Summary: I take this International Women’s Day 2026 to introduce and to honour the work of 5 incredible women wedding filmmakers. At a time when gender rights find themselves threatened all over the world plagued by regressive rhetoric and war. This is a humble attempt to build a community of someone like me , a woman videographer, making a difference/impacting on the visual in wedding films.
Cinema has the power to change the way we think which is phenomenal. We live in a world that still struggles with gender diversity. One of the findings in the United Nations Secretary-General’s report, “Ensuring and Strengthening Access to Justice for All Women and Girls” states that women hold just 64% of the legal rights held by men. This in 2026.
In a scenario such as this it is incumbent on us as creative people who identify as women to foster a community that supports women. Much like what happened at Cannes in 2018. Wherein 82 actors stood on the steps of Cannes protesting the unequal representation of films made by women at the Cannes festival. This blog post is a humble attempt at that on this International Women’s Day 2026.
How are women wedding filmmakers different from male wedding filmmakers?
In her 1975 essay titled Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema [pdf link] Laura Mulvey introduced the concept of the male gaze. This was an attempt at making a tool that allowed someone language to describe what was wrong with an image. Specifically it looked at skewed power dynamics in play that shaped creative decisions. This has in turn led to deliberations as to what the female gaze may look like. Feminist film theory influenced by the second wave of feminism in the 1960s and 70s analyzed the representation of women in film and deliberated on questions about identity, sexuality, the politics of spectatorship and women’s participation in the production of images. It explored the lens through which many women filmmakers approach image-making, their subjective reading of identity that stems from gender, race, class, caste and sexuality.
Why should Brides/Wedding Couples bother with gender while scouting for the best Wedding Videographer?
Behind every decision – the placement of the camera, the composition of a shot, the pacing of an edit, there is often an understanding of the power that shapes that decision. The female gaze more often than not is focused on the authenticity and vulnerability of the characters that it seeks to portray. The interiority of a character is what enthralls a woman storyteller and the character’s being expressed through their relationships to friends, family and their larger community.
Weddings are a spectacle of emotions. When authenticity rears its beautiful head in the quiet moments amongst the rush and chaos of things, a feminine lens is bound to catch it. Subtle images are powerful images but are fleeting. The feminine lens is on the wait for these fleeting moments. Because ‘when you are old and grey and full of sleep/ And nodding by the fire’ its important to capture that man or woman who ‘loved the pilgrim soul in you / And loved the sorrows of your changing face’. That’s me quoting one of my favourite poets William Butler Yeats!
The 5 Phenomenal Women Wedding Filmmakers
In the spirit of solidarity, on this International Women’s Day I take this opportunity to introduce you to 5 phenomenal awe-inspiring truly rocking women wedding filmmakers. Not in any order of importance.
1. Stefanie Aichner
Stefanie Aichner has been filming weddings through her studio, No Matter the Weather, since 2015. Her work is intimate and sophisticated with an editorial edge. Watching her wedding films, one would think she works with a team but she actually works solo. Only if you shoot weddings would you know how astounding it is to produce the work she does, shooting solo. She’s keyed into the most important moments in a wedding and though discreet her lens seems to be everywhere.
2. Anna Lord
Anna Lord is a highly sought after wedding filmmaker based in Colorado. Her forte is the super 8mm wedding film which she incorporates along with the digital format. Its nostalgic, beautiful and gives a feeling of timelessness, a feeling of lingering in the moment. Her films are slow allowing the viewer to take in and experience moments otherwise lost in the rush of things. I personally love her work and see them more as works of art than just another wedding film.
3. Vicky Paramonova
Based between Italy and Portugal Paramonova Movies run by Vicky Paramonova creates wedding films which are unfiltered, raw yet refined and sophisticated. I love their use of close ups where emotions seem larger than life, something I love doing in my work as well.
4. Saja Alani
Simple and elegant is how I would describe Saja Alani films who runs Mawaddah Productions, a women-owned videography company based in Boston. Influenced by Arab and European art, her wedding films are subtle, authentic and deeply moving. In her own word: ‘To me, wedding films are more than just videos; they’re heirlooms, pieces of art that carry the heartbeat of your celebration’.
5. Sharrone Calafiore
Any ask on Reddit groups as to who is the best wedding filmmaker in the world, Sharrone Calafiore is always mentioned and that’s how I found her. Classy, highly sophisticated, very editorial, and yet catching the right moments. She started out as a freelance editor in 2008 and slowly worked her company, Fiore films to become what it is today, one of the most highly sought after wedding film companies in the world. Her editing is absolutely phenomenal and one can see the unbelievable amount of attention she gives to detail.
To conclude
It would be too pretentious of me to include myself in the list as of now. But I do believe my work falls somewhere along the journey these incredible women have made.
This is an extremely short list of super impressive women who make super impressive wedding films. What do you think about this list? Who would you add? Leave a comment and let me know.
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