Even if you haven’t seen their movies, you’ve at least heard of directors like Rossellini, De Sica, Antonioni, Fellini, Pasolini, Bertolucci, Sorrentino, Moretti, Bellocchio, Tornatore, Martone. What do they all have in common? They’re male directors, and the undisputed protagonists, award-winning by critics and viewers, of the cinematic world from the postwar period onward.
But what about Lina Wertmüller or Liliana Cavani (who just turned 90), or more recent voices like Alice Rohrwacher, Emma Dante and Susanna Nicchiarelli? Besides being clearly in the numerical minority, female directors’ names do not have the far-reaching recognition of their male counterparts–historically, a product of the political and social climate, but a reality we haven’t left far behind.
