So what do you think are the obstacles to female directors being on an equal footing now? Is it something specific to film-making?
In the Hollywood studio system, like in most other big money businesses, the money is still controlled by old white men who tend to be very conservative and therefore unwilling to try new things (like women directing action movies).
In independent and foreign film, there's less money at stake and therefore less institutional control, so you see women on much more of an equal footing.
Our lists tend to favor well-known films with broad audiences (your Coppolas and Kubricks and Kurosawas and Hitchcocks and Nolans) and it's harder for indie and foreign filmmakers to break into that. As seen by the directors poll, though, Lynne Ramsay (whose
Ratcatcher finished just outside this year's Top 100), Kelly Reichardt, Chantal Ackerman and most of all Claire Denis are making a real headway. Denis, in all probability, didn't get a film in this year's Top 100 because she's made so many films that people like that her support was too diffuse to get any single film onto the list.