52 Films by Women [2017]
A list of 52 feature films directed by women following the pledge to watch as launched in 2015 by the website Women in Film. The films below were listed chronologically, that is, from January to December [select "list order"]. I, for one, offer a top ten below on this very description. Co-directions (with male directors) were not considered, which were the following:
Demain (2015) [Mélanie Laurent]
Martírio (2016) [Tatiana Almeida]
David Lynch: The Art Life (2016) [Olivia Neergaard-Holm]
Slava (2016) [Kristina Grozeva]
Visages, villages (2017) [Agnès Varda]
As Boas Maneiras (2017) [Juliana Rojas]
La Telenovela Errante (2017) [Valeria Sarmiento]
Serguei, o Último Psicodélico (2016) [Zahy Tata Pur'gte]
Alguma Coisa Assim (2017) [Mariana Bastos]
Loving Vincent (2017) [Dorota Kobiela]
Pitanga (2017) [Camila Pitanga]
My top ten:
Era o Hotel Cambridge (2016)
Terra Sonâmbula (2007)
Sans toit ni loi (1985)
Scary Mother (2017)
Gorge coeur ventre (2016)
Divinas Divas (2016)
Innocence (2004)
The Mark of Cain (2001)
Grave (2016)
Estiu 1993 (2017)
Demain (2015) [Mélanie Laurent]
Martírio (2016) [Tatiana Almeida]
David Lynch: The Art Life (2016) [Olivia Neergaard-Holm]
Slava (2016) [Kristina Grozeva]
Visages, villages (2017) [Agnès Varda]
As Boas Maneiras (2017) [Juliana Rojas]
La Telenovela Errante (2017) [Valeria Sarmiento]
Serguei, o Último Psicodélico (2016) [Zahy Tata Pur'gte]
Alguma Coisa Assim (2017) [Mariana Bastos]
Loving Vincent (2017) [Dorota Kobiela]
Pitanga (2017) [Camila Pitanga]
- - -
My top ten:
Era o Hotel Cambridge (2016)
Terra Sonâmbula (2007)
Sans toit ni loi (1985)
Scary Mother (2017)
Gorge coeur ventre (2016)
Divinas Divas (2016)
Innocence (2004)
The Mark of Cain (2001)
Grave (2016)
Estiu 1993 (2017)
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53 titles
- DirectorPenelope SpheerisStarsFleaKeith MorrisEyeballThe Decline of Western Civilization III is a 1998 documentary film that follows the gutter punk lifestyle of homeless teenagers.
- DirectorMaud AlpiStarsBostonVirgile HanrotDimitri BuchenetThe animals arrive by night. They intuit. They resist. A young man leads them to their deaths before dawn. His dog discovers a terrifying world that seems certain never to end.
- DirectorSylvie VerheydeStarsLéora BarbaraMélissa RodriguèsLaëtitia GuerardParis, 1977. Eleven year old Stella knows poker better than grammar when she starts the year at a prestigious new school. There, she discovers the possibilities of a whole new world outside her parents' bar.
- DirectorAgnès VardaStarsSandrine BonnaireMacha MérilStéphane FreissA young woman's body is found frozen in a ditch. Through flashbacks and interviews, we see the events that led to her inevitable death.
- DirectorMaren AdeStarsSandra HüllerPeter SimonischekMichael WittenbornA practical joking father tries to reconnect with his hard working daughter by creating an outrageous alter ego and posing as her CEO's life coach.
- DirectorMia Hansen-LøveStarsIsabelle HuppertAndré MarconRoman KolinkaA philosophy teacher soldiers through the death of her mother, losing her book deal, and dealing with a husband who is cheating on her.
- DirectorSuzana AmaralStarsMarcelia CartaxoJosé DumontTamara TaxmanMacabea has just moved to the big city after her aunt, who raised her, died. She gets a job as a typist and moves into a boarding house with three other women. In her spare time she listens to time Radio Station; on Sundays she likes to ride the subways. She describes herself saying, "I am a typist and a virgin, and I like Coca-Cola." Then she meets Olimpico, a north-easterner like herself, who has dreams of becoming a Congressman.
- DirectorLucile HadzihalilovicStarsMax BrebantRoxane DuranJulie-Marie ParmentierThe only residents of young Nicholas' sea-side town are women and boys. When he sees a corpse in the ocean one day, he begins to question his existence and surroundings. Why must he, and all the other boys, be hospitalised?
- DirectorRenata PinheiroStarsNash LailaMaeve JinkingsSamuel VieiraShelly, a young dancer, dreams of becoming a singer at Brega, a romantic and sensually appealing musical scene in the Brazilian outskirts. inserted in a world where everything is disposable, like success, love, and human relationships, Shelly lives a difficult, tumultuous trajectory toward her desire to be famous. Jaqueline, her bandmate, a decaying experienced singer, is her mirror.
- DirectorIrene TaylorStarsMorgan GeyserAnissa WeierAngie GeyserTells the story of two 12-year old girls, who attempted to murder one of their friends in an attempt to appease Slenderman, a fictional monster from a horror website.
- DirectorJuliana RojasStarsEduardo GomesLuciana PaesHugo VillavicenzioThe routine of an inept apprentice gravedigger changes when a new employee arrives at the cemetery. Together they must locate abandoned graves, but strange events make them think about the implications of tampering with the dead.
- DirectorBarbara ZemljicStarsJanja MajzeljGrega ZorcVladimir VlaskalicA woman in her 30s who wanted more of life jumps into extramarital affair, only to lose husband, job, and finally her lover as well. However, she thinks she should make a new start and have fun no matter on consequences.
- DirectorPaula OrtizStarsMaribel VerdúLeticia DoleraLuisa GavasaInterwoven emotions and struggles of three women of different generations aiming to build the lives they desire, their own future, love and dreams. All of them lose the love of their lives and they will have to pursue their happiness and fight for their dignity in a dark and hostile word.
- DirectorAlix LambertSailing ships, stars, angels and executioners, The Mark of Cain chronicles the vanishing practice and language of Russian Criminal Tattoos. Captured in some of Russia's most notorious prisons, including the fabled White Swan, the film traces the animus of the flowers of this carnal art by way of the brutality of it's origins: the penitentiary and the criminal environment. Incisive interviews with prisoners, guards, and criminologists reveal the secret language of The Zone and The Code of Thieves of the vory v zakone.
- DirectorCristiane OliveiraStarsMaria GalantMarat DescartesVerónica PerrottaNalu lives with Ruben, her father, in a small country town near the Brazilian border with Uruguay. When Ruben realizes that his daughter is becoming a woman, an ambiguous closeness begins to develop between them.
- DirectorSophie HuberStarsHarry Dean StantonSophie HuberWim WendersHarry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction is a mesmerizing, impressionistic portrait of the iconic actor comprised of intimate moments, film clips from some of his 250 films and his own heart-breaking renditions of American folk songs. Stunningly lensed in color and b/w by Seamus McGarvey, the film explores the actor's enigmatic outlook on his life, his unexploited talents as a musician, and includes candid scenes with David Lynch, Wim Wenders, Sam Shepard, Kris Kristofferson and Debbie Harry. The fragile soul of an actor emerges from the poignant collage.
- DirectorAlice LoweStarsAlice LoweDan Renton SkinnerJo HartleyWidow Ruth is seven months pregnant when, believing herself to be guided by her unborn baby, she embarks on a homicidal rampage, dispatching anyone who stands in her way.
- DirectorMarília RochaStarsElizabete FranciscaFrancisca ManuelPaulo NazarethTwo young Portuguese women try to put down roots in Brazil. Teresa is newly arrived; Francisca has been there a while.
- DirectorLeandra LealStarsRogériaJane di CastroDivina ValériaThe Divine Divas are the icons of the first generation of Brazilian transvestite artists in the 1960's. One of the first stages to host men dressed as women was the Rival Theatre, ran by Américo Leal, the director's grandfather. The film shows the intimacy, the talent and the stories of a generation that revolutionized the sexual behavior and defied the moral of a time.
- DirectorSofia CoppolaStarsNicole KidmanKirsten DunstElle FanningThe unexpected arrival of a wounded Union soldier at a girls school in Virginia during the American Civil War leads to jealousy and betrayal.
- DirectorLaís BodanzkyStarsMaria RibeiroClarisse AbujamraPaulo VilhenaWhen Rosa's mother makes a surprising disclosure to her one day, Rosa decides to break out of her usual obligations. In so doing she discovers that life holds many surprises in store for her.
- DirectorTeresa VillaverdeStarsJoão Pedro VazAlice Albergaria BorgesBeatriz BatardaIn Portugal, a father, a mother and a daughter's daily lives are being subsumed by the effects of the economic crisis.
- DirectorValeska GrisebachStarsMeinhard NeumannReinhardt WetrekSyuleyman Alilov LetifovGerman construction workers building a dam near a Bulgarian village interact with the locals, and soon the troubles arise both with the locals and among themselves.
- DirectorJúlia MuratStarsRaquel KarroRodrigo BolzanNeto MachadoThe loving relationship between a sculptor and a dancer.
- DirectorLarisa ShepitkoStarsBoris PlotnikovVladimir GostyukhinSergey YakovlevTwo Soviet partisans on a mission to gather food contend with the winter cold, the occupying Germans, and their own psyches.
- DirectorLaura IsraelStarsRobert FrankSid KaplanJune LeafRobert Frank revolutionized photography and independent film. He documented the Beats, Welsh coal miners, Peruvian Indians, The Stones, London bankers, and the Americans. This is the bumpy ride, revealed with unblinking honesty by the reclusive artist himself.
- DirectorKathryn BigelowStarsJohn BoyegaAnthony MackieAlgee SmithFact-based drama set during the 1967 Detroit riots in which a group of rogue police officers respond to a complaint with retribution rather than justice on their minds.
- DirectorKatrin RotheStarsInka FriedrichMaximilian BrauerHanns ZischlerThe Russian revolutionary year narrated from the point of view of the involved artists.
- DirectorLuz RucielloStarsOmar José BorcardNicole Benítez BorcardEvangelina BorcardWhy would a gaunt small-town bricklayer, poor and ill, start a Quixote-like adventure and build a cinema theater on top of his own house, with no help and by himself?
- DirectorAna UrushadzeStarsNato MurvanidzeRamaz IoselianiDimitri TatishviliA 50-year-old housewife, Manana, struggles with her dilemma - she has to choose between her family life and her passion, writing, which she had repressed for years - she decides to follow her passion and plunges herself into writing, sacrificing to it mentally and physically.
- DirectorSusanna NicchiarelliStarsTrine DyrholmJohn Gordon SinclairAnamaria MarincaThe last year of singer Nico's life, as she tours and grapples with addiction and personal demons.
- DirectorDaniela ThomasStarsAdriano CarvalhoLuana NastasSandra CorveloniBrazil 1821. A rich cattle herder finds out that his wife dies in labor. Forced to live in the property with numerous African slaves, he marries his wife's niece. But he returns to droving, leaving his wife behind alone with the slaves.
- DirectorLucrecia MartelStarsDaniel Giménez CachoLola DueñasMatheus NachtergaeleBased on the novel by Antonio Di Benedetto written in 1956, on Don Diego de Zama, a Spanish officer of the seventeenth century settled in Asunción, who awaits his transfer to Buenos Aires.
- DirectorTerje ToomistuStarsValya HitchhikerAksel LampmannAlexander LipnitskyThe hippie movement that captivated hundreds of thousands of young people in the West had a profound impact on the other side of the Iron Curtain.
- DirectorLissette OrozcoStarsAdriana RivasLissette OrozcoAn astonishing documentary about a woman who is looking about her aunt past during Pinochet's period in Chile.
- DirectorPetra Biondina VolpeStarsMarie LeuenbergerMaximilian SimonischekRachel BraunschweigIn 1971, a young housewife organizes the women of her town to petition for the right to vote.
- DirectorHui-Chen HuangStarsHui-Chen HuangA family story of a very special kind. The mother earns a living as a spirit guide for the deceased at their funerals: she was never at home, always out and about with her girlfriends instead. The daughter now goes to great lengths to attempt to understand her mother. A cosmos opens before us, one which manages to be of universal cultural significance and extremely intimate at the same time.
- DirectorHelena IgnezStarsMário BortolottoClaudinei BrandãoEduardo ChagasInacio is employed in a mechanical workshop, where, in addition to working, he dreams of the Calendar Girl. In the film "My Calendar Girl" the real and imaginary intertwine all the time, in a tangle of surreal sensations.
- DirectorCarolina JaborStarsDaniel de OliveiraMarco RiccaMalu GalliA boy's parents accuse a swimming teacher of abusing one of his students.
- DirectorLucile HadzihalilovicStarsZoé AuclairLea BridarolliBérangère HaubrugeA look inside an offbeat boarding school for young girls.
- DirectorAnna BillerStarsSamantha RobinsonJeffrey Vincent PariseLaura WaddellA modern-day witch uses spells and magic to get men to fall in love with her, with deadly consequences.
- DirectorDee ReesStarsJason MitchellCarey MulliganJason ClarkeTwo men return home from World War II to work on a farm in rural Mississippi, where they struggle to deal with racism and adjusting to life after war.
- DirectorTeresa PrataStarsNick Lauro TeresaAladino JasseErnesto Lemos MacuacuaIn the midst of Mozambique's devastating civil war, Muidinga, an orphaned refugee, wanders the countryside in search of his mother. His only companion is an elderly storyteller, and the only guide to finding his mother is a dead man's diary. This transporting drama underscores the power of imagination in surviving, and ultimately overcoming, the catastrophe of war.
- DirectorEliane CafféStarsIsam Ahmad IssaPaulo AméricoJuliane ArguelloShows the unusual situation of homeless Brazilians movement and refugees that squat together an abandoned building in downtown Sao Paulo. The daily tension caused by the treat of eviction reveals the dramas and joys.
- DirectorCarla SimónStarsLaia ArtigasPaula RoblesBruna CusíAfter her mother's death, six-year-old Frida is sent to her uncle's family to live with them in the countryside. But Frida finds it hard to forget her mother and adapt to her new life.
- DirectorEliza HittmanStarsHarris DickinsonMadeline WeinsteinKate HodgeA Brooklyn teenager spends his days experimenting with drugs and looking online for older men to meet.
- DirectorPatty JenkinsStarsGal GadotChris PineRobin WrightWhen a pilot crashes and tells of conflict in the outside world, Diana, an Amazonian warrior in training, leaves home to fight a war, discovering her full powers and true destiny.
- DirectorJulia DucournauStarsGarance MarillierElla RumpfRabah Nait OufellaA young woman, studying to be a vet, develops a craving for human flesh.
- DirectorAna Lily AmirpourStarsSuki WaterhouseJason MomoaJayda FinkIn a desert dystopia, a young woman is kidnapped by cannibals.
- DirectorIda LupinoStarsEdmond O'BrienFrank LovejoyWilliam TalmanTwo fishermen pick up a psychopathic escaped convict who tells them that he intends to murder them when the ride is over.
- DirectorKelly ReichardtStarsMichelle WilliamsKristen StewartLaura DernThe lives of three women intersect in small-town America, where each is imperfectly blazing a trail.
- DirectorIldikó EnyediStarsAlexandra BorbélyGéza MorcsányiRéka TenkiWhen slaughterhouse workers Endre and Mária discover they share the same dreams, where they meet in a forest as deer and fall in love, they decide to make their dreams come true, but it's difficult in real life.
- DirectorChantal AkermanStarsChantal AkermanNatalia AkermanSylvaine AkermanFilmmaker Chantal Akerman documents the life of her mother Natalia Akerman, a Polish immigrant and survivor of Auschwitz.