Olga Preobrazhenskaya: the female pioneer of Soviet cinema
Female directors have often been written out of history, or they’ve simply been left as a side note, a mere margin in the long and complex story of cinema. While there have always been fewer female directors compared to men due to a lack of opportunities – stemming from patriarchal gatekeeping and its subsequent knock-on effects – many innovative and groundbreaking female filmmakers have failed to receive adequate celebration or even acknowledgement.
The early days of cinema are often associated with figures like Georges Méliès, but it was actually Alice Guy-Blaché who made the first narrative film and pioneered some of the earliest cinematic effects. She was the first-ever female filmmaker, remaining the only woman working as a director for many years. Yet, how many people actually know her name and recognise her contributions to the medium?
Moreover, Maya Deren, who made experimental works in the 1940s, is held in high esteem among cinephiles, but her legacy as a defining avant-garde filmmaker – significantly inspiring directors like David Lynch – deserves to be known more widely. For many female directors, male studio executives and crew members often prevented them from exercising full autonomy, and many were uninterested in the female-centric stories these women wanted to tell.
These days, there are more opportunities than ever before for women to become filmmakers, although the industry still remains predominantly male, with women having to work significantly harder to secure these places. Thus, it is important to look back at the female pioneers operating in the days when it was practically unheard of for women to get behind the camera, not in front of it.
One of the first-ever female filmmakers was Olga Ivanovna Preobrazhenskaya, a Russian actor-turned-director operating in the 1910s, 1920s and 1930s, making her final project in 1941. She began her career acting in successful Russian silent films, making her debut in 1913’s The Keys to Happiness.
Only a handful of female filmmakers had come before Preobrazhenskaya. Besides Guy-Blaché, women such as Ebba Lindkvist and Luise Fleck were beginning to make films in the early 20th century. Preobrazhenskaya decided to have a go herself, releasing Miss Peasant in 1916. She once recalled how her status as a female filmmaker affected the movie’s reception.
She explained (via Forbes), “The film turned out well; it was praised, but since it was the first production by a female director [in Russia], they were incredulous and often on posters and in reviews, my name was written with a male ending, or the production was attributed to others.”
Still, that didn’t deter Preobrazhenskaya. She directed many more works, including Victoria, just one year after her debut. However, her best-known work is Women of Ryazan, co-directed with Ivan Pravov. Set just before the onset of World War One before depicting scenes set after the Russian Revolution, the film follows two women who are sisters-in-law and explores family and unconventional relationships.
She acted until 1924, eventually dedicating the rest of her career to directing – helming projects like The Last Attraction, And Quiet Flows The Don and Stepan Razin. Preobrazhenskaya died in 1971, and sadly, her name is largely forgotten in cinema history. Yet, she helped pave the way for other female filmmakers, demonstrating that it was possible for women to break into the androcentric industry, even if that meant overcoming more hurdles than her male counterparts.
