Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


In 'Women Make Film,' a 14-Hour Epic of an Overlooked History

Associated Press

   TORONTO - The length of Mark Cousin's 14-hour documentary "Women Make
   Film" is itself a statement. The work of female filmmakers throughout
   cinema history is too rich and too vast for anything less.

   Cousins' epic film, which has been playing throughout the Toronto
   International Film Festival, is not a chronological history but a
   personal, roving exploration of a cinema terrain often forgotten,
   overlooked or underappreciated. It digs deeply into the artistry of
   some 183 female directors from throughout film history and around the
   globe. Its abiding tenor is one of awe, reverence and celebration.

   "This is a film school of sorts in which all the teachers are women: an
   academy of Venus," introduces Tilda Swinton, a narrator and producer.

   'New road movie through cinema'

   Cousins, the Scotland-based documentarian and film critic, grants
   "Women Make Film" could have been a more standard 90-minute movie, but
   that would have done its subjects a disservice.

   "If we say there's a forgotten history or a sequestered history, the
   physical size of the piece needs to speak for itself," Cousins,
   outfitted in a "Masculine Feminine" T-shirt, said in an interview "It's
   not like there have been little crumbs dropped back through film
   history. There are massive histories that have been forgotten."

.