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Lesbian films by lesbian and queer woman filmmakers

Filmmaking is not a singular art, so to define these films as “by queer women and lesbians” is already a simplification. For ease, I focused on directors that openly identify as queer or lesbians. Of course, they may be films in the archive that were made by queer women or queer people that are not on this list, because of their involvement in other places in filmmaking or because they are not out in an easily accessible way. I also chose to focus on directors because a common complaint surrounding lesbian films is their catering towards the male gaze, and gaze is most often related to the director. Further, directors tend to be the most important people in terms of the creative vision of the film, so I narrowed this category down to directors.

 

I think this theme of by lesbian and queer women for lesbian and queer women is important for this archive, not because only queer women and lesbians can make good lesbian films, but that often intent is different. In many interviews I read of the directors describing their films in the archive, many non lesbians qualified their films as “not really about lesbians”. Deepa Mehta, writer and director of Fire stated in an interview that "lesbianism is just another aspect of the film...Fire is not a film about lesbians," but rather about "the choices we make in life." This is just one example that reflects a common sentiment from the directors of lesbian films, where the lesbianism is washed out. On the other hand, are the directors and films that are regarded as exploitative or fetishizing in their depictions of lesbians. The most famous film of this kind is Blue is the Warmest Color, originally based on a comic book by Julie Maroh. In a 2013 blog post after the film’s release, Maroh writes:

It seems clear to me that this is what was missing on the set: lesbians.I don't know the sources of information for the director and the actresses (who, until proven otherwise, are all straight), and I was not consulted beforehand. Maybe there was someone to crudely mimic the possible positions for them with their hands, and/or to watch so-called lesbian porn (unfortunately it is rarely for the attention of lesbians). Because – except for a few passages – that's what it evokes to me: a brutal and surgical, demonstrative and cold display of so-called lesbian sex, which turns to porn, and which made me very uncomfortable. Especially when, in the middle of a movie theater, everyone giggles. Heteros because they don't understand and find the scene ridiculous. Homos and other transidentities because it's not believable and they find the scene just as ridiculous. And among the only ones we don't hear laughing are the would-be guys who are too busy rinsing their eyes at the embodiment of one of their fantasies.

This grand indictment illustrates the problem with some films made, in particular, by male directors. With these sentiments on either end, from relatively harmless to actively harmful, I wanted to create a section focused on films where there were lesbians on set. 

 

As stated above, many of the lesbian directors of these films created these movies intentionally as lesbian films, not as films that happened to have lesbians in it. Lesbianism was at the forefront of the imagination, rather than as an afterthought or implication. Further, many of these films are described as semi-biographical by their filmmakers, illustrating the importance of the personal in these films, as tools for the directors and audiences to see themselves and their stories on screen. That is not to say that these films are without fault or are universally good, but rather that the focus on lesbians by lesbians is often fun and refreshing. Although I have some favorites outside of this list, many of my favorite lesbian films were created by queer women and lesbian filmmakers because of this intentionality and focus on lesbians <3

Lesbian films by lesbian and queer woman filmmakers
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