Women Make Film: A New Road Movie Through Cinema
Women Make Film: A New Road Movie Through Cinema

Women Make Film: A New Road Movie Through Cinema

2020 1 Seasons 14 Episodes ⭐ 7.0 Documentary

As told through clips from 183 female directors, this epic history of the cinema focuses on women's integral role in the development of film art. Using almost a thousand film extracts from thirteen decades and five continents, Mark Cousins asks how films are made, shot and edited; how stories are shaped and how movies depict life, love, politics, humour and death, all through the compelling lens of some of the world's greatest filmmakers -- all of them women.

As told through clips from 183 female directors, this epic history of the cinema focuses on women's integral role in the development of film art. Using almost a thousand film extracts from thirteen decades and five continents, Mark Cousins asks how films are made, shot and edited; how stories are shaped and how movies depict life, love, politics, humour and death, all through the compelling lens of some of the world's greatest filmmakers -- all of them women.

Seasons & Episodes

EP 1

Openings, Tone

"Openings". With examples from 1943 to 2013, from China to Iran, Australia to Finland, we look at how to open a film: fr

EP 2

Believability, Introducing Character, Meet Cute

"Believability". It's easy to spot, but not so easy to understand. Believability is about simple human stories, the trut

EP 3

Conversation, Framing, Tracking

"Conversation". A basic human interaction -- how to make it cinematic? "Framing". Frames describe and paint the scenes.

EP 4

Staging, Journey, Discovery

"Staging". Scene staging is an element of film form pointing clearly to cinema's origin: theater. "Journey". Movement i

EP 5

Adult/Child, Economy, Editing

"Adult/Child". Most famous movie genres -- war pictures, westerns, etc. -- are about adults, but in this chapter, Jane F

EP 6

POV, Close-up, Dream

"POV". Is cinema the art of point of view? Jocelyn Moorhouse, Ida Lupino, Edith Carlmar, Sofia Coppola, Liliana Cavani,

EP 7

Bodies, Sex

"Bodies". Bodies in cinema can be enticing, athletic, or brutalized. Jane Fonda narrates this chapter about how some of

EP 8

Home, Religion, Work

"Home". Refuge, shelter, or prison? Sharmila Tagore narrates the story of home on-screen in the great films of Edith Car

EP 9

Politics, Gear Change, Comedy

"Politics". Another aspect of everyday life. From silent cinema to the twenty-first century, movies from the visually as

EP 10

Melodrama, Sci-Fi, Horror & Hell

"Melodrama". A genre as popular as comedy, but what are some of the great scenes in melodrama? Sharmila Tagore narrates

EP 11

Tension, Stasis, Leave Out

"Tension". Thrillers, and so much more. We look at gripping scenes in films as diverse as Joel DeMott's documentary Demo

EP 12

Reveal, Memory, Time

"Reveal". How does Lynne Ramsay do a reveal, in Morvern Callar? How does the great actor-director Kinuyo Tanaka? Or Sara

EP 13

Life Inside, The Meaning of Life, Love

"Life Inside". Novels are great at describing thoughts, but how do films do so? In this chapter, we see how great direct

EP 14

Death, Endings, Song and Dance

"Death". The biggest subject in life, the most universal subject -- no wonder that Japan's Kinuyo Tanaka, Canada's Carol

Popular Cast

Tilda Swinton
Tilda Swinton
Narrator (voice)
Adjoa Andoh
Adjoa Andoh
Narrator (voice)
Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda
Narrator (voice)
Sharmila Tagore
Sharmila Tagore
Narrator (voice)
Kerry Fox
Kerry Fox
Narrator (voice)
Thandiwe Newton
Thandiwe Newton
Narrator (voice)
Debra Winger
Debra Winger
Narrator (voice)