better late than never, this is just a start of change. Women representation still lacks. Women still have to face sexist barriers while climbing ladders for their careers and hence breaking the glass ceiling. Their successful works speak for themselves and we are rooting for them.

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Vipashyana Dubey is an intern with SheThePeople.TV