The Guerilla Girls

fringethemagazine — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 16:01:11 -0500

The Guerilla Girls (one of my favorite feminist groups) have been on top of this issue for a little while. You can check their posters here, here, and here.

It's amazing to me that even though the arts are often considered women's realm, few women are able/allowed to break into the big time -- it's also true in literature. Fringe is doing the same thing Mediascape did, but we're reacting against the NYT list of the Best 25 Books...

The sad truth is that I don't know what movies I'd add to the list -- I could hardly name ten movies directed by women. A thousand thanks for the AWFJ link -- I'll be checking out their list and renting a few things!

The Top 100 Films of All Time

Jenny Lauck — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 14:00:03 -0500

The American Film Institute recently released the AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies list. First compiled a decade ago, the latest version reflects some of the finest films ever made - and yet it is a list that leaves plenty of room for debate.

Dominated by English language films, directed by men, the AFI's 100 Years...100 Films list has been used as a starting point for a more balanced list of 100 top films. Jennifer Merin, President of Women Film Journalists, Inc. writes:

"Fast Times at Ridgemont High." "Lost in Translation." "Dance, Girl, Dance."

Not one of these great films directed by women, nor any others, made it onto AFI's 100 Years, 100 Films list-- but they're on ours.

The Alliance of Women Film Journalists, a nationwide organization of women who write professionally about film, compiled our TOP 100 Films List as counterpoint to AFI's. Some of the titles coincide, but we've listed many more films directed by women. And, we've included foreign films. No chauvinism here, although we're all women and we're all American.

You'll find a good dose of humor in AWFJ members' spirited annotations indicating why, in our opinion, each of our selected titles is one that will last through the ages.

The AWFJ website is an absolutely amazing resource, featuring comprehensive and thoughtful reviews from many perspectives.

Through the American Women Film Journalists, I discovered that yet another rebuttal list - this time featuring 100 films helmed by women, has been compiled by Erin Hill and Brian Hu of Mediascape:

Mediascape took a look at the AFIâ€™s ballot of 400 eligible films (click here to view ballot), and instead of writing the usual criticism against canonization, bad taste, or corporatization, decided to â€œreviewâ€ the AFIâ€™s new list with a top 100 of its own. Of the 400 films on the ballot sent to AFI voters, only 4 were directed by women. (Five if you include Shrek, which was co-directed by a woman.) Does that mean that women are inferior directors? Hardly. Does that mean that women have been kept out of the directorâ€™s chair? Yes and no. What our list aims to demonstrate is that, while women have certainly faced sexism in Hollywood, both in and outside of the mainstream American film industry (which the AFI list represents almost exclusively), women directors have made extraordinary achievements in filmmaking. But 100 films? Thatâ€™s the challenge we put to several dozen film scholars, filmmakers, and movie buffs.

From their responses, we compiled a list of the 100 greatest American films directed or co-directed by women.

I've never been enough of a movie consumer to feel like I've got much knowledge about what makes one movie better than another - I tendn to go on my gut reaction to a film. Check out the lists, and tell me...which of your favorite films is missing?

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Jenny Lauck is realizing how many films she really needs to get around to seeing.

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The Guerilla Girls

The Top 100 Films of All Time