Dorothy Arzner: Pioneer, Queer, Feminist

Dorothy Arzner was Hollywood's most powerful director, though History has forgotten her. She began working in the film industry at 19 as a "cutter" before the advent of editors, and gradually worked her way up through the studio system. Determined and ambitious, she was accepted as a director at Paramount, as the first woman to direct a talking picture for the star Clara Bow. A true pioneer of the cinema, she was the only woman director at a major Hollywood studio in the 1930s and 1940s, openly lesbian, dressed like a man, making movies "avant-gardiste" about women's condition. She was a mentor for Francis Ford Coppola, who considers her as one of the most important woman directors of Hollywood.

Directed by Julia Kuperberg, Clara Kuperberg, Dorothy Arzner: Pioneer, Queer, Feminist leans on a strong ensemble — Tony Maietta, Shelley Stamp, Emily Carman — to carry a story that balances spectacle with character.

The film landed with audiences for its craft and performances, and remains one of the most talked-about documentary titles of 2023.