Lisa Cholodenko
2010 has been a great year for the female filmmaker after Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to win the Best Director Oscar for her war movie The Hurt Locker, the film also went on to take Best Picture.
At London Film Festival this year there are seventy one films directed by women that will be on show during the fifteen day celebration of film.
So here at FemaleFirst we take a look at some of the ladies behind the camera that you should keeping a beady eye on.
Lisa Cholodenko - The Kids Are Alright
Lisa Cholodenko is an American writer and director who has worked in both television and film, finding success in both.
With shows such as Six Feet Under and The L Word under her belt she is back with a new movie The Kids Are Alright, which brings together a great cast of Julianne Moore, Annette Benning and Mark Ruffalo.
The movie follows two teenaged children conceived by artificial insemination get the notion to seek out their birth father and introduce him into the family life that their two mothers have built for them.
Once the donor is found, the household will never be the same, as family ties are defined, re-defined, and then re-re-defined.
Anna Boden - It’s A Funny Kind of Story
During her career, which has spanned almost a decade, Anna Boden has been a director, writer, editor as well as cinematographer and has worked with Ryan Fleck for many years.
It’s Kind Of A Funny Story is the director’s sixth feature length movie and it possibly best known for her 2006 movie Half Nelson.
She followed this up with sports drama Sugar in 2008, which saw her share the director’s chair with Fleck. And now she is back with comedy-drama It’s Kind Of A Funny Story.
The movie sees Zach Galifianakis join forces with Emma Roberts and Viola Davis and Keir Gilchrist in a film that follows a clinically depressed teenager gets a new start after he checks himself into an adult psychiatric ward.
Gaylene Preston - Home By Christmas
Gaylene Preston is a filmmaker who has focused mainly on documentaries throughout her career with the likes of Earthquake, eyewitness accounts of the Napier earthquake, and Titless Wonders, which looked at breast cancer diagnosis.
But her new project Home By Christmas is a very personal movie for the filmmaker as it involves the memories of her father of World War II.
The movie stars Tony Barry, Tina Cleary and Martin Henderson and is a story of romance, secrets and terrible adventure in which Ed Preston, on his way home from rugby practice in 1940, joins the New Zealand Army to go to World War II.
His new wife, Tui, is pregnant and distraught, but he tells her not to worry, he'll be home by Christmas. And so he is - four years later - after escaping from a prison camp in Italy.
But while Ed is away, Tui has fallen in love with another man. A remarkable story of resilience, determination and love.
Carol Morley - Edge
Carol Morley grabbed everyone’s attention in 2000 with her documentary The Alcohol Years, a courageous, moving and often funny account of five self-destructive years of her life in early 1980s Manchester.
After making a couple of shorts after the documentary she is back at the London Film festival with her new movie Edge, her first feature length movie.
Maxine Peake leads the cast in a movie that follows a group of people who check into an east Essex hotel in winter.
Elly appears to just want to be alone, musician Glen is looking for some inspiration, Wendy has locked herself in her room and Sophie and Philip have set up a date over the internet.
Debs Gardner-Paterson - Africa United
Debs Gardner-Paterson is making her feature film debut, after a series of shorts in recent years, with her new movie Africa United.
Africa United tells the extraordinary story of three Rwandan children and their bid to achieve their ultimate dream - to take part in the opening ceremony of the 2010 Football World Cup in Johannesburg.
On the way to the vital selection trial, disaster strikes when Fabrice, Dudu and Beatrice board the wrong bus and cross into the Congo. Without papers, money or a believable story, they are escorted to a children's refugee camp.
But with considerable ingenuity and sass (and a World Cup wall chart for a map), our pint-sized heroes escape the camp and set off in pursuit of their dream, picking up along the way a 'dream team' of displaced kids, who help them negotiate a series of thrilling and hilarious adventures.
During their 3000 mile journey, we encounter an Africa few people ever see; experience an epic adventure across seven countries; and feel the joy, laughter and hope that comes from making an incredible journey together.
Other female filmmakers to catch at the London Film Festival include Clio Barnard (The Arbour), Isabelle Stever (Blessed Events), Kiran Rao (Dhobi Ghat) and Pia Marais (At Ellen’s Age).
The London Film Festival runs 13th-28th October.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
Tagged in BFI