Celebrating the Women Who Shaped Documentary Filmmaking

Tomorrow is International Women’s Day so… with Fire Starter Studios gearing up for the anticipated premieres of our first two documentary feature films this year (stay tuned for more on that soon!), I wanted to take a moment to celebrate the women who have shaped documentary filmmaking—not just today, but from the very beginning.

Because here’s the thing: women have always been part of this industry. They’ve told stories that needed telling, captured voices that might have gone unheard, and redefined what a documentary could be. So, in honor of #InternationalWomen’sDay, let’s give them their flowers. ??

Frances H. Flaherty – The Uncredited Pioneer

Ever heard of Nanook of the North (1922)? It’s often called the first feature-length documentary, and Robert J. Flaherty is the name that gets the credit. But behind the scenes, Frances H. Flaherty played a critical role, from shaping the narrative to editing the film. Today, historians recognize her as a true pioneer—someone who helped define documentary storytelling before there even was an industry for it.

Elizaveta Svilova – The Architect of Soviet Montage

If you’ve ever been wowed by fast-cut, dynamic editing in a documentary, you can thank Elizaveta Svilova. As the editor (and collaborator) behind Man with a Movie Camera (1929), she helped introduce montage storytelling, a technique that still shapes modern filmmaking. While Dziga Vertov was the director, it was Svilova’s groundbreaking editing that transformed his ideas into reality.

Zora Neale Hurston – Documentary as Cultural Preservation

You probably know her as the author of Their Eyes Were Watching God, but did you know she was also a filmmaker? In the 1920s and ‘30s, Hurston used her camera to document everyday Black life in the American South. She didn’t just record history—she preserved voices and experiences that might have otherwise been erased. Long before ethnographic film was even a concept, Hurston was out in the field, capturing the world as it really was.

Agnès Varda – The Mother of the French New Wave

Agnès Varda blurred the lines between documentary and fiction, proving that documentaries didn’t have to just observe—they could also be deeply personal. Films like The Gleaners and I (2000) and Faces Places (2017) mix realism with a poetic, self-reflective style that’s influenced generations of filmmakers. Her work reminds us that documentaries aren’t just about telling other people’s stories—they’re about how we, as filmmakers, choose to tell them.

Barbara Kopple – Investigative Documentary as Cinema

With Harlan County, USA (1976), Barbara Kopple embedded herself in a community of striking coal miners, capturing raw, unfiltered moments that made the film feel as gripping as any thriller. She redefined what investigative documentary could be—not just journalism, but cinema. Her later work (American Dream, Shut Up & Sing) continues to prove that documentaries can be both urgent and artistically powerful.

Trinh T. Minh-ha – Rethinking Who Tells the Story

Trinh T. Minh-ha took the idea of the “neutral observer” in documentary filmmaking and tore it apart. With films like Reassemblage (1982), she questioned who gets to tell whose stories, exposing the biases baked into traditional ethnographic filmmaking. Her work challenges audiences to think critically about the way stories are framed—an approach that’s still influencing filmmakers today.

Liz Garbus – Documentary as a Tool for Justice

Liz Garbus has spent her career tackling subjects that demand attention. From the injustices of the prison system (The Farm: Angola, USA), to the raw realities of adolescence (Girlhood), to the life of Nina Simone (What Happened, Miss Simone?), her work proves that documentaries can be both a spotlight and a megaphone. She takes on complex, challenging topics—and makes us all care about them.

Nanfu Wang – Personal Documentary as Political Statement

When Nanfu Wang made Hooligan Sparrow (2016), she wasn’t just telling someone else’s story—she was risking her own safety to do it. One Child Nation (2019) took on China’s One-Child Policy not just as an observer, but as someone who lived under its consequences. Her work is deeply personal, fearless, and unflinching, proving that documentaries can be acts of courage as much as storytelling.

Kirsten Johnson – Turning the Camera on Herself

With Cameraperson (2016), Kirsten Johnson redefined what a documentary could be. Instead of telling a single story, she wove together footage from her career as a cinematographer, creating a deeply personal meditation on the ethics of filmmaking. She blurred the lines between observer and participant, proving that sometimes, the person behind the camera has a story worth telling too.

And these are just a few.

The history of documentary filmmaking is filled with women who have shaped the way we see the world.

Who would you add to the list?