Food Movies and Women

In the 2006 edition of her ongoing Celluloid Ceiling study, San Diego University professor Martha Lauzen showed that only 7% of the year's 250 top-grossing films were directed by women, and that only 10% of these films had women writers. So I find it interesting that, of the nine truly food-related films* I mentioned in my top-ten best food movies post, 33% were directed by women, and 78% had women in key writing roles, as follows.

• Julie and Julia: Written and directed by Nora Ephron, based on a book by Julie Powell
• Woman on Top: Directed by Fina Torres, written by Vera Blasi
• Babette's Feast: Based on a book by Karen Blixen
• Bella Martha: Written and directed by Sandra Nettelbeck
• Chocolat: Based on a novel by Joanne Harris
• Como agua para chocolate: Adaptation by Laura Esquivel from her own novel
• The Mistress of Spices: Screenplay cowritten by Gurinder Chadha (Bend It Like Beckham)

Not sure exactly what that tells us, but I'm now hoping for full-on food movies by Sofia Coppola, Sarah Polley and Deepa Mehta.

Oops! I speak too soon! I see that Mehta's got an upcoming project called Cooking With Stella, cowritten with her sister Dilip, who directs. It's about a Canadian chef who learns about life while studying South Indian cooking from an embassy cook who's a mistress of creative financing.

* Ratatouille and Sideways were the exceptions. Goodfellas and The Truth About Cats and Dogs aren't really food movies – although the latter was written by a woman.