LETTER FROM THE EDITOR BY ADRIANNE RAMSEY The first film that I ever saw that was directed by a woman was Thirteen (2003), which was helmed by Catherine Hardwicke. She co-wrote the film alongside fourteen-year-old Nikki Reed, who also starred in the film. Loosely based on Reed’s early adolescent years, Thirteen follows the life of Tracy (Evan Rachel Wood), a vulnerable seventh grader who begins experimenting with drugs and alcohol, sex, crime, and more after striking up a friendship with popular and troubled classmate, Evie (Reed). Tracy’s mother Melanie (Holly Hunter) grows increasingly concerned by the girls’ toxic friendship and the rapid changes in her daughter, but struggles to intervene as Tracy shuts her further out of her life. The movie is fast-paced and gritty, showing a realistic, bare version of girlhood and how women influence one another – positively and negatively. I first saw the film when I myself was thirteen, and recognized many aspects of the character's insecurities and their lives at school and at home in myself and my friends. Thirteen left such a mark on me that I consider it one of my top five films of all time, and try to watch it in full once a year. The fact that this film was co-written and directed by a woman, with a majority female cast, is not lost on me. In a year when the popular films about teenage girls included Freaky Friday (2003) and The Lizzie McGuire Movie (2003), Thirteen walked so Euphoria (2019 – Present) could run. The truth of the matter is, there are very few female filmmakers who receive mainstream recognition in the film industry. Some of those names include Andrea Arnold, Sofia Coppola, Ava DuVernay, Greta Gerwig, Patty Jenkins, and Nancy Meyers – and it is not lost on me that only one out of those six names that I listed is a woman of color (DuVernay). At the time of this writing, only two women have won the Academy Award for Best Director – Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker (2008) and Chloé Zhao for Nomadland (2020). There is an overwhelming majority of male directors who are constantly revered in the film canon, so much so that their names can roll off the tip of my tongue – J.J. Abrams, Ryan Coogler, Francis Ford Coppola, Ang Lee, George Lucas, Christopher Nolan, Jordan Peele, Sam Raimi, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Quentin Tarantino, and Guillermo del Toro. (Continued)
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