TCM's Women Make Film changes the conversation around the art of filmmaking

Rolling Stone

Mark Cousins' 14-hour documentary on the global history of female filmmakers offers a different take on the history of film that has been "conspicuously, and almost exclusively reserved for men," says David Fear. "Except there’s a parallel history that peeks between the cracks of the official story, one that suggests a slightly different and somewhat less blinkered version of events. In this alternate take, the movies still go from being a disreputable distraction to an art form, a multi-million-dollar business and a cultural pacesetter. The language it uses to express emotions and ideas — the close-up, the tracking shot, the elevation of performers to icons, the numerous ways of telling a story through sound and vision — is still there. The folks yelling 'action' and 'cut' are still stationed behind the cameras. Except this time, female filmmakers play a key role. They may not be the norm, numbers-wise, but they aren’t one-off novelties either. In fact, there are hundreds of them, from 44 countries and six continents, who have contributed to the baby steps and long-legged forward strides that medium has taken over 12 decades. They have, in several cases, made masterpieces every bit the equal as the ones made by their male counterparts that we loudly lionize today. But don’t just take our word for it. Seeing is believing. And Mark Cousins has 14 hours worth of proof." ALSO: Women Make Film's most important takeaway is that the medium of cinema wouldn’t be the same without the contributions of all these female artists.