Women Make Science Fiction hopes to challenge the way we think about women filmmakers and science fiction (SF), and recognises women SF filmmakers as a valuable and necessary part of genre-film history and the future of SF and the industry. This project works from an inclusive definition of women/woman that includes transwomen and also includes the work of non-binary filmmakers who are also often erased from discussions of the man-dominated field.
On this site, you will find details of as many women-directed science fiction feature films as we have been able to locate (PLEASE contact us with any and all examples not currently recorded); a growing record of short films directed by women; and film review essays that record details about the film and responses to the film. An episode of the Women Make Science Fiction Podcast often accompanies these essays.
Who’s behind the project?
Dr Amy C. Chambers is a senior lecturer in Film and Media Studies in the School of English at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK.
Amy’s research looks at how people engage with science through the media they consume including science fiction and science-based media. A lot of her work explores the representation and projected futures of women and minority groups within scientific cultures and imagined futures in Anglo-American entertainment media.
Why women-made science fiction (SF)?
I want to challenge the way we think about women filmmakers and the SF genre that is so often seen as a male space both in terms of creation and reception. According to Cathy Schulman, President of Women In Film Los Angeles, women filmmakers “face deep-rooted presumptions from the film industry about their creative qualifications, sensibilities, tendencies and ambitions”. Films directed by women are perceived as movies intended for small niche audiences, while films directed by men are considered to automatically reach broader and thus financially lucrative parts of the film market.
Women-made cinema is often pulled together and compared as if it is a genre – distinctive because of its creator’s gender identity rather than its content. Women directors should not just be the subject of special screenings and seasons to highlight their place in an industry that is still dominated by men. The range of films produced by women across nations, genres, and styles should make a pigeonholing by gender farcical, but curated programmes and festivals celebrating women directors are often the only way that these films are made available for public viewing.
As the blurb for one of the earliest women’s film festivals, ‘The Women’s Event’ at Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) in 1972, remarks: “A festival of men’s films would be simply absurd. It’s because so few women have been able to make films that this festival exists.” This is a depressing explanation that is still enragingly relevant to today’s industry.
We need to move away from thinking of women-directed genre films (and specifically science fiction for my work) in terms of gender categorisation and recognise them as a valuable and necessary part of film history and future of the industry.
More about the podcast
The Women Make Science Podcast launched in June 2020 and is a women-presented and women-made podcast about science fiction across different storytelling platforms. We aim to both examine and uplift women and non-binary created science fiction media whilst deconstructing the discriminatory, patriarchal culture surrounding both SF and creative industries.
The podcast is hosted by Dr Amy C Chambers and Dr Lyle Skains, who is an award-winning researcher and creative practitioner in Creative Digital Writing and Science Communication. She conducts practice-based research into writing, reading/playing, publishing digital and transmedia narratives, and how these can be used for health and science communication.
Who’s who from the header image
- Rachel Talalay (USA) – Ghost in the Machine
- Fleur Fortuné (France) – The Assessment
- Coralie Fargeat (France) – The Substance
- Claire Denis (France) – High Life
- Danishka Esterhazy (Canada) – Level 16
- Sophie Barthes (France) – Cold Souls and The Pod Generation
- Nuotama Frances Bodomo (Ghana) – Afronauts [short]
- Neasa Hardiman (Ireland) – Sea Fever
- Lily Ana Amirpour (USA/Iran) –The Bad Batch
- Alice Waddinton (Spain) – Paradise Hills
- Domee Shi (China/Canada) – Elio
- Ngozi Onwurah (Nigeria/UK) – Welcome II the Terrordome
- Alice Lowe (UK) – Timestalker
- Arati Kadav (India) – Cargo
- Lilly Wachowski (USA) – Jupiter Ascending
- Jennifer Phang (USA) – Half-Life and Advantageous
- Ninagawa Mika (Japan) – Helter Skelter
- Lana Wachowski (USA)- Jupiter Ascending
