Patricia Riggen
Cool piece in Newsweek about women directors gaining prominence in Mexico.
They may live in the shadows of their more famous male countrymates like Guillermo del Toro, Alejandro Iñárritu, and Alfonso Cuarón, but women directors like Eva Aridjis, Mariana Chenillo, Andrea Martinez, Eva Lopez Sanchez, Maria Novaro, Patricia Riggen and Issa Lopez and finally getting some recognition and funding to get their films made.
The reality is that it is really hard to get a film made by a woman in Mexico. Mexico does have government support of the films, yet stats show that only between 2 and 4% of films made in the country are directed by women. Grants last year were made to 20 men and 5 women.
Catherine Bloch who runs the Mexican chapter of Women in Film and TV said to Newsweek:
Women feel that the doors are open, but for some the productions don’t come through.
But hopefully things are changing Patricia Riggen’s 2007 film La Misma Luna grosses $23 million and now she has a Hollywood gig with Columbia Pictures. She feels things have changed in even the short time since she made Luna: “It’s a great moment, our boundaries and borders are more open than ever.”
It’s interesting to note that the movies by the women described in the piece are more gritty and realistic and about life in Mexico whereas most of the film made by the prominent Mexican men and more fantasy and action drive.
Women on the Verge (Newsweek)
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