Following the Trail of Women in Hollywood

27 Oct, 2015

Ileana Douglas is the host of Turner Classic Movies (TCM) multi-year programming initiative ‘Trailblazing Women,’ a series that profiles 47 women directors with a focus on the silent era and continuing through to the work of such contemporary directors as Kathryn Bigelow and Ava DuVernay.

The cable network, which is producing the programming in partnership with Women in Film/Los Angeles, will highlight such filmmakers as early French cinema pioneer Alice Guy-Blaché, who shot sound films in the 1890s and ran her own studio; Ida Lupino, whose 1950 film noir “Outrage” is the “Citizen Kane” of rape culture; Claudia Weill, whose 1978 comedy “Girlfriends” is the cool big sister to Lena Dunham’s “Girls”; and Julie Dash’s 1988 period drama “Daughters of the Dust,” the first feature film directed by an African American woman to be distributed theatrically in the U.S.

Films made outside the Hollywood studios which TCM will highlight include Barbara Kopple’s 1977 documentary about a Kentucky coal miners’ strike, “Harlan County, USA,” which won the Academy Award for documentary feature; Barbara Loden’s low-budget 1970 drama “Wanda,” in which Loden, the wife of director Elia Kazan, also plays the title role of an unhappy housewife; and Italian writer-director Lina Wertmuller’s 1973 tale of an anarchist preparing to assassinate Mussolini, “Love and Anarchy.”

The network will also curate a night of films directed by African American woman, including DuVernay’s South L.A.-set 2012 film “Middle of Nowhere,” and a night of mainstream hits, like Nora Ephron’s 1993 romantic comedy “Sleepless in Seattle.”

The program comes on the heels of the ACLU’s urging three government agencies to investigate gender discrimination at movie and TV studios-a contentious issue that won’t go away.

“It’s time to talk about it. It’s time to address the issue” Douglas tells The Trending Report. This isn’t just another job for Douglas as it is an opportunity to honor those who pathed the way before her. Douglas shares details with the Trending Report about why this series is personal and how embracing the history will hopefully change the future.

B.Owusu

Image TrailblazingWomen.com

Mentioned In This Post: @TCM , @Illeanarama