In 2020, we wrote an ebook called Portraits of resistance: The cinema of Céline Sciamma, after Sciamma's fourth feature (and first Cannes Competition film), Portrait of a Lady on Fire, was released. We were surprised and delighted to see Sciamma gaining a huge following after years of being so underappreciated.

On this episode, we talk about Sciamma's greatness and how the industry was slow to catch up with it. We also fall into a long conversation about the wider pattern in the film industry of recognising female writer-directors for their writing rather than their directing, and why these fields are seen as so gendered.

This episode features Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney, Executive Editor Orla Smith, and Contributing Editor Lindsay Pugh

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On this episode:

• Who is Céline Sciamma? (4:51)
• How Sciamma's films have been misunderstood throughout her career (13:52)
• How Portrait of a Lady on Fire differs from Sciamma's earlier films (19:1)
• Sciamma's precision (32:06)
• How the film industry sees women as directors versus screenwriters (35:54)
• How has Portrait impacted Sciamma's career going forward? (53:55)

Show notes

• View the history of women directors at Cannes
• Read Lindsay's review of Portraits of resistance at Woman in Revolt
• Read Alex's interview with Sciamma's regular editor, Julien Lacheray
• Read Alex's in-depth conversation with the women behind Mouthpiece - Patricia Rozema, Amy Nostbakken, and Norah Sadava
• Read Alex's interview with director Andrew Haigh on the 10th anniversary of Weekend

Related episodes

• Women at Cannes Ep. 1: A podcast on the history of women directors at Cannes
• Women at Cannes Ep. 2: Kelly Reichardt at Cannes 2022
• Ep. 128: Petite Maman and Céline Sciamma's temporary utopias
• Ep. 96: Water Lilies and Jennifer's Body: Girlhood and compulsory heterosexuality (Member's Only)