As told through clips from 183 female directors, this epic history of the cinema focuses on women’s integral role in the development of film art. Using almost a thousand film extracts from thirteen decades and five continents, Mark Cousins asks how films are made, shot and edited; how stories are shaped and how movies depict life, love, politics, humour and death, all through the compelling lens of some of the world’s greatest filmmakers – all of them women.
Openings, tone
Believability, introducing character, meet cute
Conversation, framing, tracking
Staging, journey, discovery
Adult/child, economy, editing
Pov, close-up, dream
Bodies, sex
Home, religion, work
Politics, gear change, comedy
Melodrama, sci-fi, horror & hell
Tension, stasis, leave out
Reveal, memory, time
Life inside, the meaning of life, love
Death, endings, song and dance
NextFilm 2025