Céline Sciamma is the most visible and important feminist, and lesbian, director in contemporary international filmmaking. Her fourth feature, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, competed for the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 2019 and intervened directly in debates about the female gaze, sexuality and specificall...

Céline Sciamma is the most visible and important feminist, and lesbian, director in contemporary international filmmaking. Her fourth feature, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, competed for the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 2019 and intervened directly in debates about the female gaze, sexuality and specifically how to look at and make a portrait of young women. In her approach to female, non-binary and queer identities, she has focused on the need for agency, binding this imperative into her aesthetic choices and modes of filmmaking. This is the first book-length study of Sciamma's films, focusing on the relationship of her work to the visual arts and exploring the relevance of feminist theory to her unique perspective. Emma Wilson is Professor of French Literature and the Visual Arts at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Corpus Christi College