Sundance 2013: Female directors discuss the challenges they face

Dabis: Supportive.

Cowperthwaite: When you are trying to get a shot, you can't be pleasing everybody. And I tend to be sort of collaborative and a bit of a pleaser. And when I'm directing, people just sort of call me Black Hat Gabriela. Because suddenly they're like, "What happened to you?" Because I stop listening. And I feel strident. I feel rude. And I feel un-collaborative. After the shoot I'm like, "Who was that?" Am I really allowed to be that way?

PHOTOS: The scene at Sundance

A man is "determined" or "single-minded." A woman is a "bitch," right? Even if they're doing exactly the same thing.

Foner: I can't tell you how many times I have heard women described as "tough" or "bitches" for doing what I know every single man doing the same job does.

Dabis: I've come to embrace that. I'm proud to be a bitch. You know, you're a strong woman. I've also found a way not to be defensive about things that arise. And to be collaborative until a certain point. And then to say, "Thank you very much for your input. I've decided that this is what I want to do."

Foner: I'm older than you are. So I'm really glad to hear that this is so. Because in my generation, I think we're still struggling with, "Are we likable as we do this?" And what is likable? The biggest barrier in my mind is that you are redefined as not a woman when you take on these characteristics, because women are only one way.

Fidell: Or that if your vision or the way you present is particularly feminine, that the story you have to tell isn't valid, it isn't universal, it isn't worth a lot of money. Should you present as more masculine, when you're not, to be taken seriously? Because essentially in our culture, to be masculine is to be powerful. Right. Worthy of trust.

If audiences went into your films and didn't know who directed them, should they be able to detect that it was directed by a woman?

Cowperthwaite: Everybody thinks that my documentaries, or at least my recent one, is [directed by] a man. In its pacing. In its subject matter — it's the killer whale that killed the Shamu trainer. And I think people come into it, if they know there's a woman director, they think it's going to be sort of Enya, with just whale sounds. And I knew that wasn't the film I was going to make. But I knew that I wanted the pacing to be adrenaline-rushed and very hard-hitting. I'm making these choices in my films that are deliberately not necessarily sweet or gentle.

Foner: What I set out to do in my movie, which is a coming-of-age story, is to fill an empty space that I looked for when I was young, where I was identifying with men in movies. I was very anxious to show what it felt like to be a young woman just discovering your sexuality.

Garcia: My film really deals with explicit female sexuality. I think that tells you right there that this is a woman making the movie. And I'm really proud of that. But there were moments where [my producers and I] didn't see things the same way, and I was really concerned.

Dabis: I think that it's probably pretty obvious that [my film] was directed by a woman. This film in particular is a mother and her three daughters, and they're all very strong. And they're not women that you typically see on screen. What is more important to me is that people think the movie is authentic.

In terms of what you bring to a film as a director, do you think it would be any different if it were made by a man?

Cowperthwaite: Yes. In this film in particular, some of those choices are, "What kind of graphic footage can you show in this?" There's maulings. There's a killing. And there's also autopsy reports that give you chills. I don't know that this is particularly female, but I was in ethically sort of conscious about the fact that I was dealing with the death of people whose family have not yet healed.

Fidell: [My movie] is about an older woman, younger boy. A student, in my case. And I think that as a woman, I'm able to perhaps explore more of the negative sides of being a woman, in a way that men can't without being called misogynist, perhaps.... I think that at the end of the day — at least this is my understanding — a male director doesn't come to situations the same way that a female director would.

Foner: See, unfortunately, that justifies their telling me I can't write "Blade Runner." Because it's saying, "You couldn't possibly pick that macho stuff up."

Fidell: We can agree to disagree.

OSCARS 2013: Full Coverage