By K. Gasperini 

Women are no longer a rare breed when it comes to filmmaking, thanks to the likes of such pioneers as Jane Campion and Nora Ephron. With new hope and inspiration provided, more younger women are taking up the role as filmmaker/director/producer. The following trio of women we found most inspirational, mainly for their raw courage and unique perspectives when is comes to using the art of moving pictures as their story-telling vehicle.

"Broken," by Ondi Timoner
What is most remarkable about Timoner's documentary film is the subject itself: She was able to get inside the tumultuous musicians from the now defunct band, "Mother Tongue," for a rare glimpse of what it's like to rise to the top and plummet like a comet. To her credit, "Broken" gives us a punch in the face for the viewer. It's filled with stuff you feel you shouldn't be privy to know, with pictures of raw interviews, live performances, and more than a couple of mosh pits from which Timoner must have shot from the very core. Timoner's background from Yale University and her documentary career (including her first project, "Voices From the Inside" about women in prison) since 1994 shows major training in this particular film: It's turn-of-the-century documentation of American alt rock culture with rock stars as the main characters, all captured in a film that may be more telling than the individuals themselves.

"Swell," by Charlotte Lagarde
Completely different than the funky pictures of "Broken," "Swell," shows us the style of a woman who knows how to film sports and the women who live and die by their sport of surfing. "Swell," elegantly traces four generations of women surfers in Santa Cruz, following them from home to beach, from surf sessions to life on land as women in a mostly male-culture. Most touching and tenderly documented is the tragedy of Beth Pitts--a girl who lost her life at Steamer Lane. The film ends with a beautiful representation of friends saying good-bye as they paddle our together at Cowells Beach forming a memory circle for Beth.