Editor

The Director List is proud to announce the official launch of their new website featuring an online database devoted to increasing awareness and accessibility to female directors and their work in feature films, television, large-scale commercials and music videos. Founded by independent filmmaker Destri Martino, TDL's main purpose is to address the consistently low number of women hired for directing jobs and provide a practical solution for creating change and reversing the trend.

There are currently over 850 experienced female directors included in the database, with new additions and updates everyday. Directors are located in the U.S. and over 11 regions around the world. Every woman on the list has either directed a feature-length film (narrative or documentary), television episodes, or they are seasoned commercial or music video directors. Advanced search functions allow users to do a keyword search or filter by medium, genre, or region.

“Year after year the statistics on the number of women directors being hired for film and TV projects remains depressingly low. Our hope is that this database will lead to more women directors being added to director lists around town and more women being considered for jobs, and hired!” explains Destri Martino.

Inspired while doing her Masters thesis research at the London School of Economics, Destri realized there were a lot more working female directors than mainstream media coverage led one to believe. It was then that her passion for promoting the work of female directors was ignited, and soon the first iteration of TDL was born as a Pinterest board, highlighting photos of working women directors.

After sparking interest from the growing list, it was clear that the public needed a way to better explore it in detail and building the database was the natural progression. In addition to the database, TDL features news, photos, videos and social media integration to connect to the passionate community that appreciates the feature film and television projects women are creating around the world. “This is a place to find all of the current news on women directors and see that many exist, in full color,” says Martino.

The Director List is positive this new database eliminates the most common excuses heard in the industry for not hiring women and empowers executives, producers, and agents to discover new female directing talent for their upcoming projects – from low budget indies to million-dollar blockbusters.

TDL is an Awesome Without Borders Grant Awardee and an Official Participating Organization for the upcoming Los Angeles Film Festival in June 2015. The TDL site is fiscally sponsored by Cinefemme.

Interviews with The Director List Founder Destri Martino are available upon request.

For more information, connect with us online:

Website: www.TheDirectorList.com
Twitter: @TheDirectorList
Facebook: Facebook.com/TheDirectorList
Pinterest: DestriMartino
Instagram: @TheDirectorList