Kickstart This: 'Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers'
From American Honey to Toni Erdmann, female filmmakers have made some of 2016’s most critically acclaimed films. But as a widely circulated study published last year illustrates, women today are still sorely under-represented behind the camera. What many people don’t know is that before the institution of the male-dominated studio system in the 1930s, followed by its breakdown and the rise of the auteurist — and still male-dominated — revolution of the 1970s, filmmaking in its infancy was far more open to women behind the camera.
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That’s the revelation promised by Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers, a Kickstarter project launched by Kino Lorber this week. A follow-up to its wildly successful, Pioneers of African-American Cinema DVD box set, this new Pioneers collection will bring together some of the earliest surviving shorts and feature-length films made by women in the silent era. Executive produced by Illeana Douglas, who is now hosting a month-long Trailblazing Women series on Turner Classic Movies, First Women Filmmakers will include such overlooked titles as:
Caught in a Cabaret (1914): Charlie Chaplin owes his superstardom, in part, to Mabel Normand, who directed and acted alongside him in several early shorts, including this one about a waiter who raises havoc at a sedate garden party.
The Dream Lady (1918): An orphan tries her hand at the fortune-telling trade in Elsie Jane Wilson‘s drama.
Something New (1920): After a successful acting career, Nell Shipman moved into directing with the action-packed tale of a woman kidnapped and taken to Mexico.
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Having raised more than $50,000 to fund Pioneers of African-American Cinema, Kino has set an initial budget of $44,000 for Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers. That money will go toward accessing and remastering the surviving elements of these various films. Naturally, you’ll get goodies in return for your cash; depending on your donor level, treats include DVD or Blu-ray copies of the finished set (due out in November 2017); signed copies of Douglas’s book, I Blame Dennis Hopper; and gift packs of other Kino-released films. Visit the official Kickstarter page for more information, and a preview of the pioneering films and filmmakers this set will celebrate. If you’re curious to learn more about women filmmakers in the silent era, visit the Women’s Film Pioneers Project at Columbia University.
