Born 100 years ago in Herne Hill, London, Ida Lupino is a remarkable figure cinematic history. Part of an extensive acting dynasty, she broke into movies young, landing a role at 14 in Allen Dwan's Her First Affaire.

However her career path as an actor was not untroubled. Despite growing Hollywood stardom, Lupino vociferously fought against being typecast in roles she felt limited her.

Thus it was as a director that she found a calling more suited to her extensive ambitions, focusing on projects tackling serious social themes. Founding a production company with her husband Collier Young in the 1940s, Lupino not only became the only woman director operating in Hollywood at the time, but blazed a trail for autonomous, self-distributed filmmaking which would be pursued by the likes of John Cassavetes in the following decade. 

As is the case with too many women directors, Ida Lupino's back catalogue is criminally under-represented on DVD. However we have sourced all the Lupino titles and books currently available in the UK, and of course will continue to add any new films which become available in the future.  

In June the BFI Southbank is hosting a major retrospective of Ida Lupino's films, both as actor and director. Find out more and buy tickets here.