The Confidence Game

This article considers the early history of women-directed media, examining its links to political action campaigns in the 1970s and exploring the aims of women's film festivals, production workshops, and Women Make Movies itself. Acknowledging a personal role in the WMM crisis of the early 1980s, the author goes on to explore the reasons for the continuing underrepresentation of women in the ranks of film directing. Moving beyond statistics and hiring practices, the article raises issues of psychological formation that impede women's full participation to this day.