With regard to the feminist critique of auteurism, I would just add that
many avant-garde films by women address the issues you identify in
particularly direct and interesting ways, e.g., Chick Strand's _Soft
Fiction_; Su Friedrich's _Sink or Swim_; Yvonne Rainer's _Privilege_ or
_Film About a Woman Who..._; Carolee Schneeman's _Fuses_; and Cheryl
Dunye's recent _Watermelon Woman_.  I believe each of these films is
available through one of the following distributors: Canyon Cinema (San
Francisco); Women Make Movies (NY); Zeitgeist (NY).
 
----
Screen-L is sponsored by the Telecommunication & Film Dept., the 
University of Alabama.