Female Film Critics

Michel: If you really love someone, you want more for them than you want for yourself. Do you understand?

Last month, Sarah Mirk talked about Hollywood’s missing directors on her podcast Popaganda. The gist: in the past year, less than 5% of top-grossing films were directed by women. Where are all of the women directors?

As a follow-up, Sarah took a look at Film Fatales, a collective of women film directors, to compile a list of women-directed films. You can find even more recommendations here, but here are some great films—all directed by women— to add to your summer watch list:

A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night by Ana Lily Amirpour

A Teacher by Hannah Fidell

Advantageous by Jennifer Phang

Apartment Troubles by Jess Weixler & Jennifer Prediger

Appropriate Behavior by Desiree Akhavan

Belle by Amma Asante

Beyond the Lights by Gina Prince-Bythewood

Caught by Maggie Kiley

Concussion by Stacie Passon

Diary of a Teenage Girl by Marielle Heller

Honeytrap by Rebecca Johnson

I Believe in Unicorns by Leah Meyerhoff

It Felt Like Love by Eliza Hittman

Kelly & Cal by Jen McGowan

Little Accidents by Sara Colangelo

Lucky Them by Megan Griffiths

Obvious Child by Gillian Robespierre

Pariah by Dee Rees

Selma by Ava Duvernay

She’s Lost Control by Anja Marquardt

Sleeping with Other People by Leslye Headland

Stray Dog by Debra Granik

The Midnight Swim by Sarah Adina Smith

There Is A New World Somewhere by Li Lu

Vessel by Diana Whitten

#52FilmsByWomen | Obvious Child (dir. Gillian Robespierre)

#52FilmsByWomen | Unbroken (dir. Angelina Jolie)

#52FilmsByWomen | The Piano (dir. Jane Campion)

#52FilmsByWomen | Mansfield Park (dir. Patricia Rozema)

“#52FilmsByWomen is a campaign by Women In Film aimed at combating it, “a fun way to bring attention to the many talented female filmmakers around the world, and a great way to spark a creative and interactive conversation.”

The organisation is asking cinephiles to sign up and pledge to watch one film by a woman a week for a year, and so far (at the time of writing) has 984 commitments.

“In our latest round of research, Exploring the Careers of Female Filmmakers: Phase III, we found that one of the barriers for female directors is a perceived scarcity of talent pool and experience,” the website states. “Many of those surveyed couldn’t name a female director. Can you believe that? There are over one thousand female directors on The Director List, 1300 female directors at the DGA  and 45 who have helmed a $25 million movie in the last 13 years.”

Read the full piece here

See the Women In Films page “52 Films” page here: http://womeninfilm.org/52-films/

Let this feminist punk make a kick-off suggestion: films by Penelope Spheeris (click here for her full filmography)

- The Decline of Western Civilization (L.A. punk documentary, 1981)

-  Suburbia (punk fictional drama with kids living in dystopian near future - TW for sexual assault. One of the kids is Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers)

-  Wayne’s World 

-  The Beverly Hillbillies

For metal fans:

- We Sold Our Souls for Rock ‘n Roll

-  The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years 

If you like comedies - Nancy Meyers (full filmography here)

-  The Intern

-  It’s Complicated

-  The Holiday

-  Father of the Bride

-  Private Benjamin

Or Elizabeth Banks - Pitch Perfect 2 (the movie is racist AF unfortunately)

Or Tamra Davis (full filmography here)

- Half Baked (a woman directed Dave Chappelle’s Half Baked? Awesome!)

-  Billy Madison

-  CB4

She also directed one of my all time favorite documentaries - The Punk Singer  

Or Penny Marshall (full filmography here)

-  Big

-  A League of Their Own

-  Riding in Cars with Boys

Or Amy Heckerling (full filmography here)

-  Fast Times at Ridgemont High

-  National Lampoon’s European Vacation

-  Look Who’s Talking

-  Clueless

-  A Night at the Roxbury

-  Loser

Or Nora Ephron (comedy and drama below - full filmography here)

-  When Harry Met Sally…

-  Sleepless in Seattle

-  You’ve Got Mail

-  Silkwood 

- Bewitched

- Julie & Julia

For Drama fans, we’ve got Sofia Coppola (full filmography here)

-  The Virgin Suicides

-  Lost in Translation

-  Marie Antoinette

Ava DuVernay (full filmography here)

-  Selma

-  This Is the Life

Ok, forget sorting by genres, here are some more great options:

Catherine Hardwicke (full filmography here)

- Twilight

-  Lords of Dogtown 

-  Thirteen

Julie Dash (full filmography here)

-  Daughters of the Dust

-  The Rosa Parks Story

Mira Nair (full filmography here)

-  Monsoon Wedding

-  Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love

-  Mississippi Masala

-  Salaam Bombay!

Kathryn Bigelow (full filmography here)

-  Zero Dark Thirty

-  The Hurt Locker

-  K-19: The Widowmaker

-  Strange Days

-  Point Break

Julie Taymor (full filmography here)

-  Frida

-  Across the Universe

-  The Tempest

Lisa Cholodenko (full filmography here)

-  High Art

-  Laurel Canyon

-  The Kids Are All Right

Angelina Jolie (full filmography here)

-  In the Land of Blood and Honey

-  Unbroken