Japanese women directors

[tim.iles at utoronto.ca]

Aaron wrote:

> As for women directors, I think Tim's initial suggestion calls for
> films from any era, not just new ones. Any candidates there?

Personally, I'd be _very_ surprised if there were any female directors  
of note before the 1960s... Even though--for example--there were very  
good female novelists in the 1930s, mostly left-wing, I can't see  
women having the same access to the technology needed to make films  
that men had. I'd be happy to be proven wrong, though...

The Iran case is interesting--I've yet to see an Iranian film by a  
female director, but I've enjoyed very much the (small) handful of  
Iranian films I've seen. One thing I'm interested in in this thread is  
whether KineJapaners notice any visual differences in the approaches  
taken by men or women in handling character development or diegesis...  
Is there such a thing as a "feminine visuality" or "female voyeurism"?

Best,


Tim Iles
University of Victoria