Women to Watch: Inspirational Directors in the Industry
Navigating the present-day film and media industry as a woman can be a complex and often confusing process! That’s why, this week, we’d like to spotlight several inspirational women figures (writers, producers, directors, comedians), and take a deep dive into how they got their start, the unique perspectives they bring to the table, and what we might learn from their experiences. Their persistence and ability to overcome pushback, as well as their commitment to innovation and groundbreaking techniques, display resilience as it creates spaces to showcase more authentic representations of underrepresented groups in society.
Pictured left to right: Mindy Kaling, Chloé Zhao, and Céline Sciamma
1. Mindy Kaling
Perhaps best known for her character Kelly Kapoor in the sitcom The Office, Mindy Kaling started writing and acting for the show when she was 24 years old and was the only woman on a staff of eight writers. She went on to contribute her comedic writing in 21 of the episodes, and even directed two of them, showcasing her quirky yet romantic comedic style and creating some of the most beloved episodes of the show.
Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts to Indian parents, Mindy Kaling began exploring her interests in acting and comedy while in college. She was a member of an improvisational comedy troupe at Dartmouth, as well as the creator of a comic strip for the daily newspaper, and writer for her college’s humor magazine. After college, she went on to intern with Late Night with Conan O’Brien and performed stand-up comedy in Brooklyn, New York. Around this time, she started using her stage name, “Kaling,” instead of her given name, “Chokalingam,” which comedy emcees had trouble pronouncing. As an Indian-American and person of color, she adapted her given name into one more favorable to American audiences, something many children of immigrants contemplate as they refashion themselves to fit into more hegemonic norms.
Kaling has said that she never saw a family like hers on television, which led her to create The Mindy Project and the more recent Never Have I Ever— two television shows which champion diversity, poke fun at stereotypes and tell the story of what it can feel like to grow up in a first-generation immigrant family. Kaling writes, directs, (at times) stars in, and executive-produces these shows, which manage to entertain in a funny, heartfelt, and self-aware way. Her determination and talent for comedic writing have earned her many accolades, but it’s the stories she chooses to tell which endear her to viewers looking for an inclusive and understanding reflection of themselves in media.
2. Chloé Zhao
Born in Beijing, China, Chloé Zhao is making waves in the American film industry as the first Asian woman to be nominated for Best Director at the 93rd Academy Awards, and the first Asian woman to win it. Zhao wrote, edited, produced, and directed her third feature, Nomadland— a film about leaving conventional society behind and making a home wherever one rests her head. The film has been critically successful, earning four nominations at the Golden Globe Awards and winning Best Motion Picture, as well as six nominations at the Academy Awards and winning 3 of them including Best Picture. Zhao’s techniques are innovative and subtly powerful, blurring the lines between conventional film narrative structures and lived realities.
Zhao grew up in China but was sent to boarding school in London when she was 15, where she felt she had to relearn history, separating out information disseminated in China from the histories taught by more liberal “Western” countries. She earned a college degree in political science and went on to study film production at NYU Tisch School of the Arts. She told the magazine Filmmaker in 2013, “Studying political science in a liberal arts college was a way for me to figure out what is real. Arm yourself with information, and then challenge that too.” Her ambitious and confident nature can be seen seeping into the themes of her films, as her characters seem to try to determine what is “real,” the essence of life, in natural, largely unadulterated settings. Nomadland especially depicts the beauty to be found in untouched American landscapes. The film has been censored from viewership in China, although there is support among individuals for Zhao’s award wins, and pride in the fact that she is the first woman of color to ever be nominated for and to win Best Director award at the Oscars. Her achievement reflects a moment in history in which it is possible and encouraged for women to become directors, to share their stories, and to chase their ambition, despite the hurdles imposed by those in our immediate societies.
3. Céline Sciamma
Céline Sciamma is a French director whose films often depict the exploration of gender fluidity and sexual identity among girls and women. She identifies as a feminist, and advocates for the elevation of the female gaze, which aims to showcase women’s perspectives through film, pushing back against the decades of majority-male directed scenes. She was raised in a suburb outside of Paris, and was an avid reader as a child. She then attended La Fémis, the premier French film school, and wrote her first original script which would become the film Water Lilies. Her commitment to engaging in the exploration of gender and sexuality in her films is innovative because it has shown the nuances, the sensitivity, and the joys of what life and love feel like when one is young.
Girlhood, released in 2014, is perhaps her best-known film, and it challenges conceptions of race, gender, and class, its main protagonists being a group of Black teenagers in the suburbs of Paris. Sciamma asks the audience to think about protagonists they may never have thought of before, bringing their stories to light. There is a scene in which the group of girls dances wildly to Rihanna’s “Diamonds.” It’s such a sweet and powerful scene that it feels almost like it could be a personal memory. Her films show great sensitivity to both the hardships and triumphs of life and capture youth and fluidity in new ways.
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This is by no means an exhaustive list of inspirational women directors in the industry, there are countless more, many of who are lesser-known (but no less inspiring)! If you are interested in becoming a director, a good question to ask yourself might be, “Where can I tell a story that no one is telling?” as in the case of Céline Sciamma, or: “How can I find or make something that reflects my personal truth?” from Chloé Zhao. Although women directors are very recently being honored for their achievements in the same way that male directors have been for decades, the doors are slowly opening more widely, and stories that used to be silenced are now being told.
