Glass Souls

I know it's been said before, but could this be the beginning of the end for the director's glass ceiling? Andrea Arnold just released Fish Tank to huge acclaim from both audiences and critics, while The Hurt Locker showcases a director, Kathryn Bigelow, making a real impression on the mainstream action genre.

I'd rather watch films for their own sake than get into this issue, and "Woman Directs Moderately Successful Film" should not, I repeat not, be a headline. However the disparity between male and female directors is so great and so obvious - remind me, how many female directors have won Oscars? that it bears some thinking about. I was recently asked by a friend to name my favourite directors - not only were they all male, I could only name a handful of female directors.

Is science fiction better or worse than the rest of the industry? Hard to say, although as soon as you look into this, straightaway you start to read about female directors engaged in interesting sci-fi projects. I'm particularly looking forward to writer and director Sophie Barthes' film Cold Souls, an indie featuring Paul Giamatti and an intriguing concept, currently touring screens across the US but hopefully coming to the UK soon.