Who was the first female movie director hired by Universal Studios?
The film industry has typically been very male-dominated, with Hollywood existing for many years as a glorified boys club that didn’t care for the stories and experiences of people they didn’t directly relate to. However, there have always been pioneering female filmmakers who have fought for this to change, with writers and directors like Dorothy Arzner, Lillian Gish, and Ida Lupino paving the way for future women in the field.
Since then, directors like Chantal Akerman, Claire Denis and Catherine Breillat have forged fearless careers through their bold and challenging filmographies, exploring feminist ideas and infusing them into the medium in a practically unheard-of way. These stories were seen as taboo and deeply controversial, and their legacy can be felt today in the work of Julia Ducournau, Celine Sciamma and even Greta Gerwig.
Despite the fact that there are far more female directors working today, the overall statistics aren’t changing and there is still a huge gender disparity at the heart of the industry. Those in power would like us to be content with what we have, even though there is still much more work to be done in order to even the playing field.
As we look forward to the future and the ways we can improve the current state of filmmaking, it is important to recognise the trailblazing women who did it first and began to break the wheel. During the early days in Hollywood, there were very few women let into leading roles, yet alone allowed to direct films. But while it was uncommon, Louis Weber managed to do this, even with all the odds stacked against her.
What was Lois Weber’s first movie as a director?
Weber was one of the most prolific and influential directors within the silent film period, working in Hollywood until she died in 1939. She is considered one of the first genuine auteurs, working to change the framework of film production and modernise the medium by infusing her political ideas into her films. She is most known for films such as Suspense, Shoes and Hypocrites, but her very first film as a co-director was A Heroine of ‘76 in 1911.
Her work was extremely forward-thinking and progressive, exploring subject matter relating to poverty, birth control, and abortion, with her 1915 film Hypocrites being the first to feature full-frontal female nudity. After her co-directed short film in 1911, her first feature film in which she was the sole director was The Merchant of Venice in 1914.
Weber also became a studio owner
As well as being the first female Hollywood director, Weber was also the first woman to found her own studio, becoming an equally prolific producer. Her studio was aptly titled Lois Weber Productions, which was formed in 1917 and led to projects such as The Blot and What Do Men Want?
Despite her unprecedented success as a director, the studio only survived for four years, with her distributors at Paramount refusing to release What Do Men Want?, leading to the studio’s collapse entirely. The demands of the audience were shifting with the rise of the ‘Roaring Twenties,’ and cinema began to change rapidly. Despite the unfortunate end to her studio, Weber was an astonishing force that changed cinema forever and continues to be remembered for her unparalleled contributions.
