Founding Mother of Film: Lois Weber
Back before it became apparent that movies could be big business and the industry was thusly taken over by men, there were a handful of women with quite a lot of power. Working primarily in the 1910s, Lois Weber is one director considered an equal in powerful and influence to D.W. Griffith, one of the other major directors of early American cinema. Sadly, Weber’s work seems to have been neglected by the canon in a way that Griffith’s hasn’t, and most of her filmography is lost to time. The four features and two shorts that are broadly available reveal a director of great technical skill and strong belief of film as a tool of social awareness.
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