A scene from ! Woman, Art, Revolution. (TIFF)

By Chris Berube, citizen contributor

Since Kathryn Bigelow's Academy Award win last year, a lot has been made about the perceived boys club that is the motion picture industry. About seven per cent of the top 250 grossing films in 2009 were directed by women, and only four females have ever been nominated for the Oscar for best direction.

While interviewing Lynn Hershman Leeson, it becomes apparent that she has conflicting emotions about touring her new film, the documentary ! Women, Art, Revolution - A Secret History, which chronicles the feminist art movement from the '60s to the present. The completed movie is the culmination of 42 years of interviews with notable figures in feminist art, and Hershman Leeson remains acutely aware of gender disparity that still exists in different art worlds - including the Toronto International Film Festival.

"I noticed that the Lightbox has no works exclusively by women in their commissions," says Hershman Leeson. She also points out that TIFF's "100 Essential Films" program, which screens throughout the fall, has only one female-directed movie -- Agns Varda's Cleo de 5 a 7.

"It's still the same in so many places -- there are these other festivals, like the Telluride Film Festival, that had maybe one woman [this year]. It's still an ongoing problem that people have to be made aware of."

This is not the director's first time bringing a film to a festival - her previous efforts, Conceiving Ada (1997), Teknolust (2002) and Strange Culture (2007), were shown at prestige festivals around the world. And while the pictures drew acclaim, she believes she was wasn't given the same opportunities afterwards as many of her male counterparts.

"As a woman making movies, you barely have a single chance," says Hershman Leeson. "I mean, I remember that I showed one of my early films alongside Todd Haynes at the London Film Festival, and people were saying, 'Well, it's going to be you and Todd Haynes, you're going to be the next ones.' And I wasn't able to get the offers that Todd Haynes got. And then I showed my film Conceiving Ada at Sundance with Darren Aronofsky, and they said, 'You and Darren Aronofsky are going to have all the chances in the future.'"

This festival is bittersweet for Hershman Leeson, since Aronofsky's new film, Black Swan, debuts as a gala later in the week, while hers is in the Real to Reel documentary program.

"I like Darren, and I went to the Sundance screenwriters lab with him, and I admire all of his films very much. But you know, I didn't get those chances. I had to, in every way, raise all the money for every film I've done."

The financing for ! Women, Art, Revolution was cobbled together from a number of sources, including donations solicited through the movie's website.

"We got a grant from the [U.S.] National Endowment for the Arts. It's my first grant ever! And then a couple of years ago, I got a Creative Capital and then a Guggenheim grant, and as we went forward, we looked to any structure possible, whether it was selling my work and using that money, or using the internet."

With the finished product out now, the director hopes that perceptions about women filmmakers will continue to change, and that she can continue to play an important part. In fact, she's getting ready for her next movie.

"I've already lined up Tilda Swinton and Marilyn Manson! And John Waters. You know, I think I've been really lucky that I've been able to build my team, and to make movies with them."

You can follow Chris throughout #TIFF10 on Twitter at @chrisberube