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Maya Deren came to the USA in 1922 as Eleanora Derenkowsky. Together with her father Solomon Derenkowsky, a psychiatrist, and her mother Maria Fidler, an artist, she fled the pogroms organized by the Bolsheviks against the Jews. She studied journalism and political science at the Syracuse University in New York, finishing her BA at the New York University (NYU) in June 1936, and then received her MA in English literature from the Smith College in 1939.
In 1943, she made her first film Meshes of the Afternoon (1943), co-starring with Alexander Hammid. Through this association, at Hammid's suggestion, she changed her name to Maya, meaning "illusion." Overall, she made six short films and several incomplete films, including Witch's Cradle (1944) starring Marcel Duchamp.
Deren is the author of two books, "An Anagram of Ideas on Art, Form, and Film" 1946 (reprinted in "The Legend of Maya Deren," vol 1, part 2) and "Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti" (1953)--a book that was made after her first trip to Haiti in 1947 and which is still considered one of the most useful on Haitian Voudoun. Deren wrote numerous articles on film and on Haiti. Maya Deren shot over 18,000 feet of film in Haiti from 1947 to 1954 on Haitian Voudoun, parts of which can be viewed in Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti (1993) made after her death by her then-husband Teiji Ito and his new wife Cherel Ito.
In 1947, Maya Deren became the first filmmaker to receive a Guggenheim grant for creative work in motion pictures. She wrote film theory, distributed her own films, traveled across the USA, and went to Cuba and Canada to promote her films using the lecture-demonstration format to teach film theory, and Voudoun and the interrelationship of magic, science, and religion. Deren established the Creative Film Foundation in the late 1950s to reward the achievements of independent filmmakers.- Director
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Born to a military family. Attends law studies before starting a newspaper career. In 1960 starts on TV. Joins the Socialist Party in 1976 and conducts the electoral campaign in 1982 and in the same year she is designated General Director of Cinema. Resigning in 1985, the next year she joins the State Television (RTE). The last work was the coverage of the Royal Wedding of Infanta Cristina in Barcelona (October 1997 ).- Director
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Doris Wishman was born on 1 June 1912 in New York City, New York, USA. She was a director and producer, known for Satan Was a Lady (2001), Nude on the Moon (1961) and Keyholes Are for Peeping (1972). She was married to Louis Silverman and Jack Abrahms. She died on 10 August 2002 in Miami, Florida, USA.- Director
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Agnès Varda was born on 30 May 1928 in Ixelles, Belgium. She was a director and writer, known for Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962), Vagabond (1985) and Faces Places (2017). She was married to Jacques Demy. She died on 29 March 2019 in Paris, France.- Director
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Born in 1966 in Salta in the North of Argentina,Lucrecia Martel settled down in Buenos Aires where she attended the ENERC (National Film School). She started by directing a few shorts among which Historias Breves I: Rey muerto (1995), which garnered several awards in the international film festival circuit. From 1995 to 1998, she made a series of documentaries for TV as well as a children's TV programme, hailed by the Argentinian press for its unusual dark humor. From 2001 until today, Lucrecia Martel has managed to make three very personal feature films, The Swamp (2001), The Holy Girl (2004) and The Headless Woman (2008), in which she explores her favorite theme, troubled minds.- Writer
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During the 1970s, Lina Wertmüller emblazoned her name into the pantheon of Italian cinema with a series of intensely polemical, deeply controversial and wonderfully entertaining films. Among the most politically outspoken and iconoclastic members of the second generation of postwar directors - the direct heirs to the neo-realists - Wertmüller was also one of the first woman directors to be internationally recognized and acclaimed. Armed with a keenly satiric and Rabelaisian humor, Wertmüller reinvented the narrative forms and character types of Italian comedy to create one of the rare examples of a radical, politically galvanized cinema that managed to achieve widespread popularity. Indeed, the fierce invectives against social, cultural and historical inequities at the heart of Wertmüller's mid-1970s masterworks Love and Anarchy, Seven Beauties and Swept Away seemed only to help the films find an appreciative audience, especially in the United States, where they broke box office records for foreign films and even secured Wertmüller an Oscar nomination for Best Director - the very first woman named for this category. Although Wertmüller remains a well-known name, her remarkable films are strangely overlooked and only selectively revisited. And yet, the incredible energy and daring of her most popular works is equally present in lesser-known masterpieces such as All Screwed Up and The Seduction of Mimi, films that are both extremely topical and yet still totally relevant today.- Actress
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Jennifer Kent was born on 5 March 1969 in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. She is an actress and director, known for The Nightingale (2018), The Babadook (2014) and Monster (2005).- Director
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Mary Harron (born January 12, 1953) is a Canadian filmmaker and screenwriter. She gained recognition for her role in writing and directing several independent films, including I Shot Andy Warhol (1996), American Psycho (2000), and The Notorious Bettie Page (2005). She co-wrote American Psycho and The Notorious Bettie Page with Guinevere Turner. Although Harron has denied this title, she has been thought to be feminist filmmaker due to her film on lesbian feminist Valerie Solanas, in I Shot Andy Warhol (1996), and a queer story-line within her teenage Gothic horror, The Moth Diaries (2011).- Actress
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Paper Magazine said it best: " Somewhere between the faded pastels and grainy VHS footage of the '80s and the neo-Dada internet iconoclasm of today lies Dylan Mars Greenberg." Greenberg got an early foothold into the art world; by the time she was 15 she was performing in East Village clubs and dive bars, releasing a full length synth pop album as "Disck" and ending up with a photo spread in NY Times Magazine. When she was 17, she directed her first feature film "Glamarus', produced by veteran art film director and actor Scott Shaw. She followed this with her art-horror film Wakers and then almost immediately began production on another film called Dark Prism, which ended up generating massive press attention in Pitchfork, NME, Flavorwire, SPIN. and the AV Club. Since then she has directed several more feature films and works professionally as a music video director, her work appearing in Rolling Stone, HuffPost, BrooklynVegan Alt Press and European national television. Greenberg's style has been compared to Andy Warhol's factory, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, John Waters, Ryan Trecartin, and David Lynch. She has worked with major figures in the entertainment industry such as Golden Globe winner Michael C. Hall, Mac DeMarco, hip hop legend Schooly D and Matt Katz-Bohen, underground art icons like Lloyd Kaufman, Reverend Jen, and Robert Prichard, and up and coming young people such as Kansas Bowling, Sofe Cote, Blessing C.S., Yolpie Kaiser, Chandani Smith, and Max Husten. Her upcoming feature film Spirit Riser, featuring Michael Madsen, Cherie Currie, Patti Harrison, Dorian Electra and Kate Bornstein, releases soon.- Director
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Larisa Shepitko was born on 6 January 1938 in Bakhmut, Ukrainian SSR, USSR [now Bakhmut, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine]. She was a director and writer, known for The Ascent (1977), Heat (1963) and You and Me (1971). She was married to Elem Klimov. She died on 2 July 1979 in near Redkino, Kalinin Oblast, Russian SFSR, USSR.- Actress
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Rayhana Obermeyer is known for I Still Hide to Smoke (2016), Let Them Come (2015) and Paris Prestige (2016).- Actress
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Althought most of her career was before the cameras, Mimí Derba is better remembered as the first woman director in Mexico (and perhaps in Latin America). On 1917, when Mexican screens were filled by italian melodramas of "divas", Derba organized one of the very first Mexican production companies: Azteca Films. Practically without previous experience on screen, the actress produced, wrote and performed in two box-office hits: Alma de sacrificio (1917) and En defensa propia (1917). The success of those films persuated her to take the director's chair in Tigresa, La (1917). There's a legend that Azteca Films was a cover-up for General Pablo González, a minister in the cabinet of President Venustiano Carranza and Derba's lover in those years. González was accused of being the mastermind behind a famous gang of robbers called La Banda del Automóvil Gris (The Grey Car Gang) whose assaults were very famous in the Mexico City of 1915. Those events inspired the famous Mexican episodic film Automóvil Gris, El (1919). The mysterious of the source of the incoming money for producing Derba's films was never discovered, but it is certain that, after the scandal of involving González with the gang, activities ceased on Azteca Films and the career of the first woman Mexican director was over. Derba continued acting and made a strong career as a supporting actress in a great number of famous Mexican films. One of her most notorious roles was the bitter grandmother of Evita Muñoz 'Chachita' in Ustedes los ricos (1947).- Actress
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Born in Madrid, Iciar Bollain has worked as an actress in films such El Sur (1983), directed by Víctor Erice; Sublet (1991) directed by Chus Gutiérrez, Malaventura (1988) directed by Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón; El Mejor de los Tiempos (1990) and Un Paraguas para Tres (1992) directed by Felipe Vega, Tierra y Libertad (1995) directed by Ken Loach, LEO (2000) directed by Jose Luis Borau, Nos Miran (2002) directed by Norberto Pérez, La Balsa de Piedra (2003) directed by Geogre Sluiezer and La Noche del Hermano (2005) directed by Santiago García de Leániz. As a director, Icíar has written and directed many renowned films. Flowers from Another World, her second film, was awarded at Cannes Film Festival in 1999 (Best Film in the International Critics' Week). Take my eyes (2003), her following film as writer and director, won 7 Goyas (Spanish Academy Awards), including Best Film, among many other international awards. She directed a script by Paul Laverty in 2009, Even the Rain. The film obtained national and international recognition: 13 nominations to the Goya Awards, Panorama Award at the Berlinale, Ariel Award to best Latin-American film and it was in the short list of the foreign films selected for the Academy Awards in 2010 representing Spain. In 2011 she directed and co-wrote Katmandú, un Espejo en el Cielo. The film was nominated to the Goya Awads in the categories of Best Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay. In 2014 it was released En Tierra Extraña, a documentary that Iciar directed about the life of young Spanish immigrants in Edinburgh, Scotland, who had to leave Spain due to recession and unemployment Iciar Bollain is currently in pre-production of his next film, The Olive Tree, a new collaboration with the writer Paul Laverty and Morena Films. The film will start principal photography in May 2015.- Director
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Having graduated from FAMU in Prague film (1971), Agnieszka Holland returned to Poland and began her film career working with Krzysztof Zanussi as assistant director, and Andrzej Wajda as her mentor. Her first feature film was PROVINCIAL ACTORS (1978), one of the flagship pictures of the "cinema of moral disquiet" and the winner of the International Critics Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1980. Subsequently, she made the films FEVER (1980) and THE LONELY WOMAN (1981). In 1981, just before the declaration of the state of emergency in Poland, Agnieszka Holland emigrated to France.
She directed ANGRY HARVEST (1985) which was nominated for a foreign-language Oscar. Her film EUROPA EUROPA (1990) also received a U.S. Academy Award nomination (best screenplay) and IN DARKNESS (2011) was again nominated as best foreign-language film. She also collaborated with her friend Krzysztof Kieslowski on the screenplay of his trilogy, THREE COLOURS (1993).
Holland's other films include TO KILL A PRIEST (1988), OLIVIER, OLIVIER (1992), THE SECRET GARDEN (1993), TOTAL ECLIPSE (1995), WASHINGTON SQUARE (1997), THE THIRD MIRACLE (1999), SHOT IN THE HEART (2001), JULIE WALKING HOME (2001), COPYING BEETHOVEN (2006), IN DARKNESS (2011), BURNING BUSH (2013), SPOOR (2017), MR. JONES (2019) and CHARLATAN (2020). She also directed several episodes of many notable TV series, including THE WIRE, JAG, COLD CASE, TREME (for the pilot of the latter she was nominated for an Emmy) and HOUSE OF CARDS. Agnieszka Holland has also written or co-written screenplays for films made by other directors and directed plays for Polish television. She was elected chairwoman of the Board of the European Film Academy in 2014 and was elected as its President in 2021.- Director
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Kimberly Peirce was born on 8 September 1967 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA. She is a director and producer, known for Boys Don't Cry (1999), Stop-Loss (2008) and Carrie (2013).- Director
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Chantal Akerman was born on 6 June 1950 in Brussels, Belgium. She was a director and writer, known for The Meetings of Anna (1978), I, You, He, She (1974) and A Couch in New York (1996). She was married to Sonia Wieder-Atherton. She died on 5 October 2015 in Paris, France.- Director
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Claudia Llosa was born on 15 November 1976 in Lima, Peru. She is a director and writer, known for The Milk of Sorrow (2009), Madeinusa (2006) and Loxoro (2012).- Actress
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Ida was born in London to a show business family. In 1932, her mother took Ida with her to an audition and Ida got the part her mother wanted. The picture was Her First Affaire (1932). Ida, a bleached blonde, went to Hollywood in 1934 playing small, insignificant parts. Peter Ibbetson (1935) was one of her few noteworthy movies and it was not until The Light That Failed (1939) that she got a chance to get better parts. In most of her movies, she was cast as the hard, but sympathetic woman from the wrong side of the tracks. In The Sea Wolf (1941) and High Sierra (1940), she played the part magnificently. It has been said that no one could do hard-luck dames the way Lupino could do them. She played tough, knowing characters who held their own against some of the biggest leading men of the day - Humphrey Bogart, Ronald Colman, John Garfield and Edward G. Robinson. She made a handful of films during the forties playing different characters ranging from Pillow to Post (1945), where she played a traveling saleswoman to the tough nightclub singer in The Man I Love (1946). But good roles for women were hard to get and there were many young actresses and established stars competing for those roles. She left Warner Brothers in 1947 and became a freelance actress. When better roles did not materialize, Ida stepped behind the camera as a director, writer and producer. Her first directing job came when director Elmer Clifton fell ill on a script that she co-wrote Not Wanted (1949). Ida had joked that as an actress, she was the poor man's Bette Davis. Now, she said that as a director, she became the poor man's Don Siegel. The films that she wrote, or directed, or appeared in during the fifties were mostly inexpensive melodramas. She later turned to television where she directed episodes in shows such as The Untouchables (1959) and The Fugitive (1963). In the seventies, she made guest appearances on various television show and appeared in small parts in a few movies.- Director
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Safi Faye was born on 22 November 1943 in Dakar, Senegal. She was a director and writer, known for Mossane (1996), Fad'jal (1979) and Letter from My Village (1976). She died on 22 February 2023 in Paris, France.- Director
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Gracia Querejeta was born on 13 August 1962 in Madrid, Spain. She is a director and writer, known for Siete mesas de billar francés (2007), 15 Years and One Day (2013) and Cuando vuelvas a mi lado (1999).- Director
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Isabel Coixet was born on 9 April 1960 in Sant Adrià de Besòs, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. She is a director and writer, known for My Life Without Me (2003), The Secret Life of Words (2005) and The Bookshop (2017).- Director
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Rose Troche was born in 1964 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. She is a director and producer, known for Go Fish (1994), The Safety of Objects (2001) and Bedrooms and Hallways (1998).- Director
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Patricia Cardoso is an award-winning director who has directed a wide range of films and episodes for the screen. Her first feature film, REAL WOMEN HAVE CURVES, was a box office and critical success and has become a landmark in US cinema. Cardoso's directing credits include episodes of THE SOCIETY, QUEEN SUGAR, WILL TRENT, THE WATCHFUL EYE, TALES OF THE CITY, the pilot for HARLAN COBEN'S SHELTER for Amazon Prime, and the feature EL PASEO DE TERESA -the largest box office for a woman director in Colombia. Cardoso is an anthropologist, an archaeologist, and a Fulbright scholar. Cardoso's anthropological approach to directing guides her film and television work. Cardoso was the first Latinx woman director to have a film included in the Library of Congress's National Film Registry and to win a Student Academy Award® and a Sundance Audience Award. She is a graduate of UCLA's film school and was director of Sundance's Latin American program for five years. In addition to her work as a filmmaker, Cardoso is a professor at UC Riverside and previously taught at USC and UCLA. She is a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, The British Film Academy, the Television Academy, and the Directors Guild of America.- Writer
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Lucía Puenzo was born on 28 November 1976 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She is a writer and director, known for XXY (2007), The German Doctor (2013) and The Fish Child (2009).- Director
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Marjane Satrapi was born on 22 November 1969 in Rasht, Iran. She is a director and actress, known for Persepolis (2007), The Voices (2014) and Chicken with Plums (2011). She is married to Mattias Ripa. She was previously married to Reza.- Director
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Ana Lily Amirpour was born in Margate, Kent, England, UK. She is a director and writer, known for A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014), The Bad Batch (2016) and Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon (2021).- Director
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Mary Lambert was born in 1951 in Helena, Arkansas, USA. She is a director and writer, known for Pet Sematary (1989), Madonna: Like a Prayer (1989) and The in Crowd (2000). She has been married to Jerome Gary since 28 September 1991. They have one child.- Director
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Niki Caro is a New Zealand film director and screenwriter, born in 1967. Caro was born in Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand. She was educated first at the Kadimah College in Auckland, and then the Diocesan School for Girls in Auckland. The School is a private girls' school, and ranks among the top-achieving schools in New Zealand.
In the late 1980s, Caro enrolled in the Elam School of Fine Arts to pursue training as a sculptor. However her interest shifted to film studies. She graduated from Elam in 1988, at the age of 21. For post-graduate studies, Caro enrolled at the Swinburne University of Technology, located at Melbourne, Victoria.
Following the completion of her studies, Caro initially directed television commercials. In 1992, she directed and wrote an episode for the anthology television series "Another Country" (1992). In 1998, Caro directed her first feature film "Memory and Desire". It was an adaptation of a short story by Peter Wells (1950-2019), concerning the depression and apparent suicide of a Japanese married man. The film was critically well-received and won a New Zealand film award.
Caro next directed the feature film "Whale Rider" (2002).. It depicts a young Maori girl, Paikea "Pai" Apirana (played by Keisha Castle-Hughes) , who stands as a candidate for the position of tribal chief. The film earned over 41 million dollars at the worldwide box office, becoming one of New Zealand's most commercially successful films. The film also won an award at the Sundance Film Festival.
In 2005, Caro directed her first American film, "North Country". The film was loosely based on the legal case "Jenson v. Eveleth Taconite Co.", a class-action sexual harassment lawsuit concerning the treatment of female miners in a Minnesota-based mine. The film earned about 25 million dollars at the worldwide box office, failing to recover its budget expenses. Two of the films actresses (Charlize Theron and Frances McDormand) were nominated for Academy Awards for their performances, but neither of them won.
In 2009, Caro directed the romantic drama "A Heavenly Vintage", an adaptation on the fantasy novel "The Vintner's Luck" (1998) by Elizabeth Knox. The film won three awards at the Sedona Film Festival, but was criticized for toning down the homosexual relationship depicted in the novel.
In 2015, Caro directed the sports drama "McFarland, USA". The film is based on the life of track and field coach James White (1941-), and the first victory of the McFarland High School at a cross-country running championship in 1987. The film won about 46 million dollars at the worldwide box office, the commercially most successful film in Caro's career to that point.
In 2017, Caro directed the World War II-themed war film "The Zookeeper's Wife". The film was based on the lives of a married couple, the zoologist Jan Zabinski (1897-1974) and the children's writer Antonina Erdman ( 1908-1971). During the foreign occupation of Poland in World War II, the Zabinskis used the abandoned buildings of the Warsaw Zoo and their privately-owned villa to shelter hundreds of displaced Jews. They managed to rescue about 300 people. Caro won an award at the Heartland Film Festival for her direction in this film.
In 2017, Caro was hired by the Walt Disney Company to direct a live-action remake of "Mulan" (1998). Caro was reportedly the second female film director entrusted by Disney to direct a big-budget film, following Ava DuVernay (1972-). Caro's remake is scheduled for release in 2020.- Actress
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Ana Mariscal was born on 31 July 1923 in Madrid, Spain. She was an actress and director, known for Segundo López, aventurero urbano (1953), Una sombra en la ventana (1945) and Un hombre va por el camino (1949). She was married to Valentín Javier. She died on 28 March 1995 in Madrid, Spain.- Actress
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Genevieve Nnaji started her acting career as a child actress in the then-popular television soap opera "Ripples" at the age of 8. She was also featured in several commercials, some of which included Pronto beverage and Omo detergent. In 1998, at the age of 19, she made her debut in the growing Nigerian film industry with the movie "Most Wanted." As an upcoming actress, trying to create a niche for herself, she went through various minor roles seeking for that opportunity for a breakthrough.
Her subsequent movies--"Last Party," "Mark of the Beast," and "Ijele" (which is still considered to be one of her best epic performances to date)--brought forth an icon to be loved and adored by many.
Her name became a household name and her image the desire of every young girl. In 2002, she starred in the movie Sharon Stone (2002), and her fame shot beyond the shores of Nigeria to the rest of Africa and several European countries. One can say that through the buzz, Genevieve reinvented the Nigerian film Industry, introducing Nollywood to the rest of the world.
Genevieve appeals just as warmly to Kenyans, Liberians, South Africans, and Ghanaians, who avidly watch Nigerian home videos at home and abroad. Genevieve has led the market into new territories today.
She took the extra step of projecting herself beyond Nigeria by having a Web site constructed back in 2003, and it was arguably the most-visited Nigerian site on the Internet. Its fame spread like wildfire, a jolly virus: 3549 hits on 355 pages in two weeks.
In recognition of her immense contribution to the Nigerian film industry, Genevieve was presented with numerous awards, some of which have been in Dublin, London, and the United States. She won best actress of the year in the 2001 City People Awards and in 2005 at the inaugural awarding of the prestigious African Movie Academy Awards (AMAA).
In 2004, a search for the face of Lux was embarked upon, and out of several celebrities all over Africa, Genevieve emerged with the highest votes. She graced several billboards and television stations with her enduring smile and personality. The same year, she was contracted by a Ghanaian record label to record an album, which got immense attention locally and in several African countries.
With several movies to her credit, and numerous fans around the world, in 2008, in a bid to give back to society, Genevieve launched her clothing line, St. Genevieve, which donates a percentage of its proceeds to charity--orphanages. In 2009, Genevieve made history by being the first Nigerian actress to be profiled on The Oprah Winfrey Show (1986) on an episode about the most popular people around the world. Genevieve is believed to be the highest-paid and most desired actress in Nollywood today.
A desire to be in touch with her fans after being absent from the Web for about 6 years has resulted in the construction of a new site. This affords the actress the opportunity to keep in constant touch with her numerous fans the world over. The site is an interactive one. and the hits have been outstanding.
Her life personifies the saying "All things are possible if you will only believe." These words describe her: determined, focused, humble, and creative. The best years of her career are still ahead.- Writer
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Named as one of the Okay100 Women of 2017 by OkayAfrica, Tope Oshin is a severally awarded filmmaker who has directed over 7,000 hours of TV & film content. These consist of up to 750 episodes of some of Africa's biggest drama series like MTV Shuga, Tinsel, Hotel Majestic, Hush, Castle & Castle, etc.
Her directing credits include films like New Money, Journey To Self, InLine, Ireti, The Young Smoker, and the ground-breaking December 2018 theatrical release - UpNorth.
ShowRunner, Producer and Lead Director of MTV Shuga Naija 4 (Season 8), her Producing credits include the highest Nigerian box office grossing movies - The Wedding Party 2 and Fifty, and her revolutionary documentary about female directors in Nigeria - Amaka's Kin: The Women Of Nollywood. Tope, who trained in Filmmaking at the Colorado Film School, Denver and studied Cinematography at MetFilm School, London, owns Sunbow Productions. She describes herself as a Film Artist, dedicated to changing the world, one frame at a time.- Producer
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Akosua Adoma Owusu (*1984) is a Ghanaian-American filmmaker whose films address a collision of identities, where the African immigrant in America has a triple consciousness. Named by IndieWire as one of six preeminent «Avant-Garde Female Filmmakers Who Redefined Cinema», she was a featured artist of the 56th Robert Flaherty Film Seminar programmed by renowned critic and film curator Dennis Lim. She has exhibited worldwide, including at the Centre Pompidou, at Berlinale, Rotterdam, Locarno, Toronto, New Directors/New Films (NY), and London (BFI). Her short film «Kwaku Ananse» won the 2013 Africa Movie Academy Award, and her recent short «White Afro» received the Medien Patent Verwaltung AG Prize at the 2019 Locarno Film Festival. She is a recipient of the 2020 Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists.
Akosua Adoma Owusu is represented by Andrew Farber at Farber Law LLC.- Actress
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Rosa Mia was born in 1925. She was an actress and director, known for Tumbando caña (1956), Roberta (1951) and Kamandag (1959). She died on 28 November 2006.- Director
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Marilou Diaz-Abaya was born on 30 March 1955 in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines. She was a director and producer, known for Muro-ami (1999), New Moon (2001) and José Rizal (1998). She was married to Manolo Abaya. She died on 8 October 2012 in Taguig City, Metro Manila, Philippines.- Writer
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Ms. Duras was born in southern Vietnam and lost her father at age 4. The family savings of 20 years bought the family a small plot in Cambodia, but everything was lost in a single season's flooding. The disaster killed her mother as a result. After high school in Saigon, Ms. Duras left Indochina to study law in Paris. As a young woman, she worked as a secretary in France's Ministry of Colonies from 1935 to 1941, before becoming a writer. She wrote 34 novels from 1943 to 1993, and became an enduring part of Paris's intellectual elite. In addition to her writing, she also directed about 16 films. For the film India Song (1975), she won France's Cinema Academy Grand Prix. She claimed to have rescued French president François Mitterand during World War II, when he was a resistance fighter and remained a friend and unconditional campaigner. Her most noted novel is "L'Amant", the story of a girl, from a poor French family in Indochina, who becomes the mistress of a wealthy Indochinese notable's son.- Director
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Antonia Bird was born on 27 May 1951 in London, England, UK. She was a director and producer, known for Priest (1994), Face (1997) and Ravenous (1999). She was married to Ian Ilett. She died on 24 October 2013 in London, England, UK.- Writer
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Dunia Ayaso was born in 1961 in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain. She was a writer and director, known for The Island Inside (2009), El grito en el cielo (1998) and Descongélate! (2003). She died on 28 February 2014 in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain.- Director
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Sara Gómez was born in 1943 in Cuba. She was a director and writer, known for One Way or Another (1977), En la otra isla (1968) and Iré a Santiago (1964). She was married to Germinal Hernández and Héctor Veitia. She died in 1974.- Director
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Hala Khalil obtained a degree in film directing in 1992 from the Cairo Film School and started her career by writing and directing short films and documentaries. Her short film The Kite (1997) traveled to many film festivals and won several awards and international acclaim. Khalil has written and directed two feature films Best of Times (2004) and Cut and Paste (2006), which have both been screened at various international film festivals and have won several awards and top honors at festivals in Egypt and overseas. Khalil's work is marked by satire and features women as central characters.- Director
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Aleksandra Khokhlova was born on 4 October 1897 in Berlin, Germany. She was an actress and assistant director, known for By the Law (1926), Luch smerti (1925) and Incident on a Volcano (1941). She was married to Lev Kuleshov and Konstantin Khokhlov. She died on 22 August 1985 in Moscow, RSFSR, USSR [now Russia].- Director
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Alla Surikova was born on 6 November 1940 in Kiev, Ukraine. She is a director and writer, known for Moskovskie kanikuly (1995), E=mc² (1998) and Choknutye (1991).- Editor
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Margarida Cordeiro was born in 1939 in Mogadouro, Portugal. She is an editor and director, known for Trás-os-Montes (1976), Ana (1982) and Rosa de Areia (1989).- Director
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Noémia Delgado was born on 7 June 1933 in Chibia, Huíla, Angola, Portugal [now Angola]. She was a director and editor, known for Contos Fantásticos (1981), Quem Foste, Alvarez? (1988) and Máscaras (1976). She was married to Alexandre O'Neill. She died on 2 March 2016 in Lisbon, Portugal.- Director
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Teresa Villaverde was born on 18 May 1966 in Lisbon, Portugal. She is a director and writer, known for Colo (2017), Two Brothers, My Sister (1994) and Transe (2006).- Writer
- Director
- Actress
Sabrina Fidalgo is a multi-award winning director and screenwriter from Rio de Janeiro. She was named by the American publication Bustle in 8th place as one of "Female Filmmakers Across the Globe Who Are Breaking Ground In Their Own Country". In their last two productions - "Rainha" and "Alfazema" - together add up to more than 30 awards. Sabrina's next projects include two debut feature films; the documentary "Time to Change" and the feature film "Karnaval".- Director
- Actress
- Additional Crew
Laurice Guillen was born on 29 January 1947 in Butuan City, Agusan del Norte, Philippines. She is a director and actress, known for A Change of Heart (2000), Sana dalawa ang puso ko (1995) and I Love You Goodbye (2009). She was previously married to Johnny Delgado.- Producer
- Director
- Writer
- Director
- Writer
- Editor
Alba González de Molina is known for Julie (2016), Las Flores de Jericó and La Hora de la Merienda (2017).- Writer
- Producer
- Additional Crew
A director, producer, writer, marketer and film distributor, Ava DuVernay made her feature film debut with the documentary This is the Life (2008), a history on hip hop movement that flourished in Los Angeles in the 1990's. This was followed by series of television music documentaries which included My Mic Sounds Nice (2010) which aired on BET.
DuVernay's first narrative feature film, I Will Follow (2010), secured her the African-American Film Critics Association award for best screenplay. Her follow-up, Middle of Nowhere (2012) won the Best Director Prize at the 2012 Sundance film festival, making her the first African-American woman to receive the award.- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Antonia San Juan was born on 22 March 1961 in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain. She is an actress and director, known for All About My Mother (1999), The Platform (2019) and La China (2005).- Producer
- Actress
- Writer
- Director
- Writer
- Producer
- Director
- Writer
- Camera and Electrical Department
Sydney Freeland was born on 29 October 1980 in Gallup, New Mexico, USA. She is a director and writer, known for Drunktown's Finest (2014), Rez Ball and Echo (2023).- Actress
- Writer
- Director
Josiane Balasko was born on 15 April 1950 in Paris, France. She is an actress and writer, known for French Twist (1995), The Tenant (1976) and The Hedgehog (2009). She has been married to George Aguilar since 12 June 2003. She was previously married to Philippe Berry.- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Maria de Medeiros is the oldest of three daughters by the pianist, maestro and composer António Vitorino D'Almeida and Maria Armanda Esteves. Her sisters are Inês de Medeiros, stage actress and film and stage director and Ana Medeiros, violinist, composer, and music teacher.
Studied at Lycée Français Charles Le Pierre, Lisbon, and when she was 15 years old, she acted in her father's movie, Silvestre. Went to Paris in 1984, aiming to take a college degree in the Beaux Arts, and ended by taking Philosophy, and Drama instead, at the National Schools of Arts and Theatre Techniques.
Lived and filmed in Portugal, and abroad, then she returned to Paris, where she is established since 1987. She married a Catalonian (Spain), and has two daughters. She acquired the French nationality because of her children, and because she has a French culture as well as a Portuguese one. She is fluent in Portuguese, French, English, German, Italian and Spanish.- Writer
- Director
- Actress
Virginie Despentes was born on 13 June 1969 in Nancy, France. She is a writer and director, known for Baise-moi (2000), Bye Bye Blondie (2011) and Mutantes: Punk Porn Feminism (2009).- Actress
- Writer
- Producer
Julie Delpy was born in Paris, France, in 1969 to Albert Delpy and Marie Pillet, both actors.
She was first featured in Jean-Luc Godard's Detective (1985) at the age of fourteen. She has starred in many American and European productions since then, including Disney's The Three Musketeers (1993), Killing Zoe (1993), Three Colors: White (1994), and the "Before" series, alongside Ethan Hawke: Before Sunrise (1995), Before Sunset (2004), and Before Midnight (2013).
She graduated from NYU's film school, and wrote and directed the short film Blah Blah Blah (1995), which screened at the Sundance Film Festival. She is a resident of Los Angeles.- Director
- Writer
- Actress
Giada Colagrande was born in Italy in 1975. She studied in Italy, Switzerland and Australia. In 1995 she began making video art and documentaries on contemporary art. From 1997 to 2000 she joined the art project VOLUME, making a series of video portraits of 7 contemporary artists: Jannis Kounellis, Alfredo Pirri, Bernhard Rüdiger, Nunzio, Raimund Kummer, Gianni Dessí, Maurizio Savini and Sol Lewitt. She made three short films: Carnaval (1998), "Fetus - 4 Brings Death" (1999), and "n.3" (2000). In 2001 she wrote, directed and starred in her first feature film Open My Heart (2002) (Open My Heart), which premiered at the Venice Film Festival 2002, and then was selected by many international film festivals, such as the Tribeca Film Festival 2003, in competition, and Paris Cinema 2003, where it won the award 'Prix de l'avenir'. Giada was also nominated for Best New Director at the Silver Ribbon 2003. Open my Heart was released in Italy by Lucky Red and in the USA by Strand Releasing. In 2005 she directed her second feature Before It Had a Name (2005), which she co-wrote and co-starred in with Willem Dafoe. The film opened at the Venice Film Festival 2005, was then showed in San Sebastian Film Festival and various other international festivals. It was distributed worldwide by Millennium with the title 'Black Widow'. In 2010 she wrote and directed her third feature A Woman (2010), starring Willem Dafoe, Jess Weixler and Stefania Rocca. It also premiered at the Venice Film Festival 2010 and then screened at many other international film festivals. In 2012 she made the short film The Woman Dress (2012), for the Prada series "The Miu Miu Women's Tales", and the feature film Bob Wilson's Life & Death of Marina Abramovic (2012), a documentary on the opera directed by Robert Wilson, based on Marina Abramovic's biography, starring Willem Dafoe, Antony Hegarty and Abramovic herself, which was screened at MoMA in New York and at the Louvre Museum in Paris. Both films premiered at the Venice Film Festival 2012. In 2013 the film The Abramovic Method (2013), which continues her collaboration with performance artist Marina Abramovic, was presented at the Venice Film Festival and went on to being shown in art museums around the world. In 2016 she wrote, directed and performed in Padre (2016) starring herself, Willem Dafoe, Franco Battiato and Marina Abramovic. After premiering at the Festival Internacional de Cine de Morelia (Mexico), the film is still showing in film festivals around the world, while being theatrically released by The Open Reel. As an actress, she has also performed in Abel Ferrara's Pasolini (2014) and in Wes Anderson's short film Castello Cavalcanti (2013). In 2017 Giada made her debut as a singer, writer & composer in the project THE MAGIC DOOR, created with Arthuan Rebis and Vincenzo Zitello.- Actress
- Writer
- Director
Valeria Bruni Tedeschi was born on 16 November 1964 in Turin, Piedmont, Italy. She is an actress and writer, known for Like Crazy (2016), Il est plus facile pour un chameau... (2003) and Human Capital (2013).- Writer
- Director
- Actress
Edith Bruck was born on 3 May 1931 in Budapest, Hungary. She is a writer and director, known for Improvviso (1979), Per un viaggio in Italia (1983) and Andremo in città (1966). She was previously married to Nelo Risi.- Director
- Writer
- Editor
Elvira Notari, born Maria Elvira Giuseppa Coda, in Salerno was Italy's earliest and most prolific female filmmaker, made over sixty feature films and about a hundred shorts and documentaries. Her parents was of modest social origins. She was allowed to attend school and pursue an education at the School of Science in literature while dancing as a hobby. In 1902 the family moved to Naples where Elvira met and married the cinematographer Nicola Notari. Together they founded Dora Films in 1903, named after their daughter. Eduardo, born 1903, became an actor, while their second daughter, Maria, stayed out of the film business. Elvira Notari started out making shorts and documentaries about people in Naples, she was a forerunner to the neorealism, was critically acclaimed in Italy and the United States until the arrival of the Fascist regime and Benito Mussolini in 1922. Censorship in Italy came down on Dora films and the company was forced to give up in 1930. It became a must for Italian filmmakers to establish themselves in Rome, which the Notari's was not interested in. Instead they moved to Cava de 'Tirreni, near Salerno, where she retired and eventually passed on December 17, 1946.- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Gracia Querejeta was born on 13 August 1962 in Madrid, Spain. She is a director and writer, known for Siete mesas de billar francés (2007), 15 Years and One Day (2013) and Cuando vuelvas a mi lado (1999).- Director
- Writer
- Actress
Chus Gutierrez (Birth Name: María Jesús Gutiérrez) was born in Granada, Spain in 1962. In 1970, her family moved to Madrid. At the age of 17, she moved to London to learn English. At age 21, she moved to New York to study film-making at Global Village, under the tutelage of Fred Barney Taylor. Ms. Gutierrez initially worked with Super 8, later transitioning into 16mm, gaining experience in diverse areas of film production. In 1985 she enrolled in NY City College to continue her formal education in film-making. In the mid and late 80s, while in New York, she formed and headed the flamenco/rap group, "Xoxonees", which attained relative citywide success and a considerable local fan base. In 1987, she returned to Spain, where her group recorded their only album. The group broke up in December, 1989. Since the 1990s, Ms. Gutierrez has been involved in numerous film projects, sometimes directing, sometimes writing and also as an actor. Over the past quarter century, she, or her films, have won numerous awards in various areas of film production.- Director
- Writer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Josefina Molina was born on 14 November 1936 in Córdoba, Córdoba, Andalucía, Spain. She is a director and writer, known for Esquilache (1989), The Most Natural Thing (1991) and Entre naranjos (1998).- Writer
- Director
- Actress
Yolanda García Serrano was born in 1958 in Madrid, Madrid, Spain. She is a writer and director, known for Km. 0 (2000), Amor de hombre (1997) and All Men Are the Same (1994).- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Laura Mañá was born on 12 January 1968 in Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. She is an actress and director, known for Palabras encadenadas (2003), Sexo por compasión (2000) and La vida empieza hoy (2010).- Actress
- Writer
- Director
Aitzpea Goenaga was born in 1959 in San Sebastian, Basque Country, Spain. She is an actress and writer, known for Ya está (2019), Sukalde kontuak (2009) and El porvenir es largo (2009).- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Lydia Zimmermann was born on 12 December 1966 in Barcelona, Spain. She is an actress and director, known for Aro Tolbukhin - En la mente del asesino (2002), Where the EDELWEISS are (2017) and Elisa K (2010).- Actress
- Writer
- Producer
Aziza Amir was born on 17 December 1901 in Damietta, Egypt. She was an actress and writer, known for Kaferi am khatiatak (1933), Laila (1927) and Ibnati (1944). She was married to Mahmoud Zulfikar, Mustafa el Shere3y and Ahmed El Shereay. She died on 28 February 1952 in Cairo, Egypt.- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Mary Queeny was born in 1913 in Lebanon. She was an actress and producer, known for Wakhz el damir (1932), El zouja el saba (1950) and Son of the Nile (1951). She died on 25 November 2003 in Cairo, Egypt.- Actress
- Producer
Asya Dagher was born on 6 March 1908 in Tannourin, Lebanon. She was an actress and producer, known for El-muttahama (1942), Fatat mutamarrida (1940) and Banknote (1936). She was married to Georges Sarkis. She died on 12 January 1986 in Cairo, Egypt.- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Haifaa Al Mansour is the first female filmmaker in Saudi Arabia and is regarded as one of the most significant cinematic figures in the Kingdom. She finished her bachelor's degree in Literature at the American University in Cairo and completed a Master's degree in Directing and Film Studies from the University of Sydney. The success of her three short films, as well as the international acclaim of her award-winning 2005 documentary Women Without Shadows, influenced a whole new wave of Saudi filmmakers and made the issue of opening cinemas in the Kingdom a front-page discussion. Within the Kingdom her work is both praised and vilified for encouraging discussion on topics generally considered too taboo, like tolerance, the dangers of orthodoxy, and the need for Saudis to take a critical look at their traditional and restrictive culture.- Director
- Writer
- Actress
Meryem Benm'Barek-Aloïsi was born on 21 July 1984 in Rabat, Morocco. She is a director and writer, known for Sofia (2018), Jennah (2014) and Behind the Palm Trees.- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Annemarie Jacir was born on 17 January 1974 in Bethlehem, Palestine. She is a director and writer, known for When I Saw You (2012), Salt of This Sea (2008) and Wajib (2017).- Director
- Writer
- Costume Designer
Anna Biller is a writer and director who creates unique, female-focused, highly visual films. She has a BA from UCLA in art and an MFA from CalArts in art and film. Her first feature Viva played in film festivals all over the world and gained minor cult status, and her second feature The Love Witch won acclaim for its elaborate visual style and feminist themes, and has screened at numerous film festivals worldwide.
The New York Times called The Love Witch "a hothouse filled with deadly and seductive blooms;" The New Yorker called it "a metaphysical astonishment;" Film Comment said, "Biller's sharp film stands in stark contrast to the complacency and crushing safeness of the vast majority of independent films made in the US. Shot in 35mm, her film displays a technical mastery that is glorious to behold;" and The Austin Chronicle said, "Anna Biller has quickly established herself as one of the most exciting filmmakers of the past decade."
In 2017 she won the Trailblazer Award and Best Costume Design at the Chicago Independent Film Critics Circle Awards for The Love Witch, and in 2019 she was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. She is listed in a Rotten Tomatoes article as one of "The 21 Masters Of Horror Shaping The Genre Right Now." The Love Witch appeared on many 2016 best-of-year lists, and on Rotten Tomatoes it's ranked as the #40 horror film of all time.- Writer
- Producer
- Director
Amy Holden Jones was born on 17 September 1953 in Florida, USA. She is a writer and producer, known for The Resident (2018), Mystic Pizza (1988) and Indecent Proposal (1993). She was previously married to Michael Chapman.- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Identical twins, writers, directors, actors even stunt players, the Soska sisters have always loved twisted film. Even at an early age, they devoured Stephen King novels, one after another as fast as they could read - and snuck into the over 18 sections at video stores, to critique the bloody images on the backs VHS horror movies and in gore magazines.
They both entered the film industry, acting and doing background work - and were soon unsatisfied with stereotypical roles that were commonly offered to identical twins. To expand their horizons, they trained in martial arts in hopes to pick-up stunt roles and briefly attended a film school that included an intensive stunt program. For one of the school's final film projects, their prepared short film had it's funding misappropriated and their short was pulled from the program. Undeterred, they decided to go ahead with it anyway, getting a new cast and crew and paying for it out of their own pockets. The title of that project was 'Dead Hooker In A Trunk'.
'Dead Hooker In A Trunk' - their debut film, which the twins wrote, directed, produced, starred in, and performed the stunts. Using Robert Rodriguez's book, Rebel Without A Crew - a bible for how film-making could be done on a modest budget, armed only with creativity and ambition. Even following the spirit of El Mariachi, the twins' story reached the original El Mariachi, actor Carlos Gallardo - who not only gave the ladies advice, but appeared in the film - as God. The completed film - embraced by horror fans, film festivals, and critics - became an underground sensation, called "a hidden gem in indie film-making" and "a cult classic in the waiting", and won multiple awards: Pollygrind's Favorite Feature, Best Screenplay, City of Death's Best Director Award, and Cinefantasy's Audience Favorite Prize.
In 2008 the twins incorporated, Twisted Twins Productions -- to create their own label for many future projects to come, including their highly anticipated second feature, American Mary, an analogy of their own struggles in the film industry. American Mary has gone on to win numerous praise and awards. The film has gone on to become a cult classic and the various costumes of the lead character Mary Mason a Halloween and horror convention favorite for cos-players.
The Soska Sisters have gone on to be very outspoken about equal rights across the board including but not limited to gender equality and equal rights for the LGBT community. They're actively involved in promoting blood donation and create a new PSA for it every February. And they are only just getting started.
2014 was a big year with the Soska Sisters bringing a new life to See No Evil 2 where they resurrect the WWE Studios franchise with WWE Superstar Glenn "Kane" Jacobs reprising his role as Jacob Goodnight and scream queens Danielle Harris and Katharine Isabelle appear together for the first time. As well, the Twins will be one of the all star director line up for ABCs of Death 2 in a segment that will shock and be destined for cult status. Their segment, T is for Torture Porn, has since been banned in Germany.
In 2015, the twins did a genre jump, teaming again with Lionsgate and WWE Studios, with a action revenge thriller called Vendetta to star, Dean Cain, Paul 'Big Show' Wight, and Michael Eklund. The high action, ultra gory nature of the film proved that the sisters are not one trick ponies as they expand their sensibilities to this Justin Shady written, men's prison revenge flick.
Avid comic book fans, the Soska Sisters have teamed up with Daniel Way (Deadpool, Daken) to create their own very graphic novel entitled Kill-Crazy Nymphos Attack! with artist Rob Dumo & cover artist Dave Johnson which is a pitch black satire on patriarchal society and women's roles within it. The very graphic novel is set with a 2017 release date.
September 16th, 2015, also marks the release of Jen & Sylvia Soska's first collaboration with Marvel comics with their Night Nurse story line 'The Risk of Infection' featured in Secret Wars Journal #5. The Soska twins have been long time fans of Marvel Comics and been quite vocal in their interests to tackle the adaptation of one of their stories for the big screen with them at the helm as directors. In April it was announced that the twins would be teaming with Marvel again, this time writing 'The Ripley' as a Guardians of the Galaxy story featured in Guardians of Infinity #8.
The mediums that the twins take on ever expanding, the Soska Sisters are the hosts of the survival horror game-show called Hellevator that premiered October 21 2015 on GSN. The show is a creation from Blumhouse, GSN, Matador, and Lionsgate. The show just enjoyed it's second season and received even more attention when it was made available on VOD through Netflix and Hulu proving that evil twins continue to have a rich history with elevators and scaring people.
In February 2016, the directing duo of Jen and Sylvia Soska came on board to direct a remake of David Cronenberg's 1977 zombie thriller Rabid. John Vidette's Somerville House Releasing entered into a joint venture with Paul Lalonde and Michael Walker to produce a feature film and original TV series based on the 1977 Canadian horror film.
December 11, 2016 will mark the twins' company, Twisted Twins Productions' 8 year anniversary which will have them with 4 feature films, 2 graphic novels, a series of blood donation PSAs, and a television show. Not too shabby for a pair of twins from Canada who set their sites on shaking up the entertainment industry playing by their own rules and leaving a hefty cinematic body count in their wake.- Director
- Actress
- Writer
Identical twins, writers, directors, actors, and even stunt players, the Soska sisters have always loved twisted film. Even at an early age, they devoured Stephen King novels, one after another as fast as they could read - and would sneak into the over 18 sections at video stores, to critique the bloody images on the backs VHS horror movies and in gore magazines.
They both entered the film industry, acting and doing background work - and were soon unsatisfied with stereotypical roles that were commonly offered to identical twins. To expand their horizons, they trained in martial arts in hopes of picking up stunt roles and briefly attended a film school that included an intensive stunt program. For one of the school's final film projects, their prepared short film had its funding misappropriated and their short was pulled from the program. Undeterred, they decided to go ahead with it anyway, getting a new cast and crew and paying for it out of their own pockets. The title of that project was 'Dead Hooker In A Trunk'.
'Dead Hooker In A Trunk' is their debut film, which the twins wrote, directed, produced, starred in, and performed the stunts. Using Robert Rodriguez's book, Rebel Without A Crew - a bible for how film-making could be done on a modest budget, armed only with creativity and ambition. Even following the spirit of El Mariachi, the twins' story reached the original El Mariachi, actor Carlos Gallardo - who not only gave the ladies advice, but appeared in the film - as God. The completed film - embraced by horror fans, film festivals, and critics - became an underground sensation, called "a hidden gem in indie film-making" and "a cult classic in the waiting", and won multiple awards: Pollygrind's Favorite Feature, Best Screenplay, City of Death's Best Director Award, and Cinefantasy's Audience Favorite Prize.
In 2008 the twins incorporated, Twisted Twins Productions -- to create their own label for many future projects to come, including their highly anticipated second feature, American Mary, an analogy of their own struggles in the film industry. American Mary has gone on to win numerous praise and awards. The film has gone on to become a cult classic and the various costumes of the lead character Mary Mason a Halloween and horror convention favorite for cos-players.
The Soska Sisters have gone on to be very outspoken about equal rights across the board including but not limited to gender equality and equal rights for the LGBT community. They're actively involved in promoting blood donation and create a new PSA for it every February. And they are only just getting started.
2014 was a big year with the Soska Sisters bringing a new life to See No Evil 2 where they resurrect the WWE Studios franchise with WWE Superstar Glenn "Kane" Jacobs reprising his role as Jacob Goodnight and scream queens Danielle Harris and Katharine Isabelle appear together for the first time. As well, the Twins will be one of the all star director lined up for ABCs of Death 2 in a segment that will shock and be destined for cult status. Their segment, T is for Torture Porn, has since been banned in Germany.
In 2015, the twins did a genre jump, teaming again with Lionsgate and WWE Studios, with a action revenge thriller called Vendetta to star, Dean Cain, Paul 'Big Show' Wight, and Michael Eklund. The high action, ultra gory nature of the film proved that the sisters are not one trick ponies as they expand their sensibilities to this Justin Shady written, men's prison revenge flick.
Avid comic book fans, the Soska Sisters have teamed up with Daniel Way (Deadpool, Daken) to create their own very graphic novel entitled Kill-Crazy Nymphos Attack! with artist Rob Dumo & cover artist Dave Johnson which is a pitch black satire on patriarchal society and women's roles within it. The very graphic novel is set with a 2017 release date.
September 16th, 2015, also marks the release of Jen & Sylvia Soska's first collaboration with Marvel comics with their Night Nurse story line 'The Risk of Infection' featured in Secret Wars Journal #5. The Soska twins have been long time fans of Marvel Comics and been quite vocal in their interests to tackle the adaptation of one of their stories for the big screen with them at the helm as directors. In April it was announced that the twins would be teaming with Marvel again, this time writing 'The Ripley' as a Guardians of the Galaxy story featured in Guardians of Infinity #8.
The media that the twins take on ever expanding, the Soska Sisters are the hosts of the survival horror game-show called Hellevator that premiered October 21 2015 on GSN. The show is a creation from Blumhouse, GSN, Matador, and Lionsgate. The show just enjoyed its second season and received even more attention when it was made available on VOD through Netflix and Hulu proving that evil twins continue to have a rich history with elevators and scaring people.
In February 2016, the directing duo of Jen and Sylvia Soska came on board to direct a remake of David Cronenberg's 1977 zombie thriller Rabid. John Vidette's Somerville House Releasing entered into a joint venture with Paul Lalonde and Michael Walker to produce a feature film and original TV series based on the 1977 Canadian horror film.
December 11, 2016 will mark the twins' company, Twisted Twins Productions' 8 year anniversary which will have them with 4 feature films, 2 graphic novels, a series of blood donation PSAs, and a television show. Not too shabby for a pair of twins from Canada who set their sites on shaking up the entertainment industry playing by their own rules and leaving a hefty cinematic body count in their wake.- Producer
- Director
- Writer
Fran Rubel Kuzui was born on 21 January 1945 in New York City, New York, USA. She is a producer and director, known for Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992), Orgazmo (1997) and Angel (1999). She is married to Kaz Kuzui.- Producer
- Writer
- Director
Laura Lau was born on 31 March 1963 in San Francisco, California, USA. She is a producer and writer, known for Open Water (2003), Silent House (2011) and Grind (1997). She has been married to Chris Kentis since 1997. They have one child.- Director
- Writer
- Script and Continuity Department
Julia Ducournau is a French film director and screenwriter. She attended film school at La Fémis in Paris, where she studied screenwriting. In 2011, her short film JUNIOR won the Petit Rail d'Or at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. Her first feature, the horror movie Raw (2016), won the coveted FIPRESCI prize at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Hélène Cattet was born in 1976 in Paris, France. She is a director and writer, known for Amer (2009), The Strange Color of Your Body's Tears (2013) and Let the Corpses Tan (2017).- Writer
- Director
- Producer
Jane Campion was born in Wellington, New Zealand, and now lives in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Having graduated with a BA in Anthropology from Victoria University of Wellington in 1975, and a BA, with a painting major, at Sydney College of the Arts in 1979, she began filmmaking in the early 1980s, attending the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS). Her first short film, Peel (1982) won the Palme D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1986. Her other short films include A Girl's Own Story (1984), Passionless Moments (1983), After Hours (1985) and the tele-feature 2 Friends (1986), all of which won Australian and international awards. She co-wrote and directed her first feature film, Sweetie (1989), which won the Georges Sadoul prize in 1989 for Best Foreign Film, as well as the LA Film Critics' New Generation Award in 1990, the American Independant Spirit Award for Best Foreign Feature, and the Australian Critics' Award for Best Film, Best Director and Best Actress. She followed this with An Angel at My Table (1990), a dramatization based on the autobiographies of Janet Frame which won some seven prizes, including the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1990. It was also awarded prizes at the Toronto and Berlin Film Festivals, again winning the American Independent Spirit Award, and was voted the most popular film at the 1990 Sydney Film Festival. The Piano (1993) won the Palme D'Or at Cannes, making her the first woman ever to win the prestigious award. She also captured an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay at the 1993 Oscars, while also being nominated for Best Director.- Actress
- Cinematographer
- Director
Kei Fujiwara was born on 12 March 1957 in Kumamoto, Kumamoto, Japan. She is an actress and cinematographer, known for Organ (1996), Ido (2005) and The Neptune Factor (1973).- Director
- Visual Effects
- Writer
Jovanka Vuckovic is an award winning writer and filmmaker. She got her start in broadcasting as a visual effects artist, winning a Gemini Award (Canadian Emmy) for Best Visual Effects, then went on to edit the horror publication Rue Morgue Magazine for six and a half years. Her presence at the helm opened up the doors for more women to become involved in the horror genre and she has been twice-named one of the most influential women in horror, alongside Kathryn Bigelow, Debra Hill, and Mary Shelley.
Vuckovic now writes and directs her own films. The first of which, the award-winning short The Captured Bird, was executive produced by genre film legend Guillermo del Toro. She has been an outspoken voice for gender equality in film and in 2016 she executive produced and directed a segment for XX, the first ever all-female horror anthology from XYZ Films/Magnet Releasing, which had its world premiere at Sundance in 2017. She is a proud member of The Directors Guild of America as well as The Directors Guild of Canada. She is also the author of Zombies! An Illustrated History of the Undead, from St. Martin's Press (with an introduction by zombie godfather, George Romero).- Director
- Production Designer
- Producer
Hardwicke's first film as a director was the Sundance winner THIRTEEN which explored the transition into teenage years with an authenticity that still captures young audiences (1.3 billion Tik Tok engagements.) Hardwicke directed LORDS OF DOGTOWN before she became best known as the director of TWILIGHT, which launched the blockbuster franchise and has since earned over three billion dollars. Recently her indie film PRISONER'S DAUGHTER premiered at TIFF 2022 and DREAMS IN THE WITCHHOUSE dropped on Netflix October 2022 as part of Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities. MAFIA MAMMA premieres in theaters on April 14 2023.- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Debbie Rochon grew up in British Columbia, Canada. She was a child of the streets and victim of much abuse until she accidentally ended up in a featured extra role in Paramount's Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains (1982)!
The event changed her life, and she saved enough money to move to New York City and study acting. After many years working with numerous theater companies in off-Broadway plays, she started to land small roles in films. Spike Lee's editor Barry Alexander Brown cast her in a featured role in his first directing effort, Lonely in America (1990). Soon the parts grew bigger and bigger and primarily fell in the fear flick genre.
After spending three months as a featured extra on the 1980 filmed Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains (1982) movie set, Debbie was still a fledgling actor but took on the female lead in the Leonard Melfi one act play Ferryboat. It was indeed synchronicity for Debbie to cut her acting teeth on a play about the Staten Island Ferry, by 1984 she moved from her home town of Vancouver, B.C. to New York City. For the rest of the 1980s she spent most of her time studying acting at Michael Chekhov Studios under Ted Pugh, Lee Strasberg Institute under Penelope Allen, NYC's Chicago City Limits under David Regal and H.B. Studios under William Hickey, Carol Rosenfeld and Uta Hagen. Debbie spent all her time working in plays on Theatre Row in NYC, mostly in new works by playwrights and shooting NYU thesis films with burgeoning filmmakers. By 1988 she started to land small roles with grind-house indie filmmakers Roberta Findlay and Chuck Vincent. She made two films with each film maker by 1989, in both cases they would be the last, or close to very last, films both directors would helm before retiring. By the early 1990s, Debbie was working with multiple theatre companies in NYC including The Tribeca Lab where she played multiple characters in Stephen DiLauro play The Secret Warhol Rituals. In 1993 Debbie began her career in radio co-producing and co-hosting Oblique Strategies on the terrestrial channel WBAI. 1994 was the beginning for Debbie to land lead roles in film. Abducted II: The Reunion (1995) would be the first, and in 1995 she co-stared in her first Troma produced film Tromeo and Juliet (1996) co-directed by James Gunn and Lloyd Kaufman. This would also be the year Debbie would be given her first writing column which appeared in The Job Bob Report, published by John Bloom. She would also pen for numerous genre publications including Mad Movies (France), Femme Fatales, SQI and Chiller Theatre. Of the multiple movie roles she would portray by decade's end it would be Hellblock 13 (1999), co-staring Gunnar Hansen, that would begin the wheels turning for a new type of role she would soon be known for. During the 1996-1998-time frame Debbie would co-produce and co-host Illumination Gallery for the internet's first on-line radio station Pseudo Radio. In 2000 director Jon Keeyes cast Debbie in the now cult classic American Nightmare (2002) which garnered much acclaim with legit reviewers and audiences alike. Her role as Jane Toppan would solidify her as a go-to actor for roles of the off-kilter and intense kind. By 2002 Debbie began working for Full Moon Entertainment, starring in four feature films with the company. She continued to write for genre publications and contributed chapters to horror themed books. In 2005 Debbie joined forces with what was then known as Scream TV. The company bought Fangoria magazine and Debbie began producing short documentaries including Fangoria Presents: Slither Behind the Scenes (2006). In 2006 they launched Fangoria Radio for Sirius/XM where she co-produced and co-hosted the show with Twisted Sister front-man Dee Snider until 2010. The following year Debbie was granted her own column in the magazine called Diary of the Deb, the first column written by a woman for the publication, it was nominated for three Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards for best column, winning the esteemed statue in 2014. During this decade Debbie also gave critically acclaimed turns in works inspired by some of her favorite classical writers; Tales of Poe (2014) (Edgar Allan Poe), Mark of the Beast (2012) (Rudyard Kipling) and Colour from the Dark (2008) (H.P. Lovecraft).
Debbie appeared on the VH1 reality TV show Episode #2.4 (2010) as a guest judge in 2010. In 2012 she served, with Mira Sorvino, Gabrielle Miller, Tamar Simon Hoffs and Lana Morgan, as part of the first all-female jury at the Oldenburg International Film Festival in Germany. The same year Debbie had her directorial debut with the extreme body-horror film Model Hunger (2016). ETonline.com hailed Debbie as one of the "40 Top Scream Queens of the Past 40 Years" in 2018. Debbie's last writing column, Debbie Rochon's Bloody Underground, appeared in the Italian published magazine Asylum. Debbie continues to act in feature films, is writing her book and prepares for her sophomore directing project. She has also began recording a new podcast called Obscurities. She was awarded, as the first female recipient, the Countess Dracula (formerly Count Dracula) award by the Dracula Film Festival 2020 which takes place in Romania.- Writer
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Lucile Emina Hadzihalilovic was born on May 7, 1961 in Lyon, Rhône, France, to Bosnian parents and grew up in Morocco. She studied Art History and Film Directing at the IDHEC. She has been working in film industry since 1980's, as director, editor, writer and actress in both short and feature films. Hadzihalilovic is best known for Innocence (2004), Evolution (2015), her third feature as a director, and La bouche de Jean-Pierre (1996). She also collaborated with her husband, Gaspar Noé, whom she assisted in writing Enter The Void (2009).- Director
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Karyn Kusama was born on 21 March 1968 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. She is a director and producer, known for The Invitation (2015), Destroyer (2018) and Yellowjackets (2021). She has been married to Phil Hay since October 2006. They have one child.- Producer
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Leni Riefenstahl's show-biz experience began with an experiment: she wanted to know what it felt like to dance on the stage. Success as a dancer gave way to film acting when she attracted the attention of film director Arnold Fanck, subsequently starring in some of his mountaineering pictures. With Fanck as her mentor, Riefenstahl began directing films.
Her penchant for artistic work earned her acclaim and awards for her films across Europe. It was her work on Triumph of the Will (1935), a documentary commissioned by the Nazi government about Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich, that would come back to haunt her after the atrocities of World War II. Despite her protests to the contrary, Riefenstahl was considered an intricate part of the Third Reich's propaganda machine. Condemned by the international community, she did not make another movie for over 50 years.- Director
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Deepa Mehta is a transnational artist and a screenwriter, director, and producer whose work has been called "courageous", "provocative" and "breathtaking". Her visually lush and emotionally resonating films have played at every major international film festival; receiving numerous awards and accolades, and have been distributed around the world. Deepa was born in India and received a degree in philosophy from the University of New Delhi before immigrating to Canada. She began her career making documentaries in India.
In 1991, Deepa's first feature film Sam & Me, which stars Om Puri, won a Special Jury Mention in the Camera D'Or section at the Cannes Film Festival. Between 1992-1994 she directed two episodes of The Young Indiana Jones, produced by George Lucas for ABC. In 1993, Deepa directed her second feature film Camilla, a Canada-UK co-pro starring Jessica Tandy, Bridget Fonda, Elias Koteas, Maury Chaykin, Graham Greene, and Hume Cronyn. Fire, which Deepa wrote and directed, is the first film in her Elemental Trilogy (Fire, Earth, Water). Fire opened Perspective Canada at the 1996 Toronto International Film Festival, where it was runner-up for the People's Choice Most Popular Film Award. It played at the New York Film Festival and won many awards worldwide, including the Audience Award for Best Canadian Film at the Vancouver International Festival, the Special Jury Prize at the Mannheim-Heidelberg International Film Festival and Silver Hugo Awards for Best Direction and Best Actress in Chicago.
Earth, based on Bapsi Sidhwa's acclaimed novel about Partition, Cracking India, is the second film in the Elemental Trilogy. It premiered as a Special Presentation at the 1998 Toronto International Film Festival, and won the Prix Premiere du Public at the Festival du Film Asiatique de Deauville and the Critics' Award at the Verona Schermi d'Amore International Film Festival. Bollywood/Hollywood was a change of pace. Written and directed by Deepa, it is a lighthearted, affectionate comedy about two mismatched lovers. It opened Perspective Canada at the 2002 Toronto International Film Festival and was a tremendous crossover box office success. It remains one of the top 10 grossing English language Canadian movies. In 2003 Deepa co-wrote and directed the Canada-UK co-pro The Republic of Love, based on a Carol Shields novel.
After a disrupted and hazardous production history Deepa's final film in the Elemental Trilogy Water opened the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival, and was the first Canadian film acquired by US distributor Fox Searchlight. Water is a powerful, hauntingly tragic story, set in Benares (Varanasi) about a child widow who at the age of eight is forced to enter a house of widows where she has to live for the rest of her life. The movie was to have been shot in India in 2000, but Hindu fundamentalists fomented riots, burnt sets, and issued death threats against the director and actors, forcing production to shut down and the filmmakers to leave the country. Water was successfully remounted in Sri Lanka and completed shooting in June 2004, and features many of India's most renowned actors.
Water was an enormous success. It was nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film at the 79th Annual Academy Awards, and has screened at festivals around the world, winning many awards, and remains an audience favourite. The Vancouver Film Critics Circle named Deepa Mehta the Best Canadian Director of 2006. This fall (2015) is the 10th anniversary of Water's launch.
In 2006 Deepa made a documentary about domestic violence in Toronto's immigrant families called Let's Talk About It, which continues to be used in community outreach programs. She then thematically segued into the feature film Heaven On Earth, which explores arranged marriages and isolation. Starring Preity Zinta, the film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2008. It was awarded a Silver Hugo for Best Actress at the Chicago International Film Festival, and received the Best Screenplay Award at the Dubai International Film Festival. It also won the Youth Jury Award at the Schermi d'Amore Film Festival in Verona and the Audience Award at the River to River Florence Indian Film Festival.
In 2012, Deepa completed her epic cinematic adaptation of Salman Rushdie's famous novel about the history of India in the 20th century, Midnight's Children. A novel that won three Booker prizes. The movie, with 127 speaking parts, and covering five distinct time periods from 1917-1977, was a vast, ambitious undertaking and has screened all over the world, including the Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, Vancouver International Film Festival, and the BFI London Film Festival. Midnight's Children was chosen as the Best Feature Film of 2013 at the Directors Guild of Canada's Awards.
Deepa's work as an artist, as a progressive voice about social issues, and her generous mentorship have often been recognized. She has received numerous honorary degrees and many awards and honours, among them: The Life of Distinction Award from the Canadian Centre of Diversity, The Excellence in the Arts Award from the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, and the Woman of Distinction, President's Award from the YMCA. She is a recipient of the Governor General's Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award for Film. Most recently, in 2013, Deepa was appointed as an officer to the Order of Canada, Canada's highest civilian honour, for her work as a "groundbreaking screenwriter, director, and producer." She is also a recipient of the province of Ontario's highest honour, the Order of Ontario.- Director
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Yasmin Ahmad was born on 7 January 1958 in Bukit Treh, Muar, Johor, Malaysia. She was a director and actress, known for Sepet (2004), Talentime (2009) and Gubra (2006). She died on 25 July 2009 in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia.- Director
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Trinh T. Minh-ha was born in 1952 in Hanoi, Vietnam. She is a director and writer, known for What About China? (2022), Shoot for the Contents (1991) and Night Passage (2004).- Director
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So Yong Kim was born in 1968 in Pusan, South Korea. So Yong is a director and producer, known for Treeless Mountain (2008), In Between Days (2006) and For Ellen (2012).- Director
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She received her BA in 1975 in Germanic linguistics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and her Master of Fine Arts in film production from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1979. While at UCLA she served as a research assistant in Old Icelandic language and linguistics under Dr. Jesse Byock.- Producer
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Grace Lee was born in Columbia, Missouri, USA. She is known for American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs (2013), Barrier Device (2002) and Janeane from Des Moines (2012).