Praise for Joyce Chopra's Lady Director:
"Her autobiography traces the evolving role of women directors in Hollywood by drawing extensively on her own five decades in film and television. . . the insights she offers into the profession are rare . . . Chopra writes in a prose style that is both unflinching and unsentimental."–Annie Berke, The Washington Post
"Joyce Chopra was the Ava DuVernay, the Kathryn Bigelow and the Sofia Coppola of her day. . . . In her new memoir, Chopra looks back on all that's happened in her extraordinary career, sharing stories about Hollywood producers who were unwilling to work with a woman director . . ."–Raechal Shewfelt, Yahoo's IT LIST
"Chopra's efforts paved the way for the likes of Jane Campion, Sarah Polley, Ava DuVernay and others. It was never easy. But love rarely is." – Chris Vognar, San Francisco Chronicle
"After more than 50 years in the business, Chopra is reclaiming that eye-rolling moniker for her first memoir, Lady Director, Adventures in Hollywood, Television and Beyond, an insightful, emotional, and often quite dishy rollercoaster ride through her life and career."–Kate Erbland, IndieWire
"Joyce Chopra paved the way for future female filmmakers, and this book illuminates how ahead of her time she has always been. Her honesty is refreshing as she lets readers into her life, detailing her relationships, friendships, personal triumphs and devastating tragedies. Here is a woman who has nothing to lose, who is ready to tell her story, from her perspective, in her own words, with no holding back. I only wish I'd had this book to read when I was a shy teenage girl, to give me extra confidence as I dreamed of my own career in film."–Alicia Malone, TCM host and author of Girls on Film: Lessons From a Life of Watching Women in Movies
"Lady Director is not just a fascinating memoir, but an entertaining, inspiring and occasionally outrage-inducing report from the frontlines of filmmaking. An absolute must-read for anyone interested in the history of American cinema."–Elizabeth Weitzman, film critic and author of Renegade Women in Film & TV
"In her roller coaster of a memoir, Chopra shares what it was like to be one of the first female directors in Los Angeles. Recalling remarkable experiences of sexism, the effort of balancing a career with the pressures of motherhood, friendships with Hollywood legends, and the ways filmmaking has changed over the past 60 years, this memoir sheds light on the continuing fight for women's rights."–ALTA Magazine
"It's exhilarating to travel alongside her as so many well-known figures cross her path; in every phase of her adult life, Joyce Chopra has been there, in the thick of things, at the center of key movements and moments."–Bridgett M Davis, LIBER: A Feminist Review
"Award-winning film director Chopra's memoir pulls no punches. . . She candidly describes navigating sexism and abuse in the film industry; her start as a documentarian; her groundbreaking autobiographical short
Joyce at 34; winning Best Director at the Sundance Film Festival for her first feature film,
Smooth Talk; and her constant battles with Hollywood producers who refused to work with a woman director."–
Rebekah J Buchanan, Library Journal"Chopra chronicles her career as a pioneering film and television director during an era in which women were not being welcomed into the field. . . . She has now created an engaging account of the life of a working director who persevered through numerous and harrowing setbacks."– Kristine Huntley, Booklist
"Documentarian Chopra offers an insider's perspective and settles some scores in this shrewd memoir of her life in the film and TV industries. . Brisk and unsentimental, Chopra writes with fierce intent to set the record straight. Much like Anne Theroux's The Year of the End, this is a revealing and retributive glimpse behind the curtain."–Publishers Weekly
"City Lights will publish Lady Director: Adventures in Hollywood, Television and Beyond, a memoir from Joyce Chopra, who started out making documentaries before directing her first fictional feature. Smooth Talk (1985) gave us a breakout performance from a young Laura Dern and The Lemon Sisters (1990) focuses on three lifelong friends played by Diane Keaton, Carol Kane, and Kathryn Grody."–David Hudson, The Criterion Daily
"Through the lens of an extraordinary, determined and adventurous career, Lady Director reminds us that present day female Oscar nominees for Best Director stand on the shoulders of women like Joyce Chopra. This surprising often shocking book is destined to become a classic."–Honor Moore, author of Our Revolution: A Mother and Daughter at Midcentury
"Joyce Chopra's memoir is like a mentor in my pocket. Her vibrant writing makes me feel like I'm right there next to her, and her stories resonate with me and inspire me as a filmmaker and artist working today."–Alexi Pappas, filmmaker and author of Bravey: Chasing Dreams, Befriending Pain, and Other Big Ideas
"Chopra's memoir–both personal and political–is a deeply necessary corrective to histories of cinema and tales of the great artists of the '60s and '70s that tend to focus on big men and their big movies. Like all of Chopra's work, this memoir candidly reminds us of the injustices that structure our world, and gently says, we can do better. The book is a gift to all of us digging for authentic, revealing stories about the lives of women artists." –Shilyh Warren, author of Subject to Reality: Women and Documentary
"Lady Director is a bold, sometimes devastating, uncommonly honest and brilliant story of the inextricable nature of art and life, where few have feared to tread in cinema or on the page. Having already blessed film culture with at least two all-time masterpieces (Joyce at 34 and Smooth Talk), Joyce Chopra's crucial memoir may be her most lasting contribution. A rare and great work that will be read for years to come, and that we are lucky to have."–Jacob Perlin, Founding Artistic Director of Metrograph, and distributor, "The Film Desk"
"Across six decades, Chopra–whose career began in the early 1960s making documentaries with D.A. Pennebaker – has proven herself a nimble and reflexive artist, not just an indispensable voice in documentary filmmaking but also in feature-length fiction, television movies, miniseries, and episodic TV. With Lady Director, she introduces herself as a skillful memoirist, too."–Blake Peterson, 425Magazine
"A fascinating insider view of the film industry from a director's perspective . . ."
–Charles Rammelkamp, The Compulsive Reader
