AllMovie

This documentary by filmmakers Gwendolyn Foster and Wheeler Dixon pays homage to women directors and filmmakers throughout the history of cinema. The program covers the careers and struggles of both famous and unsung women who overcame a sexist social and business climate to make their movies. Highlights include archival footage, still photos and excerpts from the movies of such women as Ida Lupino, who was not only a star actress, but also an accomplished film and television director, and Leni Riefenstahl, who also began her career as an actress before moving behind the camera. Riefenstahl achieved international attention with her stunning pro-Hitler propaganda film Triumph of the Will (1934). Other female filmmakers profiled in this video include Alice Guy-Blaché, Ruth Ann Baldwin, Kate Corbally, Dorothy Davenport Reid, Lois Weber, Kathlyn Williams, and Cleo Madison.