Women Make Film: A New Road Movie Through Cinema — Season 1, Episode 9: Politics, Gear Change, Comedy

Episode synopsis

"Politics". Another aspect of everyday life. From silent cinema to the twenty-first century, movies from the visually astonishing The Enchanted Desna to Divorce Iranian Style to Strange Days have gained their energy and attack from their politics. "Gear Change". We like to be taken by surprise in films. This short chapter, narrated by Sharmila Tagore, looks at such surprises. "Comedy". Is comedy universal? Who have been the great comedy filmmakers around the world? Narrator Sharmila Tagore talks us through scenes from Big with Tom Hanks, Ida Lupino's The Trouble With Angels, the great movies of Elaine May, the classic Norwegian comedy Fools in the Mountains, and more.

About Women Make Film: A New Road Movie Through Cinema

As told through clips from 183 female directors, this epic history of the cinema focuses on women's integral role in the development of film art. Using almost a thousand film extracts from thirteen decades and five continents, Mark Cousins asks how films are made, shot and edited; how stories are shaped and how movies depict life, love, politics, humour and death, all through the compelling lens of some of the world's greatest filmmakers -- all of them women.

More episodes from Season 1

• E1Openings, Tone
• E2Believability, Introducing Character, Meet Cute
• E3Conversation, Framing, Tracking
• E4Staging, Journey, Discovery
• E5Adult/Child, Economy, Editing
• E6POV, Close-up, Dream
• E7Bodies, Sex
• E8Home, Religion, Work
• E10Melodrama, Sci-Fi, Horror & Hell
• E11Tension, Stasis, Leave Out
• E12Reveal, Memory, Time
• E13Life Inside, The Meaning of Life, Love