Women in Filmmaking and Their Struggle Against Bias"After all, Ginger Rogers did everything that Fred Astaire did. She just did it backwards and in high heels" -Ann Richards #1 Bestseller in Acting & Auditioning, Performing Arts, and Guides & Reviews Women in filmmaking since the beginning. Women have been instrumental in the success of American cinema since its very beginning. One of the first people to ever pick up a motion picture camera was a woman; as was the first screenwriter to win two Academy Awards, the inventor of the boom microphone, and the first person to be credited with the title Film Editor. Throughout the history of Hollywood, women have been revolutionizing, innovating, and shaping filmmaking. Yet their stories are rarely shared. This is what film reporter Alicia Malone wants to change. The first female directors. Backwards & In Heels tells the history of women in film in a different way, with stories about incredible women who made their mark in each Hollywood era. Every story is inspiring, detailing the accomplishments of extraordinary women and the obstacles they faced. Backwards & In Heels combines research and exclusive interviews with influential women and men working in Hollywood today, including Geena Davis, J.J. Abrams, Ava DuVernay, Octavia Spencer, America Ferrera, Paul Feig, and many more; as well as film professors, historians and experts. Time to level the playing field. Think of Backwards & In Heels as a guidebook, your entry into the complex world of women in film. Join Alicia Malone as she champions Hollywood women of the past and present and looks to the future. Learn little known facts about: The first females in film direction Iconic movie stars Present day activists If you enjoyed books such as Renegade Women in Film and TV or The Purple Diaries, you'll love Alicia Malone's Backwards & In Heels. Also, don't miss Alicia's #1 Bestseller in Movies & Video Guides & Reviews, The Female Gaze: Essential Movies Made by Women.

Alicia Malone's Take on Influential Women in Film!"Once again Alicia Malone champions women filmmakers, opening the floodgates to a great new wave of female voices and creative vision." Maria Giese, filmmaker and activist #1 Bestseller in Movies & Video Guides & Reviews With the success of the Wonder Woman movies and the results following the outcry of the #MeToo movement, now is the time to highlight the female influences in film history previously left unheard! The voices of powerful women in old Hollywood-told. You may have heard the term "male gaze," coined in the 1970s, about how art and entertainment have been influenced by the male's perspective. What about the opposite? Women have been making movies since the very beginning of cinema. In The Female Gaze, Alicia Malone explores the ideas, thoughts, and views we learn from women from behind the scenes. What does the world look like through the "female gaze"? Learn about women who changed the world. Discover brilliantly talented and accomplished women directors, both world renowned and obscure, who have shaped the film industry in ways rarely fully acknowledged. Find mini-essays written by women like Alicia Malone and other diverse female film critics. Featuring past and present films, this behind the scenes guidebook is perfect for the Hollywood history fan in your life. Inside, observe: How female directors' voices shaped films and the film industry The advancements and accomplishments of influential women in history and film The lives of these women and the struggles they faced throughout Hollywood history If you liked Women in Art or Camera Man, you'll adore the powerful women in history found in Alicia Malone's The Female Gaze.

Alicia Malone's Take on Influential Women in Film!"Once again Alicia Malone champions women filmmakers, opening the floodgates to a great new wave of female voices and creative vision." Maria Giese, filmmaker and activist #1 Bestseller in Movies & Video Guides & Reviews With the success of the Wonder Woman movies and the results following the outcry of the #MeToo movement, now is the time to highlight the female influences in film history previously left unheard! The voices of powerful women in old Hollywood-told. You may have heard the term "male gaze," coined in the 1970s, about how art and entertainment have been influenced by the male's perspective. What about the opposite? Women have been making movies since the very beginning of cinema. In The Female Gaze, Alicia Malone explores the ideas, thoughts, and views we learn from women from behind the scenes. What does the world look like through the "female gaze"? Learn about women who changed the world. Discover brilliantly talented and accomplished women directors, both world renowned and obscure, who have shaped the film industry in ways rarely fully acknowledged. Find mini-essays written by women like Alicia Malone and other diverse female film critics. Featuring past and present films, this behind the scenes guidebook is perfect for the Hollywood history fan in your life. Inside, observe: How female directors' voices shaped films and the film industry The advancements and accomplishments of influential women in history and film The lives of these women and the struggles they faced throughout Hollywood history If you liked Women in Art or Camera Man, you'll adore the powerful women in history found in Alicia Malone's The Female Gaze.

An intimate account of a seminal filmmaker's development-as a creator and as a woman-both in art and in life. "Joyce Chopra, what a gift of an extraordinary filmmaker you are, and one of our great pioneers who forged a very difficult path. And for female filmmakers everywhere, we are so blessed to have you as a storyteller to forge the way to make it easier for others."-Laura Dern, actor Hailed by the New Yorker as "a crucial forebear of generations," award-winning director Joyce Chopra came of age in the 1950s, prior to the dawn of feminism, and long before the #MeToo movement. As a young woman, it seemed impossible that she might one day realize her dream of becoming a film director-she couldn't name a single woman in that role. But with her desire fueled by a stay in Paris during the heady beginnings of the French New Wave, she was determined to find a way. Chopra got her start making documentary films with the legendary D.A. Pennebaker. From her ground-breaking autobiographical short, Joyce at 34 (which was acquired for NY MoMA'S permanent collection), to her rousingly successful first feature, Smooth Talk (winner of the Best Director and Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 1985), to a series of increasingly cruel moves by Hollywood producers unwilling to accept a woman in the director's role, Chopra's career trajectory was never easy or straightforward. In this engaging, candid memoir, Chopra describes how she learned to navigate the deeply embedded sexism of the film industry, helping to pave the way for a generation of women filmmakers who would come after her. She shares stories of her bruising encounters with Harvey Weinstein and Sydney Pollack, her experience directing Diane Keaton, Treat Williams, and a host of other actors, as well as her deep friendships with Gene Wilder, Arthur Miller, and Laura Dern. Along with the successes and failures of her career, she provides an intimate view of a woman's struggle to balance the responsibilities and rewards of motherhood and marriage with a steadfast commitment to personal creative achievement. During a career spanning six decades, Joyce Chopra has worked through monumental shifts in her craft and in the culture at large, and the span of her life story offers a view into the implacable momentum of the push for all womens' liberation. "Joyce Chopra has written a devastatingly frank, candid, and unsparing memoir of her life as a film director-a 'woman director' in a field notoriously dominated by men. The reader is astonished on her behalf, at times infuriated, moved to laughter, and then to tears. Lady Director: Adventures in Hollywood, Television, and Beyond is one of its kind-highly recommended." -Joyce Carol Oates, author of "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?"

Women in Filmmaking and Their Struggle Against Bias"After all, Ginger Rogers did everything that Fred Astaire did. She just did it backwards and in high heels" -Ann Richards #1 Bestseller in Acting & Auditioning, Performing Arts, and Guides & Reviews Women in filmmaking since the beginning. Women have been instrumental in the success of American cinema since its very beginning. One of the first people to ever pick up a motion picture camera was a woman; as was the first screenwriter to win two Academy Awards, the inventor of the boom microphone, and the first person to be credited with the title Film Editor. Throughout the history of Hollywood, women have been revolutionizing, innovating, and shaping filmmaking. Yet their stories are rarely shared. This is what film reporter Alicia Malone wants to change. The first female directors. Backwards & In Heels tells the history of women in film in a different way, with stories about incredible women who made their mark in each Hollywood era. Every story is inspiring, detailing the accomplishments of extraordinary women and the obstacles they faced. Backwards & In Heels combines research and exclusive interviews with influential women and men working in Hollywood today, including Geena Davis, J.J. Abrams, Ava DuVernay, Octavia Spencer, America Ferrera, Paul Feig, and many more; as well as film professors, historians and experts. Time to level the playing field. Think of Backwards & In Heels as a guidebook, your entry into the complex world of women in film. Join Alicia Malone as she champions Hollywood women of the past and present and looks to the future. Learn little known facts about: The first females in film direction Iconic movie stars Present day activists If you enjoyed books such as Renegade Women in Film and TV or The Purple Diaries, you'll love Alicia Malone's Backwards & In Heels. Also, don't miss Alicia's #1 Bestseller in Movies & Video Guides & Reviews, The Female Gaze: Essential Movies Made by Women.