A global overview of the history and progress of women film directors around the world. With over 20 contributors including directors, writers, critics, producers, academics and fans. Includes exclusive interviews with leading female directors and industry insiders. Essential resource for film students, gender studies courses and film fans alike.

INTRODUCTION Gabrielle Kelly and Cheryl Robson AFRICA . African Women Directors: 'Francophone African Women Filmmakers: 40 years of cinema, Paris (1972-2012)' Beti Ellerson 2. Speak Up! Who's Speaking?: 27 African Female Filmmakers Speak for Themselves Maria Williams-Hawkins AMERICAS 3. The home, the body and otherness: 54 Canadian representations of identity and feminism in Mary Harron's American Psycho, Sarah Polley's Away From Her and the Soska Sisters' American Mary Karen Oughton 4. Female Filmmakers in Latin America 77 Ana Maria Bahiana 5. USA: Flouting the System: Lois Weber, 92 Dorothy Arzner and Ida Lupino Jacqui Miller 6. From Hollywood to Indiewood to Chinawood: 106 Women Film Directors in the US Gabrielle Kelly 7. US: Women Film Directors of the Indie 127 World Nathan Shaw 8. Oscar-worthy Women Directors 140 Patricia Di Risio 9. Interview with Kathryn Bigelow 155 Ana Maria Bahiana ASIA 10. Moving Up: 160 Women Directors and South-east Asian Cinema Anchalee Chaiworaporn 11. Films from an Unknown Woman: 179 Remediating the absence of gender politics in the films of women directors in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong Pieter Aquilia 12. Women Filmmakers of South Korea 203 Anchalee Chaiworaporn 13. 'Why are you making such a big deal just 210 because I am a woman?' Women Directors of Popular Indian Cinema Coonoor Kripalani 14. Cats and Dogs and Wild Berries: 233 New Voices in Japanese Cinema Adam Bingham 15. To Direct Patriarchy: Women Film Directors 249 in Pakistan Iram Parveen Bilal AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND 16. Brilliant Careers: Three Waves of 255 Australian, New Zealand and Indigenous Women Film Directors Pieter Aquilia EUROPE 17. Alice Guy-Blache, True Pioneer 272 Tania Field 18. A Century of Madchen: Femmes 280 and Frauen in Fascist, New Wave, and Contemporary European Cinema Heidi Honeycutt 19. Hidden Histories on Film: 309 Female Directors from South Eastern Europe Dina Iordanova 20. Iron and Reel: Russian Women Directors 316 Through the Soviet Era and Beyond Karlanna Lewis 21. Where's Britannia? 329 Melody Bridges MIDDLE EAST 22. Coming Forth (Day) by Day: Arab Female 349 Filmmakers Making Strides Ronan Doyle 23. In Their Own Words: Interviews with 355 Contemporary Women Directors from the Middle East Elhum Shakerifar 24. Voices of Israeli Women Filmmakers 366 Amy Kronish SUMMARY 380 Gabrielle Kelly

Now Kathryn Bigelow has made history as the fi rst woman to win an Oscar for directi ng, is this a new era for women fi lmmakers? This unique internati onal overview shows how women fi lm directors are breaking through across the globe. Highlighti ng emerging women directors alongside groundbreaking pioneers, this is a one-stop guide to the leading women fi lm directors of the 21st century – and those who inspired them. From the blockbusters of the Hollywood studios to emerging voices from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Laos, we learn of women making fi lms in traditi onally maledominated areas such as acti on, fantasy and horror. With wide-ranging contributi ons from countries with mature and nascent fi lm industries, this volume demonstrates that economic and technological change is creati ng new opportuniti es for women fi lm directors everywhere.

"The level of public consciousness about the barriers faced by female filmmakers is higher than it has ever been. Despite this, the discussion more often than not centres around North America and to a lesser extent, Europe, Australia and New Zealand (and I am guilty as charged). This is perfectly understandable, but clearly women do make films outside of these countries, and it can be illuminating to consider how their experiences reflect or differ from those with which we are more familiar. To this end, the arrival of a new book, "Celluloid Ceiling," could not be more timely. Edited by Gabrielle Kelly and Cheryl Robson, it takes a purposefully global overview of the status quo and in doing so provides some fascinating stories and insights, reminding us of what is lost when we limit the discussion to Anglophone directors." - Matthew Hammett Knott - indiewire

We read and hear incessant lamentations regarding the absence of women and the dearth of realistic and positive representation, lack of funding, of support, and all the other misfortunes that exist for women directors the world over. I would like to take into account the potentials and assets rather than the disadvantages. Emerging during the independence movements in Africa in the 1950s and 60s, African cinema reappropriated the camera as a tool to fight against the colonial gaze which had dominated visual representations of Africa. The emergence of women in cinema coincided with this nascent period in the course of which a group of women professionals positioned themselves in the creation of a veritable African film culture. Notably, the pioneer of Senegalese media culture, Annette Mbaye d’Erneville, who was the first Senegalese to receive a diploma in journalism. Upon her return after studying in Paris, she immersed herself in her work, eventually broadcasting a seminal radio programme on cinema. More than a generation later, Congolese Monique Mbeka Phoba continued this practice, leading her to filmmaking. Inversely, Chadian Zara Mahamat Yacoub, also a filmmaker, is at present the president of the Chadian association of independent radio stations and directs radio programming in Chad.