Michele Meek, Ph.D.

Independent Female Filmmakers

Independent Female Filmmakers book cover
Independent Female Filmmakers presents original and previously-published essays, interviews, and manifestos from some of the most groundbreaking independent female filmmakers of the last 40 years.  
Book Introduction
See press coverage and Michele’s op-eds related to the book.

Featuring material from The Independent Film and Video Monthly—a leading publication for independent filmmakers for several decadesas well as new interviews conducted with the filmmakers specifically for this book, editor Michele Meek’s compilation provides unique access to the diverse voices of women filmmakers integral to independent film history from the 1970s to the present, spanning narrative, documentary, and avant-garde film.

Independent Female Filmmakers also includes a biographical profile of each filmmaker, a history of The Independent Film and Video Monthly, and an essay about women in film through Meek’s introduction and a foreword written by Patricia White.

Filmmakers include Lisa Cholodenko (High ArtThe Kids Are All Right), Martha Coolidge (Valley GirlReal GeniusIntroducing Dorothy Dandridge), Cheryl Dunye (The Watermelon WomanStranger Inside), Miranda July (The FutureMe And You And Everyone We Know), Barbara Kopple (Harlan County USAWildman Blues), Maria Maggenti (The Incredibly True Adventures of Two Girls in Love), Deepa Mehta (Fire, Earth, Water), Trinh T. Minh-ha (Surname VietGiven Name NamNight Passage), among others.

This project has been awarded a grant from Bridgewater State University’s Center for the Advancement of Research and Scholarship.

Reviews

“Michele Meek’s Independent Female Filmmakers is an invaluable collection of some of the very best interviews with legendary female practitioners in film, television, and the visual arts.”

-Feminist Media Studies

 

Independent Female Filmmakers is full of insights and advice from women who have been walking the difficult path that has helped lead Hollywood toward its aspirational future of gender equality.”

-MovieMaker Magazine