"Why do
women become independent directors?" asks columnist Victoria
Brownworth in her introduction to the informative and compelling Film
Fatales. The limitations of the Hollywood studio system, in
large part, influence the choice (i.e., women filmmakers are
traditionally denied access to financial support). In any country
with a thriving film industry, vital funding has been withheld
from women. Facts are cited and examples are drawn from the long
history of women in film, but don't fancy this an ode to wishful
thinking. Film Fatales celebrates a distinguished roster of
outstanding independent filmmakers and documents the rich
historical legacy of female directors.
Unless you're a true independent-film devotee,
you won't have heard of many of these brilliant, iconoclastic,
independent film directors--a fact that does little to diminish
their place in the history of film. What is the value of seeing
the world through the "female lens?" Take, for example,
the work of Lizzie Borden, perhaps best known for her critically
acclaimed Working Girls (1986). In the book's provocative
essay on Borden, she is quoted as saying, "We are living in a
very anti-sexual time; lack of sexual desire is epidemic," a
comment made, ironically, after the sexually graphic Working
Girls that brought her to Hollywood in the first place. The
characterization of contemporary Hollywood as a victim to the
de-sexing of the 1990s is certainly not a common one, but the
points of view represented in this volume are anything but common.
Independent does not equal invisible, though. Fargo,
a powerful example, only reinforces the trademark vitality of many
independent films and their great contribution to culture. For
fans and film buffs, Film Fatales is an outstanding
resource that beautifully serves this marginalized, maverick, and
wildly diverse population of independent women directors.
Organized by category ("Documentary;"
"Experimental;" "Narrative;" and "Beyond
the Director's Chair," a profile of pioneers in the areas of
film distribution and production), Film Fatales catalogs
and critiques the work of 29 independent female filmmakers.
Film
Fatales : Independent Women Directors 
