XX, is a new female directed horror anthology which includes names like Jennifer Lynch (daughter of one of my favorite directors, David Lynch), Karyn Kusama, Jen & Sylvia Soska, Jovanka Vuckovic and the latest announced filmmaker: American Psycho‘s Mary Harron. The anthology will be comprised of various films directed by each of these talented women plus include a strong female lead for each film. The production is being launched by MPI/Dark Sky Films and XYZ Films. According to sources the filmmakers are developing their own stories for the project.
“We know that women make up about half of the audience for horror films” says Greg Newman, EVP of MPI Media Group, “…and yet the female creative voice has been nearly silent in the horror genre. So we are thrilled about the new and distinct approach that these talented directors will bring to the project.” HorrorPhiles in the blogosphere are already describing the news of the anthology and its attached directors as “incredibly exciting” and “it’s about time a project like this was launched.”
Although I am not a fan of the horror genre, this news excites me for other reasons. For many years I’ve been actively advocating for the influx of the female voice in both indie and mainstream cinema. When I was programming for various film festivals in New York, I made a conscious effort to find films directed by women but few were ever submitted (across four different festivals and two screening series’). It has always been and still is, to a very alarming degree, a medium heavily saturated by men. Because of this I find that vision, in the form of storytelling, is incredibly limited.
It seems to me that the XX Anthology can be the beginning of a change in the status quo, or at the very least, become a mechanism to give more up and coming female directors a chance to shine.
